Bonza Bike Tours: Sydney Classic Tour

Getting to know Sydney via pushbike can be a sweaty affair, but it’s worth the workout. We took to the saddle and played tourist for a 17km ride around Sydney with jovial tour guide, Brady. You’ll ride from the Rocks up Observatory Hill, onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge, through Barangaroo Park and Darling Harbour, then past Mrs Macquarie’s Chair and all the way to the Sydney Opera House. The pace is pretty easy going even for kids and older folks, and our gang of ten riders managed the ride with ease. The true-blue Aussie guides liven up local history with some fun facts. Did you know Sydneysiders originally thought they’d have to drive over the arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge? Madness. Or that Darling Harbour is named after a 19th-century governor who banned convicts from creating theatrical or dramatic performances? Very entertaining, Sir Ralph Darling.

At the halfway point, you stop at Sydney’s oldest continually licensed hotel, the Lord Nelson Brewery. There isn’t time for a feed, but there is time for beer, so pack snacks or grab nibbles from the convenience store next door if you need more than booze for fuel. There are some less than idyllic sections along the route – construction at Barangaroo makes navigating harangued pedestrians that little bit harder and one cyclist did topple off their bike (nothing broken) between the stop-and-start traffic lights of Liverpool Street. But on a city tour, these kind of metropolitan perils are part of the package.

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