I've always liked to casually think of the boundaries of a city as "start in the CBD and go until you hit cows", by that definition, this next suburb is outside of Sydney's bounds, making it a Sydney by Technicality. Welcome to
Austral
Austral is a suburb in Outer Western Sydney, sitting just a few suburbs west of Liverpool. Naturally, to get in I elected to drive, rather than take some hilariously infrequent bus and be dropped off in the middle of nowhere.
As this is a Sydney by Technicality post, the land is wide and development is sparse. Pleasingly, the suburb chose to greet me with sweeping views of the Blue Mountains too.
In large part due to the Western Sydney airport being built in nearby Badgerys Creek, Austral is part of what the government calls the South West Growth Area. This is government-speak for Austral being due to be redeveloped from open land into Schofields-esque cookie cutter housing development.
There is already evidence of this, with some patches of land visibly being worked on for housing.
For now though, the suburb is still fairly rural,
save for this cute house,
farmland,
including an actual cactus farm,
and this childcare centre. Does anyone else think it's bizarre that the first and most prominent thing that this centre advertises is accepting all religious beliefs? I would've thought it would be a given, but that's just me.
Driving down the road, I saw another thing that made me immediately pull over to the side of the road.
I thought this was a donkey but google images suggests that donkeys have longer ears. Is this a miniature horse? Why is it SO DAMN CUTE.
You know you're from the city when a tiny horse makes you stop and take a million photos.
Ah, it looked at me.
As you can expect with a suburb like this, Little Horse Jones isn't the only animal around. This nearby property also keeps a couple of cows and sheep.
They're almost cute enough to make you vegetarian. Almost.
Having looked at a reasonably good number of animals, the next suburb was just a few streets away.
Austral: I look at animals, and animals look at me.
Hasn't changed much in the almost 30 years since I lived out that way. Will be sad when it disappears like so many other suburbs that were rural out there. I remember when we used to drive up Elizabeth Drive and once you hit Cowpasture Rd it was all farms!
ReplyDeleteChange can be bittersweet. If nothing else, its interesting to see the city grow and these outer suburbs transform.
Delete'If you build it, he will come.'
ReplyDelete'It' = Leppington railway station, opened 2015, just south of boundary with Austral.
'He' = Property developer subdividing Austral's 2-acre blocks.
Yep, although the cynic in me says "it" is built for the benefit of the developer, rather than the people!
DeleteI think it's a pony :)
ReplyDeleteShows how much of a city boy I am!
DeleteIt's amazing how spread out Sydney actually is.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. I'm personally a believer of the need for the city to continue building up rather than out, but each to their own.
Delete