Southern Highlands
Southern Highlands Escape
A cool-climate escarpment south of Sydney where the bookshops, galleries, and antique dealers outnumber the chain stores. Weekend country at its most civilised.
Retford Park Bowral
Oxley Hill Road, Bowral NSW 2576
Wed–Sun 10am–4pm
A Victorian Italianate homestead in 'Portuguese Pink', built in 1887 by the Hordern family and later home to James Fairfax, who gifted the property to the National Trust in 2016. Thirty hectares of gardens shift through autumn colour, winter snowdrops and spring peonies, dotted with sculpture and dog-friendly on leash. Guided house tours cover the 16th- to 18th-century furniture, art and textiles. Hearth by Moonacres handles lunch.
Science Space
60 Squires Way, North Wollongong NSW 2500
Mon–Tue 10am–4pm · Thu–Sun 10am–4pm
Wollongong Science Centre & Planetarium is a long-established museum in Wollongong, NSW. The museum explores themes of science technology, space astronomy. Core activities include exhibition, education, public programs. The venue is family-oriented and features interactive exhibits. Visitors can enjoy guided tours, cafe, shop, family friendly, accessible. Nearby towns include North Wollongong, Figtree, Keiraville.
Sydney Tramway Museum
2 Pitt Street, Loftus NSW 2232
Wed 10am–3pm · Sun 10am–5pm
Four enthusiasts saved a single tram in 1950. Seventy-five years later, their non-profit cooperative runs full tram services from a Loftus yard beside the Royal National Park, with rescued street furniture — an 1899 overhead pole, a 1907 Railway Square waiting shed, a Liverpool Street signal box — lining a working tramway. Rides run toward Sutherland or the park. Allow two to three hours.