The Final Two: Banksmeadow and Botany

After spending the past 3+ years attempting to Complete Sydney, I've finally achieved something with these next two suburbs. I've completed Southeast Sydney, having now covered all of the suburbs in this small region of Sydney. It's something. 

Banksmeadow

Banksmeadow borders my previous suburb of Eastgardens. This means a walk along a surprisingly green main road is how I got in.  

Not-at-all-interestingly, it took me reaching the next suburb to be able to see the sign for Eastgardens shops. 

Now, Banksmeadow is a primarily industrial suburb, which we'll learn about once I manage to leave this main road. 

As a result, it's apparently somewhere you can buy bows and ribbons directly from the factory. Come to think of it, how can something be both vintage and a factory sale? How inefficient is this factory that they've still got stock from the '60s?

But not-to-fear, real industry begins here. 

Here, I can offer you shoes and textiles, 

and corporate offices of a confectionery company named after its inventor, religious zealot and eugenicist founder (seriously, look up the story of John Harvey Kellogg, it's wild).

Anyway, turning this corner I was able to leave the main road and kick off my exploration of the suburb proper. 

I initially thought I found this suburb's only residential dwellings, but nope, those apartments over the road turned out to be in Pagewood. 

So what's actually in this suburb then?

Mostly things that look like this. 

But it's not all grim. There are a surprising number of trees through the industrial parks of Banksmeadow.

This may be why the skies opened up and began watering the plants. 

Continuing on, damper than I began, I headed past the mechanics, 

the container... places,

where serious business clearly gets done, 

and I headed past all kinds of complicated machinery, 

plus a bakery. 

While I was getting rained on, "Ocean" is probably a bit of an overstatement. 

Satisfied I'd looked at enough business parks and serious machines, I crossed this bridge to enter my final Southeast Sydney suburb.

Banksmeadow: Home to nobody's home.

Botany

After a particularly long day traversing through 9 other Southeast Sydney suburbs, I finally entered Botany via this previously mentioned bridge, 

over some industrial railway lines. 

The first order of business was to head through this park.

This is a fairly standard suburban park with grass for sports, 

a wet playground, 

and a picnic table and barbecue area for refuge from the rain. 

With a gap in the rain opening up I was now ready to start on residential Botany, starting with this adorable house. 

Truth be told, suburban Botany isn't the most unique place in the world. You've got a fair bit of townhouses and other low-to-medium density living, 

on well-wooded streets.

While here, I did get a kick out of this big-ole pile of residential crap on the side of the road by a "reporting illegal dumping" sign, although I'll assume it's an above-board council clean up. 

Carrying on, 

past this dwelling I dont have the name for (I suppose they're just terraced houses aren't they), 

and a general smattering of older houses, 

such as this delightfully roofy chap with a bit of tudor trim for good measure. 

As the skies had once again began opening up, and I was underprepared with just my T-shirt and cap for protection, it's now time for some quickfire travel through residential Botany. 

Big houses. 

Colourful house. 

The rare dual-story Ernie and Bert house. 

And a shelter, where I could once more seek some refuge. 

That shelter turned out to be a cafe awning with some swell birds enjoying a cup of joe.

And why wouldn't they, they're just a couple doors down from perhaps the greatest front yard garden I've ever seen. Look at all those knick-knacks 

From here, it was just a short distance through lower density (but still wet) residential Botany,

to reach the town centre. 

Like many suburban CBDs in Sydney, this one features local essentials such as a chemist and Tae Kwon Do,

it's got a local pub, 

and even your old school fish and chip shop, 

and Aussie-style Chinese restaurant. 

Your Lebanese grandma lives here too. 

Other than that, and this convenience store in a heritage building, 

that's all I went to today. 

And truth be told, there's a lot in Botany I would've liked to go check out if the rainy skies after a 25km walking day hadn't discouraged me:

• - They have a number of breweries scattered through the suburb
• - The massive Joseph Banks Park along the Botany Bay foreshore
• - A instalment of Penrith burger shop Burgerheads that everyone told me to try when I'm in Penrith next

Although it surely won't be as a post for this blog, all I can say is, "next time?"

Botany: Washed out.