Oxley Boatshed, Hawkesbury River

The following article originally appeared in Australian Traveller magazine, May 2010

Cut off from land with nothing but the sound of lapping waves and encroaching wildlife to contend with, Justin Wastnage recently introduced his wife, his newborn son and his visiting British parents to the joys of riverside living. What could be more relaxing? Words and images by Justin Wastnage, who paid his own way and visited anonymously.

There’s nothing a visiting Pom loves more than a brush with our native fauna, especially if a nature documentary has told them it will kill them. So I was surprised at how muted the shriek that emanated from the bathroom was. My stepmother had been quietly minding her own business when a classic hand-sized huntsman revealed itself to her by emerging from its spidery hiding place and shimmying up the wall.

I was far from surprised at the hairy-legged arrival, being as we were in a hut (albeit a very well-appointed one) an hour north of Sydney on the edge of the Popran National Park. My stepmother, however, was less sanguine about the incident, which would have convinced her to pack up and leave had we not been marooned with only a tiny runabout skiff to take us back down the Hawkesbury River to Kangaroo Point and civilisation.

Her scream would have been louder, but for the fact that she and my father were over from the UK to visit their newest grandson, who was fast asleep and oblivious to the ruckus your average Australian arachnid can cause. He’d not been fed the constant diet we British get served up on our TV screens of the Crocodile Hunter, shark attacks and reality shows that pit unwitting C-list celebrities against the horrors of the Australian bush.

So while I calmly coaxed the huntsman down from the wall and into a cup, my stepmother retreated to the safety of the decking. We had another three days together, my wife, my son, my parents and the wildlife. Luckily the Oxley Boatshed has plenty of space.

A converted working boatshed, the building was beautifully restored into a private weekender before the owners begrudgingly turned it over to the holiday rental market. Approaching it by water taxi, its burgundy sliding doors are framed by black-stained timber. Inside we find massive floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows, incongruous in a boatshed, that separate us from the forest.

Continue reading the article on the Australian Traveller website