No Frills: St Marys

Oh when the saints go marching in.

St Marys

St Marys is in the general and poorly defined category of Outer Western Sydney. As a result, the the trip in by train from Central takes an entire hour. 

From St Mary's station, you can see the shops nearby, 

this old and presumably heritage building on the other side of the fence, 

and some pretty great views of the Blue Mountains in the not-too-far distance. 

I left the station and found myself in St Mary's commercial centre. 

On the map, it seemed that this place could be fairly interesting. 

In practice, close to nothing was open, 

apart from a handful of services. I guess they haven't sorted out Sunday trading here yet. 

Apart from a bunch of closed shutters, of interest here is a needless Telstra mural, 

St Marys' very own theatre,

a corner store whose biggest stock appears to be potted plants, 

and somewhere to buy wheelbarrows and wigs (ok the wigs belonged to the hairdresser next door, I admit it). 

There's also a New Zealand consulate here. 

Also of little interest here is this small plaza/park across the road,

with monuments apparently styled after bottle openers.  

Satisfied I'd captured the spirit of St Marys CBD, I took a side street at this floral wall,

and headed towards residential St Marys. 

Here I found an old apartment,

a new apartment, 

and a lawyer who lives in a fancy old house. 

This led me to a clearing in the bushes opening up into Bennett Park. 

Bennett Park has all the hallmarks of a Western Sydney suburban park: a solitary picnic table for teenagers to drink at, 

and an excessive amount of hilly grass. 

Yep, they've got it all. 

I passed through the park and found myself back at street level, where the slanted road offered up another Blue Mountains glimpse,

as well as plenty of classic modest Aussie homes. The flavour of the month is weatherboard. 

I continued on through suburban St Marys, 

and more unremarkable suburbia, 

and headed towards the direction of my next suburb. 

I don't know how many more pictures of houses and footpaths you need to get the point. 

But here's three more for good measure. 

 

I saw nothing else of interest, other than this house on bricks, 

and soon St Marys ended, and my next suburb began.

St Marys: It appears that Mary is the patron saint of not much in particular.