WHAT'S ON IN THE HAWKESBURY AND THE HILLS

HAWKESBURY & HILLS  BULLETIN BOARD

HAWKESBURY REGIONAL GALLERY (WINDSOR) NEW ART CLASS PROGRAM FOR KIDS, 'DRAWN TO ART' The Drawn to Art Program is aimed at school aged children, ages 10 and over, who are already skilled in drawing and interested in learning new skills and techniques with materials they may not have previously used. Four Wednesdays of February, 4 - 5.30 pm (fee) 02 4560 - 4441

SYDNEY LIVING MUSEUMS -- ELIZABETH FARM EEL FESTIVAL , SUNDAY, 3 MARCH. (Parramatta) Music, food, stories of the Eel and the heritage of the first people and their dependence upon the river.  See Macarthur’s smokehouses and the various ways that colonial people enjoyed eels -- the many ways that the Darug people intermingled with the lives of colonial people.

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE! we encourage residents to put on their hiking boots or joggers and tackle the Heritage Trail Bushwalk in Baulkham Hills. Heritage Trail is 6.4 kilometres in length and should take approximately two to three hours to complete.  Along the way, you'll discover Places where colonial settlers established farms and beautiful waterways like Quarry and Toongabbie Creeks. Hop on over to ‘Bushwalks in The Hills’ for details about each of the 12 walks. Descriptions of the ease (or difficulty) of each walk! Great way to work off the holiday bulge

HAWKESBURY REGIONAL GALLERY (WINDSOR) 'ART AFTER SCHOOL'  This popular program is designed to encourage creativity whilst building skills and developing confidence using various media.  Four Thursdays of February: Draw - Make - Paint - Sculpt  4-5.30pm  (fee) 02 4560 - 4441

ALERT RIVER ROAD (LOWER PORTLAND) CLOSURE BEGINNING 11 NOVEMBER. An 11-week embankment revitalisation is undertway. The road is open -- a single lane only controlled by signal lights near 1505 River Road, Lower Portland. For alternate routes, us Old Northern Road, Clifton Road and Wisemans Ferry Road.  Give yourself plenty of time, particularly on Sundays. For further details: more on River Road road closure

HAWKESBURY VISITOR CENTRE, CLARENDON  (02 4560 4620) Staff are a wealth of knowledge. Drop by for all Hawkesbury information. Books, maps, brochures and guides. 9-5pm Monday - Friday; Saturday & Sunday 9 - 4pm

ON-GOING ACTIVITIES

HAWKESBURY REGIONAL GALLERY: ART AND DEMENTIA TOURS ON THIRD THUESDAY OF EACH MONTH AT 11AM. Bookings are essential. These workshops are designed for those living with Dementia and for their carers. Facilitated by gallery staff (specially trained by Alzheimer's Australia) the experience offers an enriching program. Bookings 02 4560 4418.

get up, get out & go...

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From the editor

Get away from rush hour traffic, from suburban living, from life online, life lived through Facebook or Twitter...

A sudden downpour on the Gallery's metal roof. Pummeled by rain, a staccato beat of falling gum nuts. Tea served in fine china. A sandstone verandah with a view to a clever garden ... bronze and sandstone sculpture ... welded steel poppies standing tall and metal agapanthus mistakenly flowering in a large cycad (palm). A spring afternoon in bucolic Freemans Reach (Hawkesbury) where deception, or perhaps magic, hoodwink the eye – low hanging grey clouds attach to lush green hills.

Pitt Town, Maroota and Catti, isolated. Remaining colonial farmstead and houses stand tall: Rouse Hill House & Farm, Bella Vista Farm, and Dural's Roughley House – The Pines. Commercial and residential growth encroach upon this countryside, yet rich black soil and softly undulating hills endure. Produce stands along country roads are evidence of the land's bounty. And a river runs through it.

Big boats, little ferries and low bridges from Brooklyn to Windsor. Kayaks and canoes. Fish–big ones that 'do not get away'. Convict trails. Heritage houses. Distillers and vintners and charming art galleries in places with unusual names like Ebenezer, Kurrajong, Dural, Maroota, St Albans and Arcadia.

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Backroads are leafy and often Mother Nature's dramatic scenes surprise us: sandstone cliffs jut over Wisemans. Diverse cool climate botanic gardens bloom at Mount Tomah — rhododendron of extreme height. Apple-loaded trees in Bilpin. Dark lagoons bloated with lily pads and surrounded by Ebenezer grapevines. Rivers — Hawkesbury, Grose and Colo — swollen and fierce after heavy rains. All within your reach.

To get away from it all, succumb to the charms of The Hawkesbury and The Hills.

Our 2018 short list of memorable trips:
  1. St Albans ... yes, the historic pub for lunch is high on most day-trippers' list, but the drive from Wisemans Ferry to St Albans is unusual with its forests of trees
  2. Yarramundi Reserve — kayaking and canoeing
  3. Bilpin Cellar Door — tasting and gourmet hampers for picnics on the shaded grounds
  4. Museums Discovery Centre (Powerhouse, Sydney Living Museum and Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences)
  5. Hawkesbury Regional Gallery & Hawkesbury Regional Museum
  6. Richmond Good Food Markets
  7. Windsor Sunday Markets
  8. National Parks — The Hawkesbury and The Hills are a doorway to bushwalks and trekking, to boating and skiing and to long winding leafy roads with stunning sandstone outlooks.

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