Dulwich Hill is south west of where we will be in the CBD (Central Business District).
The farthest west we were last time was Newtown.
Dulwich Hill and Marrickville are even more west than that.
Dulwich Hill is part of the Marrickville government area. They're the ones that have the awesome website about the Koori of that area--the Cadigal and Wangal people.
The postcode of Dulwich Hill is 2203. In numerology that's a seven. My numerology number is seven. Is that exciting or what? Actually, I really like numerology and was really into it some years ago. I prefer it over Astrology. Oh! Just noticed. 22. That's my birthday number. Wow. Am I reading too much into this? Probably.
Dulwich has had other names. I just noticed the name. It kind of looks like dull witch. I really have the occult on my mind. Maybe it's because Halloween is coming up.
Anyway, at one time the area was called Wardall's Bush--named after Robert Wardell. I gotta look this guy up.
He was a rich landowner--a barrister and a landowner. He spoke out against the governor and got in some trouble for that. It seems for the most part the guy was considered a hero. Well, maybe hero is too strong of a word. I guess it's better to say he was well-respected.
The governor he spoke out against was Ralph Darling. According to Lord Wiki, Darling was not very popular. He kind of sounds like a 19th century Aussie version of our adorable US president. Strangely though while Wardell gets one little suburb temporarily named after him, this Darling guy got a bunch of stuff named after him. Darlinghurst. Darling Harbor. Darling Point.
What the hell is the deal with that?
Okay. This might be important for us as tourists. Lord Wiki says there are two shopping areas. One is on Wardell road. Oh good! At least Robert still has a street named for him! The other one is at the northern end of Marrickville.
It looks like we can take a bus or train there.
Dulwich Hill has historically had a lot of Greek and Portuguese people. Now there's been an increase in Vietnamese and Chinese people. So, I guess we'll be having one of those for lunch on the day we go there. Well, I mean we're not going to eat the people. Just their cuisine.
In terms of politics, Dulwich Hill tends to side with labor. Good. I'm loving this neighborhood more and more.
Now I'm going to read about Marrickville since a few people, in comments, suggested we visit there instead of Dulwich Hill. Or maybe they said in addition to Dulwich Hill.
Marrickville is named after a place in North Yorkshire England. Lord Wiki says it has a lot of Greek and Vietnamese people.They don't mention any Chinese or Portuguese. Interesting. I guess the Chinese and Portuguese prefer to be up in Dulwich Hill. Another type of people there are the Yuppies who are not wealthy enough to live in the Eastern Suburbs.
I'm going to say good-bye to Lord Wiki now and look at other websites.
Restaurants......
I'm thinking we should do Portuguese. It's not something you find a lot of in Texas. Although I have a feeling it's very meat-oriented.
Looking through Google.....It seems Dulwich Hill is very backpacker/hostel oriented. I've never stayed in a hostel before. I'd like to try it. I'm not sure I'd be too happy about sharing a bathroom though. I guess I should get over that. I mean I wouldn't mind sharing with a few other people, but I don't think I'd love a place where there were two toilets for twenty people. That would bother me. I wonder if there's a toilet per person law in hostels.
I just found an awesome website. It would be great if we ever decide to move to Australia. It describes the neighborhoods. Who lives there, what the neighborhood is truly like, and what shoe it would be. The only problem is I don't know much about shoes. All I really know is most of them are made from leather and if you wear those and say you're a vegetarian, people will call you a hypocrite.
Anyway, they say Dulwich Hill is like an old pair of campers and Adidas. Not helpful info to me, but probably very helpful to people who know shoes. I need a website that compares neighborhoods to TV shows. You know like so and so neighborhood is Facts of Life and The Brady Bunch. This other neighborhood is Eli Stone. THAT would totally help me.
Here IS something helpful. The website lists playgrounds we can go to. We need these. Jack can play. I can sit and read my book. Tim can play photographer or whatever he wants to do.
There's Johnson Park, Laxton park, and Allison park. Johnson Park might be our best bet because it has toilets.
Back to website. It says Dulwich Hill is a good place to get Portuguese and Lebanese sweets. That sounds fun. They recommend Fernandes Patisserie on Marrickville Rd for the Portuguese stuff, and Ablas on Canterbury road for the Lebanese ones.
Staying on the food theme--the area also has reasonable prices for groceries. So we can buy our ingredients for dinner. We should bring our freezer bag from home.
Oh back to numbers! This website says that the average age of residents in Dulwich Hill is thirty-six. That will be my age when we go to Dulwich Hill!
This suburb is just CALLING to me.
More food stuff: Eumundi Smokehouse. It doesn't look vegetarian friendly, but Tim and Jack might enjoy it. I'll go find me some tofu and carrots at another place. I say that because when you tell a carnivore that you're a vegetarian, I think this is what they imagine you eat all the time.
