Picture of Captains Flat

Picture of the Lake George Mine Entrance at Captains Flat

Home  |  About 'The Flat'  |  News  |  S355 Committee  |  Attractions  |  Heritage Trail  |  Tourist Info  |  Location  |  Links Community Association  |  Gallery  |  Contact Us 

Tourist Information

See also: Captains Flat Attractions

From Sydney to the Snow, or From Sydney to the Snowy Mountains

Why would you? Captains Flat offers an alternative route for Sydney-siders, other NSW residents and Queenslanders driving to the Snowy Mountains, whether for winter sports or cool summer holidays. "The Flat" offers:

Accommodation

  • in the Captains Flat Hotel - phone (02) 6236 6201; also check Facebook

  • informal (that means free!) camping in the park; shower block may be available, check with the Park Management Committee Captains Flat Area s355 Committee ; if it's summer, you can also access the swimming pool and the showers there;

Excellent Food

  • Food is available some evenings at the hotel - phone (02) 62366 201 to enquire and book; www.flathotel.com.au/
  • Food is available at the Captains Flat RSL & Citizens Club, Friday and Saturday evenings - phone (02) 62366 284 for details.
  • Community Groups hold sausage sizzles at the monthly markets; and there is also a café with tea, coffee and cake.

Monthly Markets

  • on the first Saturday of every month (but not in January); see the Markets page

Getting Here

Download the map (JPG)

There are a number of different options for getting to us from Sydney - unless you want to take a huge detour, all require you to leave the Hume Highway at Goulburn. This means that you avoid the very boring Federal Highway to Canberra. You will also skip most of the Monaro Highway to Cooma.

  • You can leave the Hume Highway at the first Goulburn exit, which takes you through the town centre (but savvie travellers know you can turn left at the Mobil service station rather than going through all the traffic lights of the main street).

    A quicker way is to leave the Hume Highway at the second Goulburn exit, the one with the McDonalds.

    At the roundabout, turn left, away from Goulburn, and then left, and right and then right. You are now on the road to Braidwood without having passed through the centre of Goulburn.
     
  • Follow the signs to Braidwood initially, taking you through the picturesque villages of Lake Bathurst and Tarago.

    At Tarago you can:

    continue to Braidwood (for info see Links page), and from there follow the signs to Captains Flat;
    about 25km south of Braidwood you turn right onto about 25km of dirt road, passable at all times of year.

    OR

    at Tarago you can turn right to Bungendore;
    * from there head towards Canberra but just after the 100kmh speed limit sign on the edge of Bungendore, turn left (signposted to Captains Flat); turn right at the top of this road (also signed) and continue along the Hoskinstown Road.
    * About 15km along this sealed road, you come to a right turn - Captains Flat is signposted as both straight ahead and right! If you go:
    - right it takes you along the Briars-Sharrow Road, joining the sealed but bumpy and windy Queanbeyan to Captains Flat Road.
    - straight, you have about 20km of largely dirt road through the village of Hoskinstown (no services), eventually needing a right turn signposted to Captains Flat, and joining the Queanbeyan to Captains Flat Road about 12km out from "The Flat".

When you arrive in Captains Flat, take your time to look around, refuel, eat, or stay a while.

Then continue on your journey south on 5km of sealed and 30-ish of dirt to the hamlet of Jerangle, with a 19th Century stone church, a tiny school, CWA hall, derelict hotel and not much else.

From Jerangle you can continue about 35km on mixed dirt and sealed road (about half and half) either
* South West to Bredbo (which has services), joining the Monaro Highway there, or
* South on a very picturesque drive to the small village of Numeralla (no services) which is about 20km from Cooma on a sealed road.
Note - If there has been heavy snow recently, these roads south of Captains Flat may be closed or impassable - this is not frequent, a once-a-year occurrence at most. Conversely, if the Monaro Highway is closed by an accident, as occurs several times a year, you may be diverted via these back-roads!

Also rain can affect many of these roads - if it's been wet recently, ask locals whether the roads onwards are open. Even the sealed roads have been closed recently [written end December 2010].

See the Links page for links to a journey planner and various scenic drives in the area. Feel free to email us for any further information or advice.