Parramatta in 60 minutes

Our Aussie food & movie night took place in a western suburb of Sydney called Parramatta. I'd been wanting to go out to Parramatta for a while because I'd read an article about the walkway by the river that had a lot of Aboriginal artwork incorporated into the pathways, and I really wanted to see it. So when Helen offered to meet us early at the train station and show us around, I was excited.

First, though, we stopped by Daiso. Daiso is like a Japanese version of an Ikea and a dollar store combined, except that everything is $2.80 and there is no furniture. But it does have a lot of weird, random, and sometimes cool things, so Helen - being a total Diaso addict - wanted to make sure all the recent Sydney arrivals knew that this was the place to go for cheap, weird things.

We spotted a couple things that every household needs.

I actually did buy a lingerie bag for the washing machine, so it was a pretty useful detour for me!
Then we walked through the main part of town. It just happened that their winter festival was on, so they'd made an ice rink and set up little winter huts for vendors - complete with fake snow and ice on everything!

There was a combination fashion show/ice skating performance on the ice rink. Girls skated in dresses from local boutiques as the announcer said where you could purchase the dress. It was a little bit odd, but I guess you make the most of an ice rink when you have it!

Then we made our way through the main part of the town. It was quite a nice town: lots of little restaurants with sidewalk dining, nice wide streets. And some cool public artwork too:

By the time we got down to the river, it was starting to get dark. And none of the artwork I'd been wanting to see was immediately visible. So we just made a short stroll by the river and then headed back to town.

My takeaway from the 60-minute Parramatta tour is that I'd like to go back. I'll take the ferry there instead of the train, do my research on the river walk, bring my ice skates, and spend some time in the town. So please let me know if you're in need of a shampoo hat or a toilet target, and I'll make a stop for you!

Posted with Blogsy