A day in the Southern Highlands

The Southern Highlands, the land of tulips… and pies?! I love how close the Southern Highlands is to Sydney (only an hour and a half away) yet it feels further away and retains its rustic,  country town charm. 

What I loved

• The award winning bakeries including Gumnut Patisserie which has branches in Bowral, Mittagong and Berrima. I visited the branch in Bowral at about 11am on a Sunday and even then, there was a small queue out front. I was sorely tempted to try and a whole bunch of the delicious looking desserts (danishes, cakes, brownies), but it was pretty much lunch time and so opted for the pies instead: the beef and mushroom (the one with the sesame seeds in the photo below) and lamb and rosemary. I loved the meat gravy inside both pies – so well seasoned and thick! I also really enjoyed the pie crust – very flaky with the right amount of crispiness on the outside.

• The growing cafe culture, in particular, Harry’s on Green Lane, in Bowral. Harry’s is in a pretty cool complex reminiscent of The Grounds of Alexandria in Sydney which also houses a flower shop, another cafe / kitchen and is next to Dirty Jane’s which has a tea salon and a huge range of antique/vintage wares. The coffee was pretty good and I loved sitting outside – so cute with the beautiful garden tables surrounded by the greenery!

• The vineyards. I’ll definitely be back to try more of the wineries, but the one stop we did make on the recent trip at the Centennial Vineyards was well worth it! However, I forgot to take any photos when we were there… we did bring back a couple bottles of Sparkling Shiraz which I have never had before though!
• How quaint the main street (Old Hume Highway) of Berrima is! Cute cafes, a cute pub and cute little stores. We stopped for a late lunch at The Courtyard Cafe in Berrima in the afternoon which was quite enjoyable – just simple burgers and chips, but man, those chips were good!

What I liked but didn’t love

• Fitzroy Falls Lookout – perhaps I didn’t love it because I wasn’t wearing the right shoes for hiking that day, but apparently the Fitzroy Falls is the most popular tourist destination in the Southern Highlands? So tick, photo taken even though I was making my way through the dirt tracks in my sandals!