On this blog, I spend a lot of time in obscure Western Sydney suburbs. Today's a little more exciting, because we at least get to see some animals.
Merrylands West
You don't have to be Magellan to work out that Merrylands West is west from my previous suburb of Merrylands. Walking off of the main Merrylands Road brought me into the suburb.
One of the first places I passed as I entered is this old-school looking mechanics' workshop. Good going Whitey.
And the houses?
Well, unlike the Ethnic Homes and Gardens chic that is Merrylands, this suburb doesn't appear to be nearly as pillarific. In classic Western Sydney style, you've got an unnotable mix of old, smaller places with land,
and newer houses and townhouses, with much less land.
That being said, clearly The Pope was visiting Merrylands West earlier in the day because this house was fully decked out.
Look, there's pretty much one thing of interest in Merrylands West, and it's not people's flats
(although somebody drying their rug over the balcony did make me smile a little),
it's not the T-Way bus line running through the suburb (although I am a fan of the T-ways),
and it's not even The Middle feast restaurant and shisha lounge (although it's refreshing to see a restaurant with a punny name that isn't Thai).
No, the one thing of interest in Merrylands West is this park.
This is Central Gardens, and it's awesome. Yes, there's barbecues, somewhere to kick a ball around, plenty of room for a picnic, but that's kind of standard really.
I followed these excellent ducks to get to the real reason this park is awesome.
Free wildlife exhibits!
If you don't know that they're here, the wildlife exhibits at Central Gardens are a welcome surprise, tucked into otherwise an otherwise kind of forgettable (sorry not sorry) suburb.
They have a few aviaries where you can look at fluffy birds,
they have some sassy emus,
with a bonus brush turkey or two,
and, if you follow the path along,
they've got a bunch of different types of wallabies and kangaroos for you to gawk at.
Apart from that, the park also features a couple of pretty little ponds,
with a some assorted water birds added in for good measure.
Here's some more fine Merrylands West ducks as I leave this fantastic public space.
I left Central Gardens to head for my next suburb. This took me through a real hodge-podge of suburbia.
First, Merrylands West presented another pillar city,
and a couple of roofy-kids,
A little further along, I made my way into this park with more rules and warnings than a nuclear power plant, including a concerning one about snakes.
While this park isn't very interesting,
the path leads to this great elevated bike path. Fun fact, this is the same bike path which leads to the super cool Boothtown Aqueduct back in Greystanes.
Sadly, today wasn't a "walk along the pathway" sort of day, as on the other side is another suburb!
Merrylands West: If there's another suburb where you can watch a kangaroo eat the floor, tempt an emu to peck your finger off and then chase some ducks, I don't know it.
So ordinarily this would be the end of the post, but the next suburb is so damn small I thought I'd just shoehorn it in here. This is
Woodpark
It turns out that just south of Merrylands West is a tiny suburb called Woodpark. Heading down from the bike path dropped me off in this residential 'burb.
Woodpark could be pretty much anywhere in Western Sydney, with not much other than ordinary, mid-twentieth-century houses here.
They do have a small community shopping strip,
which feels a little bit 1993.
And that's kind of it.
This small neighbourhood park led me into my next actual suburb.
Woodpark: It's not that woody, and it's barely parky. Why is this place even here?
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