Walking east of Kingsgrove Road towards Bexley North, we come to a pedestrian tunnel.

It links streets to the north and south of the M5. There are a few of these along the track, very handy as otherwise it would be a very long walk to the train station for those living north of the M5.

Wolli Creek once again winds its way downstream. It runs into the Cooks River, past the airport, and into Botany Bay.

With the arrival of the M5 the canal was widened, but it hasn’t eased the flooding. Why does it flood so often? I Googled this issue and found a Flood Study for the area. It says that before this part of Sydney was settled, all the rainwater was slower to enter the creek, having to be filtered through the soil or flow down the numerous gullies and creeks. Now there is a lot more concrete, meaning less places for water to filter through, hence more flooding. Judging from the amount of flooding recently in Sydney and its surrounds, this is very common side-effect of urbanisation.

That ends our little tour of the M5 and Kingsgrove. I enjoyed photographing the suburb and writing about it, so perhaps I might do it again somewhere down the track.

It’s not all concrete in this industrial complex. There’s a touch of green around too.

It’s not exactly the tropics here, but banana trees seem to grow really well.

You don’t exactly see the M5 from the track as hear it. The roadway is on the other side of the trees.

The canal that you see there is the infamous Wolli Creek. In heavy rains (and it has been heavy often lately) the creek can swallow up cars, even trains.

Alongside the track is an industrial zone. A bit worn around the edges, these might not be the prettiest buildings in the suburb, but their ugliness make them all the more interesting.

The M5 is a mixed blessing. When the traffic is good, it’s great.

When the traffic is bad, it’s the bane of everyone’s existence, clogging up the main road and all other feeder roads. These photos were taken on a good day.

The other good thing due to its coming is that we have a bike/pedestrian track that runs alongside the M5 East for almost 10km, from Bexley North to Riverwood.

Next we’ll go for a walk along this track.

Changes are afoot in Kingsgrove. Beside the brown brick houses, the apartments have arrived.

I’m not completely against the development, as it provides the suburb with a supermarket, and now completing the weekly grocery run is just a walk away. It is however imposing compared to the low-key 1940s buildings that it towers over.