Cook's River Walk : Tempe to Flemington

The title shown refers to our planned walk. However, the weather predicition - VERY hot - led us to think, even before setting out, that we may not choose to go ” all the way”. This proved to be correct.

with apologies to Noel Coward,,,,,,,,,,We all know “only mad dogs and Aussie women go out in the midday sun” -

But...back to the start. We met in the city and travelled by train to Tempe.

After alighting, we were almost immediately beside the river in Gough Whitlam Park and we could see Mackey Park on the other bank.

Morning tea was river side and we walked on through more parklands - we could see Marrickville Golf Course and then Ewen Park. We passed a lovely sandstone building which was formerly part of the CSR Sugar complex. It appears to have been developed into apartments After we crossed Canterbury Road, we left behind the Municipality of Marrickville and we were then in the Canterbury precinct. We saw the perimeter fence of Canterbury Park Racecourse, and then later chose to have our lunch stop at yet another riverside park. Looking at a map of the area, it is pleasing to see just how much “green” is visible.

Anyone who knew the Cook’s River from earlier days, could not help but be impressed when seeing it today. The improvement in the water quality together with the abundant parklands and walking/bike tracks is very pleasing. Di’s lovely photo shows that the birds also appreciate the changes.

There are many rebuilding and renovation projects for domestic housing occurring. We passed some lovely gardens and stopped to look at a few.

Along the way, we were passed by quite a few cyclists, and saw some other walkers and also a skateboarder - all making good use of the very pleasant pathways.

After arriving at George’s River Road, and because of the high temperature, some of the group decided to board a bus to take them to the Burwood Railway Station. Others continued on foot, but also made their destination, Burwood. This part was also very interesting - after we crossed Liverpool Road (the Hume Highway ) we were then in Burwood Road, on the eastern boundary of what is known in local real estate parlance as the Golden Mile. ( The other boundaries are The Boulevarde, Strathfield ; Liverpool Road and the railway line.) In this street we saw some lovely old homes - some in pristine condition, others perhaps needing some work . We passed St Paul's Anglican Church - this is a popular venue for choral presentations - presumably the acoustics are of a high standard.

Although the weather had governed the distance we covered in our walk, we still enjoyed our day. For our efforts, we chose a reward in the form of coffee, taken in the main shopping strip. We returned to our homes by various train routes.