Hawkesbury
Explore the beautiful Hawkesbury River with the Riverboat Postman, or sample fresh oysters at a riverside café. Start your Hawkesbury adventure with a seaplane flight from Sydney to an award-winning riverside restaurant, such as Cottage Point Inn and Berowra Waters Inn. For an outback experience, visit Tobruk Sydney for an enthralling show.
About the Hawkesbury
The winding Hawkesbury River feels a world away, even though it’s only 55 km north of the city centre. Surrounded by steep, forested slopes, the serene bays and inlets along the Hawkesbury River provided an enclave for early settlers.
The region is dotted with sandstone ruins, historic cottages and convict trails including the World Heritage-listed Old Great North Road, built by convicts between 1826 and 1836. Kate Grenville’s acclaimed historical novel, The Secret River, is set in the Hawkesbury.
Today, the area offers a bounty of areas to escape to, relax in and explore. It’s the ideal location for a riverside holiday or weekend escape. Farms prosper in the rich soils, producing fresh fruits and vegetables. The Hawkesbury Harvest Farm Gate is a popular trail for tour groups to visit farmers markets and farm gates.
At a working sheep station in the gorgeous Hawkesbury Valley is Tobruk Sydney, a daily outback show with performances in horsemanship, sheep mustering, whip cracking and sheep shearing. You can also taste Aussie damper and billy tea by a campfire and learn how to throw a boomerang.
The best way to enjoy the river is on the water. Rent a houseboat and anchor overnight in a tranquil shelter, where you can wine and dine at sunset. There are no dams or locks on the river, which is navigable from Windsor to Pittwater. You can also take a train from Central Station to Windsor and explore colonial history.
The Hawkesbury Paddlewheeler also runs various cruises, including Sunday lunch and jazz performances. Other things to do along the river include kayaking, fishing and water skiing. You'll also find walking trails, picnic spots and even canoeing and mountain bike trails in the national parks and forest reserves.