east coast trike tour – Ann + Bob 28.01.25

Our passengers booked the east coast trike tour of Sydney in 2023. However, it was so wet it was cancelled. From the UK, they come to Sydney regularly to visit family. Today was very hot but we got it done. Bob wrote later, “…well worth waiting for…”. Our trike rider picked them up from their accommodation in Randwick, east of Sydney.

Randwick

Randwick was named after the village of Randwick, Gloucestershire, England. The first stone house in the area in 1848, called Blenheim House, can still be seen in Blenheim Street. There are still plenty of noteworthy buildings from the 1800’s which were saved from demolish, thank goodness.

It’s 6 kilometres south-east of the Sydney CBD. The famous Randwick Racecourse is here. The racecourse dates back to 1833. Until then, Hyde Park in Sydney’s centre had been the main city venue for races. Dedicated ground was needed to accommodate racing’s enormous popularity and in January 1833, Governor Bourke designated land on Botany Rd, Randwick, for use as a racecourse.

Coogee

Firstly, they rode to both the south and north end of Coogee Beach. At the southern end is Wylies baths (open 365 days a year), as well as McIver’s Baths, which is the only remaining female-only ocean pool in Australia (dating back to 1886).

😆 The name Coogee is derived from the Aboriginal word ‘koojah’ which means ‘bad smell’ or a ‘stinking place’. Already, the east coast trike tour in Sydney was showing beautiful yet interesting areas which most visitors don’t see.

Maroubra

Riding south, Maroubra is one of Australia’s top surfing beaches. It is a local Aboriginal word meaning place of thunder. In 2006, Maroubra Beach became the second Australian beach to be named an official National Surfing Reserve. The spectacular 1km long beach is wrapped by a rocky headland and natural bushland.

Long Bay Correctional Complex (Gaol)

Next, they rode past the notorious Long Bay Goal. The State Reformatory for Women was opened in 1909 and the State Penitentiary for Men was opened beside it in 1914. Gallows were in operation at the complex from 1917 to 1939. The Long Bay Correctional Complex, commonly called Long Bay, is a correctional facility comprising a heritage-listed maximum and minimum security prison for males and females and a hospital to treat prisoners, psychiatric cases and remandees.

Little Bay

Further south, the little known Little Bay area was first used as a sanitation camp during Sydney’s smallpox outbreak in 1881–82, to isolate the healthy contacts of sufferers of the disease. Also, bubonic plague in Sydney of 1900 and then again when soldiers returning from Europe brought the influenza virus back in 1919. Little Bay was an ideal location because it was isolated from settlements but still close enough to Sydney.

La Perouse

Slightly south west of Little Bay is La Perouse. This beautiful peninsula in Sydney’s southeast is where Captain Arthur Phillip’s First Fleet initially landed in 1788, before deciding to settle at Sydney Cove. La Perouse is named after a French explorer who arrived in Botany Bay a week after the First Fleet. Nearby is the 1880s-built Bare Island Fort, which you might recognise from the Tom Cruise film Mission Impossible 2.

Anzac Parade

However, the hour was almost up so the rider rode along Anzac Parade to Bondi Junction where they were dropped off. Anzac Parade is a major road in the south-eastern suburbs and is named in memory of members of the First Australian Imperial Force (later to become known as Anzacs). They marched down the street from their barracks (now a heritage listed part of the University of New South Wales) to Sydney Harbour, where they were transported to Europe during World War I.

In conclusion, the east coast trike tour in Sydney showed some unusual yet interesting and scenic places.