Quit Hassall-ing Me: Hassall Grove

Western Sydney is a very big place. So big that most of Sydney is in Western Sydney. So big that it's full of suburbs nobody's ever heard of. 

As such, here's

Hassall Grove

Hassall Grove is, as mentioned, in Western Sydney. It sits immediately south of the previously-covered Marsden Park. I bribed Mrs Completing Sydney to come suburbsing Western Sydney with me today with the allure of pastries for breakfast. As such, we started the day at the Hassall Grove Plaza, a local strip of shops and takeaways.

Here, they have all the staples, such as a cake shop, 

a takeaway shop with an exceedingly plain exterior,

and the bakery where we'd pick up some baked goods. 

Due to the benchless nature of the shops, we had to eat in the car. I wanted a (wonderfully soft) cheese and bacon roll. 

Mrs Completing Sydney also wanted a raisin snail, 

and, to channel her inner 6 year old, a finger bun. 

Jealous, I also then got an apple turnover. This was the weakest of the bunch. 

Full of all the carbs a growing boy needs to start his day, we left the shops and got stuck into Hassall Grove's suburbia. 

This place is fairly standard as suburban Western Sydney goes, with plenty of brick, single story homes,

a solar panel or two, 

the occasional perfect lawn, 

and a wheelbarrow of cacti. 

Other points of interest include this minimarket that has unusually good Google reviews, 

some pleasing palm trees, 

and this strange bus stop whose bench faces away from the street so that you don't know when your bus is arriving. 

You did your best, Blacktown Council. 

We carried on, 

past this house made entirely out of roof, 

and even the very rare residential payphone. 

One thing I do like about a lot of suburbs in this part of Sydney is how they link up many of the residential streets with footpaths. Sydney, and especially Western Sydney, is quite a car dependent city, and little things like this made a huge difference to the walkability of suburbia. 

Anyway, from here I was dropped off at another part of Hassall Grove, by the suburb's eastern border. 

Things here aren't too different,

but I came to learn that this is a highly "sort after" suburb. 

And if you follow this street to the end, 

you end up at this wide open bit of grass and path. 

There's even a bridge over the somewhat sad Bells Creek, 

although I wonder if with all this rain the creek is more than just a muddy puddle at the moment. This patch of mud is downstream of the Hawkesbury, so there is actually a decent chance of this. 

Anyway, a different bridge over the same creek - or lack thereof - led me to my next suburb.

Hassall Grove: One of the best ways to prepare potatoes.