Gunnedah  New South Wales

Poet Dorothea Mackellar, whose life-sized statue commands Anzac Park, might have enshrined the Gunnedah landscape on the Australian psyche with the immortal line 'I love a sunburnt country,' but it is the cute koala which endears the town to conservationists.

A prosperous town on the Namoi River in the state's north-west, Gunnedah, in fact, is blessed with the one of the largest and healthiest koala populations west of the Great Divide. The animals live in unusual harmony with the townfolk.

If you fancy a broader native canvas, visit the Waterways Wild Park where the koalas mingle with kangaroos, emus and other Australian animals.

Gunnedah is within comfortable day-tripping distance of the Warrumbungle, Kaputar, Coolah Tops and Lake Keepit parks and Tamworth.

Anzac Park hosts not only the statue of Mackellar, who spent more than 30 years on a local property where she wrote her most famous poem, My Country, but the Water Tower Museum.

The museum houses a collection of photogrtaphs and regional memorabilia, while a spiral staircase takes you to the observation deck which presents sweepng views of the town.