I just found this awesome website about playgrounds in Australia. I feel a little sad, because I had actually come up with the idea and thought of doing it one day. An online playground guide.I guess someone beat me to it. That happens to me a lot. I get a cool idea and then someone else does it. In some ways, I feel disappointed. But in other ways, it makes me feel proud--well, if the idea is successful for the people who ended up doing it first; it kind of confirms that my idea was a good one.
A few years ago, I told Tim that we should open up a restaurant where we serve only Macaroni and Cheese. A little after I said that, S'Mac opened up in NYC. By coincidence, I ended up being there on the week of it opening. There was a long line out the door. My emotions were a mixture of jealousy and triumph.
Back to the occult stuff, my other brilliant idea was a website where people could rate occult/alternative services. I really actually did work on that website--I mean beyond just telling someone I had a good idea. I made plans for the website, I sought out help in website building. I learned a little Joomla and actually had the beginning of a site. It was hard work though and went way over my head and abilities. Very stressful and frustrating. Then I finally found what I had searched for before and had failed to find: Someone else with the same idea. There was another website offering the same service, and it didn't look all that successful. So I gave up and filled my empty hours with Facebook. Oh and there I DID come up with an idea that ended up being very successful. I created an Australian gift thing. It has over 40,000 fans and makes me feel kind of famous. The only downside is I get no money from it. That kind of sucks.
It's not that I'm greedy and want to be super rich and famous. But if I had a lot of money I could move to Australia. That would be nice. Then my postcode could be 2203.
The farthest west we were last time was Newtown.
Dulwich Hill and Marrickville are even more west than that.
Dulwich Hill is part of the Marrickville government area. They're the ones that have the awesome website about the Koori of that area--the Cadigal and Wangal people.
The postcode of Dulwich Hill is 2203. In numerology that's a seven. My numerology number is seven. Is that exciting or what? Actually, I really like numerology and was really into it some years ago. I prefer it over Astrology. Oh! Just noticed. 22. That's my birthday number. Wow. Am I reading too much into this? Probably.
Dulwich has had other names. I just noticed the name. It kind of looks like dull witch. I really have the occult on my mind. Maybe it's because Halloween is coming up.
Anyway, at one time the area was called Wardall's Bush--named after Robert Wardell. I gotta look this guy up.
He was a rich landowner--a barrister and a landowner. He spoke out against the governor and got in some trouble for that. It seems for the most part the guy was considered a hero. Well, maybe hero is too strong of a word. I guess it's better to say he was well-respected.
The governor he spoke out against was Ralph Darling. According to Lord Wiki, Darling was not very popular. He kind of sounds like a 19th century Aussie version of our adorable US president. Strangely though while Wardell gets one little suburb temporarily named after him, this Darling guy got a bunch of stuff named after him. Darlinghurst. Darling Harbor. Darling Point.
What the hell is the deal with that?
Okay. This might be important for us as tourists. Lord Wiki says there are two shopping areas. One is on Wardell road. Oh good! At least Robert still has a street named for him! The other one is at the northern end of Marrickville.
It looks like we can take a bus or train there.
Dulwich Hill has historically had a lot of Greek and Portuguese people. Now there's been an increase in Vietnamese and Chinese people. So, I guess we'll be having one of those for lunch on the day we go there. Well, I mean we're not going to eat the people. Just their cuisine.
In terms of politics, Dulwich Hill tends to side with labor. Good. I'm loving this neighborhood more and more.
Now I'm going to read about Marrickville since a few people, in comments, suggested we visit there instead of Dulwich Hill. Or maybe they said in addition to Dulwich Hill.
Marrickville is named after a place in North Yorkshire England. Lord Wiki says it has a lot of Greek and Vietnamese people.They don't mention any Chinese or Portuguese. Interesting. I guess the Chinese and Portuguese prefer to be up in Dulwich Hill. Another type of people there are the Yuppies who are not wealthy enough to live in the Eastern Suburbs.
I'm going to say good-bye to Lord Wiki now and look at other websites.
Restaurants......
I'm thinking we should do Portuguese. It's not something you find a lot of in Texas. Although I have a feeling it's very meat-oriented.
Looking through Google.....It seems Dulwich Hill is very backpacker/hostel oriented. I've never stayed in a hostel before. I'd like to try it. I'm not sure I'd be too happy about sharing a bathroom though. I guess I should get over that. I mean I wouldn't mind sharing with a few other people, but I don't think I'd love a place where there were two toilets for twenty people. That would bother me. I wonder if there's a toilet per person law in hostels.
