20160201 NSW Grafton, Mangrove Mt to Wisemans Ferry

01-02-2016 Well! here we go again, on another adventure, our course is Melbourne to catch the Spirit of Tasmania for a 12 hour cruise across the Tasman before we land in Tassie for 2 1/2 months of camping, site seeing, and catching up with old friends we meet on our many travels.

The Pacific Highway Upgrade will connect double lanes from Brisbane and will eventually connect to Sydney so be prepared for many delays.

Our first day on the road and we camped at Grafton show grounds where we meet a couple of guys and chatted the night away over a few to many drinks, I’m sure this will be one of many more to come.

Grafton Speedway is a 440 metre clay dirt oval circuit and we were told is one of the best in Australia but I don’t know how true that is.









In 1932 this old bridge over the Clarence River was the only one of its kind in the world and was regarded as an important structure in the history of bridge construction.  The most interesting feature was the bascule span, operational until 1969, this allowed the centre of the bridge to be raised leaving a gap of around 21 metres wide, allowing ships up to 2500 tonne to pass. 

Interesting as this bridge is but I gotta tell ya the bends made it was quite creepy










02-02-2016  We woke to a lovely chilly morning which was a far cry from Brisbane 42 degrees then drove over 500 ks so we couldn’t resist a much needed drink or three.

03-02-2016 We are not drinking tonight was my first words to Des this morning as he looks at me with a big grin.  We’ve decided to take a different route and get off the M1 heading through Mangrove Mountain and onto Wisemans Ferry where we cross the Hawkesbury River on our way to the Blue Mountains.

 Spencer is a township presumed to be named for the Parish in which it is situated.  The true name origin of Spencer is unclear, but it is believed to be named after George John Spencer, second Earl Spencer (1758-1834), who was first Lord of the admiralty in 1794, and who held this position until 1810.
Well! this is it "Spencer" the tiny town on the Hawkesbury River.
 
Finally a view of the Hawkesbury River, Yak it's not to clear.





That river doesn’t look to clean Des, you would have to be duck shit crazy to eat Oysters off the rocks.
The Dunkirk Hotel on the edge of the river under the shade of a tree, what more could you want.
The Spencer Jetty where you can enjoy a lunch while taking in the view of the Hawkesbury River.

We arrive at the Wiseman Ferry which transports the traffic back and forth across the Hawkesbury River by cable.


I end my blog with this lovely Hibiscus.
Location: Grafton NSW 2460, Australia

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