From Howling Bells to Love Generation.

We went to see the Howling Bells at the Annandale hotel on Thursday night. I've never heard of them either. Deirdre and Allen asked if I wanted to go after they had seen them on Rage, the late night TV music program. A friend of Deirdre's Sandra came along too, to make a happy foursome.

The band turned out to be quite good, the lead singer and her music was very similar to Belly, a band of the nineties which I remember.

There was a pinball machine at the pub so Allen couldn't resist another challenge. I just had to put him in his place again ( :-) ). He had a big lead of twenty odd million, with one ball each to go. I fortunately managed to get a good score with my last ball and had taken a five million lead, and Allen cracked and couldn't make up the difference. Tee Hee, boys and their competitiveness as Deirdre said.

I went out cycling again this Saturday. To be honest I couldn't wait to get out again, especially as the weather was fantastic. Even though it's winter here the temperature is quite pleasant and most days are clear skies with plenty of sunshine. After my usual two hour session at the gym I grabbed some lunch and went out on my bike. This time with my better camera too.

Here is a much better shot of the Harbour Bridge as I rode along it. I'm constantly amazed by its construction and size. It's only spoilt by the barb wire along the bridge to deter would be jumpers. Not of the pullover Christmas variety, though they should be banned and strung up on barb wire too.

After going along the bridge I just decided to just explore around north Sydney a bit and try to reach the various bays and beaches. I still had to take it easy initially on my bike as my first few yards were a bit wobbly again!

Here's my view after a few miles along the suburbs of north Sydney. I cycled passed some really amazing unique houses around the place. I could quite easily imagine myself living in some of them. They all looked very different with some great design touches. I guess they were also all very expensive as well. Probably much more than my Sydney pad too, and that is currently being sold for $800,000.

You can just make out the top of the Opera house in the centre of the shot too.

After a few more miles I ended up at Mosman bay. This is the view from the top looking east over the bay. There was a small winding path down to the bay but it wasn't very bike friendly so I didn't go down to explore.

The wooded area in the centre of the picture is just the other side of Taronga zoo. For a few pixels you can just about make out the cable car at the top of the wooded area. The cable car takes you up to the top of the zoo from where you can walk down to the harbour while seeing the animals.

Finally this is as far north as I managed to get today at Hunters Bay. I would have made it much further north had I not got lost so many times. I did plenty of loops around the suburbs after cycling down dead ends and ending up on main roads which I wanted to avoid.

The picture on the right is actually at the top of a very steep hill looking down to the bay. I only managed to cycle half way up the hill before my legs felt too tired. I think going to the gym for two hours and then cycling for three hours in the afternoon is my limit right now. I did feel the onset of cramp a couple of times on my thighs which I never normally get, so I must be pushing myself a little harder.

The sea in the distance in the picture is of the Pacific Ocean! There's a small white sand beach at the bottom of the hill too, but this was a little to crowded for my liking. I remember cycling all the way down the hill and thinking that I would regret going down as I would only have to cycle back up. But the lure of the ocean was just too much and I had to get down there to see the beach and sea.

I had some fun coming back too. I had about and hour before sunset so decided to start heading back. I tried to take the main highway back which was very busy on a Saturday late afternoon. I had lots of fun cycling past all the slower moving cars and there were obviously one or two of them which had problems with me cycling past as they wouldn't slow down for me at all. At one point one of the cars just overtook me to get a few yards ahead of me in the traffic queue and then closed the gap right in front of me so I couldn't get past! Just don't ask about the extra wide 4x4's than I couldn't get past either!

Once the weather started to get slightly darker I was getting concerned as I couldn't find my way back to the entrance of the Harbour Bridge. I saw more fantastic houses and also smelt some amazing curry smells too which wasn't helping my predicament! However I didn't have any lights on my bike and was obviously quite lost on the wrong side of the harbour. I asked someone for some directions and fortunately he gave me some excellent directions to the bridge and I got back just as it was getting dark. Phew!

In case you're wondering the "Love Generation" in the title refers to a song that's playing in my local gym. Its called Love Generation by Bob Sinclar. The video features a small boy who starts out cycling from his house and ends up going past various American landmarks before ending up near the Golden Gate bridge to eat his sandwiches. I think of myself as that boy right now, just exploring Sydney on my bike instead, and not so young either!

If you want to know what I might look like after three hours of wearing a bike helmet on my head then look at the next picture! :-)