Return to Goulburn

For a regional town that has experienced the Biblical seven years of drought,Goulburn was blustery shiny on this Sunday morning. More shops were open for business when they were not a few years back. There were the under thirties and a spattering of teenagers walking out and about which is vital to the demographics of any urban concentration. Businesses like Harvey Norman had taken a vote of confidence in Goulburn by occupying that vital corner store location along the main road - when others like Harris Scarfe were before. There was even a spanking new Asian food outlet.

The icon of Goulburn - the Big Merino - had been moved to nearer the Hume highway to Canberra. The other icon of the town - Bryants Pieshop - has steadfastly maintained its two outlets, one in its original shop and a branch at the shopping centre only a block away. The pie varieties remain the same good consistency and in taste. An outlet selling casual wear to Gen Y had a hive of activity near Sunday lunchtime. The RSL club stands right in the town centre and had custom no different from any other suburb of Sydney at this hour on a weekend day.

Are retail outlets opening longer hours on weekends as a result of under sales achievement during the week? Maureen at Allens chats to me and informs me that she has to work when the store reopens after Christmas on Boxing Day itself. She is slightly surprised that I have come all the way from coastal Wollongong with my mates to shop in this inland town about a good 90 minutes drive away. Maureen knows the Wollongong area well - she has a brother residing in Figtree, a suburb south of the university and city. I find a long desired lemon and orange skin zester and Maureen sells it to me at half price.

Houses are offered for sale at a third of Sydney prices. Food prices are the same as in the Big Smoke. There is even a branch of the bookshop chain Berkelouw, for which the only other outlet I am aware of in NSW is in Darlinghurst in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Maybe it is the Christmas shopping season that has contributed to higher than imagined retail activity to me in Goulburn that morning.

By the early afternoon, I am back in Wollongong, washing my car and wondering why the ladies at that particular Shell station along the Hume highway are never friendly. I make an affirmation to stop by the apple orchard and Eling Forest Winery at Suttons Forest the next time I am back on the highway leading to Goulburn. Ever since I spent two weeks based in this town on business several years ago and I have been hooked ever since to make occasional visits. Is it the lure of empty wide misty streets on a cold winter's morning that adds to the fascination I have? In summer it can be extremely hot and dry. I don't really know why, but Goulburn has a irrefutable and inexplicable place in my heart.

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