The first British explorers to visit the area surveyed Emu Plains in 1790 and named it Emu Island after emus they sighted on the land and in the mistaken belief that the land was actually an island in the Nepean River. It was first referred to by its current name by Governor Macquarie in 1814 when one of the first roads over the Blue Mountains was built from there. A government farm with convict labour was established in 1819. It closed down in 1832 with the establishment of the village of Emu Plains.
Unfortunately the menacing clouds that I had frequently seen when I was in Sydney picked now as the time to release all their moisture, and rain it did!!! It started to rain a couple of hours after I got to Emu Plains on Thursday and it rained almost continuously until Sunday, when it became intermittent during that afternoon. The good part about a few rainy days is that I got to spend a lot of time with my friends who live there, but the 'down' side is that I wasn't able to get out and about as much as I might have otherwise --- and so I don't have as much to show you about the Emu Plains area either.
Now if you have read my posts for Sydney you would know that I saw my first water dragon when I was walking along the coast in Manly. Well as soon as I got to Emu Plains what did I see there - but one of two resident water dragons that live in my friends' pool and surrounding gardens. If I remember correctly this is Lily - but I didn't see her friend Walter who also lives there.
On Saturday we decided to try and combat cabin fever a little bit by going into the Sydney Fish Market. Sydney Fish Market was established in 1945 by the state government, and in 1994 it became a privately owned company. Sydney Fish Market incorporates a working fishing port, wholesale fish market, fresh seafood retail market, a seafood cooking school, and various other eateries and stores. There are also daily wholesale auctions for Sydney's seafood retailers. It is the world's third largest fish market.
The beautiful ANZAC Bridge is located nearby to the Fish Market. The ANZAC Bridge is the longest span cable-stayed bridge in Australia. The bridge is 32.2 metres wide and the main span is 345 metres long. The bridge was built in 1995 and was given its current name on Remembrance Day in 1998 to honour the memory of the soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who served in World War I. An Australian Flag flies atop the eastern pylon and a New Zealand Flag flies atop the western pylon.
As I said, the rain let up a little bit on Sunday and so my friend and I decided to go and see the Warragamba Dam. The Warragamba Catchment supplies Warragamba Dam, Sydney's most important source of water. Completed in 1960, Warragamba Dam holds about four times more water than Sydney Harbour and currently accounts for about 80 percent of the region's available water supply. Warragamba Dam is in a narrow gorge on the Warragamba River and it is one of the largest domestic water supply dams in the world. Water is collected from two local river systems, covering an area of 9 050 square kilometres, to form Lake Burragorang behind Warragamba Dam. Lake Burragorang is the largest urban water supply in Australia.
After heavy rainfall across Sydney's water supply catchments Warragamba Dam reached full capacity and had recently started to spill over, and that's what we went to see. The additional outflow was averaging 24,000 megalitres a day compared with the daily 1400 megalitres being piped to Sydney.
When you realize that as recently as between 1998 and 2007 the catchment area experienced extremely low rainfall, and in 2007 it recorded an all time low of 32.5% of capacity, it's no wonder that people were flocking out to see the dam flowing over now.
After visiting the dam I decided to take advantage of 'no rain' time and go for a walk along the Nepean River. The Nepean River, also known as Yandhai, is a major perennial river located in the south-west and west of Sydney. The Nepean River and its associated mouth, the Hawkesbury River, virtually encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney.
While I was walking I came across these Superb Fairywrens, or colloquially known as the Blue Wren. The males have the striking bright blue colouring while the females and juveniles are predominantly grey-brown in colour.
Although it's hard to tell from these photos, the Nepean River is quite high right now, obviously as a result of all the rain. In many locations I had to leave the walking trail I was on because it was now under water.
And you can see that a good part of this boat ramp area is also flooded.
Speaking of things being flooded due to the rain, today was another travel day for me as I headed back into Sydney and then was supposed to catch a train north from Sydney up to a town called Taree ... except that the train wasn't running. Although I'm not sure if the reason for no trains was flooding or trackwork, flooding is definitely an issue all along the coast of New South Wales right now. These are just a couple of pictures I took today. You could always swim out and then stand on the picnic table to have your picnic if you wanted to.
And how about this - the rowing team can literally row their boats into and out of the rowing clubhouse!
So now I'm in a little place called Old Bar, a coastal community about 15 kms east of Taree. But more on this area still to come.
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