Into The Big Smoke

Day 81: 8 January 2015, Thursday.

I left the hotel at ten, the latest check out time,I wanted to make the most of a room with a bed and air-conditioning, it was my first night in a bed since Nurioopta over three weeks ago.

The days ride consisted of battling my way through the traffic to get to the heart of Australia’s largest city, Sydney. The traffic initially was rather sparse (compared to other cities I have been to) so I could maintain a reasonable pace on the road.

Crossing The Georges River In Southern Sydney

The traffic progressively got heavier as I moved towards the city centre which was not aided by the poor road conditions, no hard shoulder and often an uneven surface to bounce over while the traffic zoomed by with what seemed like little or no concern to cyclists.

Kogarah And 5000km Since I Left Perth!

I had now ridden five thousand kilometres and I took a well deserved rest to commemorate the achievement, with a can of ‘Solo’ soft drink.

My Bike Got Nothing For The 5000km Commemoration.

It was then only about twenty kilometres to the heart of Sydney. It was not a pleasant ride, the road was poor, the footpath which doubles as a cycle path was horrible, potholed and very bumpy, so I was trapped on the road and just had to keep going. At one stage I saw a sign showing a route to the city centre for cycling so I started to follow it’s advice, bad idea, it took me to another junction where the cycle route sign indicated a vague direction which I followed and that was the last cycle sign I saw, but now I was off the main road and not too sure which way to go.

I had a simple area map with me showing some area place names in Sydney so at the next junction I found a sign to push me towards the centre again and shortly I was back on track. I had done it, I was in the city of Sydney centre after negotiating the forty kilometres of city streets.

I first went to find out about a place to stay, it would have to be a hotel, no camping in the big smoke. The ‘Information Centre’ in the city centre (an area called ‘The Rocks’) offers a room booking service so I went in and used there knowledge and booked a room in the area called Potts Point, only a couple of kilometres from the centre. The room was eighty dollars a night, the same as I paid when I first arrived to Perth last year, but this room was much better, en-suite, fridge, TV, air-conditioning…

before going to the hotel though I had to take some vanity photos, I’m in the centre of Sydney, I need a photo of the iconic monuments of the city, well there are two that stick in my mind…

The Sydney Harbour Bridge…

and…

The Opera House.

With these photos taken I cycled over to Potts Point and the hotel which I had booked three nights at. The room was good, a single bed but as there is only one of me that is no problem. And it was not a bedroll in a tent!!

I spent the rest of the day relaxing, I feel I deserve a rest, it has been a long ride to Sydney, many moments of anguish, many moments of joy.

42.63km 2:39T 16.0A 60.2M Total = 5025