Hawkesbury Lookout

Hawkesbury Heights

While driving up the bends from the Hawkesbury region today, we stopped at Hawkesbury Lookout.  This lookout is a great introduction to the feeling of being in the Blue Mountains and having the first experience of looking down from a height.  The Lookout is at the top of the Hawkesbury Bends which provides an alternative route up the Mountains via Hawkesbury Road.

Hawkesbury Lookout offers scenic views over the Cumberland Plain and the Sydney Basin and, on a clear day, views to Sydney.  This gently sloping grassy lookout is bordered by tall trees and there are picnic tables and seats placed where you can soak up the view, while having a snack or a bite to eat.  We often pass this Lookout on our frequent trips down to Yarramundi and Richmond, but it was nice to re-acquaint ourselves with this familiar landmark.

There are two parts to this Lookout.  The first part comprises the actual Lookout with views over the surrounding countryside.  The second part is across the road where there is space to drive in and park your car, picnic sheds, a toilet block and little tracks to walk into the bush.

A view over an area that is being developed into lakes and parks.  This is an area that for more than 30 years has been sandblasted and heavily quarried, but is now moving into the next stage that will see the end of quarrying.   The Nepean River is in the foreground.

 The Lookout area has been landscaped with an obelisk in the centre, indicating various points of interest.  I forgot to look at this obelisk and suspect the compass points are no longer visible.

 Looking down over some farming countryside.  The purple flowering trees are Jacarandas, in full bloom at this time of year.  The dominant trees in this landscape are Grey Box, Forest Red Gum and Ironbark.  The Jacarandas are not native trees, but I think they look so pretty.

The Nepean River, narrowly winding its' way through the Fraser Gorge at the foot of the Mountains until it meets two other rivers at the confluence at Yarramundi.

Farm land surrounding the Lakes.  I think it will be great when the landscaping of this area has been completed, because there will be parks and nature reserves available for people to visit.