AhPek Biker - Old Dog Rides Again

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Australia : Cycling In Sydney

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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures

Australia : Cycling Sydney

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia : 28th September 2013

Small Group Ride - Harrison Church>Old Observatory>Harbour Bridge>The Secret Garden>Harbour Bridge>Opera House>The Royal Botanic Gardens>Darling Harbour>Harrison Church.

Cycling Distance Covered : approx. 25.75km.
Time : 9:00 am - 2:00 pm
Time Taken : 5 hrs. (including stops at for rests, photo ops, and some tom-foolery)

Route Recommendations :
1. Sydney is very cycle-friendly. Most kerbs are ramped and signage for biking very adequate. Along most main roads, are round & oblong brackets for locking bicycles.
2. Bicycles are allowed onto trains and ferries without folding. There are even racks for locking bicycles on the ferries.
3. There is a dedicated lane for cycling on the Harbour Bridge. But do take note that this is on one edge of the bridge, on the other edge is a lane for pedestrians; so do take the right lane.
4. There are many vantage points to view the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.
5. Cycling is allowed into the grounds of the Opera House, so don't miss this as up close the Opera House looks even greater.
6. At the seaside edge of the Royal Botanic Gardens, the cross winds can get rather strong.

PRELUDE

I was on a short 5-day holiday to Sydney (see Sydney 2013 blogs) and managed to squeeze in a morning to go cycling. Sydney is a wonderful place to cycle in, with many interesting places to visit and a few iconic sites to be awed by. Besides this, the city is very cycle-friendly with ramped kerbs, adequate signage, bicycle racks, etc. They encourage cycling here, but do note that certain rules have to be abide by.

THE RIDE

The ride route : Harrison Church>Old Observatory>Harbour Bridge>The Secret Garden>Harbour Bridge>Opera House>The Royal Botanic Gardens>Darling Harbour>Harrison Church.

The ride will take us across the Harbour Bridge twice! Once over to visit a secret garden and then back to see the Opera House. Of course en route there will be other interesting places.

Graeme of Bike Buff & the me.

I have a passion for cycling (see AhPek Biker's blogs); and of late, I have made it a point to cycle in any country that I visit. Taking a slow ride around Sydney by myself would have been lovely, but realistically I was on a short 5-day holiday with my wife. Taking some time off for cycling was already a luxury. So while Lynne was off shopping, I was a "bachelor" for half the day and joined Bike Buffs for their cyclo-tour of the city.
Graeme, the ride leader, was surprisingly sprightly for a man his age. And here I was thinking that I am old; he is proof that cycling does give good exercise and keeps one physically fit.

L-R : me, Simon, Carolyn, Toby and Bindy.

My new biking friends and companions for half the day were Simon and Carolyn from another part of Australia; Bindy and Toby from southern most tip of South Island, New Zealand.

The meeting point was at the front of the Old Garrison Church at Lower Fort Street, it's a small Anglican church but its old sandstone look made it stand out.

Just round the bend and within ten minutes of cycling was the Old Observatory. We made our first stop here.

Situated on one of the higher spots of Sydney, this place offers a very good panoramic view of the sea and the South Sydney's city skyline on the opposite side.

It was a short ride from there to the Harbour Bridge. To get to the deck level of the bridge, we had to climb up some stairs. With my poor back, I was a bit concerned about having to carry my bicycle up. Fortunately, Sydney is a very cycle-friendly city, at the centre of the stairs was a narrow ramp where we could push I bicycles up as we stepped up.

At the top of those stairs we made our first physical acquaintance with this landmark bridge and soon we were riding on the bridge itself, on the dedicated cycling lane, through the iconic mid-span and over to the other side of the Parramatta River.

At the mid-span, the bridge looks like any other steel bridge from the early 20th Century. From close up it is no beauty, just connections of large black steel piers and beams. The Sydneysiders "lovingly" call it the Coat-hanger, it does look like one!

I wonder then, what makes the Sydney Harbour Bridge stands out from so many around the world? Perhaps it's very outstanding position on a wide blue river amidst beautiful surrounding that makes it easily recognizable. From most part of down-town Sydney, the bridge is very visible.

The superb location of the bridge gives us an all round bird's eye view of the the city, from the towering skyline of it's business district, to Opera House and to the quieter residential area. All is a nice balance of green and blue.

Over on the other side, it was cycling under the bridge now, on the grassy lawn of the Olympic Park to head for the riverside.

And a good panoramic view of the Opera House.

Over at Milson's point next to the Luna Park, we took turns to do the butterfly jump. Toby did a great one, with his arms well apart and legs too. It looked like he had just jumped off from the bridge.
When it came to my turn, I looked more like a clumsy frog than a dainty butterfly (see topmost photo); but still it's a photo that I will treasure dearly.

