Nature's Fringe: Artarmon

I'm doing my next suburb purely due to a Reddit comment on my Golden Ibises post that piqued my interest.

I now live in Artarmon and I hope to read a 2020 review of its interesting mix of green and leafy streets and parks, great little Japanese grocers, and the smattering of brothels along the main road.

This one's for JoeyJoJoShabba.

Artarmon

My usual antics continued today, with Sydney Trains acting as my 22 minute chariot from Central to the North Shore's Artarmon.

Like many suburbs with a station, Artarmon is split into two by the train line. My exploration today would mainly explore the eastern side of the tracks, which meant that I took the western station exit first to checkout Artarmon's main shopping strip.

Often, shopping strips in front of the station can be a little bit lame (looking at you Carlton), but Artarmon's example actually goes okay, with a reasonable amount of foot traffic despite the day's rainy skies.

Here, I enjoyed some typical Australiana, with the fish and chip shop, the chicken shop, and newsagency.

And yes, there does seem to be an above-average brothel-per-capita ratio in Artarmon too.

Also of interest by the station is Artarmon Village Green,

a strip of grass on the footpath,

featuring this rock,

but also a semi-secluded wet bench.

Ready to continue, I crossed the tunnel under the station to start on Artarmon's other side.

On this side, Artarmon gets a little bit charming, with a small plaza of restaurants and cafes,

as well as a couple of small Japanese grocers. As of the last census, around 3% of Artarmonites speak Japanese at home, and Artarmon has set itself up as a minor hub for Japanese activity.

It was also here that my cheap sunglasses from a convenience store in Amsterdam decided to break. Rest in peace noble glasses.

Anyway, once you leave the plaza, you're immediately in residential Artarmon. I took the road parallel to the train line.

Even here, the quaint and homely houses that are common in the North Shore make their appearance, in amongst the region's leafy glory.

I also passed a second tunnel underneath the train line, this one decorated in some interesting art.

At this point I found myself at Artarmon Reserve, a strip of bushland hugging the train line.

To continue exploring Artarmon from here, you can either continue along the suburban streets, or take a rainy bushwalk along Wickham Walk instead. I picked the latter.

It would've been nice to pretend that this is one of those bushwalks where you feel like you're 300 miles from from suburbia, but it's just not enough to break the illusion, with houses and the trains still very visible as you walk.

Still a lovely spot though.

Wickham Walk ejects you into a sports green,

which was somehow under construction today.

It does feature some Flintstones-esque park benches though.

From here, I was able to take a paved path out of the bush and onto the street.

This is where I found some more tucked away recreation.

From the street, an aerial view of a playground below,

and by taking a path behind the houses shown above, you reach the local community garden.

I'm not sure how long this has been here, because some of the plants are tiny,

but some are much more established.

The dead herbs on my balcony will attest to my fine gardening skills, so I must tribute the good people who maintain this garden.

From the community garden, a set of stairs took me to a nearby cycle path... is what I would've said if I hadn't found myself inside the fenced off bit for some reason.