A
Andrew Price
Guest
Went for a wander through the new cycle paths running on the southern side
of the Parramatta River and running on either side of Haslam's Creek today
after this mornings club ride - its described with a map on p14 of the
current Jan/Feb edition of Australian Cyclist.
This was the horribly polluted area they left "as is" for the Olympics -
goes through the old Newington Armoury (claims to have supplied munitions to
the Australian military for all conflicts from the Boer War to East Timor)
and adjoining Silverwater prison and the former athletes village which
became the "new" residential suburb of Newington.
That description is a bit harsh as the native landscaping they have sensibly
planted has grown enough to have started the remediation process and its
actually a pretty nice series of wide bitumen landscaped cycle paths (about
an extra 15km from what was there before). If you were to fall in the creek
look forward to growing another head - they dumped dioxins and battery acid
here and the water smells - hope the increasing number of water birds there
are well insulated.
Fairly good transport access to the tracks from either Auburn or Rhodes
railway stations (although the path from Rhodes seems to be lost to a
construction site - hopefully temporary) or the Parramatta River ferry or
road access off the M4, Homebush Bay Drive or Silverwater Rd.
Paths are wide and shared with pedestrians so its only ever going to be
gentle recreational cycling but given the large area of the old armaments
storage which is still security fenced (not enough money to decommission and
make safe the rest of the site there would be more than enough room for a
good road racing and a crit circuit - the Waratah Vets used to race on the
Olympic Park roads before they got kicked off for safety reasons and I for
one would love to see an enclosed racing circuit provided in the final
incarnation of this park (called Millennium Park I think).
They have made a couple of "markers" being hills (I suspect former rubbish
or soil mounds) which have a concentric paths gently rising around the sides
at a very constant (I'm guessing) 4 or 5% rising say 30m - sort of what the
consultants the authorities use think would be of interest and amusement to
cyclists - worth going up them once to get a view of what's otherwise pretty
flat land.
If you want to go for a quiet ride with the family or someone who is only an
occasional cyclist you could do worse than check out what's been done - you
may want to take some food and drink in a back pack as there is not much in
the way of cafe culture out there yet.
I presume when more funds become available the rest of the armaments depot
will be opened up to the public - be nice to go out there for a race again
sometime - its a long way to Eastern Creek and I have fond memories of
having the odd bit of luck in races out there a while back.
best, Andrew
of the Parramatta River and running on either side of Haslam's Creek today
after this mornings club ride - its described with a map on p14 of the
current Jan/Feb edition of Australian Cyclist.
This was the horribly polluted area they left "as is" for the Olympics -
goes through the old Newington Armoury (claims to have supplied munitions to
the Australian military for all conflicts from the Boer War to East Timor)
and adjoining Silverwater prison and the former athletes village which
became the "new" residential suburb of Newington.
That description is a bit harsh as the native landscaping they have sensibly
planted has grown enough to have started the remediation process and its
actually a pretty nice series of wide bitumen landscaped cycle paths (about
an extra 15km from what was there before). If you were to fall in the creek
look forward to growing another head - they dumped dioxins and battery acid
here and the water smells - hope the increasing number of water birds there
are well insulated.
Fairly good transport access to the tracks from either Auburn or Rhodes
railway stations (although the path from Rhodes seems to be lost to a
construction site - hopefully temporary) or the Parramatta River ferry or
road access off the M4, Homebush Bay Drive or Silverwater Rd.
Paths are wide and shared with pedestrians so its only ever going to be
gentle recreational cycling but given the large area of the old armaments
storage which is still security fenced (not enough money to decommission and
make safe the rest of the site there would be more than enough room for a
good road racing and a crit circuit - the Waratah Vets used to race on the
Olympic Park roads before they got kicked off for safety reasons and I for
one would love to see an enclosed racing circuit provided in the final
incarnation of this park (called Millennium Park I think).
They have made a couple of "markers" being hills (I suspect former rubbish
or soil mounds) which have a concentric paths gently rising around the sides
at a very constant (I'm guessing) 4 or 5% rising say 30m - sort of what the
consultants the authorities use think would be of interest and amusement to
cyclists - worth going up them once to get a view of what's otherwise pretty
flat land.
If you want to go for a quiet ride with the family or someone who is only an
occasional cyclist you could do worse than check out what's been done - you
may want to take some food and drink in a back pack as there is not much in
the way of cafe culture out there yet.
I presume when more funds become available the rest of the armaments depot
will be opened up to the public - be nice to go out there for a race again
sometime - its a long way to Eastern Creek and I have fond memories of
having the odd bit of luck in races out there a while back.
best, Andrew
Certainly a swim in