I just found an awesome website. It would be great if we ever decide to move to Australia. It describes the neighborhoods. Who lives there, what the neighborhood is truly like, and what shoe it would be. The only problem is I don't know much about shoes. All I really know is most of them are made from leather and if you wear those and say you're a vegetarian, people will call you a hypocrite.
Anyway, they say Dulwich Hill is like an old pair of campers and Adidas. Not helpful info to me, but probably very helpful to people who know shoes. I need a website that compares neighborhoods to TV shows. You know like so and so neighborhood is Facts of Life and The Brady Bunch. This other neighborhood is Eli Stone. THAT would totally help me.
Here IS something helpful. The website lists playgrounds we can go to. We need these. Jack can play. I can sit and read my book. Tim can play photographer or whatever he wants to do.
There's Johnson Park, Laxton park, and Allison park. Johnson Park might be our best bet because it has toilets.
Back to website. It says Dulwich Hill is a good place to get Portuguese and Lebanese sweets. That sounds fun. They recommend Fernandes Patisserie on Marrickville Rd for the Portuguese stuff, and Ablas on Canterbury road for the Lebanese ones.
Staying on the food theme--the area also has reasonable prices for groceries. So we can buy our ingredients for dinner. We should bring our freezer bag from home.
Oh back to numbers! This website says that the average age of residents in Dulwich Hill is thirty-six. That will be my age when we go to Dulwich Hill!
This suburb is just CALLING to me.
More food stuff: Eumundi Smokehouse. It doesn't look vegetarian friendly, but Tim and Jack might enjoy it. I'll go find me some tofu and carrots at another place. I say that because when you tell a carnivore that you're a vegetarian, I think this is what they imagine you eat all the time.
I just found this awesome website about playgrounds in Australia. I feel a little sad, because I had actually come up with the idea and thought of doing it one day. An online playground guide.I guess someone beat me to it. That happens to me a lot. I get a cool idea and then someone else does it. In some ways, I feel disappointed. But in other ways, it makes me feel proud--well, if the idea is successful for the people who ended up doing it first; it kind of confirms that my idea was a good one.
A few years ago, I told Tim that we should open up a restaurant where we serve only Macaroni and Cheese. A little after I said that, S'Mac opened up in NYC. By coincidence, I ended up being there on the week of it opening. There was a long line out the door. My emotions were a mixture of jealousy and triumph.
Back to the occult stuff, my other brilliant idea was a website where people could rate occult/alternative services. I really actually did work on that website--I mean beyond just telling someone I had a good idea. I made plans for the website, I sought out help in website building. I learned a little Joomla and actually had the beginning of a site. It was hard work though and went way over my head and abilities. Very stressful and frustrating. Then I finally found what I had searched for before and had failed to find: Someone else with the same idea. There was another website offering the same service, and it didn't look all that successful. So I gave up and filled my empty hours with Facebook. Oh and there I DID come up with an idea that ended up being very successful. I created an Australian gift thing. It has over 40,000 fans and makes me feel kind of famous. The only downside is I get no money from it. That kind of sucks.
It's not that I'm greedy and want to be super rich and famous. But if I had a lot of money I could move to Australia. That would be nice. Then my postcode could be 2203.
oooh so much anticipation over 2203...I get like that with food places...I hope you like the real thing!
ReplyDeleteSpooooooky!!! My boss sent me an email from a NZ colleague who wanted us to have a look at this website: http://www.dulwichcentre.com.au/ ...sort of in relation to the project we are doing at the moment (but not really. I think the guy -not the website - was a bit loopy personally but that is another story). Ha..just so funny that I had the website open ready to read this morning and had a quick look at your blog at the same time!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGood old Robert Wardell started the first independent newspaper in Oz, with partner Wentworth, named The Australian ;)
ReplyDeleteWow, you are amazing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the playground finder. I never even knew it existed.
You'd need a lot of money cos Dulwich Hill is getting pricey. too cramped in for a country gal like me.
ReplyDeletemscherrylane: You do numerology on food places????? You ARE weird. Uh, I mean very unique and interesting.
ReplyDeleteTracey: I want to hear about the loopy guy. Loopy...is that an Australian term or do we have it in America too? Now I can't even keep things straight anymore.
Anyway, major synchronicity for you regarding Dulwich Hill. I wonder what it means.......
Jayne: I read about that very briefly. He sounds like an interesting guy. I'm so impressed with all the stuff you know.
Tiff: Thanks for saying I'm amazing. I'm not as amazing as Jayne though (see above) The playground finder is really cool. I have to remember to use it--although now Jack is saying he's too old for playgrounds. What the hell? He's 7. How can you be too old at 7???????? Oh well. I'm sure he'll outgrow it-outgrow his outgrowing of playgrounds.
