Graham Hawkey

Visited Boxing Day 2005 for a week and a couple other weekends during early 2006.

"The Boat Shed"

Up a creek with a paddle.

Hawkesbry foreshore

The Dunkirk Hotel at Spencer.

We (Lesley, Stewart and I) are here at a place called Milson's Passage on the Hawkesbury River. This is their place away from the city life of Sydney. Very tranquil with houses dotted along the river and an island just offshore which splits the river.

You can only get here by boat, about 15 minutes upriver from Brooklyn. The post even arrives by boat, Australia's last river boat postman, and you pick it up from the Public Wharf unless a neighbour drops it in.

Below is a photo of my accommodation "The Boat Shed" which comes complete with electric, telephone and running water. The water runs from a tap (supplied by rain water stored under the house) and on Monday briefly across the floor courtesy of the river and a very high tide pushed up by a boat which went past too fast! I'd been warned so the electric cable feeding the laptop had been moved off the floor, imagine the shock I might have got.

I could live in the main house which is set back and uphill 20 yards inland but it seems so idyllic in my boat shed, a little beach and a deck area where we have afternoon cocktails. Please pop round if you are in the area.

I haven't really done any exploring, walking or anything at all physical much, not really up to it. I did scoot across the river in a kayak last week and have walked maybe half a mile up the foreshore.

It's very beautiful with low cliffs and amazing rock formations along the river's edge and then back into the hills and wilderness of a National Nature Reserve. That's why you can only get here by boat, there is no other way in or out except through an area which you'd perhaps need a native guide to steer you through.

Left is photo of part of the foreshore as an example of the beauty.

We have had one outing from here when we went up to Spencer which dubs itself "Spencer - The Hub Of The Universe". This was an outing to the pub. This consists of a table with bench seats under an ancient mangrove tree. You get your beer from the local store and join in with whoever is assembled at "The Dunkirk Hotel" I never thought to ask why or how it got its name. The area up there is called the Mangrove Mountains, presumably because everywhere you look there are mangroves!

Spencer stores has photo's of some of the fish caught in this area and they are large, near the size of a grown man, please note this - I will be sending a photo of a man and a fish which was caught on the jetty next door! So this is a fisherman's and boatman's paradise and also very nice if you like things like hiking, bird watching, etc!

We had a week here from Boxing Day until New Year's Eve when we went back to Sydney for the celebrations. We were due back here on New Year's Day but bush fires closed the roads and the railway to this area. Just as well that we stayed in Sydney because the temperature reached 45 °C, 113 °F or something like that. The air conditioning came in useful!

Last night we had some wild local weather; thunder and lightning then a calm, warm and humid period as we ate our evening meal on the verandah, followed immediately by a gale force wind which seemed to come out of nowhere. A few days ago the weather forecast was for strong winds which might blow bush fires in our direction although we had the river between us and the potential danger. Luckily it turned damp the next day which reduced the potential of that.