Planning a road trip to Tasmania

Planning my road trip to catch the ferry to Tasmania from Geelong, VIC, and thought I’d do the inland route down visiting Dubbo and Ballarat. Can anyone suggest other, interesting, places to stop on the way down?
Return journey will probably be the coastal route taking in Jarvis Bay, Kiama, Port Macquarie.

Brisbane (Australia) ⇨ Geelong (Australia)   Dubbo (Australia)   Ballarat (Australia)