Hawkesbury Houseboat
Four nights on a Hawkesbury Houseboat to celebrate my 50th birthday was one of our best decisions. Yes, it departs again from our camping trips. But if you ever want a relaxing few days on the water, a Hawkesbury houseboat is one way to go.
We arrived at Brooklyn Marina, one hour north of Sydney, just after midday. Checked out our 47-foot boat, and then loaded the gear aboard. We had far too much ‘stuff’. However, there was plenty of room, and we found nooks and crannies to stow it all away.
Suppose you have never driven a boat before (like me), don’t worry. It is easy. We watched a short video (15 mins) on safety gear and basic boat handling techniques, and then we were ‘shown the ropes’ onboard. Once we felt comfortable, a skipper took us out of the marina onto Hawkesbury and left us to our own devices.
On the move
With two 60hp Mercury outboards, the Hawkesbury Houseboat chugged along very well. The main challenge was keeping an eye on where we were at any given time, as it is easy to ‘get lost’. We could have done better as the boat was fitted with GPS tracking and was monitored by people back at the marina. We did make a wrong turn at one stage and called the Hawkesbury Houseboat base. They immediately returned and gave us directions, which meant an embarrassing 180 degrees.
From the map below, you can see the red line, which indicates the areas we visited. Four nights and five days allowed us to see quite a bit of the river. We preferred the southern end as the water was much clearer than at the top.
Named by Governor Phillip in June 1789 after Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool, there are undoubtedly many waterways to explore. From the confluence of the Nepean and Grose Rivers to the sea, the Hawkesbury River has a total length of some 120 kilometres.
Fishing
We had fishing lines hanging from the back of the boat every day and caught quite a few… tiny tiddlers, but it was great fun. A friend onboard is a keen fisherman who spent many hours changing tackle and bait. People still catch good-sized fish in Hawkesbury. However, you need to know where, when, and with what to get the biggies. Over the days, we only caught one pan-sized fish, which went down very well for breakfast.
Fortunately, we didn’t have to rely on our fishing skills and could call in on a local fisherman’s Co-Op. This fantastic little shopping complex is located within the Hawkesbury River Marina. We moored the houseboat on our Ripples mooring and took the dingy ashore. Such a wonderful experience to put-put into the shops with the dinghy, tie up and do some shopping. For the evening ahead, we purchased a kilo of Yamba king prawns and four dozen oysters. Within the complex, the small supermarket allowed us to stock up on another couple of bottles of champagne, and we were done.
Moorings
We were becoming experts at hooking the public moorings by this stage, and we cast off again, heading South in search of our night’s stop-over. It started raining, slowly settling in as we wound along the river for the next hour or so. We found a great little nook with a public mooring in the teaming rain. What fun to be on the river in the rain, the girls prepared our banquet, and we settled back to enjoy!
We explored different parts of the river daily and stayed in a new spot every night. Unlike camping, you don’t have to pack everything away, pull up anchor (or throw off the mooring rope) and away you go.
When we saw something interesting, we pulled up, put the anchor on our Hawkesbury Houseboat and rowed ashore to poke about.
The River runs through the Ku Ring Gai National Park. Along the banks, you can see the spectacular 200 million-year-old Hawkesbury Sandstone. Over 1,100 km of foreshore fringes the river. Looking at the eroded formations and colour kept us occupied for hours.
One day it started to rain whilst we were on the move. The rain was quite heavy, visibility was reduced to 50m. I dropped the revs a little, and we made our way slowly up the river. Reaching a lovely little cove,e we moored whilst the rain kept bucketing down. Later we discovered that there had been 80mm overnight,t and our Hawkesbury Houseboat wasn’t completely waterproof! A leaking roof meant some wet patches inside, but we weren’t about to let that spoil the trip. The rain cleared off the next day, and the hillsides were dotted with cascading waterfalls. Beautiful.
Final leg
With nobody around and in one sheltered bay, we went ashore, showering starkers under the pulse of crystal clear waters.
On our last night, we packed away the fishing lines, broke out more champagne (Scotch for me). Turned our eclectic mix of music up. As the sun set with a stunning array of colours, and with no one around, we drank and danced on the back of the houseboat. A great night to remember, rounding out the Hawkesbury Houseboat experience… one that we won’t forget.
If you are not one for being on the river. There are still some beautiful places to stay along the Hawkesbury River. Where you can swim, fish, bushwalk – or laze on a deck!
