You vs The Guy She Tells You Not to Worry About: Hillsdale and Eastgardens

Next up, I continue questing through Southeast Sydney with another two-for-one special.

Hillsdale

Hillsdale is a small suburb just north of Matraville. Expectedly, I got in on foot today, kicking things off on the main road.

Thankfully, I did not need to spend much time on the main road, and was immediately able to take this rather bushy footpath into the suburb. This footpath was just past some new apartments,

and Donald's sidehustle,

and ultimately led me into a park.

Suburban parks are nothing unusual. This one has some exercise equipment, play equipment,

a bit of art,

and a giant pit for falling into, for some reason.

Avoiding the suburban pit of broken limbs, I was now at liberty to start on residential Hillsdale.

This turned out to be a fairly unexceptional blend of older, small houses,

and apartments.

Both old and new.

For the locals, a bowling club offers something to do,

when you're done tossing your washing machine out of the window.

I strolled on through suburban Hillsdale,

finding a proper old-school corner shop (although this one was not on the corner),

before I reached this roundabout roughly where this suburb ends and the next begins.

Hillsdale: The only suburb I know of that sports a neighbourhood playground with a giant pit.

Continuing along, I entered

Eastgardens

Not unlike Hillsdale before it, Eastgardens is another small Southeast Sydney suburb I entered on foot.

At first impressions, it seems like it's Hillsdale's fancier sibling, with houses rather than apartments, and with the houses in better nick in general.

Incidentally, Eastgardens as a suburb is split into two, divided by the main Wentworth Avenue. The suburban south side is the side I'm writing to you from.

The north side is recently redeveloped and is packed full of high density apartments. I won't head into the north side today primarily because there's a giant shopping centre in the middle and there isn't really any pedestrian access joining the two. Instead, allow me to assure you that it looks like most high density Sydney suburbs like Wolli Creek or Waterloo.

The main reason for the ramble is that from this house, you can see the north side from the south side. Unity.

Other than that, I also stumbled upon this aesthetic little reserve.

I strolled through southern Eastgardens to see what else I could find.

Firstly, a very fine Ernie and Bert house.

Secondly, a Wild West Ernie and Bert house.

The rest of my residential Eastgardens stroll sadly did not reveal any more muppets. Instead, pleasantly tree-lined streets,

with generally well-kept smaller houses.

This one has a modern art piece out front.

After not too long,

I reached the main road mentioned before, Wentworth Avenue. This is where a large shopping centre is plopped which divides the two halves of the suburb.

It's also where I was faced with a pedestrian-light-less intersection, because I was clearly the first person in humanity interested in walking around here.