Graeme knew his route well, taking us through small coves and through a hidden tunnel that led to steps that went upwards to...

... a secret garden! This is Wendy's Secret Garden, a fairly large garden on gentle undulating slopes planted with semi-tropical trees, bushes, ferns, etc. It's secret because many locals don't even know about it!

If I found this place amazing, the locals here must find it enchanting. Imagine, just a few hundred meters from the Harbour Bridge is this large garden so well planted that it resembled a forest. It's much more than a park, with many of the trees growing in a seemingly uncoordinated natural beauty.

In this peaceful garden, under the shady trees, we had a simple picnic, chatting and getting to know each other better.

Wendy is quite sporting, even though she was in the midst of tending to her garden, she took some time to pose for a photo together with me. I must take my hat off to her, at her own expense and time, she has taken a former piece of derelict land adjacent to her own house and has transformed it into a very fine garden!

From that quiet, serene garden, we cycled around the suburbs for a while and then popped over to the Kirribilli flea market. It's a hopscotch of stalls selling food from all over the world - Russian Blynis, Dutch Poffertjes, French Macarons, etc.

I had the Turkish Gozleme as my brunch, it's a very thick sausage in a long bun and garnished in spicy sauce.

We are riding back on the Harbour Bridge again, crossing back to North Sydney. This time a train came whooshing by. The bridge has several lanes, with some for motorized vehicles, one for the train, and on one edge a lane dedicated for cyclists. On the other edge is a lane dedicated for pedestrians. It is a fine example of sharing the roads without clashing of traffic!

The profile view of the Opera House from Dawes Point is one of the best. Here we took turns to pose sexily with the Opera House in the background. Are my curves better than that of the curved roofs? There's no argument there, definitely mine! - *smirk embarrassingly*

We rode right into the grounds of the Opera House. Great! Cycling is allowed here, there is no need for peeping over the shoulders guiltily to look out for those rangers.

Up close the building looks even more majestic, like an eagle on its aquiline perch. Even today after decades, it is still one of the most modern looking structure in the world.

The Royal Botanic Gardens is just right at the doorsteps of the Opera House. No cycling is allowed here, and we alighted to push our bikes.

The nice, strong cooling wind blowing in from the turquoise sea was made it too tempting, we just had to cycle there.
But as we rode, our eyes were on the look out for park rangers, there is a hefty fine of AUD200 for this offence. Nevertheless the breezy ride was enjoyable and we were ready to jump off our bicycles at any instance of spotting a ranger!

Sneakily riding in one of the more isolated area of the Royal Botanic Gardens - *smirking guiltily*

Zig-zagging across down-town Sydney, we reached the Darling Harbour.

The colourful fluttering flags here greeting us and cheering us on.

We are heading back to the end point but through an interesting short cut - right through the docks of the naval yard. On this side no warships were moored, so we are safe.

Cycling around Sydney is a great way to see the city; within one morning we had seen most of the major iconic sites, a good sampling of the places for Lynne and me to visit later on.

Related Blogs :

Australia - Sydney : September 2013

Going Down Under to the vibrant & cosmopolitan
city with it's beautiful icons, mountains & sea.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Selangor : Camera... Action! Cycling Video Shoot

You are at - Jotaro's Blog / AhPek Biker / Cycling Malaysia / Selangor / Camera... Action!
AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures
Selangor : Camera... Action!
Stay Fit Stay Focus Cycling Video Shoot @ Serendah -15th September 2013

This is going to be uniquely interesting!

Some of us will be taking part in the cycling episode for the "Stay Fit Stay Focus" documentary series by RTM (Radio Television Malaysia). Are we ready to be actors and actresses? Can we maintain our composure during the shooting? As always, we will give this shoot our best shot!

PRELUDE

Crew & cast at the Serendah Waterfalls.

The film-makers were looking for some eager cyclists to take part in the filming and had contacted Tailim (of the hApPy HaPpY blogs) & Siew Yung to rope in some volunteers to be "actors". This AhPek got roped in also. There were discussions on what we should wear and how we should act. YY, the script-writer for this documentary, advised: Just be yourselves and wear anything suitable as long as there are no conspicuous brand names.

Eager and wanting to have more time to prepare ourselves, we early arrived at Serendah - the filming location - by 6:00 am. After breakfast and while the crew were getting their equipment ready, we went for a short warm-up ride around the small town.
The shoot location was earlier planned to be at Kiara Hills & Sungei Pencala. However as no vehicles are allowed up Kiara Hills, it would not be possible for the crew to film without their vehicles. The location was thus changed to the small rural town of Serendah. Though further away, this location is even better and we are familiar with the place have we have rode here before (... see What A Rush! Serendah Waterfall Ride).

