Charming Chiltern

There's little time for writing these days - just driving. My latest trip towards Sydney along the Hume Highway, yesterday, was remarkable for crazy weather - bright sunshine accompanied me all the way, on the same day that heavy and very unseasonal snowfalls brought chaos to the Blue Mountains while heavy rain lashed the Wollongong area.

This time, after leaving Melbourne at tennish, I stopped in Chiltern (just south of Wodonga in Victoria) for a quick but old-fashioned lunch at the Chiltern Bakery, which I've now discovered opens every day at 7am. In all my trips northward I've never seen another car divert off the main road to see this historic township, although I can now attest that the streetscape of this quaint and charming little place is well worth seeing. It's much better and more interesting than Glenrowan, which I drove through on my last trip northwards. And it's a time-traveller's world away from your average soul-destroying stopping-point and fast-food joint on the Hume. Well done, Chiltern, for offering something practical but different to jaded wayfarers.

A driver on the Hume needs to keep awake by actively noticing features of the passing landscape. Yesterday it was Paterson's curse. Responsible landowners have eliminated the vast swathes of purple which once infested many private paddocks. The same can't be said for the roadside verges in southern New South Wales, well-endowed with patches of Paterson's curse. Someone in state or local government needs to act.