G'day Casey,
On the weekend we travelled down to Sydney, about 120 kilometres away. Rather than drive we caught the train from Wyong, a large town nearby. Once a centre for timber, dairy produce and citrus fruit, today Wyong has become a popular tourist resort because it's close to the beaches on the Central Coast, and has large retail centres in the vicinity. Here I am waiting for the train.
In the map below the train track is the black line and the red line is the freeway and highway.
From Wyong, the train makes it's way through the various towns, including Ourimbah, to the City of Gosford, a tourist town situated on the Brisbane Water and next to the beautiful Brisbane Water National Park. That is the railway line on the right of the photo.
As you can see the train crosses the water on a narrow strip of land, and then weaves its way along the edges of the waterway to the next large town of Woy Woy. Here it cuts through the mountains in a 1.6km tunnel and exits on the banks of Mullet Creek, an arm of the Hawkesbury River. The train track then winds its way around the creek's bank.
A view from the train's window as it winds its way along the edge of the creek.
The Hawkesbury River has its source in the Great Dividing Range and it flows out to sea at Broken Bay. It is one of New South Wales' prettiest rivers, with bush covering its sandstone banks for much of its course and has some interesting old settlements alongside, including Richmond and Windsor. These are two of five towns founded by Governor Macquarie in the early nineteenth century because of the fertile soil of the Upper Hawkesbury River area. It is a very popular spot for fishing, boating and hiring house boats to cruise the river.
Shortly after crossing the Hawkesbury River Bridge we pass through the river town of Brooklyn where Pat, aged about 5 lived with her family for a short while when they ran the General Store. This small town really owes its existence to the building of the railway in 1887. In those days passengers would get off the train here as there was no bridge crossing the river and board a double decker paddle wheel steamer and go out into Broken Bay and up Brisbane Waters into Gosford. The trip took about 3 hours, and if they were continuing on they would board another train heading north. The first Hawkesbury Bridge was completed in 1889 by a New York firm and was the last link in the railway network from Adelaide, through Melbourne, Sydney and up to Brisbane. It was a major engineering feat at the time. Due to cracks developing it was replaced in 1946. Brooklyn, a popular picnicking spot has been associated with the farming of oysters beds for many years and the beds are a common sight along wide sections of the river but in 2004 a disease wiped out production and the industry is currently being restored. Below is a photo of the bridge looking back the way we have come and the long creek arm to the right that we travelled. The sandstone piers of the old bridge are still there.
Here is an aerial photo of the area with the freeway bridge in the front right and towards the back left you can see the railway bridge we crossed and Brooklyn on the right. At the top of the photo is Broken Bay and the Pacific Ocean and the outer northern beaches of Sydney, the last one being Palm Beach.
After leaving Brooklyn, the train has to haul itself up through 8 kilometres of scenic track to the top of the mountain, passing through 4 tunnels and rising 200 metres to the station of Cowan. When they used steam trains they needed an engine at the back to help push the carriages up, as the grade is very steep. There has been 3 major train accidents in this area over the years.
Another aerial photo is on the left, but this one is looking from the Pacific Ocean and showing the Northern Beaches, outer suburbs of Sydney on the left/middle and the Central Coast on the far right.
We have now entered the sprawling city of Sydney. All trains stop at Hornsby, a major interchange and from here there are two choices to get to the city, via the North Shore and the Harbour Bridge or inland, via the other major interchange, Strathfield. As we were heading to Craig's house [Pat's son] we went via Strathfield and changed trains for an all stops to take us to his city suburb. From the time we left the house until we reached Craig's the trip took about two and half hours but it was an enjoyable journey with all that beautiful water and bush scenery.
Well that's it Casey, in my next letter I'll tell you about my Sydney visit. As always, your mate, Stanley.
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