Bonza Bike Tours in Sydney, Australia

I have always believed that cycling is one of the best ways to explore a new place. You are able to travel a reasonable distance at a relatively good pace, while not expending too much of your energy. By cycling, you will get a good understanding of the geography of a particular place, and also enjoy the scenery along the way. Stopping at any time to take pictures and to check out particular features is also easily done.

Compared to walking, it is less tiring, and you can carry a load on the bike more easily than lugging it on your bag. Driving only gets you from one place to another, you can't really enjoy the scenery or know the local geography well if you are zooming along the road at 80km/h.

With that in mind, me and my wife decided to go on a bike tour in Sydney, as part of our holiday! I am so glad that she is also a cyclist and supportive of these kind of tours. We signed up for a tour with Bonza Bike Tours, which would bring us to different areas around Sydney. The tour which we signed up for was the Manly Beach and Sunset Cruise, which looked pretty interesting! The tour description also warns of a significant hill along the route, which I am eagerly looking forward to...

Upon arrival at the Bonza Bike Tour office, we realised that we were the only two who signed up for the tour! This means that the tour guide would only be bringing the two of us along, which is pretty good for us as it pretty much means that me and my wife can dictate the pace and choose when to stop or move on.

The tour starts off with a ferry ride to Manly, before we cycle along Manly beach and the nearby viewing areas and cliffs.

Our trekking bikes with 3x7 Shimano EzyFire shifters. LCSG in Sydney!

View of Sydney Harbour Bridge from the ferry!

 And a view of the Sydney Opera House from the ferry. Better than any view you can get on land.

Sydney downtown area

Approaching our destination...

The streets at Manly beach!

Lots of surfers even though the air temperature is less than 20 degrees. 

Wonder if it is cold in the water?

Nice paved path running along the beach

White sands and blue skies at Manly Beach. Great weather!

View of the coastline

Undulating terrain even amongst the residential areas

Start of the slopes! Long constant slopes that seem to go on and on...

Feels like a cold version of Desaru. Windbreaker shed due to the climbing involved

View of Sydney city area

View of Sydney city area 

Nice little winding path through the forest

Best view of the day! Manly cliffs

Sunset ride

Sun in the eyes!

View of Sydney Harbour Bridge on the return ferry. Gorgeous sunset in the background!

Night view of Sydney Opera House

It was a really good trip with Jane, our wonderful tour guide. We took in some amazing views, and learnt much about the history and geography of Manly. The bike tour was really fun as it enabled us to see so many places in such a short time. This is probably more interesting than the other tour packages that brings you around the Sydney downtown area, as we get to see the other side of Sydney that most tourists wouldn't know.

Highly recommended if you ever go on a holiday in Sydney, and have half a day to spare. Do note that the tour does not run every day, so check the tour schedule on the Bonza Bike Tour website. The 3x7 speed bikes worked well with no problems (although I had to adjust the brakes for optimal performance). Although these bikes are not high end bikes, the front triple chainring allowed us to get up the slopes without much difficulty.

Remember to bring the correct cycling attire appropriate for the season! It was winter (10-20 degrees) so we were well prepared with a base layer and windbreaker. Gloves were necessary to prevent our hands from going numb in the cold wind. If you are going in summer you can probably just go in normal T-shirt and pants.