Pipedream: Guildford West

This Western Sydney suburb actually shaped up to be a lot more interesting to walk through than you'd imagine. Welcome to

Guildford West

There's a saying about never being disappointed if you have zero expectations. Well it's hard to have any expectations whatsoever when you're in a suburb as anonymous as Guildford West. Yes, this suburb is west of Guildford, but it's also a short stroll from my previous suburb, the entirely forgettable Woodpark.

And off I went.

When I see a path which cuts through a park rather than the street, I usually take it. Albert St Park is a fine Western Sydney park, with a humongous bucket of off-brand washing powder greeting me as I entered.

You've also got the standard abandoned shopping trolley,

with special mention going to the individual who managed to get a shopping trolley into the drain.

Regardless, this is still a nice little piece of green in suburbia,

featuring this gum tree with a home-printed plaque on it that I'm not sure I believe.

Who is Jason Morgan and why did he plant a tree here in the 70s? Do gum trees even grow that big in that amount of time? Nobody knows. 

Finally, the park introduced me to something I'd get fairly well acquainted with in my time in Guildford West,

these big-arsed pipes.

These heritage listed pipes cut through the entirety of Guildford West. That being said, they actually start all the way over at Prospect Reservoir, and finish up at a Sydney Water facility at Potts Hill, around 15km away from where they started. Now those are some fine pipes.

I bid farewell to the pipes and headed into the suburb proper to see what I could see.

Guildford West has that all-too-common blend of small mid-twentieth-century houses, and new townhouses & duplexes that I've become rather accustomed to seeing.

I particularly like this old weatherboard house for its use of baby blue.

Now, as you stroll through Guildford West,

you keep running into the pipes (bonus faux-tudor house in the background).

It really is the glue that ties this place together. Rather than fight it, I chose to embrace it, and followed the pipes along to the street ahead.

On this street, I noticed something a little odd.

This street is brand spanking new, as evidenced by the freshly paved road and shiny paintjobs on the local homes. They're encroaching on my precious pipes!

In fact, this street is so new that not even Google knows about it. Here's a screenshot from my phone from the day, showing me walking in the abyss.

Cute.

I left the little street that wasn't and made my way on to streets that do exist. Here, I once again found a mix of old and new, with these funny looking new builds

as well as this adorable weatherboard option.

Am I the only person who finds small houses with solar panels cute? No? Just me? I'll carry on then.

At the end of this street, I turned right to pick up a cold beverage from the local shops. This little commercial strip has all your staples, with a bottle shop, newsagent, and post office, among other things,

as well as a good looking Middle Eastern sweet shop.

I'd like to say that I supported the local convenience store on this day, but none of the products had prices on them, which is an instant disqualification for me.


I ended up grabbing my drink from this 7-Eleven with a jellybean roundabout out front.

Backtracking a little, the border of Guildford West and the next suburb is marked by this house, clearly modelled after a poorly restored Roman ruin. Seriously, what is going on here.

Just by that disaster are my old friends the Guildford West pipes. But alas, I was running out of sun so I had to keep moving.

Luckily, a pathway parallel to them took me into the next suburb.

Guildford West: Put that in your pipe and smoke it.