Brisbane accommodation does not have to mean a tower, a buffet breakfast and circling a CBD car park. Around 30 minutes from Brisbane - traffic permitting, because this is still South East Queensland - Sirromet gives you a very different way to begin or end a city visit: a working winery experience, proper food and a night in the bush.

Mulwala sits on the New South Wales side of the Murray River, directly across the bridge from the larger Yarrawonga in Victoria and just over an hour west of Albury. The bakery is on Melbourne Street, close to the lake and the town centre. It is a useful stop when travelling through the Murray border region, particularly on a loop involving Yarrawonga, Rutherglen, Corowa, Cobram or Albury.

Some highway stops are purely functional: fuel/e-charge, loo, coffee, back in the car.

The Ten Mile Eatery in Holbrook is the sort that can change the rhythm of the day. Slip off the Hume into Holbrook and, instead of eating something uninviting wrapped in plastic beside a petrol bowser, you can sit down in a handsome, high-ceilinged former mechanics’ workshop, drink a proper coffee and have a leisurely breakfast or lunch that feels like an actual meal.