Wolli Creek Felafel Run

This morning I decided I really fancied a falafel roll. My favourite place to eat falafel is on the other side of the river in Arncliffe, so rather than jump in the car I decided to take my daughter for a bicycle tour of the beautiful Wolli Creek Wetlands. Not many people visit the remnants of bushland along Wolli Creek Valley but you probably should before it ends up under yet another freeway.

 We joined the Cooks River Cycleway just near where Canterbury Rd crosses the river.

 When I win Lotto I'm going to buy one of these warehouses and make it into a bicycling/artists co-operative with beautiful roof gardens overlooking the river.

 The poor river is a bit messy just now, we've had a lot of rain lately and all the rubbish from the streets ends up in there.

 Pelicans hanging out at the old boat harbour near the sugar mill.

 We crossed the river just before the golf course, lots of other cyclists were out and about.

 A beautiful curve of the river near Beaman Park

 Adora chocolate shop was doing a roaring trade as usual.

 Some of the lovely street art the local teenagers have decorated the bike path with.

After crossing Bayview Avenue we usually cross the river again and continue past Tempe Station but today we made our way around the back of the Velodrome to the mouth of Wolli Creek.

 The tsunami of apartment blocks continues to engulf the Wolli Valley.

We heard music coming from the bushes and were surprised to find a solitary saxophonist practicing by the creek. I guess his neighbours in the apartment block aren't music lovers.

 As we followed the creek South the track became more and more overgrown.

 I reckon this little rock flat would have been a popular fishing spots for the original inhabitants.

 Our patient steeds waited for us while we explored the shoreline.

 In the end the weedy jungle was higher than our heads.

 But we pushed on through, I'd recommend a long sleeve shirt if you're allergic to privet or anything.

 Junky/Hobo hideout under a huge pipeline.

 The track gets a bit rough in places, sometimes you have to carry your bike over boulders and stuff.

 Next time I think I'll bring a machete or some secateurs.

 

Traditional cavehouse dwelling. There were traces of campfires so people must stay here sometimes.

 Suddenly we burst out of the jungle and found six beautiful little sandstone cottages. They were built in the 1920s. Some nice women there gave us a map and told us we should join the Wolli Creek Preservation Society.

 This is the M5E tunnel ventilation stack, it pumps out unfiltered emissions from about 100,000 vehicle movements each day.

 

Turella Reserve is a break in the wildlife corridor along the creek but they're doing some planting with local seeds to join things up.

This weir used to provide water for the market gardens. In 2009 a fishway was built to provide fish spawning access to the upper creek.

 The fishway was a bit jammed up with sticks and leaves so we cleared it out.

 Then we headed across the creek into Bardwell Valley and at last reached our destination!

 The food at Hijazi's is delicious and very affordable. Some of the staff can seem a little unfriendly but they're very nice really.

 You can get a jug of freshly squeezed juice for $10, we chose apple and pineapple.

By the time we'd finished we were so stuffed we could hardly ride our bikes!