SYDNEY HARBOUR and GOAT ISLAND

26^th February, 2015

We have spent two months at Tina and Paul's home on the Sunshine Coast and with Christmas holidays over and medical/dental stuff out of the way it is time to hit the road again. Sadly we said goodbye to Mitzi over this time. She had served us well for more than three years but the extra weight of the new caravan was proving too big of a strain for her and the Jeep has now taken her place.

Our new Jeep with our Crusader Caravan,
Ranger (the dog), Usher and Pedro (the alpacas) at Tina and Paul's

The Jeep is a diesel 4WD Jeep Grand Cherokee. We hope with its bigger engine and towing capacity the Jeep will pull our Crusader caravan up steep mountains in a single bound – time will tell. We're heading south to spend some time with our son Trent before making our way west. The first day sees us giving the Jeep its first taste of what it will be like travelling with the caravan following along behind. We are most impressed with its performance as it handles the long climb up the Great Dividing Range through Cunningham's Gap with ease. We are also more than pleased with the amount of diesel it is using – much less than Mitzi.  It bodes well for the Jeep!

We pull into the reserve adjoining Trent's place and park beside his side fence. By the time Trent has come home from work we have made ourselves at home. A simple matter of taking a small panel off his fence gives us an easy walkway into the back yard and access to power and water for the caravan. If only some of the caravan parks we have stayed in were this easy! We spent the following week catching up with family and friends and stopped in at Redhead to watch Trent's team play cricket on Saturday afternoon. They had already made it into the finals so it really didn't matter if they won – but they did anyway. Not far from where Trent lives is Munmorah State Recreation Area which has a camping ground near the beach. We couldn't resist taking a look and getting a photo – you can probably guess why?

Catchy name - don't you think?

For our Christmas present this year Trent bought us tickets for a lunchtime cruise on Sydney Harbour which included a tour of Goat Island. We decided to spend a few extra days with Trent and arranged to do the cruise on the following Sunday. Rather than drive to Circular Quay in Sydney and try to find somewhere to park at an exorbitant price we opted for a train ride instead. It took us less than half an hour to drive from Trent's to Tuggerah Railway Station where we could park for free and enjoy a leisurely train ride to Central in Sydney and then catch one of the many trains travelling every few minutes on the city loop subway to Circular Quay. Because it was Sunday we were able to purchase a Sydney Excursion Ticket for $2.50 each which allowed us to travel to and from Sydney and then hop on or off any train, bus or ferry in the Sydney area for the whole day …. bargain ! By 11am we were hopping off the loop train at Circular Quay and joining the multitude of tourists meandering along the waterfront. We didn't have to join our harbour cruise until 12.45pm so there was plenty of time to wander past all the ferry terminals towards the harbour bridge and back to the wharf in time to board the Wangi Queen – a ferry dating back to the early 1900's.

Our ferry (the Wangi Queen) is the little red bottomed boat.
It is kind of dwarfed by the cruise ship moored behind.

While we chugged down the harbour past the iconic Opera House and circled around past Government House the buffet lunch was served on the lower deck. It was quite a feat to climb up the steps to the top deck and stagger back to our seats holding a plate full of food in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other. Trying to eat said lunch and not spill your drink required a smattering of creativity, lateral thinking and a heap of good luck.

Wok has it all worked out ... hold your wine glass between your knees while eating

Our course took us under the bridge and up the harbour towards Balmain.

We leave the bridge and the city behind in our wake

Sydney Harbour is a busy waterway no matter what day of the week, but at weekends the usual commercial traffic is joined by a multitude of pleasure craft all jostling for their place in time and space. We pass and are passed by all manner of maritime vessel – ships, ferries, speedboats, yachts, barges, tinnies, canoes, kayaks, etc. It's a wonderfully chaotic place. Pretty soon Goat Island came into view. It is the second largest island in Sydney Harbour and no-one really knows how it got its name. The consensus is that in the early years of the colony some goats were held on the island for safe keeping – hence the name. The island was used as a place to keep convicts that had committed a crime in the colony. It was large enough to be habitable but far enough from the shore to deter prisoners from trying to escape. Not many people knew how to swim in those days. We disembarked and worked our way up past a couple of large fig trees that had been planted in the 1800's.

The roots of this large fig tree have encased the stone wall

In the 1830's the New South Wales government decided that storing gunpowder in the growing town of Sydney was perhaps not a good idea and Goat Island was selected as the perfect place to build a gunpowder magazine. Convicts were set to work in the quarry on the island to carve out the stone used in building the magazine and other structures.

This building is set against the quarry wall which still bears the convicts marks

The magazine was completed in 1838 and all the gunpowder reserves were moved from Sydney to the island.

Goat Island Gunpowder Magazine

The walls are extremely thick – two skins of solid rock about a metre wide with a gap in between.
There is a phenomenal echo inside the magazine which would inspire any 'tunnel singer' to burst into song.

Inside the Gunpowder Magazine

We climb up the hill to the top of the quarry where we can look down upon the slate roof of the magazine.

Above the Gunpowder Magazine from the convict built stone wall at the top of the quarry

On the other side of the island facing east is a row of cottages that once housed the Harbour Master, staff and families. The Harbour Master's house is the largest cottage and is a wonderful looking building.

The Harbour Master's cottage now stands empty

The island is under the care of the National Parks service and a caretaker lives in one of the smaller cottages. The Harbour Master's house and the other cottages are empty and have been for quite a while. Just a quick look in the windows of the Harbour Master's gives us a tantalising glimpse of period features, wooden floors and high ceilings. It is a crying shame that these buildings have not been restored to their original glory – to be used in some way. With views to die for these cottages would command an astronomical price as tourist accommodation.

View from the verandah of the Harbour Master's cottage  (Wok in foreground)

Apart from the magnificent harbour bridge views the island has 360 degrees of unobscured views across the water taking in the city and surrounding suburbs.

View of the city from Goat Island

In recent times the island was also used in the film industry as a base for the TV Series 'Water Rats'.
After ninety minutes of exploring the island we re-board the Wangi Queen for our trip back to Circular Quay. The captain takes us on a side trip into Darling Harbour and past the Maritime Museum. We have no idea why the submarine has a humongous blow up octopus sitting on its forward deck but it makes for an interesting photo op.

Octopus getting some 'rays' on the submarine at Darling Harbour

By 4pm we are back at Circular Quay and are soon on a train heading out of Sydney to the Central Coast. We've had a great day. It's not often we get to be a tourist in Sydney and it has been surprisingly relaxing. Using the train as our mode of transport was a master stoke! As we watch the world go by from the train carriage windows we can't help but think about what we have seen on Goat Island. There are many historical buildings that need to be protected on the island and structures that need to be removed. One can only hope that Goat Island may one day be restored to a time when its grand old buildings, manicured lawns and picnic areas looked out across the harbour. A place where future generations could discover pieces of our past and marvel at the panorama that is Sydney Harbour.