Just come back from a fabulous few days away - just one hours drive north from Sydney - staying with K in a rental cottage at Dangar Island on the Hawkesbury river. Have had a bit of a thing about the Hawkesbury ever since I read Kate Grenville's Secret River which explores what happened when white settlers colonised land already inhabited by Aboriginal people (actually along the Wisemans Ferry stretch rather than where we were).
Weather mainly wet and windy, which give us an excuse just to slob about, and then I took a boat trip. We explored both the coastal side (the sea entrance into Broken Bay, so named by James Cook when he turned up here in 1770, although there is some disagreement about that) and then further up one of the river tributaries. Mostly scrub covered sandstone rising up directly from the water, with a few tiny strips of beach and some wafer thin settlements clinging to the edge, accessible only by water. Strange to think about the people who live here permanently (in among the tourists and weekenders) with no road, power, sewerage, phone connection or fresh water. So close to the city, but living a life still somewhat connected to those early settlers.
We, of course, had all mod cons (although no cars on the island; transport of goods via buggy and wheelbarrows.)
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