Spit Bridge trike tour – Bruce + Virginia 29.03.26

Finally, a beautiful day for the Spit Bridge trike tour. This ride had been postponed twice before, due to rain, rain and more rain. Our trike rider picked them up near Manly Wharf, we emailed instructions and a map of where to meet.

Manly Wharf

No longer just a wharf, this area has restaurants and bars. If coming here by ferry, this is where you will land.

Arabanoo lookout at Dobroyd Head

Firstly, they rode up the hill and out of Manly to Arabanoo lookout at Dobroyd Head. It offers fantastic views over to North Head and South Head and the expansive Pacific Ocean.

Named in honour of Aboriginal man Arabanoo, the first Aboriginal man to live among European settlers, the lookout is a great spot for some whale watching. There are a few signs and monuments around the lookout that provide some historical information about the significance of the area.

Seaforth

They headed to Seaforth lookout which faces towards the Spit. Seaforth was named after Loch Seaforth and Seaforth Island in Scotland. The land in this area was once owned by Henry Halloran, who subdivided it in 1906. The Seaforth library was built in 1887 and protected by heritage listing by Manly Council in 1995. Already, the Spit Bridge trike tour has shown some beautiful sights.

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.

They rode over the Spit Bridge, up the hill to a lookout on the south side. It has beautiful views over Middle Harbour and back to Clontarf. Beauty Point takes its name from the piece of land protruding into the Middle Harbour, off Sydney Harbour. It was originally known as Billy Goat Point, but was renamed when it was subdivided to be sold.

Clontarf

Clontarf (Irish: Cluain Tarbh, meaning “meadow of the bull”) is a suburb of northern Sydney, 13 kilometres NE of the CBD. The son of Queen Victoria, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, visited Clontarf in 1868 where he was shot in the back by an Irishman, Henry James O’Farrell. Alfred was saved because the bullet struck him at a point where his India-rubber braces, holding his trousers up, crossed over. The bullet was deflected around his rib-cage and did no major harm.

Then it was back over the Spit Bridge and up to another lookout. It’s where this photo was taken. Between the 2 passengers you can see the Spit Bridge. The body of water is Middle Harbour. If you could see around the headlands, you would look through The Heads, it is so very close.

Middle Harbour

Middle Harbour is a major northern arm of Sydney Harbour (Port Jackson), characterised as a deep, drowned river valley. Known for its scenic, rugged bushland, it offers popular recreational boating, kayaking, and fishing, along with numerous bays, beaches, and walking tracks. Key features include the Spit and Roseville Bridges, Bantry Bay, and Garigal National Park. 

Freshwater

Further north, Freshwater has a very interesting history. This is a very small part of the history:

In December 1914, Duke Kahanamoku, the world sprint swimming champion, was touring Australia. He selected timber from a Sydney firm to fashion a board modelled on those used in his native Hawaii. He gave a demonstration to the press of surf board riding at Freshwater Beach. It was the second recorded time that anyone had surfed the clean waves beyond the break in Australian waters using this Hawaiian-style surfing technique. The first known surf board rider was Manly local Tommy Walker who rode a board at the 1912 Freshwater surf carnival. (wikipedia)

Queenscliff

The northern end of Manly Beach is actually called Queenscliff Beach. It was named in honour of Queen Victoria (England). The area was popular with holiday-makers from the early 1900s to World War I, who stayed in holiday shacks on the headland. The suburb is famous amongst the Australian surf beaches for its “heavy” waves (bomboras) that break out at sea. All of the east cost of Sydney is beautiful as you can see on this Spit Bridge trike tour.

Manly

Of course, they had to ride past the famous main beach of Manly. Manly has several claims to fame; it was the birthplace of surfing in Australia, the first place to legalise all-day bathing in 1903 and one of the world’s first Surf Life Saving clubs. Manly Beach was the location for the first World Surfing Championships held in 1964.

However, the hour was up so the rider dropped the passengers back near Manly Wharf. In conclusion, the Spit Bridge trike tour was a fun and memorable ride for our passengers. They come from western Sydney so it was all new to them. We love it when locals explore their own backyard.

Feel the Freedom!

Check out a description of the tour here. Don’t forget every tour is unique so may not be exactly as stated but you will always see the icons mentioned (unless the fireworks are on so half the roads are closed). The family Harley trike tour was a fun way to see Sydney and move from one point to another!

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