The Ruined Castle of Calabash Bay

Calabash Bay is located at the south western end of the Hawkesbury River on Berowra Creek.  Access to the shallow bay, which is a beautiful mangrove wetland, is by boat.  Access to the ruined castle at Calabash Point is a 4km walk along a fire trail (locked gate) off McCallums Rd, Berrilee, NSW.

When going on an adventure with kids always triple check the weather forecast and therefore take enough water and never underestimate the whinging power and stubborn nature of the middle child.

A couple of weekends ago Evan and I spent a very relaxing weekend away at Berowra Waters for our 15th wedding anniversary. I had been promised water sports, a nice dinner and bushwalking. We stayed in a little studio with a spectacular view down Berowra Creek, and enjoyed kayaking in the mangroves, swimming off the pontoon, exploring in the tinny, and a very nice dinner at the Berowra Water's Inn, however, no bushwalking.  We only had water access and when we looked at Google Earth to see if there was any bush track on the hill behind us, all we could see was a fire trail running along the top of the ridge and it ended at the point at Calabash Bay.  From the arial photo, something caught our eye at the end of the track, almost camouflaged in the bush, there appeared to be the foundations of an old building.  As much as I like a good bush bash we decided that this was an adventure for another day.  

After a bit of digging around on the internet I found a bit of local history.

On a peninsular overlooking Calabash Bay stands the tall imposing stone ruins of what appears to be a castle. It is referred to as "the ruins" or "the haunted house".  In the 1890s, 40 acres of land was purchased by John Fretus, the owner of the Sans Souci Hotel. When the license was removed they decided to demolish the hotel and move the stone to Calabash Bay by a coastal steamer. They carried the stone blocks up to the ridge top and built the castle, which was completed around 1900. The plan was to operate it as a hotel/guest house because a road was partly surveyed from Berowra Railway Station to the creek. A ferry service would link it to Berrilee and beyond. However, the surveyor at the time made a terrible blunder with his survey as he did not cover the whole route personally through the rough terrain but relied on local's information for the survey. It turned out that there was a deep gully behind the last hairpin bend and the magnificent Fretus Hotel was left with no road access. It was used as drying-out place for alcoholics but in other years it was used for "booze-up" weekends. The Fretus family established an orchard, hence all the terracing still to be seen. Fretus made the mistake of introducing Angora goats which went wild and ringbarked all the orchard trees during a drought. The castle was burnt out in a bushfire some time later. (abbreviated from Lost Worlds of Kuringai: Ruined Castle of Calabash, coolrunning.com.au, 2010)

The weather forecast predicted showers and we'd planned to ride bikes with the boys, out along the fire trail to the castle.  We didn't have the 45 degree heat of the previous weekend, however, there was no sign of rain and by mid morning it was heating up.  I'd decided to run rather than ride, however, the run turned into walk when middle child decided it was too bumpy to ride, and when he decides he's not going to do something...

So apart from the non stop verbal encouragement to middle child to keep going the first couple of kilometres along the fire trail were quite easy and flat, taking us through the typical woodland and scrub vegetation associated with Hawkesbury Sandstone. Scott and his friend had gone off ahead and we found them at the top of a very steep hill.  Too steep to ride or even drive down, however someone had tried (in a small car) and failed, some time ago. The steep hill marks about halfway along the trail and we left the bikes here and walked the next two kilometres.

As the water came into view through the trees we had almost reached the castle ruins and we were all excited to find more than just stone foundations. The partially rendered sandstone walls still resembled rooms and we could work out which rooms could have once been the kitchen, dining room, store rooms and the many bedrooms which would have once had spectacular views of Calabash Bay and beyond.  Almost one hundred years of engraved graffiti adorned the walls, enriching the history of the place.  In it's day it would have been a grand hotel in the bush, but really, it was a bit out of the way and with no road access, how was it ever going to survive?

We identified a few flat bits of ground to pitch tents if we planned on returning, however, all water would need to be carried the 4km in, and the name 'the haunted house' may have us thinking twice.