Guest Post: Brunch, Beach, and twisties in the Royal National Park

Another guest blog from you-know-who..... Sunday morning Tara and I headed off to Urban Bites: a place recommended to us in Newtown.  Sydney is a bit different this way - everywhere has it's own name for the neighbourhood.  In Toronto, when asked, you lived in Toronto, and you talked about the intersection - Yonge and Eg, Queen and Dundas, Jane and Finch (hopefully not), etc.  In Sydney, everything is a neighbourhood and has it's own name - The Rocks, Pyrmont, Glebe, Newtown, Darlington, Darlinghurst, Darling Harbout..... all within 5-10 minutes of each other!  It creates a sense of community for sure, but makes travelling around difficult.  Anyways, early morning, brunch, yummy.   Here's a picture of the entire trip we made, for reference.

Next up, Cronulla.  Remembering that it's winter, it was a beautiful visit to the beach - unlike Bondi, this wasn't crowded, but had lots of locals taking their dogs for a walk, going for swimming lessons, or just hanging out with a morning coffee.  Sorry, no pictures for this one, but we're already planning a trip back.  Best part?  Dedicated motorcycle parking right beside the beach!!

Let me take a minute and talk about Sheila..... she's brilliant!  I spent a few hours last week installing hand guards, or knuckle guards, or whatever they're called.  Basically, something to deflect the wind so my hands don't freeze.  I don't know what it is, but this bike just sings for me - sure it has an aftermarket exhaust, which probably explains the downshift exhaust gasses igniting and making a fantastic noise, but this bike is just great.  Yes, she runs out of 'go' juice , but that's right about the point where I shouldn't go any faster.... And the brakes aren't that great when you're in the super twistys.  But otherwise, the v-strom is for me.  I already want to buy the new 1000 v-strom when I'm back in Canada.

Back to it - we travelled south to the Royal National Park.  It's like Gatineau, but for Sydney.  And it's INCREDIBLE!  Gorgeous roads, elevation changes, some great views of the ocean, and great signage letting you know when the corners are coming up.  Apparently this is a spot for local kids to try and kill themselves on their crotch rockets, but for me, it was just a brilliant ride.  We stopped for a quick photo - you're supposed to pay an $11 entrance fee, but if you don't stop or park, you don't actually need to pay (weird rule....)

Anyways, then rode back into Sydney.  It started raining on the way back, which wasn't fun, but hey, c'est la via. Stopped at a place called Dan Murphy's, which has the best beer selection in Sydney, to get some La Chouffe - it's one of my top three beers of all time (another being ham beer..... ask about that some time).  It's $15 a bottle, so you don't drink a lot at all, but it's incredibly delicious. Finished off the day watching some V8 supercars and F1 from Belgium.  Hopefully I'll get to go to the Bathurst 1000 race while I'm here, since it's on my racing track bucket list (already did the Nurburgring, Le Mans, Spa, and Goodwood are the others on the list, thanks for asking!)