ACTION!

Gathering round at the main street of Serendah with its pre-war houses, we were briefed by Jason, the director. They will be filming us as we cycle from Serendah town to the nearby waterfall where we will stop and interviews will be conducted with the cyclists. We will also be filmed enjoying ourselves at the waterfalls and other locations, just like what we normally do during our cycling trips, i.e. ride, stop & enjoy, ride again.

We are off riding to the Seven Wells of Serendah. Along the way, a scooter with a pillion video-man was weaving in and out among us shooting us in our cycling action. All of us tried our best to be ourselves.

YY and Jason riding with us.

Both Jason and YY (the director and scriptwriter) rode together with us. Getting a feel of the cycling, they can then relate better to us and do their jobs to produce the video documentary more realistically.

AT SEVEN WELLS OF SERENDAH

The Seven Wells of Serendah is a small dam built to reduce flooding in low-lying Serendah. The name comes form the seven round inlet chambers of the dam that looks like wells. Serendah has its name derived from the Malay word "rendah" meaning low.

On the other side at a lower level are the outlets, also seven in numbers. Each outlet twinned to a well in a ying-yang fashion; one absorbing and the other releasing.

Yes, we did act our natural selves - cyclists hanging around, relaxing, having fun and chatting with the locals. Kim borrowed a fish caught by a local uncle to pose for a photo. She's really being natural here, squirming as much as the fish at the end of the hook.

SOME FILMING EQUIPMENT & SUPPORT

Tailim being fitted with a microphone by the Sound Tech. The boxy recorder/transmitter is fitted at the back bottom and the microphone wired from there to the top front, all hidden under the T-shirt. From the looks of Tailim's grin, it does get a bit ticklish while the fitting is carried out.

The crew were very professional. Other than the large video recorders carried by camera men in a van and on a scooter, some of us were fitted fitted with the top of the line GoPro Hero3 versatile action camera. Seang Nee had one fitted to the top of her helmet to get filming from a top view while she was cycling.

These cameras were also fixed to the lower frames of some of our bicycles so as to get a lower road view.

One was even fitted right at the bottom of the a bike - this will film the bottom-viewing-to-top angle.

The motorcyclist support-man on his scooter. His pillion will be doing the filming with the camera that he is holding. This camera has a gyroscope so that it will be stable at all times - we don't want jerky video output do we?
Acting is not easy, there are stops for equipment re-fitting like those shown above. And then there are the re-takes for the best shot - several times we had to repeat cycling up and down the same stretch so that the crew can get the best shot that gives the right feel.

AT SERENDAH WATERFALLS

After that brief interlude at Seven Wells, it was onward and upwards to the Serendah Water Falls. The last few hundred metres there was no easy ride as YY found out. Some parts of the roads are damaged by erosion and hardly ride-able.Well, when it comes to that, just dismount and push.

The Serendah Waterfalls is a beautiful, serene place. The onrush of the water is exhilarating both just to listen to and unwind in (... see more at Serendah Waterfalls blog).

Here too, we can admire Mother Nature's beautiful creations.

Chilling out time is over! It's showtime again, back to business.
This time several of us were interviewed, stating our experiences in cycling, safety on cycling, etc. To get different viewpoints, we were interviewed in batches. John & his daughter Natalie, on cycling as a family. The ladies on the female side of cycling. The older ones, who have been cycling for much longer, on their veterans viewpoints.

RUBBISH CLEARING OF SERENDAH WATERFALLS

Seang Nee (centre)

Seang Nee, ever conscious of the environment and her social obligations, had organized a rubbish clearing of the waterfall area. Irresponsible picnickers and campers have left so much litter that it has really made the area unsightly. She had brought along plastic gloves for us to wear to collect garbage that has been strewn all over the place. Even the filming crew chipped in.

It's no easy task, digging into the undergrowth to get those smelly, rotting rubbish out. Still we carried it out ungrudgingly.

Eeeeeww! What is that sticky, slimy stuff?

Our efforts done, we took a group photo of us happily waving, pleased with our deeds. There is a real satisfaction in seeing the place much cleaner, returned to it's pristine state again.
Next rubbish clearing --- Sungai Chiling!

CLOSING

On the way back down, we stopped at the Sekeping Serendah for some rest at this quiet and tranquil forest retreat. As privacy here is much valued, no filming was carried out.

After the hard work of filming and being garbage collectors, it was time for lunch at Serendah Tomyam.
WATCH OUT FOR THE DOCUMENTARY "STAY FIT, STAY FOCUS" on RTM which will be coming out soon.

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