Woy Woy
Popular holiday and retirement destination on the Central Coast north of Sydney
Woy Woy is a holiday and retirement centre 8 km south of Gosford and 85 km north of Sydney via the Newcastle Freeway. It is the largest of a number of settlements strung along the western foreshores of Brisbane Water, a shallow but very large inlet. At the western end of Broken Bay is the mouth of the Hawkesbury River and at its southern end the mouth of Pittwater. All four bodies of water are popular with holidaymakers due to their proximity to Sydney, the beautiful scenery, the warm summer weather and the opportunities they present for boating, swimming, fishing. Increasing numbers of people commute every day to Sydney along the freeway and via the electrified train line.

Brisbane Water Drive runs off the Pacific Highway at West Gosford down to Woy Woy. Driving south the road follows the beautiful shoreline of Brisbane Water. The drive reveals that the development is continuous, though it not so excessive as to destroy the considerable beauty of the area.

The words 'Woy Woy' reputedly come from the language of an Aboriginal group called the Guringgai (or Kuringgai). It is said to mean 'much water' or 'big lagoon' - an obvious reference to Brisbane Water. The Guringgai once occupied the land from the Hawkesbury in the south to Lake Macquarie in the north. It is known that the tribe wore possum hair belts (in which they carried their few possessions) and occasionally possum skin clothing. The men carried spears, boomerangs, stone axes, boomerangs and shields and hunted large prey such as kangaroos and fish which they speared. The women collected most of the food - fish (caught on fishing lines), shellfish, fruit, tubers, insect larvae, snakes, lizards and small mammals. When the fish migrated in winter the tribe moved inland to find other food sources.