Bettina: It reminds me of NYC--places that were once affordable become suddenly very expensive.
Just a few thoughts on your post from someone who lives just a couple of suburbs away from Dulwich Hill (which is pronounced dull-itch, by the way--you don't sound out the "w" and the emphasis is on the first syllable).
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I don't know of a single backpackers in Dulwich. There may be one, but it's hardly a hotbed of tourists! It's a typical older inner west suburb, lots of lovely old houses (and yes, it's getting pricey) and also quite a few flats (apartments) and so on.
The first thing you should do if you want to piss people off who live in the inner west is to suggest they live there because they can't afford the eastern suburbs. Many people choose to live in the inner west because of the cultural activity, the ambiance of the physical environment (architecture), and the cafe/bookshop culture. Lots of writers live in the inner west, which is, as you say, very much a left-leaning area politically (unlike the eastern suburbs).
Portuguese food is big in Petersham, just up the road from Dulwich Hill. These cuisine pockets, obviously, reflect immigration patterns. Marrickville was where a lot of post-WWII Geek families settled--they've move out now and there are a lot of Vietnamese, although Marrickville still has one of the best Greek bakeries in Sydney.
Dulwich has a mix of cuisines, reflecting the fact that it's sort of nestled in between bigger suburbs like Marrickville and Petersham. There is a fantastic cafe in Constitution Rd called "Sideways"--I gather you're vegetarian, but they do the best steak sandwich in Sydney.
You're also one suburb away from Summer Hill, which is my favourite inner west suburb (well, maybe that and Haberfield, on the other side of Parramatta Rd, which is very Italian, if you're looking for genuine Italian pizza). Summer Hill is very villagey and has great shops and cafes.
Finally, you're not really going to be very far "west" at all in Dulwich. If you really want to go west in Sydney, come to where I work--Blacktown--or even Penrith. There are some spectacular art centres in the outer western suburbs, which suffer from unfortunate and not entirely accurate stereotyping in the media.
I hope you enjoy your stay in my part of Sydney. I live in Ashfield, two suburbs from Dulwich Hill.
You should see how many places were named after Lachlan Macquarie...
ReplyDeletemisrule,
ReplyDeleteI already love you. Why? You helped me with a pronuncian. This is so helpful to me. I have all these words in my head, but I often have no idea how to get them out of my head and into my mouth.
Before our last Aussie trip, I was saying Bondee Beach and Circular Cay. And there were other words too that I had trouble with.
I didn't mean to piss anyone off about not being able to afford the Eastern Suburbs. I DO think there are probably SOME people who live there because of that.
It's kind of like when we lived in NYC. We couldn't afford a lot of areas so we had to live in the Madison Square Park area. If we had a lot of money, we would have probably lived somewhere like the Upper West Side. But we grew to totally love where we lived. And at one point I think i said even if we had tons of money and could live ANYWHERE....I'd want to live in our old neighborhood.
I think in every neighborhood in every country, there will be people living there simply because they couldn't afford the neighborhood they preferred.
But I'm sure most people in the neighborhood live there because this is where they actually wanted to live.
We'll see about going more west. I think it will depend on how we're feeling, the weather, and how easy/hard it is to use transportation.
Are you walking distance from Dulwich Hill?? If it's a matter of walking more west, that would probably be no problem. How hard is it for you to get to the city?
greg g,
ReplyDeleteBut do you think he was a good guy? Bad guy? In-between?
Did he deserve all these places to be named after him?
I'm reading The Fatal Shore now. I'm guessing Hughes will talk about him. I hope.
Hey Dina, I'm SO glad you're reading The Fatal Shore! I loved that book. :)
ReplyDeleteLove those websites you found. Mind if I post them on my website (when it comes back online)? We have lots of queries about the anemities in various Sydney suburbs, and these are excellent resources.
I lived in a hostel for awhile, back in my single days. :) It was a lot like living in a college dormitory. But the price was right and there were some families with kids there too. You can get a room to yourselves if you want one.
My husband grew up in the Blacktown area (well, Kings Langley to be precise). It's nice out there, but public transport isn't as good as it is further in.
I enjoy reading all your research. I don't think I will ever live in Sydney again, unless circumstances force us to. I like visiting and being a tourist. Plus, I can only tolerate my in-laws for so long! hehehehe.
Tors,
ReplyDeleteOf course you can post them on your website!!!!! I don't think you needed to ask permission, but very sweet that you did.
How long did you live in a hostel? What was the bathroom situation like? See, I'm always wearing about the toilets.
I'm LOVING The Fatal Shore. I decided it's a book I will keep and so I'm underlining like crazy.
How often do you visit Sydney????