An early morning ride along the Alexandria Canal from Tempe to Alexandria.
Enjoyed breakfast at The Grounds cafe.
Not really what could be described as a scenic ride… it is along a canal and beside an airport after all, but still, a bit of blue on the map to fill in, and breaking at an institution such as The Grounds… well, any excuse will do!
Credit where it’s due. The local councils have done a terrific job of building a river front walk along the northern bank of the Parramatta River. Today we walked from the Rydalmere ferry stop west to Parramatta, past hundreds of new apartments (thousands of beds?), through industrial blocks, through University of Western Sydney and on to Parramatta ferry stop.
A quick coffee at the Port Bar Restaurant before continuing west into Parramatta Park before turning around and catching the ferry back to Rydalmere.
Great walk.
Overcast and showery for a walk today through Putney towards Gladesville.
A real mix of houses, some beautiful, some ugly, others huge and some obviously just sitting on a goldmine by the water and refusing to waste a cent on any renovation or work before selling for demolition in the future.
Who knew that the original James Squire Bewery, Australia’s first brewery, was in Ryde, eh? Well, Putney. Where the red spot is below.
A lot of this walk was along the waterfront and through parks… nice.
Another short walk around the Woolwich peninsular, this time on a rainy winter morning.
Some stunning houses.
We started with breakfast at The Coal Loader Cafe. in Balls Head Rd at Waverton, where we were a few weeks ago. Beautiful spot – have to remember this as a venue for a 60th or similar.
From there we headed west, making our way around Balls Head Bay and Oyster Cove, around Berry Island Reserve and on towards Greenwich above the fuel tanks at Gore Cove, some of which have been removed, but some are still in use today, pumping fuel from here to Clyde near Parramatta.
Coal Loader Cafe to Greenwich Rd
Coal Loader Cafe. Lovely.
Coal Loader Cafe
Old wharf fallen into disrepair at Waverton below the Coal Loader Cafe
Old street signs art installation below the Coal Loader Cafe
Looking west towards Wondakiah Dr
Tunnel under the old Coal Loader site
Oyster Cove at the end of Wondakiah Dr at Waverton. Dense housing around, but lots of parkland maintained. Nice!
Remnant of the old gasworks at Oyster Cove at the end of Wondakiah Dr at Waverton. Dense housing around, but lots of parkland maintained
Berry Island – the point where land was filled to connect it to the mainland and make it no longer an island as such,
Berry Island
Berry Island
Looking back towards the Coal Loader
At the point off Berry Island
Along the path between Berry Island and Greenwich
Along the path between Berry Island and Greenwich
Hollaway Park
Hollaway Park, at the end of Vista St. Beautiful little park with a view
Vista St Greenwich
THE spot to watch the fireworks in Sydney! Greenwich Rd, above Gore Cove.
We drove down to Rhodes and parked at the northern end of the path, near the railway bridge to Meadowbank.
We unloaded the bikes and headed off south along a beautiful path beside the river in front of all the new apartments at Rhodes.
As the shopping strip peters out, the path continues along the waterfront, through the Rhodes wetlands, past bird sanctuaries, recreation areas and, once we reached Wentworth Point (close to the Olympic Park), housing.
It was raining this day, so we stopped here and had a coffee before returning back a different way through the various Olympic area paths.
The following week, in bright sunshine, we parked the car and headed out from near the Olympic Archery Centre, heading west along the bike path. We rode past the Armory cafe, but had to cross the river at the bridge at Silverwater road as there’s no path through the oil refinery. The path continued on this other side of the river… we rode till it finished near Western Sydney University.
Here we turned around and rode back to the Armory Cafe for breakie. A nice morning 🙂
Bike paths
Rhodes waterfront
The Armory Cafe
The Armory Cafe
Looking east from near Silverwater Road
Heading west towards The Armory Cafe
Heading west towards The Armory Cafe
Wentworth Point (near Olympic Park) from Rhodes
Historic wrecks at Rhodes
Bird watching refuge at the wetlands area near Wentworth Point
Bird watching refuge at the wetlands area near Wentworth Point
The ugly face of Australian racism.
The 2005 Cronulla riots were a series of clashes and outbreaks of mob violence in Australia on 11 December 2005 in the Sydney suburb of Cronulla.
Racial tensions were already prevalent between local caucasian and middle eastern Australians due to earlier altercations between groups.
A crowd gathered at Cronulla on the morning of Sunday, 11 December 2005 and, by midday, approximately 5,000 people had gathered near the beach to protest against recent violence towards locals. However, fuelled by alcohol, the crowd turned to violence when a young man of Arab appearance was spotted on the beach. He was surrounded by a crowd outside a local hotel and attacked, along with similar attacks later that day. Retaliatory attacks also took place that night and on subsequent nights, resulting in extensive property damage and several more assaults, including two separate, racially motivated stabbings and even some attacks against ambulance and police officers.
The attacks were widely condemned by local, state and federal members of parliament, police, local community leaders, and residents of Cronulla and adjacent areas. A large number of arrests were made over the subsequent months, from both the initial riot on 11 December and the retaliations over the subsequent nights.
10 years on and a rally was planned to remember the riots.
We thought it might be an opportune time to reflect on the violence and racism surrounding this event, so we went to Cronulla for a swim and a looksee.
Dick heads the lot of them.
Damn! NEXT weekend we are going to Orange.
Orange Grove Public School in the heart of Lilyfield, has fabulous markets every Saturday morning. Every few weeks we have driven past these markets on our way to do something else, and this weekend we eventually got around to going. Beautiful fresh produce. Go there! 
Beautiful fresh flowers
Markets
Easter, and an opportunity to enjoy the company of Phil and Jill Walker, friends from Canberra and the brains behind this year’s alphabet theme.
After 2 days of solid rain, the sun came out and a chance to enjoy a lovely breakfast at Ripples Cafe at Chowder Bay before heading towards Neutral Bay to walk around Cremorne Point and show off the most beautiful kilometre this city has to offer.
Chowder Bay
Ripples Cafe at Chowder Bay
Georges Head, with the city in the background.
Georges Head, with South Head in the background.
Georges Head, with the city in the background.
Cremorne Point, such a beautiful spot so close to the Harbour Bridge and city
Cremorne Point has beautiful gardens, some established years ago by some of the local residents and maintained now by the council.
And this, just a kilometre or so from the heart of the city.
A beautiful morning after 2 solid days of rain
Lighthouse at the end of the point, looking towards the Heads
Near Cremorne Ferry Wharf
The western shore of the path, facing The Bridge
Addison Rd Marrickville, hosts weekly markets each Sunday.
Love a market with plenty of tasting plates
Delicious produce from near and far – bought some pears from Batlow
Delicious food, interesting stalls with lots of organic and vegan friendly produce.
However, I’m reminded of a Calvin and Hobbes (Waterson) cartoon.
I know “one person’s trash is another’s treasure”, but boy, there’s some crap for sale!
The Bowerbird is the trash and treasure
Yep, 2nd hand paint. Now that’ll be handy. Colour doesn’t matter anyway!
So, this weekend, we... 
