Capital Suburb: Willoughby

We're back in another council capital. Most council capitals tend to have lively town centres with funky libraries and even a handful of tall glass buildings. Let's see if Willoughby Council's namesake follows this trend

Narrator: It didn't.

Willoughby

Sitting in the North Shore, Willoughby is just a few steps from my previous suburb of Artarmon. As you can see, my entry to the suburb was marked with wet suburbia.

Walking through Willoughby's mean streets confirms nothing in particular. 

The houses here are wealthy, without going over the top. The trend is for shiny bricks and painted facades. 

There is a particular style of house that I only seem to see in the North Shore though, and that's these single-story, two-toned painted houses. Isn't this one adorable?

Proving that Willoughby is a wholesome family kind of place, while just a few steps into the suburb I saw not one but two tree-swings, both built on public land and both entirely unvandalised. How civilised.

As I continued on,

I stumbled upon this decorated drain, reminding you that what you pour down the drain ends up in our creeks. I admit that it took me seeing a number of these signs throughout Willoughby and my next few suburbs before I understood the meaning, but once I did I thought it was mighty sweet. 

Interestingly, tucked in amongst the houses and trees was a familiar logo.

For some reason, Channel Nine's head office is in suburban Willoughby. I can only assume that a former CEO's house was around the corner and so he had the office moved closer to home to avoid paying the Harbour Bridge toll to get to work. 

I kept moving lest I ended up on the quality programming that is A Current Affair, 

passing plenty more of those cute brick homes with painted faces.

I soon hit the main road, containing the car dealer of choice for the local bourgeoisie.

This intersection was one of those annoying ones where the lights choose not to include a pedestrian light on the corner you're trying to cross against, requiring you to cross three times to cross once. Hooray.

Eventually the RMS gods allowed me to continue, and I continued onto Bicentennial Reserve, marking yet another local park naming itself Bicentennial.

This park is a nice enough place, boasting football and baseball fields, as well as the single best piece of children's play equipment I've seen on this blog. How cool is this turtle?!

Further up the road, but still part of the same patch of grass that is Bicentennial Reserve is Walter Burley Griffin Incinerator. 

Named after one of its designers, Walter Burley Griffin, the American architect more famous for designing Canberra, this former incinerator now houses an art centre and cafe. 

Having finished looking at the incinerator, I continued on towards my next suburb.

To get there, a damn-near vertical street stood in my way,

as well as a bus ride through the already-visited suburb of Northbridge. 

Willoughy: It's upper middle class suburbia. What do you want from me?