Georges River at Bald Face Point.

Sydney has many waterways - it's not just the beaches and the harbour.

Captain cook Bridge, from Sans Souci

This is where the Georges River enters Botany Bay.

Woronora River Bridge

The graceful Woronora Bridge in southern Sydney helps link the southern most residential area of the city, the Sutherland Shire, with the western suburbs. The Woronora River is a tributary of the Georges River. The "line" down the middle of the second photo is not a fault, but a piece of fishing line caught in the casuarina tree by the river bank.

Can you see the suspended walkway under the bridge? There are impressive views from there, which I'll go back to visit another day!

If you're interested in the engineering of this bridge, see here. It was opened in February 2001.

Como

“Como”, said the station sign. And they ran on bridges over two arms of water from the sea, and they saw what looked like a long lake with wooded shores and bungalows: a bit like Lake Como, but oh, so unlike. That curious sombreness of Australia, the sense of oldness, with the forms all worn down low and blunt, squat. The squat–seeming earth. "

- DH Lawrence, Kangaroo, 1923.

Yesterday I saw a wonderful new play, called Toy Symphony, by Australian playwright, Michael Gow. Gow grew up in southern Sydney at Como, which was indeed named after Lake Como in northern Italy. As the play was based in parts on Gow's life, we travelled to Como in several scenes of the play.

So, today, we did something I've been meaning to do for a long time - we hopped on the train and travelled the 25 minutes from our place to Como and had breakfast at the Como Marina Cafe. Then we wandered around, and walked across the old railway bridge. It's now a footbridge and cycleway, joining Oatley and Como, across the Georges River.
The railway bridge was completed in 1885

Below: Photo of railway bridge taken by Robert Hunt, 1885. Macleay Museum, Sydney.

Above: Cafe, marina and pool, taken from the bridge

After all that strenuous exercise, I cooled off with a dip in the free pool.

More pool pics here.

Aerial Sydney again - this time the south

My previous aerial shots of Sydney have tended to be from the north or west. Yesterday we flew in from the south, then (for those of you who know these things) landed from the western end of the east-west runway - not used as often these days. The approach afforded great views of the Sutherland Shire and St George areas, and the bridges across the Georges River, Como railway bridge (closest), Tom Ugly's and Captain Cook, and all the way across to Cronulla.

I've previously posted quite a few pictures around both Tom Ugly's and Captain Cook bridges, and around the shores of the Georges River. I think it's always fun flying into a city you are very familiar with and recognising large parts of it!

There were two things that were immediately obvious to me as we got lower: southern Sydney still has a prevalence of red rooftops (originally terracotta Marseilles style tiles, now not so much terracotta), and that the jacaranda tree is almost 'naturalised' - look closely or click on the photos to make them larger - and there are vast swathes of beautiful purple blooms.

Fishing near Tom Ugly's

Fishing in the Georges River. Photo taken from Tom Ugly's Bridge looking toward Captain Cook Bridge. Have a great weekend, whether you go fishing or not!

Yeramba Lagoon, Picnic Point

A paper about Yeramba Lagoon wetlands.

This is an estuarine system, isolated from the Georges River by construction of a causeway. It has been heavily affected by suburban runoff, sewerage overflow and illegal dumping. Weed infestation is due to high nutrients from pollution. A volunteer group called Friends of Yeramba Lagoon tries to assist with regeneration.

Curves

Tranquility

Looking across the Georges River towards the city. I called this "Tranquility" to draw attention to the difference between this peaceful scene and the 62 nd anniversary of Hiroshima Day.

Sunday morning fishing, Tom Ugly's Point

Everyone lost in their own thoughts (or telephone).

Picnic: Bring Your Own (BYO) nargile/sheesha/hookah/hubble-bubble

Picnic at Garrison Point, Georges Hall.

Late autumn and winter in Sydney usually brings perfect picnic weather, and there's no shortage of gorgeous places to get the family or social club together to enjoy the daytime sun.

One thing I'm really impressed by is the effort local councils have made to create regional parks and picnic grounds. This is part of the Mirambeena Regional Park, maintained by Bankstown City Council.

I've uploaded some more photos from this delightful picnic ground at Sydney Daily Photos Extra.

The Boatshed, Picnic Point

A quiet spot in the sun on the Georges River at Picnic Point.

Quite a lot of photos recently along the Georges River. I have been wandering around on Sundays as my son plays cricket in parks nearby.

The Georges (named by Governor Arthur Phillip after King George III) is a beautiful river which travels through the southwestern and southern suburbs before flowing into Botany Bay. Downstream of Liverpool Weir it is tidal and salt water. Unfortunately the river became extremely polluted due to industrial and sewerage waste, but in recent years efforts have been made to clean it up.

For many years the suburbs along Henry Lawson Drive (eg Padstow, Revesby, Panania, East Hills, Picnic Point, Milperra) have been quiet, working and middle class "backwaters". Nowadays, with Sydney real estate what it is, there's much re-development.

The southern bank contained much army land that was in its natural bushland state, but new suburbs, like Voyager Point which I showed a couple of days ago, are now being carved out.

The Georges River National Park at least means parts of the beautiful rocky landscape and bush are preserved.

There's some more info and pics, including a map and "journey" along the river here and other websites to explore here.

Foot bridge across Georges River, East Hills

Tomorrow, what you'll find on the other side of the bridge....

Sunday on the Georges River at Milperra

Marina

Shipwright Bay, Blakehurst on the Georges River. Lots of very pricey real estate around here, as with all of Sydney's waterways. The mansion in the background last sold for about $10 million I think.

Tom Ugly's Bridge

When residents of Sydney's southern-most suburbs, in the Sutherland Shire, talk about going "across the bridge", they don't mean the Sydney Harbour Bridge. They're talking about Tom Ugly's between Blakehurst and Sylvania, or the Captain Cook bridge between Sans Souci and Taren Point.

This 3-lane box girder bridge was built in 1929. On the other side, there is another, more prosaic, concrete bridge, built in 1987 to alleviate traffic congestion.

Tom Uglys Bridge took its name from the southernmost part of Blakehurst, known as Tom Uglys Point. There is debate about how the Point got that name. Theories include:

• An Aborigine by that name lived at Tom Ugly's Point in a cave;
  
• It was named after an old fisherman by the name of Tom Illigley;


• Named after Tom Huxley, a caretaker on a large estate. The Aborigines who visited him could not pronounce his name so it became Tom Hoogli which in turn became Tom Ugly's;


• Named after an Aborigine called Tommy who had only one leg, and who in the Aboriginal nomenclature was called "Waggerly" Tom (waggerly being the Aboriginal word for lame animal). Later on he was called Tom Waggerly which was finally changed to Tom Ugly.

Read more here.

Georges River at Taren Point

A rainy day, Sunday. I took a wrong turn and ended up at the Georges River. Fortuitous, as I managed to take this shot in what was otherwise a hot, humid, grey and rainy day.