Next up in this fine city of ours, I head south to the suburb of Mortdale.
Mortdale
As mentioned, this suburb is in Southern Sydney. Getting in is as simple as a half hour train ride from Central, landing on the entirely typical suburban platform.
As with many suburbs, Mortdale's station is parked in the suburb's commercial core,
meaning I was able to see this expertly painted bakery right from the stairs out.
Mortdale's CBD seems really
old school.
For instance, there's a shoe repair shop (has anyone reading this ever taken a shoe to a shoe repair shop?),
the aforementioned bakery,
and just a bit of a shabby feeling streetscape.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. Look, for instance, this chicken shop has a painting of rotisserie chickens,
and this chemist looks more like an op shop than an actual pharmacy.
How much is that doggie in the window?
Regardless, I actually quite enjoy this vibe.
Other highlights include this church,
with a gorilla-in-pram offering outside,
and this vintage fire station,
from 1914, apparently.
Even this pharmacy calls itself the "heritage" pharmacy, with a picture of a mortar and pestle outside. Let this be your only stop in Sydney for eye-of-newt based supplies.
Is it concerning that the chemists of Mortdale appear to consist of an op shop and an apothecary? Quite.
Anyway, the apothecary roughly marks the end of Mortdale CBD,
and the lands then go residential.
As such, I turned off the Mortdale "high street" onto this suburban side-street.
Naturally, here I found people's houses.
Not unlike the town centre, it's not super flash here, but it does have its own Aussie style that I find pleasant.
It's also wonderfully straight, albeit a little uphill.
I continued through residential Mortdale,
with its old school red brick,
and unassuming classic styling.
Highlights
here include this Mickey Mouse mailbox (cease and desist incoming),
a remarkly dilapidated 1980s Falcon, with the "collapsed roof" factory option,
and this adorable cottage.
I continued heading up the street,
soon reaching the crest of the hill, where I would enter my next suburb.
Mortdale: A bit of nostalgic Australiana.
It's such a hole! I used to live in the next suburb, Oatley, which is like a totally different world. Sydney is strange like that.
ReplyDeleteIt feels a little rough around the edges but the crime stats are fine. It ain't Bankstown. Penshurst feels worse IMO especially Victoria Rd near the shops and Cambridge St area up above Forest Rd. Oatley is definitely nicer than either but the train timetable sucks off-peak.
DeleteMortdale is a lovely slice of old Sydney suburbia! Really safe, lots of big trees, cute older houses, nice older unit blocks, and a lovely village feel while still being pretty close to the city (only a 20-30 minute train ride!). There's a few really nice parks on the Oatley side of it as well as a great micro-brewery that's opened up in the industrial area!
ReplyDeleteEr, whatever you can say about Mortdale, I'm not sure "safe" is up for debate lol.
DeleteThe shoe repair place does a decent job at fixing the zappers on platform boots, and copy's keys too.
ReplyDeleteIt is a universal truth that all shoe repair places also cut keys.
DeleteCrumbs alive. If you the Mortdale is a hole one obviously doesn't get out much!
ReplyDeleteWell, like I said above, I lived for years in the neighbouring suburb of Oatley. If you think Mortdale *isn't* a hole then I'd say *you* don't get out much lol. Everybody knows it is. It's not a controversial opinion.
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