Suburb #35 Oxley

We went from the biggest suburb in Canberra to the smallest one - Oxley, which seemed appropriate.

Oxley is named after John Joseph William Molesworth Oxley - an explorer and surveyor who apparently not only has a very long name but discovered the Brisbane River. It seems rather ironic that this suburb is named after an explorer of significant territory. This suburb is really really small only 1.08km². It seems even smaller after you have just spent a whole day trying to drive around Kambah as well.

The streets here are named after social reformers.

Oxley is essentially Mt Tuggeranong - which sounds pretty big but really isn't either - surrounded by houses. There is a great view of the Tuggeranong town centre from the top - if you don't get eaten by the bugs.

I also made a new friend here.

Saw some wattle...

And some new entrants in the fake grass/concrete competition.

Suburb #34 Kambah

The weekend suburb choice was, as is often the case, governed by my stomach - with a Sri Lankan food fair on in Kambah. So off we went to Canberra's largest suburb - the first suburb built in Tuggeranong which has also achieved fame for making the Australia's top ten list of bogan suburbs and lets just say seems to have a rather lets say 'mixed' reputation.

Kambah (or Kam-bar...) is named after the Kambah Homestead that was originally located here. This homestead was named after the local Ngambri people, which some suggest also give us the name for Canberra itself. Apparently Ngambri can also mean 'cleavage' or 'meeting place'....*ponders possible links with local burlesque scene*.

The streets in most parts of Kambah are named after interstate pioneers - though the fancy Gleneagles part of Kambah (think 'kambah grove') has streets named after golfers and golf courses.

Kambah certainly feels different to all the other suburbs that we have visited so far. This is perhaps not suprising given that it was meant to be many suburbs. It is quite literally at least four suburbs in one and hence it doesn't seem to have the same community feel or distinct character of other places we have visited. It is massive and was certainly not designed with the same 'neighbourhood philosophy' that our planned capital is used to. For starters, there are at least four sets of shops. So be prepared for more photos than usual!

But perhaps the best place to start is Kambah Woolshed. This is the oldest surviving building from the Kambah Homestead. Its really sad that the Homestead itself has now gone but it is great to be able to see where the shearing sheds once stood. You can even see 'Kambah' stamped on one of ceiling beams if you look hard enough and don't throw you neck out like my partner.

On to the first set of local shops 'Kambah village'... while certainly not the most beautiful local shops, they still have there own character and a sense of 1970s history about them...

This was also the venue for some small local markets where I picked up a gorgeous Japanese
inspired necklace for $10, and of course the awesome if somewhat wanky Dynomite record store.

The usual Canberra obsession with sheep sculptures is also evident here....

There were lots of other unexpected and interesting things to see in Kambah though. From local schools

 To temples with local animal residents....

And other local wildlife...

I must admit that overall I didn't feel comfortable in some parts of this suburb, but it gets additional plus points for this gate..

A sign that used the word verge...

 And absolutely the most fun playground in Canberra so far (except for the Arboretum)...

Some of the really special places in 'Kambah' are, however, just past its borders. This includes the Kambah Pool and the Kambah Pony Club.

Although the view from Urambi Hills within the suburbs is quite beautiful...

There also appears to be evidence of visitation from alien beings nearby on Meredith crescent :p

The view from the other side of the suburb was pretty impressive to - and I got to go down a second slide so I won't complain :p

Suburb #33 Torrens

Suburb number 33. It had to be a good one. For no particular reason we chose Torrens a suburb on the South side at the bottom of the Woden land - i.e. the gateway to the deep South. It was a good choice :)

Torrens is named after Sir Robert Torrens who was a Premier of South Australia. He is probably better known however, not due to the suburb named after him, but due to the system of transferring land 'Torrens title' that is named after him (oh god bad property law flashbacks) which he pushed through the British Parliament and also brought to Australia.

The streets are named after South Australian pioneers, and so I didn't recognise any of them. Surely there should have been a Pyne Lane :p

Torrens was a very interesting suburb to visit. I had never been here before - though often travelling to the neighbouring suburb of Pearce to eat ridiculous amounts of food at Ramas.

I don't have a photo to do it justice really but the Torrens shop design was very unexpected. The shops are basically found in a semi-circle shaped building with a ridiculously large roof. I am really glad it looks like they are about to start renovations here - it would be sad to see such unusual local shop architecture disappear. 

There is also an amazing hindu temple nearby - though it seems to have closed down (although we were around the back of it). I think they used to have Indian food fairs here so I am sad if I have missed out :(

 I also have to record this impressive lawn design...

But really a key reason that Torrensians are very lucky is the amazing Mt Taylor reserve at the back of the suburb. I made my poor partner walk up the hill but it was definitely worth it. Kangaroos galore and some amazing views. I would love to trade my gym classes for a morning walk here. I may have gone a bit nuts with the kangaroo photos - apologies in advance - anyone would think I was an international visitor! But I don't think I have ever seen so many in the one place (except possibly at the back of Campbell near the high school/war memorial).