31 Jan 2015

Walk 016 - Toongabbie

Date: 31st January 2015
Distance: 6.00 kms
Locality: Armadale

Streets walked:
  • Challis Road
  • Phylma Street
  • Braemore Street
  • Lowanna Way
  • Cheritons Place
  • Junee Place
  • Wilcannia Way
  • Clybucca Place
  • Urana Road
  • Toongabbie Way
  • Warina Place
  • Clements Grove
  • Claunelle Road
  • Baccello Way
  • Robe Place
  • Eneabba Place

Running street count: 218
Running distance count: 84.41 kms


Alleyways! Sadly not much litter, graffiti, danger or barbed wire...

Worst of walk 016.

Best of walk 016.



30 Jan 2015

Walk 015 - Merrifield


Date: 30th January 2015
Distance: 4.55 kms
Locality: Kelmscott

Streets walked:

  • Railway Avenue
  • Third Avenue
  • Cammillo Road
  • Merrifield Avenue
  • Banyard Avenue
  • Ward Crescent
  • Merlin Court
  • Westfield Road

Running street count: 204
Running distance count: 78.41 kms


Walk 014 - Hebrides


Date: 29th January 2015
Distance: 3.52 kms
Locality: Camillo

Streets walked:

  • Westfield Road
  • Glasgow Way
  • Edinburgh Road
  • Glenfin Road
  • Stornaway Court
  • Donegal Court
  • Hebrides Drive
  • Lillapool Place
  • Leonard Close
  • Staddon Road
  • Clover Approach


Running street count: 198
Running distance count: 73.86 kms

27 Jan 2015

Walk 013 - Townley St North

Date: 27th January 2015
Distance: 4.18 kms
Locality: Armadale

Streets walked:
  • Townley Street
  • Tijuana Road
  • Neilson Avenue
  • Pelham Street
  • Selby Street
  • Mornington Street
  • Offord Street
  • Piggot Street
  • Rigden Street
  • Duri Street

Running street count: 187
Running distance count: 70.34 kms

So ... there was a murder here once, was there?


Walk 012 - Strawberry 1

Date: 26th January 2015
Distance: 6.69 kms
Locality: Seville Grove

Streets walked:
Australia Day walk flag-spotting. Obviously a proud Dockers fan.
  • Eureka Place
  • Emperor Close
  • Riverside lane
  • Seminole Garden
  • Strawberry Drive
  • Tangerine Close
  • Barnfield Court
  • Sitella Place
  • Joppa Court
  • Jaffa Close
  • Lisbon Way
  • Lemon Grove
  • Fortunella Grove
  • Mandarin Way
  • Seville Drive
  • Tangelo Court
  • Minneola Road
  • Ellendale Court
  • Chidzey Drive

Running street count: 179
Running distance count: 66.16 kms

25 Jan 2015

Walk 011 - Doorigo

Date: 25th January 2015
Distance: 6.25 kms
Locality: Armadale / Seville Grove

Streets Walked:
  • Braemore Street
  • Cabarita Road
  • Dural Way
  • Ballina Way
  • Tomah Road
  • Amaroo Court
  • Cowan Street
  • Toorak Road
  • Urana Road
  • Lowanna Way
  • Agnew Place
  • Tait Street
  • Scotia Place
  • Windarra Way
  • Doorigo Road
  • Dewar Street
  • Brumby Place
  • Nerang Court

Running street count: 160
Running distance count: 59.47 kms






24 Jan 2015

Walk 010 - Ypres split


Date: 24th January 2015
Distance: 6.81 kms
Locality: Camillo

Streets Walked:
  • Lindy Way
  • Elouera Road
  • Adelina Court
  • Glenhurst Court
  • Ypres Road
  • Delamere Way
  • Durnford Way
  • Cobham Way
  • Manor Court
  • Kendal Court
  • Felgate Court
  • Coran Close
  • Jupp Court
  • Felicia Place
  • Boronia Close
  • Redtingle Road
  • Malu Court
  • Silver Mallee Close
  • O'Sullivan Drive
  • Waratah Drive
  • Megan Way

Running street count: 142
Running distance count: 53.22 kms

Any early morning walk which involves finding a lot of alleyways - or in this case a whole network of alleyways and shortcuts - is a fun time. Back lanes are just impossible to pass up. Its where the counter-culture leaves its mark: graffiti on fences, bits of litter and broken bottles, pavement scrawlings permanently etched into the concrete. The fences of the folks whose houses line the alleys always have inventive tacked-on security features or overhanging vines, tree limbs or thorny bushes. Irresistible.


As ever this route has a reserve which the City of Armadale Parks & Gardens crew keep green and functional. I'd not seen the Eva & Bill Moore Reserve before. Good stuff.


