Governor's House |
Another
perfect day for sight seeing; a good day to catch the ferry up river
to Parramatta, an inner west suburb of Sydney and the highest
navigable town on the Parramatta river. We hopped a bus from Glebe to
Circular Quay and found we had 40 minutes to wait for the next
service so popped across the road into the old Customs House which is
now a library and read English newspapers until it was time to go.
Our
ferry was waiting, a fast and sleek catamaran which can navigate the
shallow waters at the head of the river. Being dedicated tourists
we sat on the windswept front deck and rubber necked the coves,
marinas and beautiful water front houses as we went up the river. On
the final approached to Parramatta the navigable part of the river is
one ferry boat wide with mangroves closing from each bank and you get
a fair idea of how it must have been for the early settlers who came
here to grow vegetables. These early colonists relied entirely on
stores shipped from England and the land around Port Jackson was too
dry and sandy for crops. Parramatta was the original allotment patch
for Sydney. A Governor built a house around his garden. Farms were
developed through the 1800s.
Jackster in Blackwattle Bay |
Today
Parramatta is a modern suburb with modern office blocks and a
shopping centre interwoven with older, original buildings.
Our
trip back into the city was by train, much quicker but nowhere as
scenic as taking a ferry up the river.
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