Day 12 - Wollongong - Sydney

Thursday 18th February 2010

I left Wollongong about 9am after breakfast, heading north along the excellent system of bike paths in the area:



Above is the coastal bike path from Wollongong. The Port Kembla steelworks is in the background.

The bike path follows the seafront for about 15kms, ending just beyond Thirroul. It’s well surfaced all the way and passes by some beautiful beaches:

However after Thirroul the path finishes and I was back on the road, beginning a steep ascent towards Bald Hill summit. It was a slog to get up to the top but the view was fantastic:

At this summit there’s a memorial to Lawrence Hargrave, an aviation pioneer who did many experiments with gliders from there:

The route continues through the Royal National Park, which for the next 10kms or so was dense forest:

Then there was another very steep ascent until another summit is reached, and the road continues for a while fairly flat. From here the skyscrapers of Sydney became visible in the distance even though they were still some 50kms away:

Eventually there was a very steep descent leading down to Bundeena. I had a quick sandwich here while waiting for the ferry over to Cronulla:

The ferry ride lasted about 15 minutes and once in Cronulla I had to make my way into the centre of Sydney, through various suburbs, without a proper map. I took a stupid wrong turn at Captain Cook Drive and wasted about half an hour going 7km the wrong way and having to retrace my route again when I realised my mistake. Then I saw signs to the city bike path which was actually quite well signposted all the way into town. It took me over Captain Cook Bridge:

…past the airport:

Then the route led up Anzac Parade and into Oxford Street where the Sydney Tower started to loom large ahead:

Within minutes I had arrived outside the Queen Victoria Building, the iconic landmark in the centre of Sydney:

To get back to my friends’ house where I’m staying I had to ride over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, along the bike path:

And that was the end of the journey. Distance covered today, including the accidental detour, was 125kms, and the total for the whole trip from Melbourne was 1340kms, covered in 12 days giving an average daily distance of 111kms. I had no punctures or any other mechanical problems apart from wearing out a set of brake blocks. And no injuries to myself either!

So - a thoroughly successful and enjoyable trip, mostly with good weather apart from a couple of wet days. Certainly a much tougher route than the Sydney-Brisbane ride I did last year. I hope to do another big ride in Australia next year; the Lonely Planet guide has plenty more to choose from.

Thanks for reading!