My Coast - Davistown
The A-Z of the Central Coast, NSW, Australia
Welcome to the fourth instalment of my fortnightly photo blog. This week's destination is Davistown
D-Davistown
is located on Brisbane Water in the South East of the Central Coast. It is situated 12km south of Gosford. The suburb is named after the Davis family who settled in the area after migrating from Northern Ireland in the 19th century. Young families, as is typical of a lot of places on the Central Coast, and the elderly make up the majority of the population of approx 2,500.
One of my favourite houses at the water’s edge
Davistown has a wide variety of housing. There are a number of original properties built back in the 1950's that are gradually being knocked down and redeveloped into brand new homes, while the rest of the houses fall somewhere between the old and new. The houses on the waterfront are among the some of the grandest and are lucky enough to have sweeping views over Brisbane Water. The residents of these properties get to enjoy the regular spectacular sunsets from the comforts of their balconies.
Sunset views for the lucky few who live by the water
The suburb has a small shopping centre catering for the everyday needs of the residents, but the real social hub of the area is the Davistown RSL, or the "Davo" as it is better known to the locals. The club has multiple bars, a restaurant, function rooms for hire, as well as boasting a massive family friendly outdoor area with a large playground and football field. This is why we love coming here so much with the kids. The club also hosts regular live music events and is home to indoor markets on selected Sundays.
One of the small private wharfs
My favourite part of Davistown is down by the water. There are ferries that operate between the Central Wharf and the nearby waterside suburbs of Empire Bay, Saratoga and Woy Woy. There is also a coastal walk that goes around Brisbane Water for 3kms up to Kincumber taking in all the natural beauty of the area.
Pink tones at sunset
Down by the wharf is very popular with fisherman and boaties alike. The "Davo" has an active amateur fishing club which is family friendly and holds monthly competitions. There is an annual Davistown Putt Putt Regatta & Wooden Boat Festival that is held in Spring. The origins of this event date back to the early 1900's when regattas were often held in Davistown. Challenges were set on who had the fastest "Putt Putt" or who could row the quickest. A "Putt Putt" is a boat normally between 14-18 feet in length and powered by a small single or twin engine. There is still a number of these actively used on Brisbane Water every day.
Walkway to the boats
We came down to the water for a picnic on a Sunday evening to have an early dinner and allow me to take some sunset shots in the hope that the night would provide a spectacular colour show overhead. We weren't disappointed as there were beautiful pockets of colour opening up across 360 degrees. I was running from spot to spot trying to capture my shots as best as I could before the colour moved round again.
Looking over Brisbane Water at sunset
As is customary when we are out as a family something entertaining nearly always happens involving one, or both of the kids! We were sitting down next to the water eating our delicious homemade pizza, one of Tash's specialities, when one of the many dogs being walked in the area took a particular interest in Ryan's dinner.
The new “Paddock to Plate” waterside cafe
Ryan is fascinated by dogs so was happy for its over friendly attention, up until the point when it decided that whatever it was going to eat later on that evening was not nearly as enticing as Ryan's pizza, and he promptly proceeded to finish the lot off. Ryan thought it was pretty funny and just kept saying "dog"! The dog's owner came running over to us to apologise. It was then that we realised it was the real estate agent who had sold us our home last year . We thought it was hilarious, but he was just very embarrassed!
View on a winter’s afternoon at low tide
Thank you very much for reading. If you would like to be notified of my next post in 2 weeks time, where the destination will be Ettalong, please click the link on the right.