This next suburb is a Western Sydney spot challenging our expectations of what can be found in Fairfield Council.

Abbotsbury

My trip into Abbotsbury begins with this cow.

The cow marks the entry into Calmsley Hill City Farm, a farm and wildlife park.

Look, this place is mainly for children, but I came here for a few reasons: 1. I'm basically a children 2. There was a half-price Groupon for it, and 3. Who doesn't like wallabies and chickens?

Because I was lucky enough to have a weekday off work, things were pretty quiet here. That means I got to enjoy all of the fine attractions, such as looking at birds that can fly,

looking at birds that can walk,

looking at rural-like landscapes,

looking at Aussie icons,

hand-feeding goats,

(goats are wonderful in general),

looking at cows,

looking at pigs,

(bonus snoring - audio on recommended),

looking at (and feeding) ponies,

looking at (and also feeding) a camel,

and looking at donkeys.

And all that's before entering the "petting-zoo" section that's actually for little kids. Here I met baby chickens,

this rabbit,

mice (I also learned on this day that mice are actually really cute)

a sheep in a poncho,

and these fluffmaster 3000s.

Good stuff.

Other honourable mentions are this fully extended turtle,

some lizardry,

and an obligatory peacock.

Interestingly, apparently this place was also the site of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Mountainbiking, won by a bunch of Europeans.

All in all, a pretty good way to spend an hour or two, if you like looking at animals.

So is that all I did in Abbotsbury?

Sort of, but I also checked out the local suburbia.

As mentioned earlier, Abbotsbury is actually part of Fairfield Council. Despite that, things here feel a lot more Hills District, with large and modern, but not insane, houses.

And all on quiet streets with very good lawns.

Here's one of the few houses that's out of the ordinary. This one opted for the Mediterranean pack.

Tucked into the suburb's residential core is also a local shopping centre,

with nothing of particular interest.

Across the road from the shops was something I did find a little bit more interesting.

A park,

with a wetlandy bit,

and, importantly, two ducks.

This bit of park actually connects into a larger patch of green space and walking paths which the suburb can enjoy.

Apparently everybody's doing it.

I didn't go on this visit, but Abbotsbury also continues into the Western Sydney Parklands, a massive strip of parkland running north to south through Western Sydney. I previously visited patches of the parklands in Glendenning and Bungarribee, further north than here.

From here, I didn't really do much else.

I looked at a couple more houses nearby - this one has perfectly round hedges,