Back Behind Bars

I finished work early in the afternoon today, and felt a really strong urge to get out on my bike. Luckily, for once I didn't have any punctures when I got my bike out of the garage (I seem to attract punctures at an incredible rate since coming to Australia - I think I need to learn to recognise which types of bushes and trees have thorns!)

I made my first stop at my local coffee shop down the road, the type of situation in which my Ortlieb handlebar bag comes in really handy. Although expensive, I'm so glad I bought it from my friends at the Bicycle Pedlar in Townsville. It's great to keep spare glasses (I have clear ones to keep the bugs out in the dark, and sunnies for the daytime), wallet, camera, phone etc in this bag, and it simply unclips from the mount so I can carry it in to the cafe and not leave any valuables behind :)

Coffeed up, I decide to get onto the Kedron Brook Bikeway, which I can access a short ride from here. I rode a small part of it several months ago, before I started work, and I also run along a little section sometimes as I prefer it to the roads. This time I want to see how far along I can get, and see where the bikeway goes.

It is a beautiful day, and I see heaps of birds - sulphur crested cockatoos, long-billed corellas, galahs. I don't have a camera with me, just the one on my phone, so not many photos come out too well...

Galah, I love these birds!

I follow the bikeway for a while, mkaing plenty of wrong turns as it is not well signposted. There are plenty of signs, pointing off to 'Road X' or 'Road Y', but if you don't know that Road X is nearby and this track will take you off the bikeway and back to the roads, while Road Y is further along and so that path will continue along the bikeway, then they are not very useful. A simple addition to the signs to label the actual bikeway more often would be really useful.

Eventually I come out to a section where a road is involved, and different paths are signed. I get distracted looking for this place, which seems like a great idea!

I can't find any more signs for the bikeway, but I see signs for a greenway and follow those. I arrive at a picturesque little area with a large pond and lots of ducks, swamp hens, and even a large water dragon in the distance, too far away to show up on my phone's camera. I have no idea where I am, but it's really pretty.

I explore a couple of different path options from here, one of them takes me through a nice little park and back onto the Kedron Brook Bikeway at a point I already passed. I don't feel like riding back out and looking for the rest of the bikeway again now, so instead I decide to head home. It's been a good ride though, about 30kms in total. I thoroughly enjoyed getting back out on the bike, seeing the wildlife, the sense of freedom in being being out alone under my own steam. I need to do this more :)