Exploring in Oz: Southern Highlands

Molly and I first met through our mutual interest in exploring Beijing. As we have detailed in previous blog posts, we would like nothing more than going out to the middle of nowhere in Beijing and seeing what was there.

Such trips were a wonderful way to get away from it all, and to get a good feel for where we lived. So when we came to Australia, we thought, why not try to keep up a similar exploring spirit here?

So far we've been urban exploring (more on that at another time), and hosted a Sydney version of the Amazing Adventure Race.

What we are trying to do now is to explore more of New South Wales on short trips. This is an account of our trip to the Southern Highlands.

Map showing location of Southern Highlands and Blue Mountains (Blue Mountains to be discussed in later post)

Getting to the Southern Highlands by public transport is a surreal experience. They haven't electrified the rail line, so from Campbelltown onwards you catch a diesel single-decker train.

The journey down was gorgeous as the wattle trees were in full bloom. I wasn't aware how common wattle trees are in the Southern Highlands until this journey but they are dotted all along the train line.

Our first stop-off point was the quaint town of Bowral.  Bowral is famous for its historic buildings, cafes and its cricket museum.

The town was cosy and sitting in cafes was a lovely way to wind away a few hours.

The cricket museum was full of historical facts and some fun exhibits..

Trying out a cricket training technique used by Australia's best batsman. 

A few more interactive exhibits would definitely add to the museum.  I would love to see a bowling machine so you can face cricket balls sent down at the same pace as the bowling greats.

After the museum, we climbed the nearest hill to get a look at the town. The small country town setting really stood out from up above.

On the Sunday we went up to Trainworks, the Rail Transport Museum in Thirlmere.  Amusingly the rail museum is not at an active train station (We had to walk 3.5km from Tahmoor train station to get there). Trains now use a alternate track that is less hilly.

As we went on a Sunday we were able to take a 50 minute steam train ride, which was good fun!

The museum was very interesting. A wide variety of trains and train maps..

Sydneysiders, what's going on with the yellow line? All those extra stations!

The most interesting fact we learned was that steam engines rarely shut down between trips.  If turned off, steam engines will need several hours to 'boot up' to be ready.

Definitely worth a look, and overall it was a great weekend away!