Jan 05 2009
Windsor and Richmond, New South Wales
As Sunday, 4th January was the last full day on which we had a hire car, we decided to take advantage of this by setting out on the road with just a guide book and no clear plan for our mini-road trip.
Our first stop was in Windsor, a historic town on the Hawkesbury River. It was established as an agricultural town by Governor Macquarie in 1810. The main street looked like a frontier town from the Wild West with overhanging canopies above the shops and restaurant facades. Surprisingly, it appeared to be a very lively place to be on a Sunday afternoon and there was a row of motorbikes parked outside the Macquarie Arms Hotel, which is reputedly the oldest pub in Australia, opened in 1815.
As we couldn’t find a parking space, we drove into nearby Macquarie Park, where we found a picnic area and a golden sandy beach near the river. A group of teenage boys were diving into the river from the opposite bank, making big splashes as they hit the cooling water. We sat down under a shady tree and admired this view:
We returned to the car and headed for the nearby town of Richmond, which was also established as an agricultural town in 1810. In stark contrast to Windsor, all the businesses were closed and few people were around. The architecture was a lot more modern than in Windsor. We drove past a park where a war memorial was flanked by two old canons.
As baby had just gone to sleep, we didn’t stop in Richmond but decided to press on to the Warragamba Dam. I was surprised that we drove through several very small, sleepy country towns. We were still on the outskirts of Sydney but it seemed as if this area was a world away from the city’s urban core. To our right, we could see the Blue Mountains in the distance.
