Canberra Day Trip to Bungendore

Bungendore Village is a popular spot for Canberrans to go on the weekend. It is also well-known as a good place for a cup of tea on the way to Bateman’s Bay on the South Coast. It is a pretty little place with many galleries, antique shops, housewares and cafes. Over the years, Bungendore has grown, offering even more options for shopping, checking out art and coffee.

If you love beautifully crafted wood then you should visit the Bungendore Wood Works Gallery in Malbon Street, where you can see the stunning Hannah Cabinet. This piece of furniture art took six years to complete by master craftsman Goeff Hannah. It was created using 34 different Australian and international timbers, 4 species of shell and 17 varieties of precious stone with extensive marquetry inlays on 18 doors and on, and in, 140 drawers. The cabinet is on permanent display at the gallery.

At the moment  at the Wood Works Gallery, there is also an exhibition of works as part of the Weereewa festival. The exhibition Interpretations focused on the Lake as inspiration and includes work by David Flanagan, Jeffrey Frith, Anita McIntyre, Natalie McCarthy and Ian Robertson. Anita McIntyre’s work is particularly lovely –  fragile, ceramic works, depicting cartographic imagery, using a range of media including screen printing on to paper that has been coated with clay and fired in the kiln. David Flanagan’s photographs are also stunning, silver gelatin prints on fibre paper that have the appearance of intaglio etchings.

The Weereewa Festival runs in February and March about every two years. The festival focuses on the Lake George region and celebrates arts and environmental activities. Their website says:

Weereewa – a Festival of Lake George was founded in 1999 to celebrate this magnificent ancient landscape in arts and environmental science activities and events.

Some of the activities include nature walks, dance performances and art exhibitions, spanning from Lake George, Bungendore, Canberra and Gouburn. Indigenous knowledge is also a key aspect of the festival. It will be interesting to see how this festival grows over the coming years as it is an excellent theme for a festival – celebrating place and our relationship to it.

Wild Rose Organics stocks a diverse range of goods including hemp products, organic skin care and cosmetics and pride themselves on only selling ethical, quality products with a ‘minimal carbon footprint’.

Gunna Doo pie shop is famous for their sausage rolls, because they are literally sausage wrapped in filo pastry. A cross between a hot dog and a dagwood dog, these tasty treats come in a variety of flavours including satay, cheese, and sweet chilli. You need to get there early though, as they sell out quickly, especially on the weekend.

For years Le Très Bon has tempted me and we plan to have a meal at this authentic French restaurant in the near future. I have heard that the food is fabulous.

There are not a lot of photos of the village and our journey, as for most of the day (and the last week), it has poured rain, which is rare in March but very welcome after a very hot and dry summer.