In 1988 I was a guest in Sydney with a squadron of the Dutch Navy for the Australian Bicentenary (Bicentennial). The Australian Bicentenary marked the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the first fleet of British ships in Sydney. This was a big party and there were squadrons from all NATO countries.

We then rented motorbikes with a number of friends and drove via the Blue Mountains to Wollongong, the birthplace of Wayne Gardner, a former Australian motorcycle and car racer who became world champion on a motorbike in the class up to 500 cc. At the time our idol.

Although I did not track the route at the time (we used to navigate with maps and by asking for directions), this route will largely correspond to the route we drove at the time.

We leave from Sydney harbour and drive out of the city via the Harbour Bridge. We take the highway to save time. After about 70 kilometres we reach the village of Kurrajong, from now on it gets interesting and the road changes into a beautiful winding 2-lane road through the fantastic nature of The Blue Mountains National Park.

We visit the Victoria Waterfalls, I can still remember that this road (back then) was unpaved and we had to sweat quite a bit to steer the motorbikes. So if you don't feel like doing that, continue straight ahead, but a stop at this waterfall is definitely worth it.

We continue our journey to the town of Katoomba, this is a good time to stop for lunch. There are several restaurants to choose from in this town.
From Katoomba the road continues on the four lane highway the Grant Western Highway to Regentville, where we fortunately leave the highway to drive inland towards Wollongong. This is also a lovely road through the countryside of New South Wales, you pass some small beautiful towns and villages.

After about 120 km of enjoying the beautiful roads we arrive at the Australian Motor Life Museum (did not yet exist in 1988), where motorcycles and other items belonging to Wayne Gardner are also on display.

After our visit to the museum we drive to Wollongong, a town with beautiful beaches, many hotels, bars and restaurants, so perfect to spend the night and enjoy the day.


The next day we drive back to Sydney, mostly along the beautiful coast, but also through the beautiful Royal National Park, stop along the way at one of the many parking lots to enjoy the beautiful surroundings.

Pay attention when driving on the highway, the Road Trains (trucks with multiple trailers) thunder downhill at high speed. Quality of the roads is reasonable to good, sometimes unpaved.