Rydalmere is immediately to the right of Parramatta, and on the north side of the river. From what I recall it has plenty of older style houses in the immediate area.
Going slightly north, you have Dundas, Carlingford and then North Rocks, Oh.. I remember North Rocks, some nice houses there, (I got married there in 1990 :D )
Those are the three areas I would be looking at, if I wanted to be in that location.
Go to
http://www.whereis.com/whereis/directions.do
and put Rydalmere in NSW
and
North Rocks in NSW
to see the local area.
It shows 7.3km and 11 minutes travel time.