Village Vibing: Croydon

Sydney's full of filler suburbs. These are normally somewhere out in Western Sydney and have something like "Park" in their name. Well this next suburb proves that the Inner West isn't impervious to filler content either. 

Croydon

It was a stinking hot day today (creeping up to 40 degrees in some corners of the city). As a result, I did something I don't normally do, and began my suburbsing in the late afternoon/early evening when the peak heat had passed and I could instead enjoy the relative coolness of the early 30s. 

Impressively for our rail network, the trains were still running even though it was sunny, and so the train ride to Croydon was entirely uneventful. 

Croydon's actually quite a large suburb, split roughly in the middle by its railway line. For today's exploration, I chose to exit and explore the southern half,

finding myself in the middle of a town centre once I'd left the station. 

In a word, I'd describe Croydon CBD as "quaint", with the Christmas decor helping this out. 

They have a beautiful old post office,

an interesting community hall, 

and an otherwise fairly quiet commercial centre (at least on the early hours of Saturday evening). 

They've really gone for the village feel here, with your newsagency and other essential services,

more than a couple of cafes and restaurants,

and of course, somewhere to pick up your Scottish Highland Regalia. 

The commercial hub ended as quickly as it started, and I was soon to begin on residential Croydon.

In true Inner West style, Croydon dishes up unique but not mind blowing free standing older houses, 

some more questionable than others, 

and all on long, flat, tree-lined streets. 

I may have been a bit mean calling Croydon filler earlier. Truth be told, a suburb like this is actually fairly enjoyable to cross due to the wide variety of houses on display,

the good footpaths, 

who've made way for the good trees, 

and even the occasional classic car. 

As I continued towards the suburb's southwestern border, 

I passed this pleasingly chequered house,

this bizarrely shaped one

and one that looks slightly too flat,

before I reached the Hume Highway, where I made my way into the next suburb. 

Oh and as I write this up, I've found out that there's a bunch of cool stuff on the northern side of the suburb, such as Wangal Park, a park with a small lake and probably ducks. Figures.

Croydon: The number one suburb in Sydney for kilt hire.