Goat Life: Rouse Hill

After two recent Northwest Sydney posts, I bring you something different - a Northwest Sydney post. 

Rouse Hill

I started this suburb at Rouse Hill's indoor-outdoor shopping centre, after driving in from neighbouring Kellyville Ridge. We'll come back to this place later, 

but in the meantime I took a walk away from the shops,  

by some new apartments, 

and whatever a kirakira star is.

My goal was the fairly nice waterside park I knew to be behind the shops, and after not too long a walk, 

featuring these oddly placed benches,

by some more apartment living, 

I reached the park I was looking for. 

If you go looking for it yourself, it's conveniently placed by this kind-of-cute little roundabout. 

This park, while not unpleasant, didn't turn out to be as nice as I remembered. 

Sure, it's a body of water you can have a stroll along, 

but the water isn't exactly a shimmering blue. 

Today, there was even a suspected barbie-doll homocide being investigated by a coot.  

Regardless, it still makes for a calm spot for folks living in the apartments or visitng the shops to go. 

Bonus squiggly art things (bike racks?) 

From here, I headed back to the shops. 

Along the way, I noticed these shard-like shapes embedded into the ground. 

These turned out to carry archaeological information about the area's original inhabitants. 

This led me right back into the shops (it turns out the way I went before was a bit of a roundabout route),

at some pet parking (30 minutes maximum, please scoop your poop). 

I ordinarily skip large shopping centres on this blog because they're not terribly interesting, but Rouse Hill Town Centre is a little bit different. As well as having indoor sections, a large portion of its shops and restaurants are actually accessed from the outdoors. 

This results in plenty of places for people to actually sit and enjoy themselves, in stark contrast to your average Westfield. 

Oh, and they also have snail people. 

Heading back to the car, I made a couple of other small Rouse Hill pit stops.  

In no particular order: this street corner with perhaps the Western Sydneyest sign to ever Western Sydney, 

next,

a house with goats. 

You really don't see enough goats in Sydney. 

They're such a fun animal. 

Incidentally, if you're looking for something wonderful to do, go on Youtube and look up baby goat parkour videos. I guarantee you'll enjoy yourself.  

Anyway, the goat house is on the way to Rouse Hill Regional Park. 

This is actually a huge park with a semi-rural feel, 

walking paths, and plenty of space for picnics.

Here's a very cool 360 degree drone shot somebody has taken of the place and uploaded onto Google Maps. It also reveals what we knew all along - Rouse Hill really isn't that hilly at all. 

The other only point of interest here is Rouse Hill Estate, an old colonial house and farm which is now a museum. Although the estate backs onto the park, it is accessed from the main road rather than through the park, and sadly, was closed on the day of my visit. 

It does seem like a decent visit (perhaps for those with kids) and they do events there from time-to-time, so if you're interested you may wish to check out their website: https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/rouse-hill-estate 

Anyway, that's all I saw in Rouse Hill on this day. Join me on Sunday for even more Northwest Sydney action.

Rouse Hill: Come for the coots, stay for the goats.