Quaratined Chickens: Abbotsford

Next in line is another Inner West 'burb along Parramatta River. 

Abbotsford

From my previous suburb of Chiswick, Abbotsford is just a shared piece of parkland away (Wire Mill Reserve, for those playing along at home).

This park, however, seems to be more of a public lawn, with wealthy looking houses surrounding it.  

It also backs onto Parramatta River.

The most interesting neighbour to the park though is Abbotsford House, a heritage mansion, complete with lake. 

Leaving Wire Mill Reserve, I took this path to head into Abbotsford for real. 

This landed me in one of these weird communities where you're not sure if you're in public or private property, and every wall is painted.

I soon left the "gated" community, and proceed onto unambiguously public suburbia. 

Here, I learned that there is clearly some decent money splashing about in Abbotsford,

with fancy houses, 

this one in a soothing sky-blue,

and a surprising amount of heritage. 

After reaching a semi-main road, 

I continued to the local shops. 

This turned out to just be a small strip of stores, with nothing to note in particular, apart from one cafe which was absolutely bustling,

but nothing much else. 

I continued deeper into suburban Abbotsford, 

finding a wild donkey, 

and a fairly reasonable assortment of (mainly older) housing styles,

although there are some newer pieces too. 

I eventually made my way to the back of this quiet suburban street, 

to reach "Quarantine Reserve" a local park with an interesting name, particularly considering the past year-and-a-half. 

So it turns out Quarantine Reserve has nothing to do with hoarding toilet paper, but is a former site for quarantining animals which have been imported to Australia. 

This means stables, 

and a few old buildings are here, 

as well as the Reserve bit of the Reserve. 

Naturally, I took a bit of a stroll to explore the reserve,

following this hill down to the shorefront of Hen and Chicken Bay, the adorably named Parramatta River nub. 

Not too bad. 

I headed back out, 

and onto the street. 

From here, I pushed on through residential Abbotsford, passing all kinds of weird and wonderful houses along the way,

not to mention the occasional bayside glimpse. 

Did I mention the houses?

After not too long, I managed to get back to Hen and Chicken Bay myself, 

where something occured to me. 

A hen is a chicken. That's like calling it Puppy and Dog bay.  

Whatever you call it, there is a very nice bench dedicated to a local couple who want others to share in the beauty of Cat and Feline Bay.

And they're right. Ass and Donkey Bay is lovely. 

I continued on the road along Rabbit and Bunny Bay,

passing this kombi-ute, 

some more wealthy homes, 

and these interesting (albeit uncomfortable looking) benches. 

Not to mention this informational bin about neither hens, nor chickens. 

Eventually, the path along Horse and Stallion Bay carried me into my next suburb.

Abbotsford: A fine place with some silly names.