Yattalunga finished

(Yattalunga walkies #2)


View to Tascott/Point Clare, practically the same as Yattalunga views

The bell-birds were sounding their loud clear single notes in the bush at the end of a long side street. They like it on the upper slopes of the ridges and it’s a joy to hear them as the last rumble of a truck on the main road dies away and the only sounds are those of the bush and a distant circular saw.




I plodded along. The sun was warm on my back and I was tired. I fell into an ambulant doze, lulled by the lazy regular bark of a bored dog.




Davistown Road is the main road through Davistown, Saratoga and Yattalunga. It's well populated, lined with houses and it’s a busy road, by Central Coast standards. But right up the top, just before it joins the even-busier Avoca Drive, there’s a couple of sleepy paddocks of horses. I love that.

Down on the water, on Mundoora Avenue on the other side of Davistown Road, the old green house near the jetty is Gone. There's a new house in its place, a 2-storey job jutting up there right by the water.

This walk completed my walkies in Yattalunga. It’s not big, a small suburb of five streets on the neck of the Saratoga/Davistown peninsula. But I walked the first half of it more than 18 months ago, January 2008. That was when Our Heath (Heath Ledger) died, poor bastard.




That's Yattalunga circled in red on the right. The dotted lines are ferry routes.

The nicest way to get to Yattalunga is to get the ferry from Woy Woy to Central Wharf. Just get off when the crowd gets off to go to the Davo, then walk straight up Davistown Road.


Bonus photo



With the tilt of the roof going up, this is definitely the front of this wee fifties house. But where's the bloody door?


Umina in the news but not in a good way

Umina Bunnies coach Adam King and player Jason Eldridge were two of the blokes nicked for the exploding auto-teller thefts.

The Bunnies' home ground is at the oval between the Umina Beach SLSC (Surf Life Savers Club) and the caravan park down there on the beach. The Bunnies are a league team.

The other Umina Bunnies is the netball team. Chances are they won't be in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Footy stars accused of ATM attacks (link is to Sunday Telegraph so it also contains lolly wrapper porn and a swearing cat, enjoy!)

A little house by the water

For long-winded and boring reasons, I can't yet upload the photos I took while I was offline. So we'll look at a few of my favourite wee old houses around Woy Woy and Brisbane Water.



#1 (Map reference)
We'll start with this lovely old place overlooking the water from Mulhall Street Wagstaffe. Its owner, Geoff, tells us it was built in 1907 and the bargeboards (those curly white boards on the edge of the roof) are original.

Geoff on the house's history




#2
On the water at Leonora Avenue Davistown. Just a few steps from the Lintern Street ferry stop and there you are. Bloody nice spot for a house.




#3
A home among the gum trees. Just like the song says. Henderson Road Saratoga, looking across the Lintern Channel to Woy Woy.




#4
Sorrento House Sorrento Road Empire Bay. One street back from the water and 30 seconds from the Empire Bay ferry stop. Must be 18 months now since this one was bulldozed.




#5
Albany Street Point Frederick (Longnose), looking down into Caroline Bay and across at Peeks Point.




#6
Croke Cottage, in the grounds of the old orphanage at Kincumber South. Out the back door and twenty yards down to the water. The old orphanage ferry stop is about 60 yards away. A very quiet spot at the mouth of the Kincumber Broadwater.




#7
Twin houses at Parks Bay, just across the water (and the railway tracks) from Woy Woy.




#8
Meena Street Woy Woy Bay, circa 1908, just across the water from Woy Woy. Sharp-eyed persons will have noticed this lovely old place in the background of interviews with Belinda "Anger Management Issues" Neal, of Iguana-gate fame.




#9
Lovely old house on Ocean View Road Ettalong. This is its back view. It looks across Lance Webb Reserve to Wagstaffe and, further, to Barrenjoey Head.




#10
Cedar Crescent Woy Woy, looking over the tops of the houses opposite across the water to St Huberts Island and Davistown. That glassed-in veranda is the perfect spot to settle down on a cold winter morning with the sun coming in and a nice hot cuppa tea and a bacon sarnie.




Match the # numbers on the photos to the map.

(Thepurple dots are the route of the ferry Saratoga, the other dots are the route of the Cockatoo ferry Codock II.)


