The Southern Highlands

Earlier this month we took a short driving cruise through the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, a rural district between Sydney and Canberra. It was a nice short vacation. This area was settled fairly early on in NSW's history and retains its rural character.

We spent a day wandering around the village of Berrima. It's a pretty little place, its early 19th century character preserved in part by the fact that the Hume Highway between Sydney and Canberra ended up passing it by. Maybe it's ironic, but one of the village's main attractions is its 19th century jail - still in use today, although according to an Australian Federal Police friend of mine, it is used mostly for nonviolent offenders, kind of a Club Fed place.

We cruised to Bowral, a bigger town. I was struck at how vibrant its downtown was -- two main streets lined with shops, restaurants and cafes all open for business. A contrast to the quiet and dying downtowns of so many small (and not-so-small) American towns. We went to the cricket oval where Don Bradman first played high school cricket. Bradman, if you don't know who he is, is sort of an Australian Babe Ruth. Well,not in personality but like Ruth and at about the same time as Ruth, Bradman did things with a bat that broke all sorts of records -- his average 99.94 run average in Test matches is far and away the best ever (next highest is 61). The Don is the closest thing to a god that Australia has, and every Aussie that I've told about my visit to Bowral knows that was Bradman's home town.

Then, after a winding mountain road that featured back-to-back hairpin turns with speed limits below 10 mph, we found our way to Kangaroo Valley, another early 19th century settlement. That town has Australia's oldest standing suspension bridge -- not quite as grand as Sydney Harbour Bridge, but attractive. There is a pretty neat little village-run museum there featuring life on a 19th century Australian farm. Kangaroo Valley also featured a war memorial to all the area's young men who went off to fight in World War I and II and didn't return -- a feature of practically every Australian town and a reminder of how much Australia lost in those wars.