Hi Pat, yes the "Oyster Farmer" movie was mentioned in the article I posted
......
'The river has always attracted these gentle characters. To live on its banks is to make a statement about your priorities in life just as the characters in Anna Reeves's 2004 movie Oyster Farmer - with names such as Mumbles, Pearl, Brownie, Slug and Skippy - evoked a world little understood by people who are only 15 minutes away by water.

And that is part of the charm. All of the places visited by the riverboat postman can be reached only by water. To go to the Hawkesbury is to excuse yourself, with a knowing smile, from the world of roads, cars and trucks.'
......

Also see the movie is now available for rent from video stores, and also to buy at around Au$23.

Will be renting that next time I pass my local video store, can't wait ... thanks for the tip! (f)

Getting to remote areas with the local postal contractor (often the only way) features in so many books on Oz outback, noticed most recently in reading, would u believe, "Oyster" (1999) by Janet Turner Hospital, set in an outback Queensland opal-mining community. A gripping, dark and exceptionally well-told tale with the main focus on religious nutters.

Jackie

Some years ago, I took an elderly aunt for a trip on the riverboat postman, including a sit-down lunch, which as I remember was fine. But I begrudged having to sit down inside, when I could have been up on deck enjoying the fabulous view and munching sandwiches instead. There are big windows, of course, but it's not the same. So I advise, take your lunch, or buy the bagged version.

Yesterday on the train from Newcastle to Sydney, I passed Hawkesbury River Station, from where the boat leaves. Not all trains stop there. But to come from Sydney by train is a great trip , through Kuringai National Park and the Hawkesbury sandstone country, and along its waterways. On the way down from Newcastle, at about 8.30am, I spotted a large kangaroo, two wallabies and another group of four wallabies alongside the track.