Mum’s birthday present trike – Claire + Gabby 26.08.23

Mum’s birthday present trike tour was organised by Gabby for Claire. Over the years, they have done many trike tours with us. Together or with other people. It’s one of Claire’s favourite things to do and as Gabby says “it gets mum out of the house”.

Their favourite tour is along the eastern beaches, so after our trike rider picks picks them up from a home in inner Sydney suburbs, he heads east to the coast.

Centennial Park

Firstly, they rode through the huge Centennial Park 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.”

The story behind the eels in this park is incredible. Ask Fred (if he’s your rider) to explain it to you.

Queens Park

Queens Park is a 26-hectare urban park, set in a natural amphitheatre at the foot of dramatic sandstone cliffs, with panoramic views of the Sydney region. It’s right next to the famous Centennial Park so they rode through it.

Clovelly Beach

Further east, on the coast is Clovelly Beach. It is a small beach that sits on the end of the narrow bay. The bay is home to one of the first surf lifesaving clubs in the world, Clovelly Surf Life Saving Club, which was founded in 1906.

Bronte + Tamarama Beaches

Riding north, along more beautiful, though possibly less well known, beaches. 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.

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).

Bondi Beach

Next, they drove past the world famous Bondi Beach to the south side. 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.

North Bondi and Brighton Lookout

There are a couple of lookouts at the North Bondi headland. They all offer beautiful views of Bondi Beach and out to the Tasman Sea, part of the South Pacific Ocean. So far, on Mum’s birthday present trike tour they have seen some great views and scenic sights.

Macquarie Lightstation

Situated on Sydney Harbour’s southern headland, Macquarie Lighthouse was designed by convict architect Francis Greenway for Lachlan Macquarie, the Governor of NSW. Completed in 1818, but owing to crumbling foundations, it was reconstructed in the 1880s. Fred stopped there for a few photos and so they could admire the view.

Watsons Bay and The Gap

Heading North through some upper class suburbs, they rode to “The Gap” and stopped for photos. The view towards North Head and out to the South Pacific Ocean. Watsons Bay sits on the end of the South Head peninsula. The Gap is an ocean cliff which faces the Tasman Sea, is located in the suburb of Watsons Bay. Although the cliff is a popular tourist destination, it is infamous for suicides.

Eastern suburbs

Continuing on, they rode through the infamous Kings Cross, though it has calmed down a lot since it’s heyday – home of the famous and huge Coca Cola sign. Kings Cross is also home to nightclubs and ladies of the night though it is not nearly as raunchy as it was in the 1970s (apparently). After there, they headed east through the posh suburbs of the eastern suburbs of Sydney, including the Bays: Rose Bay, Double Bay and Rushcutters Bay.

However, the 2 hours was almost up so Fred rode the passengers back home. In conclusion, Mum’s birthday present trike tour was the best ever present. As you can see by the smiles, they loved the feeling of freedom and to forget about trouble for a while.

Here are some ideas on how to forget about life for a while!