P.S.

Is it just me or does everyone hear that line "I had an uncle who once played for red star belgrade" in Sexuality as 'I had an uncle who once laid a red star brigade'?

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.)

Running hot & cold

(Davistown walkies #10)



Just before it pissed down raining again yesterday morning. Been raining all week here in Woy Woy. Refreshes the soul rain does. Specially with all them boffins on the telly prophesying drought and doom.

It's crap light for photos and I forgot to recharge the effing batteries again anyways so here's some more from Davistown the other week.




Davistown Progress Hall McCauley Street. On the waterfront next to Central Wharf, where you get off for the Davo.

Fibro hall, 1940s maybe though the fibro could be a shell over an older building. Couldn't see the piles to see.

House to the right up on good tall piles. Bet they'll be glad of that come the Christmas tides. Haven't seen another on the flat on piles like that.




Restalla Avenue. Bit of a weird house to find in a street on the flat in Davistown. It's a retro Victorian (circa 1840-c.1890) / Federation (circa 1890-c.1915) terrace house, usually found in tight-packed sloping streets in Sydney's inner suburbs.




You couldn't hardly see the fence this lot was on. It was more like a hedge than a creeper. Nice light-scented jasmine.

Bloke next door to my place has stuck one of them standard rose frames in the middle of his back lawn and planted one of these jasmines under, tied to it. Got flowers on it already and of an evening the warm jasmine smell drifts in through my windows. Very nice.




It was a warm day. The local pelicans crowded into a thermal over Saratoga.




Jenkins Street. Lovely old place. Not on my hist list but I'm going to bung it down as built in the 1910-1920 period. Looks old enough (not the fibro & roof, they're much younger) and so does the tree out the back.

Original windows and door it looks like and the post-and-rail fence is a good 40 years old.




Pyang Avenue. Looks new but closer inspection reveals a mix of new (sliding door, front veranda) and old (most others) windows and doors seen in genuinely old buildings. So looks like a re-stumping job rather than a new house with a retro roofline.

The dingy under the veranda is barely 50 yards dragging from the water. Very handy.


Extra

Nice bit of info and local colour from an anonymous reader on Davistown #9 last week.


The jacarandas are flowering all over the Peninsula. Lovely their soft purple looks outlined against the grey sky, specially when the sun stick its head out for a sec and lights them up. Then it nips back in before I've got time to whip the camera out. Never mind, I'll get one against the blue sky when this lovely wintery weather goes away and the drought kicks in.

Davistown under a blue sky

(Davistown #9, not counting the Putt Putt Regatta)

Lovely weather here today. By my reckoning anyways. It's been dark all morning and just as I logged in there was a flash of lightning nearby and the rain started to come down. The scent of the wet earth and dusty roofs and jasmine on the breeze is glorious. The cat on my lap doesn't agree. I'm minding him for a mate and he sticks his claws into me (the cat not the mate) every time there's a rumble of thunder.




Had a wee picnic on the foreshore at Davistown last week. The weather was the opposite of today, as you can see. It was quiet and still. Storms were forecast for later in the week and it was getting muggy.

It was half tide and a few wading birds stalked about on the muddy sand, looking for pipis and tiny sand crabs. A dozen magpies and seagulls landed and watched me eat my sandwich.

This is looking south-east along Lintern Channel to the corner of Illoura Reserve Davistown and across to St Huberts Island (middle distance) and Daleys Point (far distance). That's the Lintern Street ferry stop between the tree trunks.




Weekender boats in Lintern Channel. These two are always moored of a weekday.

That's Rileys Island behind them, then the hill of Blackwall Mountain behind Rileys, the hill of Daleys Point on the left and that pointy little hill in the background is Wagstaffe. St Huberts Island in between its ramp (left-ish) and Rileys. It's so flat it just looks like houses floating on the water.




Looking north-north-west along to Saratoga (hill on right), Rileys Island on the left middle distance), Koolewong in the middle (far distance) and the ridges of Woy Woy Bay in the far far distance.




A silent creek on a hot day. It crosses under Morton Crescent (off Pyang Avenue) and lets into Lintern Channel. Can't find a name for the bugger on any of my maps so we'll just call it Morton Lintern Creek for now.

