Forster to Smiths Lake

When we set up this trip to Oz, Robin requested that we do a road trip north of Sydney. We decided to go about four hours north of Sydney to the Forster area and the nearby lakes.

We stayed in a caravan park at Tuncurry which is across the river from Forster. The unit we stayed in was part of an octogon.

Many caravan parks in Australia are in wonderful locations by water. This one was no exception.

We drove over the bridge to Forster and stopped beside the beach. It was all a bit gloomy from the rain that we had driven through on the way up from Sydney on the day before. You might notice the rock swimming pool at the end of the beach. My friend Geoff and I had come here four years ago when we drove down the coast from Brisbane to Sydney. It was interesting to come back.

High rise across the road from the beach.

We drove up to the nearby headland.

The ocean was calm but the swells were increasing in power from the storm off the shore that was bringing rain to the area.

Have you seen them lately? I must check it out of Netflix.

We walked further out along the headland.

Point from where we took the prior photos.

The impenetrable vegetation beside the path.

The point at the end of the headland.

The beach to the south of the headland. Normally this view would be beautiful but on this gloomy wet day, not so beautiful.

The swells were getting stronger/

Thirty years ago, this area was probably just open fields.

We drove back into Forster. This is the bridge over to Tuncurry.

Next stop was to be Cape Hawke.

It's a bit of the climb to the top but not too bad.

Tower that I climbed to be able to see the views that are hidden by the vegetation.

It was a Saturday. Just another day during this voyage of discovery.

The tower was up in a cloud. This was the view to the north.

Nothing could be seen of the easterly view to the ocean.

Robin appeared out of the forest. Marianne appeared soon after but while Robin climbed the tower, Marianne sensibly decided that looking at a grey wall of fog was not worth the climb.

What the view should have been.

We drove to a nearby beach at Pacific Palms where the waves were becoming more impressive.

Curved roofs were common.

A few miles south we came to Smiths Lake and stopped at a pull off.

Smiths Lake.

We drove south to Seal Rocks which gets its own blog.

There is an actual town of Smiths Lake and we had lunch at this cafe by the lake. Pumpkin soup and crusty bread. Very welcome on a dank rainy day.

House across the road from the restaurant. Many of the houses are rentals in summer.

When we returned to Tuncurry, we passed these large pelicans.

That is quite a mouth.

It's a lovely area and we were all pleased that we came up here.

Sydney - walking further west along the Cooks River

We had enjoyed our walk along the Cooks River which is close to the house we are sitting so we decided to walk further inland to Canterbury Road and then take a train back to Marrickville.

Sculptures in somebody's front yard.

These reminded me of the famous poem.

Shelley's "Ozymandias" I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert.

The river.

The route. We would walk to almost the top of the diagram.

The path has a constant stream of people using it, even on a week day. Walkers, joggers and people on bicycles. Aussies love to get exercise.

It's interesting to look at the houses that line the river. 

The lots are long and narrow. Think about what you would build here. Because of flooding, you need to be well up the hill. Here is a video of flooding from a couple of years ago.

We tend to like the houses with lots of plants and less lawn.

Solar panels are popular in Australia. They really make sense in Oz with all the sun. I read an article in the newspaper about how traditional electricity companies are going to find it difficult to compete with solar by 2020 in Australia.

Marianne likes this style of fence with the rounded tops. It's popular here.

Somebody was growing a real jungle.

An oddity. A house without a fence and at the front line of the property.

Marrickville golf course on the other side of the river. It would submerge during floods that occur every now and then.

A group of senior citizens out for their ride. It's a great idea to join a group like this because belonging to the team will get you out on the days when you don't feel like riding.

The flat flood plain has been used for extensive sports fields.

Trees planted to separate the sports fields. I presume they might slow the surge of water during floods.

Except for the Aborigines, everybody who lives in Australia is an immigrant or a descendant of an immigrant. Over the past decade, immigration from Islamic countries has been common and there are numerous Islamic communities in the large cities. The founder of this center has been deported. The history is interesting.

It's all very peaceful except for the planes taking off from Sydney Airport.

Fruit on the trees that line the river.

Volunteers who help clean up the river banks.

Wattle. Australia's national flower.

An interesting addition to an old house.

It's delightful strolling along.

A mini harbour. We don't know what it was for.

This building was used to process sugar.

You can click on the photo to see a larger version.

I mentioned flood plains. It looks like this is used to stabilize the river bank.

More work on the other side of the river.

The end of our walk at Canterbury Road. We had walked about four miles.

Narrow walkway under the bridge.

Path up to Canterbury Road where we walked to Canterbury train station which was only a couple of hundred yards away.

The river may look serene and inviting, but it is heavily polluted. This article from 2011 suggests that the river is an open sewer. However, it certainly is lovely to walk beside.