Under a heavy summer sky, we slip through Sydney's muggy morning streets, southwards, westwards, closing our ears to the traffic din and hearing instead the call of the wild.

We're heading for Melbourne, but if that was all, we'd stick to the streamlined Hume Highway and the whole trip would be over by sunset. But, as I chant to myself like a mantra while the billboards flash by, why fume on the Hume when you can laze on the Ways? Why indeed, so instead, we're spending three days on the road, cruising through steep and silent valleys, cresting the tundra at the top of Australia, following the mighty Murray, and sliding down through the history and hedonism of rural Victoria.

First pit stop south of Sydney is Berrima, and while it's a bit early to sample the wares of The Surveyor General Inn - "Australia's oldest continuously licensed Inn" - this sleepy, pretty town with a severe case of the "ye oldes” has something for all sorts and all times of day. From there, we twist and undulate through Southern Highlands towns like Moss Vale, Exeter, Wingello and Bundanoon, with its "Bovine Semen Production Centre" and a tranquil hostel right on the edge of massive Morton National Park.

Then it's icon time, and a sacred visit to Goulburn's proud looking Big Merino. Goulburn is a fairly typical regional centre, whose lifestyle and economy has, since the highway bypass arrived in 1989, slowed considerably. The Mayor asks for Sydney's second airport at every possible opportunity.

Onward we go, ringing the magical hues of Lake George, until, spread before us like a well-spun web beneath the hungry spider that is Parliament House's symbolic flagpole, is Canberra. The main attractions here are the usual suspects - the old and new Parliament Houses, the refurbished War Memorial, the National Gallery and the National Museum, Questacon, the lake, the more interesting embassies.

But the great outdoors also beckon. You'll never see a bluer urban sky, a better combo of native and introduced trees in the city's peaceful and ubiquitous parks, or a better network of cycle paths in Australia. Around the ACT, check out the legendary Murrumbidgee (for a swim and a paddle), Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, and rugged hiking and rockclimbing in Namadgi National Park.

From Canberra, we head due south through dry, rolling sheep country along the Monaro Highway 115 kms to Cooma. Settled in the 1830s, Cooma was a sleepy agricultural town until the 1950s, when the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme brought an influx of migrant workers to the area, and the town's population soared to 16,000. It's a pleasant spot, and the cheapest place to shop between Sydney and Melbourne. Regional highlights include Mt Gladstone Nature Reserve, the picturesque ghost-town of Kiandra, Abriginal rock art at Yarrangobilly Caves, and Eucumbene Trout Farm, where you can catch 'em or just eat 'em.

Mountain Biking near Thredbo

Heading up the gradual Alpine Way to Jindabyne, gateway to the Koszciuszko National Park, it becomes clear that The Man from Snowy River wouldn't recognise the place. The Jindabyne Dam and a few others like it have reduced the legendary river to a sad, lifeless trickle. But we might as well make the most of it, with some angling, cruising, water skiing and canoeing on the Lake.

Inside Koszciuszko National Park, vegetation alternates between alpine wildflowers, gnarled, stunted snowgums and tall, spindly ones with carrot-top foliage. Horses and sheep graze idly, and there are plenty of campsites along the roadside Thredbo River. Adjacent to the Visitor Entrance Station is the Skitube train, ready to blast you straight up to Perisher and Blue Cow.

Next stop is Thredbo – Australia’s own alpine village. A network of well-marked walking trails snake through the valleys and over the hills, where stockmen used to run their mighty herds - all the way up to the Kosciuszko summit. Sure, this is ski country, but it's jumping here year round, too. You can hike alone or with a guided group - by day or night - and follow that up with some mountain biking, kayaking, abseiling, horse-riding, fly fishing, tennis, golf, squash, indoor rock climbing and swimming. There's plenty of events and festivals throughout the summer season. 

Much of the route covered on this trip is classic Aussie bush, but the High Country is a world apart. It's a pristine environment of astonishing freshness and clarity, protected since 1944; and odds are that outside winter you'll have the roof of the continent all to yourself. Just as it threatens to leave the Park, the Alpine Way twists and heads due north via the Geehi Walls, a series of narrow, beautiful cuts through soft shaled rock. Right near gorgeous Scammell Spur Lookout, we spot a solitary dingo that looks hopelessly lost.

Exiting the Park at Khancoban - back to earth at just 300 metres elevation - we're in the prime beef country of the Upper Murray, and soon cross into Victoria. Aboriginal dreaming says that long ago, a lizard walked this land. His scraping tail created the riverbed, his footprints the multiple billabongs beside it. But the dreaming can't account for the surreal sight of thousands of skeletal tree trunks dotting the riverbed, drowned when the Hume Weir was constructed in the 1920s to allow extensive downstream irrigation.

Beechworth, Victoria

Near Albury we enter bushranger country. The Kelly Gang, Ben Hall, Mad Dog Morgan and Captain Lightfoot all preyed on hapless Cobb & Co. coaches in the rugged terrain around Mt Pilot. Heading deep into rural Victoria, the old gold town of Beechworth features a cell where Ned was incarcerated, and the courthouse where he and his lads were put on trial no fewer than 60 times! The "ye oldes” don't get any better than in Beechworth and neighbouring Yackandandah and Chiltern. The Victorian High Country is just a hop and a step from here, and Bright has become one of the best outdoor activity centres in Australia.

After lunch at Beechworth's fantastic bakery, we slide down to the Milawa Gourmet Region for tastings at Brown Bros winery. Still lawless, we roll into Glenrowan and tread the hallowed turf where Ned and co. had their Last Stand (the town's police station is right across the road!). All you ever wanted to know about Ned - and then some - will be revealed here.

Inescapably, reality reclaims us as we emerge from our meandering adventures back onto the Hume for the final run into Melbourne. The days have passed in ease and beauty, and I'm grateful for the rich experience of previously unknown territory.