This says it all.

►Two sisters from Bundanoon walked for 48 hours over the weekend to raise money for a cause close to their hearts. 

Linda and Heather Christison walked in the Canberra 48 Hour Race to raise money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. 

The two-day walk was held at the Australian Institute of Sport from March 17 to 19.

►Mud flew as some of the country’s best precision drivers tore up Moss Vale Showground on March 18.

Team D-MAX’s Precision Driving Team took to the Moss Vale Show for the first time to show-off some of their most popular stunts. 

Team D-MAX is the only full-time precision driving team, which has been a part of Australian festivals, including the Royal Adelaide Show, since 1968.

►A tour bus that plunged into a ravine near Kangaroo Valley in 2010, killing it’s male driver, had failed its RMS brake inspection 10 days earlier, a court has heard.

Driver, Graham Lees, 58, died and 28 of his passengers were injured after the bus careered out of control and crossed to the wrong side of Moss Vale Road on Barrengarry Mountain on May 14, 2010. More here.

►Highlanders can have their name etched in stone forever at Exeter Public School.

As part of the school’s 125 year birthday celebrations in 2016, the P and C association offered Highlanders the chance to purchase their very own customised engraved brick pavers.

While the anniversary celebrations are over, there is still an opportunity to purchase a paver. More here.

►It’s students who drive communication with staff, parents and their peers at Oxley College.

And they are about to celebrate 50 editions of contributing content.

Oxley College’s fortnightly magazine Pin Oak is put together by staff members Emma Calver and Beattie Lanser with the help of enthusiastic students.

►Pop a few extra sanitary items into your shopping to help vulnerable women have dignity.

The 2017 Share the Dignity drive has started in the Highlands, and volunteer Gloria Rozario said she hoped everyone would donate an item to the cause.

“Right through April, our 18 collection points will be accepting your donations,” she said.

►The values of cohesion, inclusion and cultural diversity were celebrated across Highlands schools for a March 21 event.

Harmony Day is a chance for the message ‘everyone belongs’ to be encouraged and restated across Australia.

Avoca Public School students travelled the globe thanks to food options provided by staff.

TRAFFIC:  All roads are clear in the Southern Highlands today. Drive safely and enjoy the journey. 

TRAINS: Commuters can expect a good service on the Southern Highlands today. 

WEATHER:  A cloudy day with patchy fog inland early this morning, a very high (90%) chance of rain, most likely during this afternoon and evening, winds SE/SW 15 to 25 km/h becoming light in the late evening and a daytime maximum temperature of 16 can be expected in the Highlands today.

Here's a look at what the local weather is doing right now:

7.00AM:  Good morning and welcome to the Southern Highlands Rise and Shine. Over the next few hours we will be bringing you as much information as possible from across the Southern Highlands and nationally.

Weather, road conditions, breaking news, we will have it all - and we'd love to have your help! If there's anything happening in your part of the world, drop us a line! Email jackie.meyers@fairfaxmedia.com.au

Need a national news snapshot first thing - well, we have you covered. 

►TAMWORTH: Police swooped on homes in Tamworth, Moonbi and Gunnedah, netting a cache of drugs and suspected stolen property as police targeted outlaw motorcycle gangs on Wednesday. Read more

►PORT STEPHENS: A mother says her son is being charged $320 a day to have two “epipen” insulin injections under the NDIS, and her son’s NDIS account is going down so quickly that she fears it will be spent eight months into the year. Read more

►BALLARAT: Under fire Melton MP Don Nardella’s total taxpayer funded living claims could tip almost $200,000 after it was revealed the disgraced member was based in Ballarat for four years. Read more

► COOTAMUNDRA: “The grief we are all experiencing is obviously very deep. The pain is so hard to bear.” A “treasured boy”, three-year-old Wyatt Searle died on Tuesday after he was hit by a car outside his Sutton Street home. It was less than two weeks after his birthday. Read more

►NORTHERN TERRITORY: Territory women now have a legal right to an abortion. The NT Government last night passed new legislation allowing the lawful termination of pregnancy services. Read more

►BENDIGO: A Supreme Court jury has heard a “constellation” of injuries suffered by a baby allegedly shaken to death by her father was caused by “mechanical head trauma”. Read more

►WOLLONGONG: The dark clouds rolled in over the Illawarra escarpment and across Wollongong about 4.30pm, bringing thunder, lightning and bursts of heavy rain. Ten minutes later it was gone, but not before these amazing storm photos were taken. 

►MT ISA: State Member for Mount Isa Robbie Katter has slammed the LNP for supporting Labor to vote against a real solution to address rural debt after parliament refused to vote on KAP’s bill.  Read more

► ILLAWARRA: Corrimal diggers have cancelled their annual Anzac Sunday service, citing an inability to cover the estimated $20,000 cost of addressing heightened anti-terror concerns. Read more

► ARMIDALE: Public servants at the pesticides authority are hoping they can leave their makeshift office at McDonald's Armidale behind, launching a search for a real office in the northern NSW town where they are being forced to move. Read more

►NEWCASTLE: Police have located a body off Newcastle believed to be missing University of Newcastle student Mohsin Awan.  Read more

►Human Services Minister Alan Tudge has announced the final stage of Centrelink's digital transformation will be led by Accenture, the same company that delayed 1 million tax returns, sparked 17,000 public complaints, required more than 500 bug fixes and sent unintelligible data to Centrelink in a botched $800 million overhaul of the Australian Tax Office in 2010. Read more

►Barnaby Joyce has broken with cabinet solidarity to blast the Liberal Party for catering to its fringe "extremities" and proposing to water down Australia's race hate laws. Read more

►Four Sydney men have pleaded guilty to their roles in one of Australia's biggest drug importation rings, with police alleging the haul weighed two tonnes and had a street value of $1.5 billion. Read more

► The Turnbull government is on the verge of breaking a two-year deadlock on childcare reform after it jettisoned $8 billion in welfare savings it had controversially tied to childcare fee relief. Read more

What’s coming your way ...

►DILI:  East Timorese leader Jose Ramos Horta has lashed out at what he calls "outrageous" claims before an Australian parliamentary committee that his country could be heading towards becoming a failed state. Read more

►CAIRO:  A Lebanese asylum seeker, who spent four years in offshore detention on Manus Island, was involuntarily deported late last week to Beirut. Bahaa Trad, 33, was offered $30,000 by Australian immigration officials to voluntarily leave but refused and was deported. Read more

►LONDON: Four people are dead and the British Parliament remains in lockdown after a terrorist attack in central London, in which a car mowed down a number of pedestrians and a police officer was stabbed outside the parliament. Read more

1769: The developer of the geologic map, William Smith, is born.

1903:  The earliest version of the board game 'Monopoly' is developed. 

1950:  Today is World Meteorological Day.

Gill Street, not far from the Kempsey East Public School, and an easy stroll to the banks of the Macleay River, was named after a passionate preacher.

There is also a creek that bears the Gill name.

His death notice described him as the ‘apostle of Methodism in the Macleay’ and he was engaged in his religious work right up until his death. Read more