billrider2013

I am finally on the road.

After some room cleaning I finally left the garage in Balmain.  I accompanied my host to on his normal walk to Adriano Zumbo, a  patisserie for a coffee and croissant.   Zumbo’s  is a fantastic business.  It started in a ‘hole in the wall shop in Darling street, Balmain.  It specialises in ‘Zunbarons’  and very high quality breads.  The business has expanded to Rozell, Prymont and Manly.  I am sure it will not stop there.   The Rosell shop is where a lot of the patisseries are made.  When I first went there you were able to watch the work being done through a glass wall.  Apparently the employees objected, and the the wall was blanketed out.  It is pity as it was interesting to see the how the products were made.

My route out of Sydney took me through the inner west suburbs to the Cooks River.  The Cooks Rivers was one the most polluted rivers in Sydney.  After great efforts the river is now relatively clean and the vegetation, including the critical mangroves, are thriving.  The areas adjoining the river has been developed for recreation; with sports grounds, walking and cycling paths, all being used extensively on beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Riding slowly through city streets gives you the opportunity to look closely at the houses.  A really  disappointing feature of the inner west of Sydney has been the destruction of the some many of the original Victorian era houses and their replacement with brick veneer, ‘sixities shockers’.   That term refers to the period the 1960’s. when most of the development occurred.  A combination of the ignorance of behalf the owners (many were  poorly educated migrants), unimaginative  builders and incompetent local councils led to the destruction of large numbers of the perfectly good houses and the construction of these sixties shocker.  They have  left a blight on the urban landscape.

The Cooks River leads to Botany Bay new Sydney’s airport on Botany Bay.  The debate as to whether there should be a second airport for Sydney has gained  much publicity again.  It appears that this occurs whenever an election, State or Federal, looms.  It is claimed that a second airport is required because of congestion at the existing airport,and that this congestion will only increase.  I can recall a lecture given my a visiting Canadian academic when I was doing my  Master degree with a major in logistics.  He put up a series of slides of copies of the Sydney Morning Herald with headlines along the lines of:  ‘Urgent Need for New Airport’,   Air Traffic Chaos Looms’ etc.  He took the dates  of the pages of the paper and asked that audience to guess the years when the headlines appeared.  No one got close.  The years started in 1946, through to 1966.  He pointed out that the capacity of airports in terms of passenger numbers is more dependent on the size of the planes and traffic control ( how close the planes can fly to each other) than the number of planes and the whether there is an alternative airport nearby.  I suspect the debate about whether there should be  second Sydney Airport will rage for another fifty years.  In the meantime, improvements on planes and air traffic control will mean that the existing airport is more than adequate.

My route took me around Botany Bay.  For those without much knowledge of Australian history, this is where Captain Cook landed in 1770 and claimed the island continent for Britain.  He continued to sail north failing to notice the entrance to Sydney Harbour.  Seven years later the North American colonies, decided that they didn’t want to pay Britain taxes on tea.  They proceeded to declare independence and refused to take prisoners from Britain.  This resulted in the need for an alternative prison colony.  It was decided that Australia would be that place.  Lieutenant Arthur Philip  was sent with 11 ships loaded with convicts and soldiers to establish the penal colony.  They landed in Port Botany, but decided to look further north and entered Sydney Harbour.  The city and the nation were born.

Leaving Botany Bay my route took me down the Princess Highway for until Waterfall when I turned into the Royal National Park.   I understand it is one of the oldest, if not the oldest National Park in the world.  Apparently Yosemite claims to be the oldest.  Anyway, what a great idea it was.  The park and the parks to the west of Sydney, in the Blue Mountains have constrained the spread of the city and provided a great recreational amenity for its residents.

Due to my somewhat delayed departure, I was only able to make it to Bulli before it got too dark to continue.  I set up my tent in the Bulli Caravan Park.  The nearest place to eat was the Bulli Workers’ Club.  Chicken Schnitzel, $9.50 and a schooner (3/4 pint) $3.80.  A far cry from Sydney prices.  This a good example of market driven ‘horisontal fiscal equilisation’, to use our Treasurer’s cant.

A group of customers were discussing Sonny Bill William’s (SBW) return to Ruby League.  From their point of view he had nothing going for him: he started his career with the Canterbury Bulldogs, he play Ruby Union in France, he had been signed by Easts, and of course worst of all – he is a New Zealander.

I returned to my tent just in time to seek cover  from a torrential downpour. The Vaude Tent performed yet again.