4 hour Gift Voucher – Delene + Rose 14.04.24

The 4 hour Gift Voucher was a present to Delene. When her friend Rose came to Sydney from the USA, Delene decided it was a good time to do the trike tour. It’s a fun way to see many of the sights.

Our trike rider picked the passengers up from Delene’s home on the Northern Beaches.

Balgowlah

Balgowlah was named in 1832 after an Aboriginal word meaning north harbour in reference to its position from Port Jackson. Firstly, they rode through Clontarf (Irish: Cluain Tarbh, meaning “meadow of the bull”), which is a lovely harbour suburb.

The Spit

Then, it was through Spit, which is a suburb in its own right. It protrudes off Beauty Point and is home to the Spit Bridge, a bascule bridge opened in 1958 over Middle Harbour. The bridge opens at set times to allow yachts with high masts to pass. Crossing the Spit Bridge is fun, it has great views of Middle Harbour.

Balmoral Beach

Riding on, they rode past the lovely posh Balmoral Beach. Everyone who comes here loves it! Balmoral Beach is not so well known by visitors and tourists, but the stunning natural beauty of the beach and surrounds make it well worth a visit.

Mosman Wharf

Down to Mosman Wharf, with beautiful Sydney Harbour views. The first regular ferry service was arranged by property developer Richard Harnett in the early 1870s. A tram service to the wharf commenced in March 1897.

lower North Shore suburbs – Taronga Zoo

Heading west, they rode along the back streets and down past the Taronga Zoo to Bradleys Head. Make sure you look for the koalas eating and sleeping in the gum trees. So far, the 4 hour Gift Voucher trike tour is a huge success, very interesting and fun.

Bradleys Head

Similarly, Bradleys Head has wonderful views across Sydney Harbour to the Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge and the CBD. Bradleys Head in Mosman is one of Sydney Harbour’s most prominent natural features. First Fleet officers observed and named it, almost every ship entering Sydney Harbour has sailed past it, it possesses Aboriginal, military and naval associations, and it has for many years been the location of various recreational activities.

Blues Point Reserve / McMahons Point

Continuing on, they rode to Blues Point Reserve. The views over Blues Bay towards the Sydney Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and the CBD are just stunning. All the more stunning because of the lovely weather. Another perfect place for photos.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Then, they rode over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We always tell our passengers to look up and enjoy the unique view. he 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. This bridge is the eighth longest spanning-arch bridge in the world and the tallest steel arch bridge, measuring 134 m (440 ft) from top to water level. It was also the world’s widest long-span bridge, at 48.8 m (160 ft) wide, until a bridge in Canada was completed in 2012.

Domain

Next, they rode through the city and past the Domain. The Domain is a heritage-listed 34-hectare (84-acre) area of open space located on the eastern fringe of the Sydney CBD.

Royal Botanical Gardens

Riding along Art Gallery Road is always interesting. Past the Royal Botanical Gardens to Mrs Macquarie’s Point. The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney’s history is no ordinary tale, despite the name, it wasn’t until 1959 that it became ‘Royal’.

They were officially recognised as a botanic garden in 1816, while only becoming ‘Royal’ in 1959 when Queen Elizabeth II visited. The site is one of the world’s oldest colonial botanic gardens and one of the most important botanical gardens in the Southern Hemisphere (only Rio de Janeiro is older). The area attracts around 4 million people a year.

Mrs Macquarie’s Point

Next is Mrs Macquarie’s Point. It has beautiful views looking west towards the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. They ride past Mrs Macquarie’s Chair. Mrs Macquarie’s Chair is an exposed sandstone rock cut into the shape of a bench, on a peninsula in Sydney Harbour. It was hand carved by convicts in 1810, for Elizabeth Macquarie, the wife of Major-General Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of NSW.

Art Gallery of NSW

The Art Gallery of NSW is also along this road, it’s beautiful historic sandstone buildings were built between 1896 and 1909. The Art Gallery of New South Wales began without a collection and without a building on 24 April 1871 when a group of 30 art-loving citizens established a society to support artists and promote knowledge and enjoyment of art in the wider community. In 1874 they secured government support for their project and by 1880 they had their own dedicated building, the first of its kind in Australia.

Castlecrag

Castlecrag is a suburb of historical significance. It was originally planned by the husband and wife team, Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin who named the suburb after a towering crag of rock overlooking Middle Harbour, known locally as Edinburgh Castle. The Griffins came to Castlecrag in 1925 after tiring of the politics surrounding implementation of their designs for Australia’s capital city, Canberra.

Freshwater, Curl Curl, Dee Why etc

Continuing on, they rode past the famous and iconic Manly Beach. This leads past Queenscliff, which is really northern Manly. Then they rode past Freshwater, Curl Curl, Dee Why and Long Reef. All such beautiful beaches.

Narrabeen Lagoon

They rode via Narrabeen Lagoon (also referred to as Narrabeen Lake) which is Sydney’s Northern Beaches largest estuary system located just behind the world famous surfing beach at Narrabeen. It is a haven for wildlife. So far, the 4 hour Gift Voucher trike tour was a lot of fun. For instance, they have already seen so many of the beautiful places many visitors or locals to Sydney don’t get to see.

Wakehurst Parkway

They did a big loop as this joins the Wakehurst Parkway. We love the Wakehurst Parkway because the legal speed is faster than most Sydney limits. Also, it is a haunted road!! Not that we have seen any ghosts during the day.

Mona Vale

Further north, is Mona Vale. The main beach is one km long and very beautiful. The area was known as “Bongin Bongin” by the Aboriginals. The initial land grants in the district of Pittwater were not made until April 1813.

Newport

Continuing north, the 1.3 kilometres long beach at Newport has with reddish golden sands and faces east. So far, the 4 hour Gift Voucher trike tour of Sydney’s Northern Beaches was a lot of fun andinformative.

Bilgola Beach

Bilgola Beach was next. The name “Bilgola” is derived from an Aboriginal term Belgoula meaning “swirling waters”, or perhaps “a pretty beach with steep slopes, studded with cabbage palms”. The word Belgoula was noted in Surveyor James Meehan’s records of 1814. It’s another fabulous beach and is 33 km NE of the Sydney CBD.

Whale Beach

Then the tour went via Bilgola Plateau, Clareville, Careel Bay and Avalon before reaching Whale Beach. Whale Beach is a 600 metres long, and one of our favourites. Between Whale Beach and Palm Beach is the Palm Beach Bible Garden. It has spectacular views over Palm Beach (next beach). It’s where this photo was taken.

“Home and Away” – Palm Beach – Summer Bay

Palm Beach is the home of the long running TV series “Home and Away”. Home and Away has been on our TV screens since 1988 and the famous Aussie soap is set in a fictional town called Summer Bay. Did you know most of it is filmed here? Palm Beach is a beautiful location for the show and if you’re lucky, you may even spot the show being filmed!

We cannot guarantee it but many of our passengers have seen it being filmed. The narrow peninsular is surrounded by water on three sides: Pittwater, the Pacific Ocean, and Broken Bay, making it perfect for surfing, swimming, sailing and lots more.

However, the 4 hrs was over three quarters of the way through, so the rider rode back to Balgowlah and dropped the passengers off at home. In conclusion, the 4 hour Gift Voucher around Sydney was a success 😊. They loved the whole experience and will remember it for a long time, if not forever! Design your own ride!