On my last business trip to Sydney I stayed an extra Saturday with the objective of exploring a new part of the city on my day off. I know Surry Hills like the back of my hand, and have a pretty good grasp of the CBD and Haymarket, but for all I knew aliens lived across the Harbour Bridge. And I hadn’t really even been to Darling Harbour, which is just embarrassing (one bar doesn’t count right?).

I poked around Viator’s Sydney tours to find the perfect new neighborhood excursion. My only requirement besides newness was that it needed to be a walking or biking tour, so I would be out in the lovely summer sunshine. I was tempted by the Crimes and Passions Walking Tour of Kings Cross, but I wanted a tour that started in the morning. Ultimately it was Terry M of Australia’s 4-star review that convinced me the Sydney Cycling tour was the one for me.

There are four options for a cycling tour in Sydney, and I opted for Terry’s choice which involved riding across the Harbour Bridge, through Kirribilli, Lavender Bay, Darling Harbour and a walk through Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens, all places I hadn’t even scratched the surface. I got lucky and was the only person on the tour — normally I think there are more people, but the heat had been intense that week and rain was called for, which I think scared some folks away. There was no rain, just a fantastic day of sun, breeze and biking.

Having the guide all to myself, I have to say I got a little demanding about stopping for photo ops, and I asked a lot more questions than I normally would. I started to realize how great private tours must be, and noted to myself that if I have a choice, I’ll spoil myself with private tours every time.

The guide and I chatted a lot during the five hours we biked through Sydney, and he mentioned that this was his last tour, he was moving to Buenos Aires in two weeks. I was honored to be his farewell bike tour, and I can confidently say he went out like a pro. It was an awesome bike tour! From the traveler reviews it sounds like all the guides are as good as he, but it’s a loss to the Sydney cycling scene nonetheless.

So in the end, mission accomplished, I know even more Sydney history than before, have biked over the Harbour Bridge, seen the North of Sydney, coasted through Hyde Park, poked around Darling Harbour, and saw the bats in the Botanic Garden.

And to my bike guide, buena suerte in Buenos Aires!

– Kelly G

The Sydney Cycling tour - 4 options from 2-5 hours, every day of the week.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 15th, 2007 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Australia & Pacific, Destinations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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