Prior to our move to Oz Julie was faced with the unenviable task of finding us a place to live knowing that she was married to a very particular man (yep, that's, me). She was already faced with the pressures of a new, stressful job, all the while dealing with jet lag. She looked at several places and finally found our place in Balmain East. She did a great job. We signed a lease that runs through the end of January -- our thinking was/is that we can look around and find a different place together with the luxury of some local collaborative time. Yesterday we continued our exploration with a visit to Parramatta.
Now...I never really thought that Parramatta was an option. It's 1:08 on the ferry or 30 minutes on the train and that doesn't include local commuting time in town and then in CBD. It would have to be spectacular to justify a 1 1/2 hour commute. It was alright for sure, but certainly not spectacular. However, it was worth checking because where else can you get a 1 hour boat ride for $7.00? So now, the journey.
The Parramatta river flows into Sydney Harbour pretty near where we live. Closer to Sydney it feels more like a lake than a river. There are a lot of beautiful homes, a bit more modern than the areas on the harbour we've visited, and tons and tons of sail boats. It's lovely to be sure. About half way to Parramatta the scenery goes from homes to mangroves or even light industrial. The last 20 minutes is slow, no wake, narrow and pretty uninspiring. Along the way and before the narrow boring part, is the Olympic Village. It's an area we will still visit with living in mind. It's probably only 35 - 40 minutes by ferry to CBD and is reportedly wonderful. It's cool to see the impact of the Olympics on this city -- it really elevated it to another level with amazing parks and transportation infrastructure.
The town itself has a really nice wharf area with a park that seemingly runs forever around a canal that becomes the river... at least that's how it appears. Once you get away from the park the town could be anywhere in the world. There is a nice area with tons of restaurants on a street aptly named "Eat Street". We had wonderful Italian food, the gnocchi was especially delicious. We wandered about after lunch and headed to the train station to see what that method of commuting would resemble. It was a nice, smooth, comfortable train ride through some of the most boring scenery imaginable. (Central Washington comes to mind - definitely nothing near as boring as SF to LA)
We got back to CBD Central Station after a half and hour ride happy for the trip, and happy to cross it off the list of possible neighbourhoods. A quick word about Central Station, not the station itself, but a feature. Where we wait to transfer to the light rail from the train itself is a balcony overlooking a park. On the sidewalk near the park there is an incredible woman who sings opera out into the park. She's obviously been classically trained -- certainly was once a performer somewhere. It's amazing to stand amidst the grit and grime of a train station overlooking a park flooded with pigeons while beautiful music swirls all around you -- truly special.
We left Central Station still full from lunch and headed to the Star Casino. The Star is not just a casino, it's a meeting place with a lot of stuff going on in the building -- shops, restaurants, sports bars, a playhouse, etc. We spent many hours at the Star and gambled a bit... we didn't lose or win... just spun in place. The later it got, the louder the place became, as people packed in to visit the dance clubs. For everyone whose ever seen a store that sells party dresses and wonders (like me), "who would wear a dress like that and where could they possibly wear it?" The answer is the Star casino. With a legal drinking age of 18 the Star floods with people between 18 and 21. At the risk of sounding like a creepy old man... um... these young girls in their micro mini party gear are... um... I don't know what to say. I'll simply say, Connor and Brandon, there are better ways to spend your time than playing XBOX 360. :-) The trade-off is there are way too many boisterous teenage boys running about whooping it up... they irritated me.
I'll close with a photo of the prettiest girl I photographed all day. She's hot! Along the way to Parramatta there's a ferry stop called Kissing Point...we found it to be inspirational! ;-) Peace out blog stalkers.
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