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This mom says families visiting Sydney should schedule a few days' respite from big city life in the tranquil Hawkesbury River region.

The Hawkesbury River region on the east coast of Australia is a haven for families. Reaching the area is an easy train ride from Sydney, and it's a far better way to get there than the way we are arriving. Driving through the congested suburbs of Sydney, the green open spaces, kangaroos and sweet little villages featured in this vast river area that flows through hills and riverflats feels very far away.

Even though Sydney’s suburbs are pushing at the borders of the Hawkesbury River region, once you turn off the main thoroughfare, the welcome sight of green undulating hills causes a whoosh of relief. We have arrived.

Near & Yet So Far From Sydney

This region was first settled by the indigenous Durag people. Pioneering English families arrived in 1794 to farm the rich fertile soil, then used the Hawkesbury River for transporting goods and people. Its fortunes have risen and fallen, and currently the area contains 17 small towns and villages near five waterways, as well as several National Parks covering more than 70% of the region.

Richmond and Windsor are the main towns to which most visitors flock; historic, pretty places with lovely Old World charm. When we visit, the purple flowers of the jacaranda trees cover the riverside lanes in colorful lilac blossoms. Colonial history is everywhere: From a large waterwheel in the center of Windsor (something to fascinate young ones) to Ebenezer Church, built in 1809 and regarded as Australia’s oldest church. At the pioneer’s graveyard at St. Mathew’s Catholic Church, a walk among the weathered gravestones brings the lives and deaths of early settlers up close and personal.

A drive along the Old Bells Line of Road with its spectacular views across the Sydney Basin, takes us to the lovely village of Kurrajong. This is the sort of place you wander around, browse, and of course, lunch. We find a gem in the Sassafras Creek Café (+61 (0)2 4573 0988) which makes use of the sweeping views to create an alfresco experience involving superb food, an art gallery and craft store.

This arouses our interest in the artists who hide away in the hills and after contacting Hawkesbury Sightseeing Tours (+61 (0)408 751 422), we set off on a drive of discovery. Guide Janice Hart reveals the artistic heart of the region by ‘dropping in’ on artists and craftspeople for a wonderful chance to chat and watch them work. One such artist, Taryn Malzard, works with chalk, creating evocative works in the former ‘Grose Wold Schoolhouse’ built in 1902.

Perhaps the most fascinating meeting is with Chris Woolcock and his wife Viktoria. Chris is a traditional rocking horse maker; surely a rare breed in this modern ‘made-in-China’ age. He and Viktoria create and restore antique rocking horses from as far back as the 1860’s and there is something deeply appealing about hand-made rocking horses that echo simpler, innocent pleasures, long forgotten.

Chris is an endearing ‘bushie’ character. Complete with full beard and battered hat, he is found in a large workshop surrounded by a delightful treasure trove of rocking horses of every description -- from sad broken pieces to magnificent shining steeds with luxuriant manes and tails. The kids walk around and gaze in wonder at the horses, then “Whoa!”

Whats that? Not a horse, it’s a hand-carved train set! Down on the floor they go... “Trains go faster than horses, mum.”