Cordeaux Dam

Cordeaux Dam

Yesterday,  we joined our friends from the Avid Travel Club for a trip to the heritage listed Cordeaux Dam.  It is one of four dams in the catchment of the Upper Nepean Scheme.  It is situated 94 kilometres south of Sydney.  On the way down to Wollongong it is off the Picton Road.  It was created by damming the Cordeaux River.  Cordeaux Dam is a very well built and handsome  structure, with a strong Egyptian styled architectural character which suits the monumental nature of the structure.  It was built of sandstone blocks, quarried at the site and has the longest dam wall of all four dams.  Massive Egyptian style stone gateways guard the entrance to the dam wall, complete with Lotus Columns and the leafy picnic grounds feature stands of tall palm trees and other reminders of past times.

Here is the Entrance Gateway to the Walkway across the Dam wall.  The Dam is 57 metres high.   You will notice the neo-classical and Art Deco influences in the design of the Gateway and the structures along the Walkway.  

 Here is a detail of the top of the Lotus columns inside the main Entrance Gateway.  The great columns suggest an origin in pre-classical times, their bulges and fluting harking back more to Ancient Egypt or Babylon than Greece.

I love the view from this little window, which is inside a room at the far end of the Dam wall.  The Reservoir holds 93 megalitres of water supplied from a 91sqm catchment which forms a vast lake of water. 

A very pretty view along the shoreline of the Lake.  The Dam is set within the valley of the Cordeaux River.  Upstream of the Dam wall this setting is characterised by the broad expanse of the Lake bordered by the crests of the valley sides. 

Looking towards the end of the Dam wall.

The concrete battlements over the top of the Dam hide a footing of vast stone blocks carved from the surrounding area and which make up the bulk of the dam itself.

Technical Details.  (taken from www.stonequarry.com.au)

"Cordeaux Dam. Completed 1926. Masonry dam (sandstone), with 218,440 cubic yards of concrete. 1,327 feet wide; 996 feet above sea level when full; 156 feet deep. Lake is 1931 acres in size. Catchment area 35 miles square. Average annual rainfall 56". Try converting this to metric!

Part of the water catchment area for the city of Sydney.

But how does it get to Sydney?

While you are gazing at the dam you are only seeing part of this engineering marvel.

At Pheasants Nest (near where the roadhouse is on the freeway) water is diverted to the Nepean Tunnel (7.5kms long) to the Cataract River at Broughton Pass Weir. (Between Appin and Wilton.)

From there it flows through Cataract Tunnel, to the Upper Canal where it flows some 57 kilometres to the Prospect Water Filtration Plant near Prospect Reservoir, and from here it is reticulated throughout the city."

After a walk along the length of the Dam Wall, we drove to the picnic grounds and enjoyed a wonderful picnic lunch, (courtesy of Avid Travel)  set out by Nathan and the team, in one of the picnic shelters.  It was a great outing on a perfect Summer's day.

Dural

The House of Herbs and Roses 

Yesterday we travelled by bus with the Avid Adventure Club to the Hills area to visit a herb and rose nursery in Dural.  It is a while since we have done a trip with this Club and it was nice to meet up with our friends once again.  We set off from Penrith at 9.00 am with the sky overcast and cloudy but at least it was not raining and the weather was pleasantly warm.  We picked up more friends in St. Mary's and Blacktown before heading in the direction of the "Hills". 

This is a lovely part of Sydney suburbia with many beautiful homes and gardens and it was nice to re-acquaint ourselves again with this part of the world.  A lot of new building is taking place and, sadly some of the beautiful countryside is being developed with masses of dreary new build grey two story townhouses, all identical, in a rabbit warren maze of tiny streets in new housing developments.  However, Dural still retains that feeling of spaciousness with many large homes on acreages and beautiful landscaped gardens.  When we reached the Nursery, I remembered visiting this place, many years' ago when it was called Somerset Cottage Nursery run by John and Rosemary Hemphill and specialising in herbs, so that part is more or less the same.  It now has a more relaxed and welcoming feel with many seats in the courtyard, inviting people to sit down and soak up the atmosphere and admire the many potted plants, all for sale.  There is also a Tea House where you can purchase a tea or coffee as well as something to eat.   They also sell dried herbs and a range of gift items.

We enjoyed browsing in the little shop inside the Tea House and then had a delicious light lunch in the tearooms with our own pot of special tea.  I had Temple of Heaven tea (mostly green tea) and Ken had Strawberry Kisses, made from strawberries and a lovely light pink tea.  This was followed by decadent home made luscious cakes.

A pot of beautiful begonias, looking very attractive at the base of the steps into the gift shop and tearooms.

Our bus was laden up with our plant purchases on the way home and every available seat carried a plant or two.

Such a pretty lily lighting up a dark corner.  A purple Arum Lily "Amethyst" Calla Lily with its' beautiful trumpet shaped flower.

I saw this big Axe sitting in a timberyard on the journey home through the "Hills".  Lots of towns in rural Australia love to display a big item that is iconic to their locality.  I guess this timberyard felt it was making a worthy contribution to the Hills by displaying their big axe.





The House of Herbs and Roses is a pretty little nursery of blooming plants and fragrant herbs.  The high pointed roof of the "A framed" Tea House is a local landmark and is easily recognisable.  Inside the Tea House is a shop stocking a wide range of house and gift ware tucked into every nook and cranny, perfect for browsing and admiring.  After shopping it is nice to relax over a cup of tea in the tea rooms, decorated in a very chic style with feather embossed wallpaper adorning the walls.  There was a giant gilt framed mirror propped up against a wall near the table where we sat to have our lunch.  The menu contains a wide selection of over thirty different tea varieties, all served in a teapot complete with tea strainer and beautiful china tea cups.