fun birthday present tour – Celia + Christie 10.07.26

The fun birthday present tour was for Celia from Christie. Our trike rider picked them up from South Coogee and transferred them to Circular Quay. He then advised them how to catch the ferry to Darling Harbour.

Coogee Beach

Firstly, they rode past Coogee Beach. It’s name is taken from a local Aboriginal word koojah which means “smelly place” owing to the amount of seaweed that can collect on the beach. But daily beach cleaning by Randwick City Council staff keeps the beach in pristine condition year-round.

Coogee Bay Hotel

Of course, no visit to Coogee is a success unless you ride past the Coogee Bay Hotel. For 150 years, Coogee Bay Hotel has hugged the stunning coastline of Coogee Beach. There’s always been a playground in these heritage buildings. Coogee Bay Hotel was a school in the 1860s, before conversion to a hotel in 1873. Now it is a local favourite which brings visitors and locals together (from their website).

Clovelly Beach

Further north, 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. Already our passengers on the fun birthday present tour have seen some great views and scenic sights.

Bronte + Tamarama Beaches

Riding on, 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 centre. 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.

Then they headed east through amazing parklands.

Centennial Park

There was time for an interesting ride 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 remarkable eels of Sydney’s Centennial Park is worth some research. We can’t guarantee you will see any, but you will still know they are there.

Oxford Street

They came out one of the many gates of the Parklands to ride down the famous Oxford Street. The western section of Oxford Street, which runs through the suburb of Darlinghurst, is widely recognised as Sydney’s main gay district and Oxford Street is closed to traffic once a year in early March for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Australian Museum (AM)

They turned into College St and rode past the Australian Museum (AM). It is the nation’s first museum and one of its most significant cultural and scientific institutions. Located opposite Hyde Park in Sydney, the AM holds more than 22 million specimens and objects spanning the natural sciences, mineralogy and cultural collections, and is one of the largest and most diverse collections in the Southern Hemisphere.

Hyde Park

Australia’s oldest park is also one of its most well-known. Hyde Park offers 16 hectares of wide open space in the heart of central Sydney. The passengers have seen so much on the fun birthday present tour.

St Mary’s Cathedral

Further on, they rode past St Mary’s Cathedral which is very impressive, even when riding past. It’s a Gothic Revival architectural building which opened in 1928. It took from 1866 to 1928 to build and has a height of 75m.

Macquarie Street

Lastly, they rode along Macquarie St. This street, is the location of the main governmental institutions of NSW: Parliament House, Government House, and the Law Courts Building (which houses the Supreme Court of New South Wales). There is so much history behind Macquarie St. and the buildings that front it.

In the years since its founding in 1788, Sydney had developed organically, and by the early 1800s was lacking in major public buildings, and had a complex network of narrow streets. The supply of drinking water and waste management was also becoming an issue. Governor Macquarie initiated the construction of Sydney’s first public buildings of any real permanence and set the boundaries of Sydney’s grid of streets, laying out the street in 1810.

Circular Quay

Finally, they rode to the drop off at Circular Quay. Often referred to as the “gateway to Sydney”, the Circular Quay precinct has views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House and is a common location for viewing Sydney New Year’s Eve fireworks. It hosts a number of ferry wharves, bus stops, and a railway station.

In conclusion, the fun birthday present tour was a definitely fun, unique and memorable experience. One of the best birthday gifts EVER!

Feel the Freedom!

or just email trevor@trolltours.com.au and tell us what you would like to do.