Balmain
As you may imagine, this suburb is merely a westerly walk from my last suburb, Balmain East. You'll know you've entered the suburb once you've passed Snoopy's house, part of the Balmain Bowling Club.
Similar to Balmain East, I continued to see older sandstone buildings on this end of the border, but I also encountered a handful of much more "beachy" looking homes.
I decided to turn off the main road onto a very narrow street named Colgate Ave which coincidentally turned out be the best street to stumble upon.
At the end of the street is this amazing building.
As you may be able to tell, this used to be a warehouse for Colgate and Palmolive. Now, the building has been converted into multi-million dollar apartments facing the water.
On the "grounds" of the apartments are a handful of old metal bits and bobs - a tribute to the building's industrial past.
How's this for a backyard?
After concluding that I will never live in a place like this (unless Google for some reason decides to buy this blog from me and I become an internet millionaire), I continued exploring this interesting suburb, heading in a generally northerly direction.
Here, I spotted some above-average terraces,
and even more sandstone.
Not to mention a quick glimpse of the city.
From here I made my way into the nearby Mort Bay Park, a beautiful waterside park with a playground, BBQs and plenty of space for a picnic.
Now, it turns out that this park is actually part of neighbouring Birchgrove. I feel that stepping into the corner of the suburb is not enough to count the suburb as "completed", but I also can't help but share the gorgeous view from the park. Consider this a sneak preview for when I end up properly visiting the suburb. Bonus call-out goes to the Waterview Wharf Workshops which are those rainbow buildings on the right hand side of the photo.
Walking through Balmain and neighbours was enough to work up an appetite (and thirst) so I decided to stop at this pub - The Royal Oak - based on nothing but geographical proximity.
Fish burger, chips, a beer and a Sunday afternoon in a beautiful part of the city. What's not to love?
Rejuvenated, I proceeded to make my way to explore Balmain's commercial centre, but not before passing these funny little twin houses.
Made it.
So Balmain town centre is funkier than I thought it would be. It's full of pretty little cafes and restaurants, with the occasional "weird stuff" shop mixed in for good measure.
This store is named after what I normally call my kebabs.
As well as places to eat and shop, there are also a number of grand older buildings around here.
This handsome fellow just houses some shops,
this is the post office and police station,
and here's their town hall.
Even this (shut down) pub is historic (from 1879 apparently).
It was now late afternoon and time to head back home, but not before giggling at this pub like the child I am.
From in front of Dick's Hotel, I was easily able to hop on a bus back into the city.
Balmain: If Balmain East was just a pretty face, Balmain is both a pretty face and the kind of suburb you bring home to meet your parents.
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