Haha! Excellent, I guess you could all do my photography assignment too!
I'll be there the next weekend if anyone decides to run away and stay in Mudgee.
Here are some interesting places to shoot off the top of my head (I'll add more later as I think of them, it's been a while!):
+Mudgee is supposedly beautiful in an Autumny/Wintery way at the moment, lots of oranges and greys.
+There are hundreds of wineries around and most are quite lovely, I'll let you guys discover them for yourself the hard way. Many good rural vineyard scenes etc. Lots of kangaroos too, haha.
+ The churches and historic buildings in the main street are quite nice in daylight and nightlight, and we can't forget the clock tower!
+Lawson Park is a nice park to visit, the Cudgegong River flows through.
+ You will probably see my artist dad driving around in an absolutely insane brightly coloured van, if you see him stop for a chat and he'll be more than happy to let you take photos!
Places to drive to:
+I think the Henry Lawson festival is on this weekend at Gulgong, which is a quaint little town close to Mudgee.
+ Windamere Dam is around 25km from Mudgee and is quite pretty and you'll pass it on the way to Mudgee from Sydney.
+ Goulbourn River National Park is lovely but a bit of a drive (50km) and is great if you want to bushwalk, it contains "Hands on the Rock' (an aboriginal site) and "The Drip". It's probably not very nice in winter though, more of a summer adventure.
I could go on for hours but I think you will have fun discovering Mudgee for yourself, just make sure you bring home some good wine!
If you have any questions please feel free to ask.
EDIT: Yes it will be very cold in Mudgee, but at least it won't be as rainy as Sydney at the moment! (fingers crossed)
Belle