21 Jan 2015

Walk 009 - Frye Park

Date: 19th January 2015
Distance: 5.03 kms
Locality: Kelmscott

Streets Walked:
  • Brookside Avenue
  • Blackburne Drive
  • Bulida Court
  • Meyer Close
  • Connell Avenue
  • Jason Court
  • Reeves Court
  • Deakin Court
  • Tara Way
  • Butler Pass
  • Ensign Dale
  • Bolger Garden
  • Clifton Street
  • Lucich Street

Running street count: 121
Running distance count: 46.41 kms




18 Jan 2015

Walk 008 - Grovelands Drive

Date: 17th January 2015
Distance: 5.45 kms
Locality: Camillo

Streets walked:
  • Westfield Road
  • Grovelands Drive
  • Dyson Court
  • Beraala Court
  • Bessant Court
  • Fir Court
  • Faraday Street
  • Shetland Road
  • Cressida Way
  • Knott Court
  • Beechcroft Place
  • Exon Court
  • Baxendale Road
  • Huxley Court
Running street count: 107
Running distance count: 41.38 kms

Boats. The streets and cul-de-sacs running off the semi-circle that is Grovelands Drive contain an inordinate number of households with boats. At the very least it's far more than the average in most of the City of Armadale. Ditto for caravans and RVs. I'm guessing this neighbourhood has a ton of couples now in their late 50s who bought these houses when they were built, lived through the massive rise in property prices over the last three decades and used the equity to fund their recreational dreams. But how many of those boats get a decent run more than once every few months? Who knows.
I could be totally wrong of course :)


Walk 007 - Townley St South

An old-school victory for tree-climbing, adventure & risk

Date: 16th January 2015
Distance: 6.68 kms
Locality: Wungong

Streets walked:

  • Duri Street
  • Tijuana Road
  • Cambell Road
  • Lewis Court
  • Mardi Court
  • Cowra Court
  • Morrell Way
  • Briggs Place
  • Masuli Way
  • Townley Street
  • Pollitt Close
  • Bell Court
  • Brixey Court
  • Barge Court
  • Harber Drive
  • Anton Street
  • Shanks Court
  • Avonlee Road
  • Stepney Road
  • Seventh Road
  • Wungong Road
  • Prout Road

Running street count: 93
Running distance count: 35.93 km


Never before on a walk have I seen more shirtless blokes sitting on chairs out the front of their houses in the early morning. Not washing the car, not watering the garden, just sitting and watching the world go by. Each pocket of town has one thing you notice, always unexpected, and that's what stood out this time around.

After starting at the south end of Townley I journeyed towards the centre of Armadale and went from seeing standard 1980s brick & tile houses to some good old weatherboard 1930s - 1950s places on Seventh, Wungong and Avonlee, fringed by plenty of tall trees. These homes are gradually disappearing, being bulldozed to make way for units. Gotta enjoy them while they're still around.

Plenty of cul-de-sacs on this walk; they're interesting pockets of humanity and can be real microcosms of culture all to themselves, but from a walking perspective they're a pain in the bum, as you just go down, around and back out again. All that doubling back adds a lot of metres to the count but doesn't get you very far...



17 Jan 2015

Walk 006 - Tambulam


Date: 14th January 2015
Distance: 5.60 kms
Locality: Seville Grove

Streets walked:
  • Champion Drive
  • Williams Road
  • Kyabram Road
  • Tambulam Way
  • Leumeah Street
  • Elanora Road
  • Timbarra Street
  • Challis Road
  • Greengage Court
  • Gaze Court
  • Hickson Avenue
  • Quandong Place
  • Chamberlain Way
  • Damson Grove
  • Stott Close
  • Lowanna Way
  • Railway Avenue

Running street count: 71
Running distance count: 29.23 km

This section of Seville Grove features one of my all-time favourite street names: Tambulam Way.
It also contains the dullest piece of parkland I've seen so far, in George Foster Reserve. It sticks out only next to the rest of Armadale's reserves which are almost always lush and welcoming; it's rare to find something so dusty & featureless. Can't win 'em all!


11 Jan 2015

Walk 005 - Forrestdale

Date: 9th January 2015
Distance: 6.84 kms
Locality: Forrestdale

Streets walked:
  • Forrest Road
  • Broome Street
  • Dumsday Drive
  • Lofties Street
  • Leake Street
  • Flemming Court
  • Cygnet Place
  • Dew Street
  • Weld Street
  • Wirin Road
  • Banken Court
  • Moore Street
  • Paraka Way
  • Fisher Street
  • Fisher Court

Running street count: 55
Running distance count: 23.63 km

Easily the most enjoyable walk so far this year, Forrestdale was a suburb I'd only ever driven past and cast a sideways glance at. Spending some time there on foot it's easy to see this area smacks of personality, freedom and genuine non-manufactured lifestyle.

