King tide

(Davistown walkies)

High tide this morning was bloody high. It's full moon and and the tide had swallowed all the wee beaches round the estuary and submerged half the private jetties and dozens of dingies.

The public jetties are made of sterner stuff but the Dear Old Things and I needed sherpas to get up the steep slope of the gangplank onto the Saratoga. They were off to the Davo for a steak sanger and a shandy and I was off to finish off the last few streets of Davistown.




King tide creek Lillipilli Street Davistown. Edge of the wetland beside the road under water.

Lillipilli is a native plant, "a bush" says the Dear Old Thing downstairs, "excellent for hedges". There's some good close-ups of lillipilli flowers and inhabitants here.



Wetland between Lillipilli Street and Murna Road. Looking down through the shallow water I could see the cracked earth of the drought years slowly swelling with moisture and little water critters playing about.

The wetlands are "Swamp Sclerophyll Forest", as I rabbitted on about a while back when I did Cockle Bay Wetland. This swamp is not far from Cockle Bay, a bare 200 metres.




Tidal Waters villas on a canal, end of Davis Avenue Davistown.

If you'd asked me what I expected to find lurking at the end of an ordinary-looking street in Davistown I would not have said a canal, but a canal there was. It led out past the Davo and into Kincumber Broadwater. The villas each had their own little stone steps leading down to a miniscule landing and a nice ring to tie their dingy up. It looked rather fun.




Canal running beside Murna Road Davistown. The canal leading off the Davis Avenue canal and out past the Davo and into Kincumber Broadwater. You can't see it from Murna Road unless you poke your head through the trees beside the road.




Davistown Store c.1920 McCauley Street Davistown

Not sure what this building does now. Seems to be some sort of office out the back and the front seems uninhabited.

Circa 1920 says my hist list, and it looks it. Nice inter-war bungalow. Right next to the public wharf too so handy for the boating trade in its days as a shop.

Lovely cool east wind again today. Yesterday I sat on the balcony for hours just watching it gusting in the old gum next door. Over at Davistown I sat today on the foreshore and listened to it roar soft and cool through the needle-leaf pines and the water slap and splash against the tied-up boats.




Updated my walkies progress map at last.

Saratoga and Davistown are at 1 o'clock and 2 o'clock from Woy Woy.

Walkies finished marked in solid orange. Walkies unfinished marked in orange stripes.


Still got a bit to go of Saratoga and Hardys Bay etc. Gosford I've done a bit of but not much. Bradys Gully cemetery was a North Gosford walk.


Walks I have finished since I started

The Peninsula: Woy Woy, Blackwall, Umina, Ettalong, Booker Bay, Pearl Beach & Patonga
Correa, Horsfield, Phegans & Woy Woy Bays
Parks Bay
Koolewong/Murphys Bay
Tascott
Point Clare
Longnose (Point Frederick)
Davistown
Empire Bay
St Huberts Island
Daleys Point
Fishermans Bay
Wagstaffe

Walks I've done bits of since I started

Kincumber
West Gosford (might've finished this but can't be buggered looking it up)
East Gosford & Springfield
Gosford
Hardys Bay
Pretty Beach

(There's a better list somewhere in my archives. If anyone's got the URL for it, pop it in the comments there's a dear, I've spent half an hour looking for the bastard.)

Six-furlong track

(Davistown walkies #8)



"Race Meeting "Davistown
View of betting ring & saddling paddock taken from grandstand"

"Horse races were held on a six furlong track built by Bill and George Davis and the straight of the track is still marked today by Davis Ave."
(From Illoura Res. sign, full text below)

The grandstand is long gone and I didn't spot any of those houses still in existence but the red-roofed house below is of a similar period to the race track.

Illoura Reserve Walk sign, full text:

"Illoura Reserve Walk
Restella Guest House

Davistown had its beginnings as a shipbuilding town, but by the 1920's it had become a popular tourist resort.

Davistown had much to offer, with regular ferry transport to Woy Woy railway,
well appointed boarding houses, furnished cottages, boating, fishing and bathing facilities.

Horse races were held on a six furlong track built by Bill and George Davis and the straight of the track is still marked today by Davis Ave.

Restella Guest House stood in this area, run by local identity Mrs Sarah Ellen Jenkins.
Restella was noted for its hospitality with a 1928 tourist guide saying:
"There is every provision for all holiday makers' needs; no one need make burden of their vacation by
dragging up boxes and hampers of provender. Prices locally are very reasonable."

Many pretty weekender properties were also built in this area.
Made of fibro and timber, many of these buildings were sold as inexpensive kits from local sawmills or larger suppliers such as George Hudson.

You can still be transported back to the glory days of Davistown every time you see a Putt-putt boat take to the water!
Beautifully maintained these small wooden vintage boats can often be seen chugguing along Cockle Channel.

Bill and George Davis held very popular horse races
on a six-furlong track in today's Davis Avenue.
(Dundon Collection, Gosford City Library)

[Gosford City Council logo]
Central Coast"



Saratoga/Davistown peninsula. (Readable size)

The bright green line is Davis Avenue, the straight of the old Davistown six-furlong race track.

Across bottom, left to right:
Pelican Island off Woy Woy, Rileys Island & Empire Bay.

Top left corner: Kincumber South.

The pencil lines are the path of the Saratoga ferry.


Embiggen

This lovely old place has a decent chunk of land around it. Hope it stays that way. (Front view)

It's not on my hist list but is a well-maintained or restored example of Victorian Georgian (circa 1840-c.1890) or a very plain Federation Queen Anne (circa 1890 - circa 1915). Probably late Victorian. A lot of the houses along the Davistown foreshore would've been similar.

Back to race track photo


Embiggen

I suspect this place is not half as old as it appears but is in fact a small 1940s house with extensions here and there and with that nice wooden valance on the veranda lending a pleasant suggestion of Queen Anne (circa 1890 - c. 1915).

I like it.