Botany Bay

Score: 7.5/10 (8/10 for the shortened Kurnell option below, 8.25/10 for the shortened Cronulla and Carss Park options below).

Star Rating For Difficulty (out of 5): & 1/2

4&1/2 star because it’s a very long ride. But … despite its distance, there is much much less climbing hills than the rides on the Lower North Shore, Eastern Suburbs, Eastern beaches, Parramatta River and much of the Northern Beaches. So the kids can simply get in a rhythm and just keep pedalling (like Dory said to Nemo about swimming 😊)

Alterations to this ride to lower the star rating. By halving the distance, like any of the 3 below options, this becomes a 1-2 star ride:

• Brighton Le Sands to Carss Park Return
• Brighton Le Sands (or perhaps Ramsgate Beach / Dolls Point) to Kurnell Return.
• Brighton Le Sands (or perhaps Ramsgate Beach) to Cronulla Return.

Notable Sites, Cafés, and Playgrounds Along the Way:

There is a good quality, sufficiently wide bike path almost the entire way from the Cook’s River Kyeemagh to “Shark Park” on Captain Cook Drive Wollooware. 

Starting at Kyeemagh the first playground is Kyeemagh Kids Playground in Cook Park. It’s simple, but nice. The next playground is another nice small one just after President Ave going South at Monteray. 

Then comes a good, big playground, Pine Park Playground Cook Park (yes, a different Cook Park), Ramsgate. This is a good point to pull out the first snacks of the day. We feel this is the 3rd best playground of the day.

We rode under the Captain Cook Bridge to Sans Souci Playground in Sans Souci Park. This is shaded and on the Georges River. After leaving this playground it is at first a footpath, and then a quiet back street riding to Carss Park.

Continuing on towards Carss Park, you go past Len Reynolds Reserve, then Northcote Reserve, and then Claydon Reserve Playground three more small playgrounds. We skipped each of them because there were better playgrounds to come. Protests noted for skipping three playgrounds in a row – in both directions😉!

With the target being Carss Park Playground, after the back streets through Kogarah Bay, get back on the bike paths, through Carss Park Flats. Before stopping at the playground it’s worth a ride around the bike paths around Todd Park and then back to Carss Park Playground. This is the equal best playground on today’s ride. It is large, has great equipment and is well shaded. There is a café with toilets just next to this playground. Pencil in a good 45 minutes for play, snacks and rest here. The time will fly by!

From here the ride backtracks to the Captain Cook Bridge, after crossing the bridge, you need to keep your eyes peeled not to miss the turn off to the bike path through Taren Point Shorebird Reserve. This bike path is lovely through mangroves and brings you out at Solander Fields just near Shark Park. If you are planning on doing the long ride to Kurnell, this is a spot to ask the family if they need a loo stop. 

The bike path / footpath on this side of the road (the Northern side) ends soon, so cross the road and take the bike path to Elouera Rd, where the bike path also ends. From here to Kurnell is a long stretch of road with no bike path or footpath. That being said, there is a bike lane on the road and it is sufficiently wide enough most of the way to ride two abreast. I wouldn’t recommend this road for inexperienced children. This is for families that have been riding together for quite some time and who can trust each other on the bike. We ride this road 2-by-2. I put the two older children on the front, and I ride in the rear pair on the traffic side of the youngest child. 

Kurnell is worth it though. 

Bonna Point Reserve Playground is large, has great equipment, is well shaded and has good toilets. This is the equal best playground on this route with Carss Park. Pull out your snacks from your backpack and know that another 45 minutes of fun will fly by here. If you want more than simply the snacks in your backpack the nearby Cook at Kurnell will help the tastebuds.

The return ride is the same as the way out – two-by-two. However, we turn a little earlier at Greenhills Beach with a great outlook over all the Cronulla beaches – Greenhills, Wanda, Elouera, North and South Cronulla Beaches. There is a glorious walk that takes you along the Cronulla Coastline to Bass and Flinders Point – The Esplanade Cronulla (Cronulla Beach Walk). I think cycling is discouraged along here, however, although it is illegal in New South Wales to ride on the footpath, it is legal for children under the age of 16 and those supervising them (see this article from Bicycle NSW). That being said, be super-respectful of pedestrians, ding the bell as you approach and plenty of “thank you’s” helps keep the pedestrian-cyclist relationship healthy 😊.

We then pull into Cronulla St / Cronulla Mall to get to the bakery and follow it up with some Gelatissimo (everyone deserves a great gelato on a ride like this). 

From here it’s a footpath riding along Elouera Rd Cronulla, back to Captain Cook Dr, then the bike path from there all the way back to Brighton Le Sands. If there are still hours in the day then you know what playgrounds to stop at on the way back (Pine Park Playground being one of the favourites), and if it’s still open, there may be an option for a second, and well-deserved ice cream at Brighton Le Sands Ice Creamery. 

This is a long day out, and there are a number of options to split this into multiple rides, that being said, for fit kids, this is a flat ride that they can tap out from good playground to good playground and have great conversations whilst riding between the playgrounds.

Parking & Toilets

We find the Kyeemagh Beach car park has plenty of vacant spaces and all day parking. 

The kids also like to run onto the beach and play on the large boulders at the inlet to the Cook’s River before starting the ride, and again after finishing.

Toilets:

This route has plenty of decent toilets.

• Adjacent to Kyeemagh Kids Playground
• Adjacent to Pine Park Playground, Ramsgate
• Carss Park
• Solander Fields Woolooware 
• Bonna Point Reserve, Kurnell.