Cerebral palsy trike tour – Alex + Nick 13.05.22

Nick has done a cerebral palsy trike tour with us a few times a year, for the last 5 years. He absolutely loves the experience, the feeling of freedom. Today’s ride was the same, you can see his smile!

Our trike rider Fred, picked Nick and his carer Alex up from Kirribilli.

The Kirribilli Loop

Firstly, they rode under the north side of the bridge and continued on their tour. The underside of the northern end of the SHB – Sydney Harbour Bridge – is very interesting. The Kirribilli Loop was finished by riding past Luna Park and the North Sydney Olympic Pool.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Next, they rode over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We always tell our passengers to look up and enjoy the unique view. The more than 6,000,000 rivets are so interesting and the arch is so iconic. It’s nicknamed ‘The Coathanger’ because of its arch-based design. It is the largest steel arch bridge in the world.

North Bondi and Brighton Lookout.

Through the city to the lookout at the North Bondi headland. There are a couple of lookouts which all offer beautiful views of Bondi Beach and out to the Tasman Sea, part of the South Pacific Ocean. Fred stopped there for a few photos and so they could admire the view.

Bondi Beach

Riding past the world famous Bondi Beach to the south side, is always fun – people look and wave. Looking from the two ends of the beach give a different perspective. This is the beach where Bondi Lifeguards of the Bondi Rescue TV series is filmed. When in Sydney it is one of the places you should visit. The beach is seriously nice (but not our favourite) and we usually stop near the lifeguard station, made famous by the TV series “Bondi Rescue”. Bondi Beach is one of the most visited tourist sites in Australia. Bondi Beach is recorded by the Australian Museum that Bondi means place where a fight using boondi sticks (nullas nullas or fighting sticks) took place. So far, the Cerebral palsy trike tour was a lot of fun!

Tamarama, Bronte and Clovelly

Further south, along more beautiful, though possibly less well known, beaches. The suburb of Tamarama has a small ocean beach about 1 kilometre south of Bondi Beach and a couple of hundred metres north of Bronte Beach. It is an extremely narrow beach and deceptive for its size. Tamarama Beach is often referred to as Glamarama (or Glamourama), owing to the alleged abundance of glamorous people who sunbathe (often topless), on what must be one of the smallest strips of sand in the state (Wikipedia). So far, the trike tour for surprise birthday is a huge success.

Bronte Beach sits on Nelson Bay, surrounded by Bronte Park. Bronte offers scenic cliff-top walking paths south to Coogee via the Waverley Cemetery and north to Tamarama and Bondi Beach. Clovelly Beach is a small and tranquil beach located at the end of a narrow bay. All these beaches are beautiful and great places to swim.

Coogee

Next is Coogee Beach. Another beautiful beach and slightly more famous than the previous beaches, due to a well know hotel in Coogee. The name Coogee is said to be taken from a local Aboriginal word koojah which means “smelly place”. Another version is koo-chai or koo-jah, both of which mean “the smell of the seaweed drying” in the Bidigal language, or “stinking seaweed”, a reference to the smell of decaying kelp washed up on the beach. Coogee was gazetted as a village in 1838. The first school was built in 1863, and the building was converted into the Coogee Bay Hotel in 1873 (Wikipedia). Riding past Coogee Beach to Rosslyn Flats is interesting.

Centennial Park

However, the 1.5 hours was almost up, so Fred headed north west, through the huge Centennial Park, it is a lovely experience. 120 fields and venues, and 35+ different sports played in the Centennial Parklands. It is the largest community sports precinct in Australia! The history is also interesting: “Originally a swamp and then set aside as land for the water source for Sydney. Centennial Park was reconstructed as a public park and opened in 1888. Sir Henry Parkes’ vision was to create a ‘People’s Park’ in which the citizens of Sydney could ‘take in the air’ away from the Sydney town centre.”

In conclusion, the cerebral palsy trike tour was a big success. We love taking people with a disability because you can see the joy on their face, the feeling of being in fresh air, feeling the freedom.
https://www.trolltours.com.au/product/eastern-sydney-panorama-trike-ride/