Recreational: Picnic Point

This next suburb is one that I suspect the locals would prefer I don't tell you about. Well too bad.

Picnic Point

Picnic Point, what a lovely name. Immediately south of Panania, I crossed the border on foot and started on this Southwest Sydney suburb. 

I knew I'd be in for a good time when one of the first houses I passed,

had its very own Picnic Point chickens.

Other than that though, this suburb is actually quite a change from neighbouring Panania. 

While Panania had plenty of modest older homes, many of Picnic Point's houses are far more extravagant. 

Regardless - a pleasant place so far, with green grass and plenty of trees in the distance. 
After a reasonable stroll through the land of picnics, I took a turn onto a side street towards my first point of interest. 

On this otherwise completely average residential street is Sylvan Grove, Picnic Point's very own botanical gardens. 

This is a native garden with trees and a short circuit you can take a stroll through. 

Here, there's plenty of signage about the plants you're looking at, but if you're like me, reading about shrubs isn't the most exciting thing in the world. 

Still, a lovely quiet place for a casual walk,

particularly for any home-botanists out there. 

From this park, you are given the option of heading deeper into the bush,

 or simply doing the circuit back to where you started from. I chose the latter. 

Continuing on through suburbia,

I soon came to realise that I perhaps should have continued through the bush.

The issue is that the streets of Picnic Point are not particularly pedestrian friendly. This road here seems to have a path,

but then it suddenly ends, leaving the casual walker to stroll along the blind corners of a main road. 

Alternatively, 

you can head downhill into the bush off this secondary road, 

where again you have to chance some more blind corners.

I did get to say hello to the locals though.

Without getting splooted by a car, 

I eventually reached "sea"-level, arriving on the banks of the Georges River. 

This is where Picnic Point makes its name. 

Along the riverside, you can enjoy grassy shores with no sharks, 

this duck,

and just a genuinely fantastic place to sit and take it all in. 

Once I was ready to move on, I continued parallel to the river. 

Past the riverside (and parkside) houses, 

and past more "this is Sydney?" views. 

Soon, this becomes Lambeth Reserve, 

a more distinct walk along the water. 

It's even got a boardwalk. 

A bloody nice boardwalk. 

Up until now, my time in Picnic Point was fairly solitary (apart from the duck and lizard). There didn't seem to be too many others enjoying this wonderful place. 

Once I had finished the boardwalk of Lambeth Reserve, that changed with a, well, picnic point on the water. 

Things came a little bit unstuck here though. 

You see, this place wasn't put together with the idea that someone may want to come on foot one day. 

This means that the only way out was either going back the way I came, or to take the vertical road from the carpark, 

to get onto the main road. 

Where I got to enjoy walking on the shoulder while cars zoomed past. Hooray.

There wasn't much left of Picnic Point from here. Once I was at street level, it was a fairly uneventful walk to get over the border to the next suburb,

passing one roofy boi on the way (long time readers will remember my hearty enjoyment of roofy bois).

Picnic Point: Does what it says on the tin.