Penrith
It's the great western sprawl carpeting the foothills of the Blue Mountains and the picturesque Nepean river runs through it.
How To Get There
Train Jump on a train at Central and head out to Penrith; the trip takes an hour. Fares: Peak – single $7.20, concs. $3.60. Return $14.40, $7.20 concs. Off-peak return $10, concs. (child) $2.60.
Car From Central head straight up Broadway onto Parramatta Road, and then on to the M4. Follow the signs to Penrith. Take the second Penrith exit onto Mulgoa Rd (for the destinations listed). It’s 56km and takes about an hour (less if you have a mullet).
Opened in 1956, Panthers World of Entertainment has grown in size to be now over 82 hectares. Apart from the restaurants (and the drive through Krispy Kreme that never closes), bars, live music, kids’ entertainment centre and gaming parlours, it’s a golfing theme park destination. Currently getting a makeover, the World has shrunk in preparation for a grand re-opening in December. (SN)
Mulgoa Rd, Penrith 2750. (02 4720 0555)
Western Sydney has the only man-made whitewater rafting and kayaking course of its kind in the southern hemisphere. It was created for the canoe/kayak slalom events for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. There are lessons in kayaking and rafting on the rushing waters for beginners up to advanced. (SN)
McCarthy’s Ln, Cranebrook 2749. (02 4730 4333)
For charm and romance, it’s hard to beat the olde-worlde paddle steamer Nepean Belle which follows the Nepean through the National Park. The cruises access parts of Sydney you can’t reach otherwise. Spy on Glenleigh, the baronial mansion built in 1890, and be awed by the sandstone cliffs of the Nepean Gorge, towering 150 metres above. Time and journey trips vary. (SN)
Boarding Jetty, Tench Ave Penrith 2751. (02 4733 1274)
Nick Tsoutas, Artistic director
How can you get people in Sydney to travel out to the Powerhouse? You know what, it’s really not that far. It takes just 30 minutes to get here from the city centre, straight down the M5. It takes longer than that to cross town.
Too true. So sell Casula! We re-opened in April this year after a $13m redevelopment. We’ve now got a world-class theatre with shows such as The Wharf Revue playing this week. We’ve gone from one gallery to seven with over 30,000 works in our collection, and a constant stream of fantastic exhibitions such as Phillip George’s Borderlands, a series of surfboards patterned with Islamic iconography – which is very powerful in the light of the Cronulla riots. We have workshops and courses for the local community. We’ve got walls designated for local graff artists to work without fear of being arrested.
Do people in Liverpool care about the Powerhouse? You bet. But obviously we want to engage people even more. We’re a space of intersection that reflects the cultural diversity of the area. This is a cultural hothouse, teeming with excitement and creativity. We’ve got 152 different language groups in the area; it’s the most culturally complex place in Australia. The other day, for example, I was at a Bollywood Chinese restaurant that served halal meat! And this city is one of the fastest growing in Australia, full of young families, with a new generation of culture vultures to tap into.
How do you do that? If you respect and acknowledge diversity then people will want to share in other people’s culture, to enjoy the experience and the exposure and to learn from it. You’ve just got to get down here and see for yourselves. (DR)
1 Casula Rd, Casula 2170 (02 9824 1121)