The Southern Highlands is a picturesque area about 90 minutes drive south west from Sydney and a great place for a day trip. It boasts colonial architecture, quirky shops and wineries.
Berrima
Bowral is probably the most well known town and therefore the busiest. Having been there a few times, this time we decided to head to Berrima, a short drive from there. Our first stop was the Bendooley Estate:
https://bendooleyestate.com.au/
Out front is a massive bookstore with a huge range of books and a casual cafe. The lines queuing up to enter are testament to the fact that we are definitely not the first Sydneysiders to discover it.
Through the bookstore is the quieter and more formal restaurant and wine tasting room. The setting is lovely, overlooking the vineyards and with an open fire which no doubt gets a lot of use in winter.
The restaurant has a surprisingly large menu for a winery restaurant and ranges from casual fare such as pizzas to “garden, paddock and ocean” offerings such as blue swimmer crab pasta and roast salmon curry and some more hearty dishes such as slow braised lamb.
My partner describes his crab pasta as full of flavour, with plenty of crab pieces. My barramundi is cooked perfectly and the pea risotto it comes with strangely complements it perfectly.
Meals are just the right size to leave room for one of the very decadent 6 desserts or cheeses.
The wine list is pretty extensive, with 19 available by the glass and more by the bottle. As you’d expect their own wines feature heavily as well as some other local wines and South Australian wines.
There are a number of other wineries within easy driving distance if you’d like to sample some more local wines. In this climate, you need to make bookings in advance, which we hadn’t done but the lovely people at Tertini’s agreed to fit us in with about 15 minutes notice. They have a large variety of wines to sample and generously provide a cheese plate to go with them:
Robertson
For a bit of variety we decided to go back to Sydney via the coast road. Heading toward the coast you pass through Robertson, a quirky little town which is famous for two things, a giant potato and the cheese factory. The potato is worth a quick stop even if only to marvel at how they could get a potato so wrong.
If you are a cheese lover, the Robertson Old Cheese factory is definitely worth a visit:
https://www.robertsoncheesefactory.com.au/
They have a huge range of cheeses at reasonable prices and are happy to let you try before you buy. They also stock a range of local jams, sauces etc. If you’ve time to stay a little longer, there is also a cafe which serves good coffee and an adjoining store which sells locally made homewares and gifts.
Bombo Headland
The coast road from Robertson back to Sydney will take you via Dapto. If you’ve got time for a bit of a detour head a little further south on the coast to Bombo which is just north of Kiama. The former Quarry on the headland is a short walk from the carpark. It looks like some sort of lunar landscape and is a photographer’s dream. The internet is full of pictures taken at sunrise and sunset, but it’s pretty spectacular at any time of the day.
