Saturday, July 19, 2014

Sydney - walking further west along the Cooks River

We had enjoyed our walk along the Cooks River which is close to the house we are sitting so we decided to walk further inland to Canterbury Road and then take a train back to Marrickville.


Sculptures in somebody's front yard.


These reminded me of the famous poem.


The river.


The route. We would walk to almost the top of the diagram.


The path has a constant stream of people using it, even on a week day. Walkers, joggers and people on bicycles. Aussies love to get exercise.


It's interesting to look at the houses that line the river. 


The lots are long and narrow. Think about what you would build here. Because of flooding, you need to be well up the hill. Here is a video of flooding from a couple of years ago.


We tend to like the houses with lots of plants and less lawn.


Solar panels are popular in Australia. They really make sense in Oz with all the sun. I read an article in the newspaper about how traditional electricity companies are going to find it difficult to compete with solar by 2020 in Australia.



Marianne likes this style of fence with the rounded tops. It's popular here.




Somebody was growing a real jungle.



An oddity. A house without a fence and at the front line of the property.




Marrickville golf course on the other side of the river. It would submerge during floods that occur every now and then.




A group of senior citizens out for their ride. It's a great idea to join a group like this because belonging to the team will get you out on the days when you don't feel like riding.


The flat flood plain has been used for extensive sports fields.


Trees planted to separate the sports fields. I presume they might slow the surge of water during floods.




Except for the Aborigines, everybody who lives in Australia is an immigrant or a descendant of an immigrant. Over the past decade, immigration from Islamic countries has been common and there are numerous Islamic communities in the large cities. The founder of this center has been deported. The history is interesting.



It's all very peaceful except for the planes taking off from Sydney Airport.




Fruit on the trees that line the river.




Volunteers who help clean up the river banks.



Wattle. Australia's national flower.



An interesting addition to an old house.



It's delightful strolling along.



A mini harbour. We don't know what it was for.





This building was used to process sugar.


You can click on the photo to see a larger version.



I mentioned flood plains. It looks like this is used to stabilize the river bank.


More work on the other side of the river.


The end of our walk at Canterbury Road. We had walked about four miles.


Narrow walkway under the bridge.


Path up to Canterbury Road where we walked to Canterbury train station which was only a couple of hundred yards away.

The river may look serene and inviting, but it is heavily polluted. This article from 2011 suggests that the river is an open sewer. However, it certainly is lovely to walk beside.

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