Looking north-east in the direction of Kincumber. Saratoga's saddle-backed hill rising in the background.




Same creek, looking south-west into Lintern Channel and at Rileys Island.

Note dingies slumbering under the trees on the left hand bank. Just out of frame to their left were several chairs under the trees in someone's backyard. Lovely spot to sit at any time of year.




From beside the creek, Rileys Island across Lintern Channel.


The rain's slowed to a silent sprinkle but there's another storm booming over Gosford and it'll soon be here. I'm off to sit on my balcony with a cuppa and watch it.

Putt Putt Regatta 2007

Sunday was the 10th annual Putt Putt Regatta. It was held at Davistown, off the Illoura Reserve at the end of Davistown Road.

Putt putt boats are easily distinguished from other power boats by the sound of their engines. That is, their engines make a "putt putt putt" sound.




Test runners before the Regatta. The light started off all right then quickly went to buggery and stayed there.

The putt putt boats came in their hundreds from far and wide. The Davistown foreshore swarmed with enthusiasts and gawkers. Unfortunately it was a crap day for photography.




Two putt putts and the Cockock II. A fair while before the Regatta started.

There were putt putts, there were escort boats, there were dogs, there were ducks, there were stalls, there were crowds, there was a queue for the dunny. There was several seconds of video of the ground with a soundtrack of me swearing at the batteries then getting ticked off by a Dear Old Thing for Language.

It was a crap day for photography anyways. The sky couldn't make up its bloody mind if it was going to storm or not or just lay there sullenly. But dinna fesh yersel', there'll be another Regatta next year and the light will be better.




Way before the Regatta. Hardly any traffic on the water at this point and a few moorings still vacant.




Can't decide whether I like this one or Sally-Anne below better. Think I'll have both!

Yes, that's the Australian flag, yes it's usually on a blue background. The red background version is a marine version. All the ferries have got the red version.




Sally Ann. A lovely wee boat. Just the right size. Note tiller for steering, cushion on seat for comfort on those long regattas, klaxon on port side for politely requesting another boatie to watch where the &%$#! they're going, brolly under back seat (not visible this photo) to serve as shield from inclement weather and emergency sail, and ensign (wee boating flag) to denote country of registration.

Over at the Woy Woy vantage point there was humidity and pelicans and more bloody dogs. Some dickhead zoomed round the point doing the nautical equivalent of 140 in a school zone and the coppers zoomed round after him. There were the mingled perfumes of jasmine and jessamine, pertol fumes and dog shit, spilt beer and barbeques.




All up, it was a good day. Even though the bloody weather never did make up its mind.

Official Regatta site - scroll down for heaps of photos

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.

Arborcide

(Davistown walkies #7)


Embiggen

$1.1 million fine for midnight murders of mangroves.

"[Gosford City Council logo]

Significant tree vandalism has occurred on this site.
Gosford City Council will not tolerate tree vandalism
in any of its public reserves and rehabilitiation works
will be undertaken here. Council acknowledges that
these works may inconvenience the majority in order
to penalise a selfish minority. Any persons found guilty
of these acts will be liable for prosecution under the
Environmental Planning and assessment Acts and Council's
Tree Preservation Order.

Penalties up to $1.1 million"



If this tree was murdered it was murder in vain. The stump is shaded by another lovely big mangrove.



Kincumber Broadwater is between between Kincumber and the Saratoga/Davistown peninsula. It's another offshoot of Brisbane Water.


Embiggen

And it's calm and quiet and much of its shore is bush or grassed reserve.



Looking across Cockle Channel to Sorrento Road or Shelly Beach Road Empire Bay.

As Illoura Reserve gets up towards the Kincumber Crescent end, the mangroves close in and give the place a dreamy feel. The ducks quack quietly to themselves and settle down for a nap in the shade and the sound of boats is distant and low.


Embiggen

In the background you can see houses, little cottages and big flash places, along Davis Avenue and Paringa Avenue. Behind them is the hill of Mount Pleasant over at Saratoga on the other head of the Saratoga/Davistown peninsula.

Locals use the Reserve to walk themselves and their dogs and have their lunch and gaze across the water. Davistown wouldn't be Davistown without it.