Dear Usain Bolt

Good luck with the Mariners, mate. We'd love to have you as a local and Gosford is a lovely town to live in. Whatever happens, best wishes :)

Harbour View in West Gosford

Both Harbour View (left) & the Batley Street tower are nearly finished, 1st September 2018

Harbour View on the left, part of the Batley Street tower on the right side, between them, part of their water views.

The back side of Harbour View, 1st September 2018

Half of Harbour View is still covered in the blue mesh but the other half is so close to being finished we can see landscaping in this photo, little bushes in the external window gardens.

Behind Harbour View is the fenced off area, between two houses, where the workers have been storing materials and other construction things. It will be interesting to see what is constructed on that site, if anything, when Harbour View is all done and dusted.

Men at work up in the westside penthouse, 1st September 2018

Workers hard at it, installing either big picture windows or big sliding doors out onto that nice big balcony. From there, the view will be north-north-west along Peats Ridge Road and on towards the Mangrove Creek Dam and Bucketty, west over the Kariong Ridge and the Glenworth Valley and towards Wisemans Ferry and south down the western side of the Brisbane Water and over the Woy Woy Peninsula and, I think I remember rightly, to the hypnotic nightly flashing of the lighthouse on Barrenjoey Head above Palm Beach. Not too shabby.

Materials lift slowly rising to the penthouses, 1st September 2018

We can see here the blue and white box, behind a tree branch, that it the materials lift slowly rising up its track on the Batley Street side of the site, delivering building and finishing materials as it goes. Behind it, to its right, we can see the steel staircase the workers use. Very good for the legs.

Two helmeted workers hard at it near the materials lift, 1st September 2018

There was no sign of winding up for the day when I left at midday. Perhaps this site works all day on Saturdays. That's hard yakka bit I imagine it's par for the course in building boom times.

The front of Harbour View on Wilhelmina Street, 1st September 2018

There's still lots of blue mesh on the front of the building but, looking up at the top corners, we can see they are rounded and the front of the whole building has a gentle curve to it. We can also see part of the penthouse roof in the centre of the top of the building.

And I've just realised there's no crane on this site any more, so I'll have to do another Crane Count very soon.


 Extra

Gosford from Yattalunga, August 2018

Afternoon sun sparkling on the water off Yattalunga, on the eastern side of the Brisbane Water.

Gosford can be seen between the two yacht masts on the right. And, with none of the cranes visble at this distance, Gosford looks much as it looked before this current building boom started in April 2017.

Donnison Street in West Gosford

Scaff, crane load & gum trees, 1st September 2018

From front to back, scaffolding puter-upperers putting up the next level up at the top of the site, crane load of materials sailing across the middle of the site, and immediately behind the site, gum trees on Presidents Hill.

Residents in this building will get, as well as those lovely trees out of their back windows, views over West Gosford to Brisbane Water. And it's only 10 minutes walk to Gosford Station.

Railings & their wrangler, 1st September 2018

I assume these are balcony railings being wrangled at the bottom of the site. If I'm wrong, gentlemen please let me know in the comments section at the bottom of this post. I like to get things right when I can.

Packing up for the day, 1st September 2018

Packing up for the day, on a sunny Saturday afternoon. The front fence is being put back into place at the bottom of the site, the scaff erectors are still hard at work at the top of the site and the plumber's ute parked at the curb suggests there's a plumber still hard at work too, somewhere on site. No rest for the wicked.


 Extra

Studebaker Silver Hawk at Ocean Beach, Lion Island top left corner, 30th August 2018

The Studebaker Silver Hawk was made from 1957 to 1959. There were also other Hawks: Flight Hawk, Power Hawk, Sky Hawk and Golden Hawk.

I think this model might be the 1959 because the "Silver Hawk" script is on the fin instead of on the boot and "Studebaker" is across the back of the boot in capitals.

The Australian TV series Jack Irish, set in Melbourne, has a Hawk in it, driven by Jack Irish himself.

Lovely red interior & impatient dog, 30th August 2018

This sweet little dog was very keen for his owners to come out of the restaurant and bring him some of their lunch.

If this is your car and I have any of the details wrong, please let me know in the comments at the end of this article.

Aqua in West Gosford

Retaining walls still climbing at Aqua, 1st September 2018

Foundation work needs to be done right so it often seems to go quite slowly. This site, on the corner of St George Street and Wilhelmina West Gosford, is sloping and was full of sandstone so it's a bit of a tricky one.

(But, for big tricky sandstone holes, Harbour View on Wilhelmina Street continues to take the biscuit.)

Super scooper at Aqua, 1st September 2018

Big boys' toy, at rest on a sunny Saturday afternoon.


 Extra

New site in Frederick Street Point Frederick, August 2018

A new site has popped up in Frederick Street in Point Frederick, right on the border with East Gosford.

The new site's views, August 2018

The Frederick Street site has nice views over the northernmost part of the Brisbane Water, over Fagans Bay (the upper strip of water) and across to the trees of Kariong Ridge. How tall this tower is when it's finished will tell us if its residents will be able to see over Kariong Ridge and over the lovely Glenworth Valley.