It's an odd mix of big-acreage agistment properties, typical Armadale 1960s & 1970s homes, a few new units (Forrestdale isn't escaping urban infill) and a bunch of two-storey houses, which are a rarity in the flat parts of Armadale.

Free boat!





9 Jan 2015

Walk 004 - Tollington Park


Date: 7th January 2015
Distance: 3.90 kms
Locality: Kelmscott

Streets walked:
  • Tollington Park Road
  • Parkfield Road
  • Sidcup Way
  • Woburn Way
  • Oakfield Place
  • Patfield Place
  • Ryland Road
  • Railway Avenue
  • Saffron Court
  • Pindari Court
  • Bundalla Court
  • Gunnamatta Place

Running street count: 40
Running distance: 16.79 km

This cosy neighbourhood is nestled between Kelmscott High School, the industrial area, John Dunn Oval and the railway line, on the doorstep of Challis Station.

Any ex-student of KSHS will be intimate with the streets of their daily walk to and from school, and parts of this area featured in mine, being passed through before making my way over the railway line towards Albany Highway. It's flat, familiar and a product of the late 1970s (although this'll need to be verified - will check it out and slip in an update edit).

In any neighbourhood there's a good chance that a local theme will emerge; for example around Grovelands Drive in Camillo there's a surprising number of houses with boats in the driveway - in some parts it's every second house. I've never seen the likes of it anywhere else in Armadale. This sort of thing might be explained by neighbours having an influence on one another, and so these things evolve. Around Tollington Park the only thing that struck me was the number of flagpoles (naturally with Australian flags) which are generally very uncommon. Sure, the number was a low one - just two - but that's more than the usual.

And as always, pavement graffiti is a source of amusement on any walk...



7 Jan 2015

Walk 003 - Derry Avenue


Date: 5th January 2015
Distance: 3.27 kms
Locality: Mt Nasura, Armadale

Streets walked:  Derry Avenue

Running street count: 29
Running distance count: 12.88 kms

Derry Ave, in the locality of Mt NaSura, has some beautiful hill contours and an easy history to appreciate - named as it is after the vineyard Derry NaSura, whose vines gave way to many of the houses now on this route. It's a fun story to check out so follow this link for some great historical pics and more info :
Picture Armadale: results for Derry Nasura

In the early 1980s I had two primary school friends that lived on Derry Ave, so there's a bunch of memories to re-live while walking it, many of which involve backyard cricket. An easy walk with great views of the town centre at the southern end.

Walk 002 - central Armadale

Date: 4th January 2015
Distance: 6.60 kms
Locality: Armadale

Streets walked:

  • Railway Avenue
  • Owtram Road
  • Scruth Street
  • Exbury Road
  • Westminster Court
  • Fountains Court
  • Orchard Avenue
  • Jull Street
  • Tudor Road
  • Cornish Street
  • Dale Road
  • Marian Avenue
  • Forest Court
  • Abbey Road
  • Friar Road
  • Little John Road
  • Gladstone Road
  • McCormac Street
  • Mason Court

Running street count: 28
Running distance count: 9.61 kms



4 Jan 2015

Walk 001 - Inverness Circle


Date: 2nd January 2015
Distance: 3.01 kms
Locality: Camillo

Streets walked:
  • Inverness Circle
  • Hemingway Drive (part)
  • Tweed Close
  • Kincraig Close
  • Kirk Close
  • Skye Close
  • Clyde Place
  • Troon Place
  • Argyll Close
Running street count: 9

This part of town is fairly new - mid 1980s to early 90s in parts, and still in good nick.

It was early Friday evening in Camillo and the smell of barbecue wafted through parts of the neighbourhood. All the verges were lined with bins, but the trucks obviously hadn't been to collect, as most folks' recycling wheelies were overflowing with all the refuse from New Years celebrations: slab cartons, empty beer bottles and discarded boxes from Christmas presents etc.  Not many people were on the streets, but I did pass a couple of blokes inspecting an old black Ford Escort up on a trailer. A few kids were riding Green Machines in another of the cul-de-sacs under the watchful eye of what I assume was grandad (assumed because the gardens were immaculate and the guy looked to be in his 60s). The driveway he was standing in had a decent slope down onto the road, so the kids could get some good speed up. All very idyllic. Moving on, a fair bit of splashing and general pool fun could be heard, and the satellite pic bears this out; a high percentage of pools in this part of town.

A small park / reserve lies in the center of Inverness Circle, but with no signage from the City (unusual) it's hard to know who or what this is named after...

All in all, a totally non-dangerous walk through Armadale and a solid start.