Warri Reserve

About 13km out of Braidwood, on the road back to Canberra (the Kings Highway), you'll see a sign pointing left to Warri Reserve. It's a great little place to stop off for a picnic, a swim, or to camp for a couple of days. That's the road up there on the bridge, and the camping area is at about that level on the right. But down here, on the Shoalhaven River, you barely notice the traffic, and they certainly don't notice you.

Peeking through the window

If you sneak down the narrow alley between the weatherboard lolly shop and ice-cream parlour and the corrugated iron National Theatre in Braidwood, you can peek through one of the dusty windows near the back of the theatre ...

National Theatre, Braidwood

The National Theatre, in Wallace Street, is now the Tourist Information Centre and Community Centre for Braidwood. It was originally built as a picture theatre and roller skating rink.

St Bede's, Braidwood

We headed out to Braidwood for the day yesterday, so I have a few new photos of the town to show.

This is St Bede's Catholic Church, built of local granite between 1856 and 1862 (around the time of the local gold rush) by Richard Hannaford. The slate roof was added in the late 19th century, replacing the original timber shingles.

The road into Braidwood

What a difference seven weeks can make! This is the road into Braidwood (or out in our case), on the Canberra side. It's lined with trees which were completely bare in mid-September (below) but covered in green again by last weekend. It's not the exact same piece of road, but along the same stretch.

The avenue of Lombardy and Golden poplars was planted in 1936 at the northern entrance to town to celebrate the 25th year of King George V's reign.

Granite store, Braidwood

On the corner of Duncan and Wallace Streets in Braidwood is this gorgeous granite store built by stonemason Terence McGrath. It was built in 1870, and has served as a produce store, butcher and saddler premises. The verandah upstairs was added in the 1890s.

Braidwood Hotel

The Braidwood Hotel, in Wallace Street. Constructed in 1859 during the gold rush, this is the oldest still-licensed pub in town. Apparently it was one of the grandest hotels in the region, with a ballroom on the first floor and attic accommodation on the second floor, as well as the public rooms and bars.

The hotel has had some brushes with fame (and infamy!) - it was featured in the 1987 film The Year My Voice Broke, and in Flirting ( with Noah Taylor, Thandie Newton and Nicole Kidman) in 1992. Mick Jagger dropped in during the filming of Ned Kelly (1970), and actor Geoffrey Rush and opera star Dame Joan Sutherland both attended the break-up party in the pub's courtyard following the filming of Dad and Dave: On Our Selection (1995).

Braidwood Post Office

The current post office building in Braidwood was built in 1865 as the Telegraph Office, and became the Post O ffice in the 1890s (the old post office building in McKellar Street became a general store). Beside the main building is the Postmaster’s residence.