Yesterday, the group with which I ride had its monthly Breakfast Ride (though, being Aussies, we call it the “Brekkie Ride”). On the last Sunday of the month a suitable location is found and a ride, preferably involving some entertaining roads, is chosen for us to get to it and then enjoy some social time, eating, having coffee and bench racing. Yesterday we tried out the Audley Dancehall, buried deep in Sydney’s Royal National Park.
As you can see, the RNP, or the “Nasho” as it is also known, is steeped in tradition, being the oldest National Park in the world to bear the name, though our American friends like to claim Yellowstone NP as the oldest. A 15000 hectare area of bushland and partial rain forest, the RNP has been the playground of Sydney residents since 1879 and the favoured playground of many Sydney motorcyclists for as long as I can remember.
The Nasho also serves another important purpose, more important than all of these, in my opinion. Its location, between Sydney and Wollongong, means that it provides a barrier that will always be there to prevent Wollongong being swallowed up as a southern suburb of Sydney. Sydney has a population of around 4 million and is constrained for growth by the Pacific Ocean on the East, the Blue Mountains on the West, Kuringai Chase National Park on the North and the RNP on the south.
Approximately 20000 people each week commute from Wollongong to Sydney for work, the southern city proving to be a cheaper and more congenial place to live than the crowded suburbs of Australia’s biggest city and the presence of the park provides that wonderful “buffer zone” that allows Wollongong to keep its separate and distinct identity.
As noted in the Wikipedia article, the park is home to a bewildering array of flora and fauna and an oasis of natural beauty to where jaded Sydneysiders can escape the urban sprawl and catch a glimpse of nature in its unspoiled state. Administered by a bigotedly persecuting Green-leaning government authority, there are those who have noted over the years that the authority and the bureaucrats of its department would probably prefer that people not be allowed into the park at all. Certainly most attempts to “open up” the park and make it an even better location for bushwalking and family enjoyment have been curtly rebuffed.
At the same time as wanting to have less people in the park, the government department has shown complete disdain to suggestions that the feral deer population within the park be culled. Introduced as a means of the wealthy having animals to hunt during the early days of the colony, the deer are now in plague proportions and are competing with and infringing upon the native animal population. Consequently, driving and riding through the park can be hazardous for humans as well.
The park has been the scene of many bushfires over the years, the last and most devastating being in 1994 when 94% of the park was impacted upon by a wildfire that caused huge damage to the flora and fauna. Showing how little they really do know about the environment, the Greenies bemoaned the event with quotations like, “The Park will never recover..” Of course, the Australian bush relies on a cycle of fire and regrowth to regenerate itself and it always has done. It brings a smile to the face of many of us who are less “Green” and more realistic to note that the park is lusher, greener and teeming with more wildlife now than it was before the fire!
But it is not matters of environment or even demographics that really concerns me today. You see, the most compelling feature of the RNP is not the bush, the birds, the river or the animals. Rather it is the road that twists its way through the park. Surely on of the most beautiful creation of the road-builders art, Sir Bertram Stevens Drive is a twisting and challenging piece of tarmac that starts at Loftus in the north and finishes at Bald Hill overlooking Stanwell Park Beach in the south.
For as long as motorcyclists have sought the twisties, the road through the RNP has been one of the favourites. Combining large elevation changes, corners that range from the easy to the very difficult, amazing surroundings, challenging changes in temperature and surface, SBSD has it all. A road that is often damp when every other road around about is dry, the surface is often (usually) littered with leaves and twigs that constantly fall from the trees that encroach upon it. There are areas of road that never see the sunshine and are constantly in shade. Many of these areas see patches of moss encroaching onto the line (though they are mostly scrubbed away by the cars that drive through). The corners, as noted, can be quite friendly and benign but also feature quite a few that get your attention. The road is a single lane in each direction and, especially on the weekend, is quite busy with sightseers out for a drive to admire the natural beauty.
Up until recently, the road has been poorly maintained and rather more unsuitable for riding than it sounds. But then, against the run of play, as the football commentators love to say, it was hotmixed right through the worst sections a year or so ago and it now is a delight. Indeed, there were some who suggested that the National Parks department were deliberately letting the road go to pieces in order to discourage people from coming into the park at all, but it seems that more sensible policy was decreed and occupation rates have certainly gone up since the roadworks.
Sounds just delightful, doesn’t it? But it isn’t. You see, as the most accessible bit of enjoyable road in Sydney’s south, the SBSD has become a victim of its own success. Not only is it crowded with slow-moving traffic on the weekends but it has gained an evil reputation for danger. Now it must be said that there is nothing dangerous about the road at all as long as one uses it appropriately. But it is the appropriate use that has become the problem. You see, show a motorcyclist a bit of twisty road and he will try and go as fast on it as his skill level will allow and the park has unfortunately become Sydney’s speedway with serious and often fatal accidents occurring at a regular rate. The authorities have reacted accordingly, putting double unbroken lines on the road for much of its duration, successively lowering the speed limit to 60km/h for most of its length and soaking it with police patrols to catch the unwary and the unwise.
So what should be a great riding experience has become a frustrating one if one wishes to stay on the right side of the law and preserve ones wallet and licence. The road is begging to be mastered and it is so tempting to try and do so, but the ramifications are enormous.
Yesterday we tootled through, doing the right thing and enjoying the road within the constraints placed upon us. It can be enjoyed but most of us tend to avoid the area these days and go looking for our jollies someplace else. It’s a shame, but such are the realities.
After breakfast some of headed north right to the end of the park and took in the excellent annual bike show staged by the CEMCC in Engadine. Always worth a look.
That will do it for today. Going to be a busy week. My daughter, son-in-law and my three grandsons arrive home from the US on Wednesday morning then I have to help my son move into a new flat in Sydney on Friday. Retired? What does that mean?