06/01/2022 Staying in Sydney

George's owner has gotten sick on the other side of the world, so our stay in Sydney is extended by a week or two and George has to suffer our company for a little while longer. 

Staying in Sydney isn't quite as exciting as it could be because Sydneysiders are being careful, socially distancing, and taking time off when they get sick. Shops are shut, cafes are doing takeaway only, and all the queues are for Covid tests instead of exciting things like concerts and events.

So what does Team Hacquoil do when they get tired of playing with the cat, doing the laundry, and reading all the books that we can find in the suburban swapping libraries?

We ride our bikes.

We went back to Centennial Park for a picnic tea.  Centennial Park was very busy - everyone was out picnicking and lots of children were practicing riding their Christmas bikes.

 

Families hired quadricycles and set off to pedal around the park, not realising how much hard pedaling Grandad would have to do to complete the full circle.  When we passed them we though Grandad might be about to have a heart attack, but the absence of ambulances and/or panicked family members reassured us otherwise.

The Centennial Park swans were very happy with the numbers of picnicking children enthusiastically sharing their picnics with the birds.

Having survived our foray into the Sydney traffic on the way to Centennial Park, we girded our loins and headed further afield, following the Cooks River Cycleway to Homebush and Olympic Park.

The Cooks River had been suitably tamed and ran placidly between concrete banks and parklands.  We had it pretty much to ourselves.

Burwood Council obviously took themselves very seriously.

Oh he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  The best worst cycle path we've found so far!

Complete with built-in storm water shower.

We climbed the look out at Bicentennial Park.  By this time one of us had decidedly more energy than the other.  The other was looking at train timetables and ways to get home with minimal energy expenditure.

We followed the pathway through the Badu Mangroves and discovered the ship wrecks in Homebush Bay, which was exciting because we hadn't had any idea they were there despite them being really quite well publicised.

SS Ayrfield and SS Mortlake Bank

 

The other ship wrecks are the Karngi and the Heroic, and there's a little bit of confusion because another 'unknown ship' is mentioned too, but it could be the Heroic.  So I gave up on naming these wrecks for you, and just provided pictures instead so you can apply whichever name you think fits best.

From the ship wreck lookout, back across the Parramatta River to Rhodes.  I think.  My geographical knowledge of Sydney is terrible.  The wreckage in the foreground is the remnants of the old ship break down ramps and associated infrastructure.

Well that was enough of old ships and mangroves so we made a bee line for the nearest railway station, which was reassuringly empty, and caught a definitely uncrowded train home.

Trains don't get much less crowded than this.