Old Great North Road and Sydney Opera House

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Old Great North Road

   The Old Great North Road is one of the most remarkable pieces of engineering in Australia, and it was built by men who had no choice. Between 1826 and 1836, convicts were set to work cutting a road from the colony at Sydney north to the Hunter Valley, a distance of well over two hundred kilometres, through some of the most broken sandstone country on the continent. They cut deep into the rock with hand tools, built retaining walls of carefully fitted stone, and carried out the work in chain gangs under harsh discipline. The most spectacular surviving section is Devine's Hill, a steep climb with tall dry-stone walls that still look perfect after almost two centuries.

   Read the complete Old Great North Road write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Old Great North Road is where the day begins. Next is Old Government House and Domain.

2. 2. Old Government House and Domain

   Few buildings in Australia can claim to be as old as this one. Old Government House sits in Parramatta Park, on a rise above the Parramatta River, and was begun in 1799 under Governor Hunter. It is the oldest surviving public building in the country, a plain, graceful Georgian house where successive governors lived and worked, including Lachlan Macquarie, who added to the estate. It forms part of the UNESCO listing of Australian Convict Sites, which recognises how the penal colony shaped the nation.

   Read the complete Old Government House and Domain write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Old Government House and Domain comes up about 60 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sydney Opera House.

3. 3. Sydney Opera House

   The Opera House is the thing that every visitor to Sydney photographs, and it is also a good story about stubbornness and talent. The Danish architect Jørn Utzon won an international competition in 1957 with a design of white sail-like shells rising from the point of land called Bennelong Point. The engineering was so difficult that the building took sixteen years instead of the planned four, costs soared, and a change of government and a dispute with the authorities led Utzon to resign and leave Australia in 1966. He never saw the finished building in person. It opened in 1973, and its tiled shells, covered in thousands of glossy cream and white tiles, have become a symbol of the whole country.

   Read the complete Sydney Opera House write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 89 km into the recorded legs you reach Sydney Opera House. Next is back through Old Government House and Domain.

4. 4. back through Old Government House and Domain

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Old Government House and Domain write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Old Government House and Domain, late in the day. Next is Old Great North Road.

5. 5. Old Great North Road

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Old Great North Road write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Old Great North Road. That is the ride.