Shark Bay!

More cycling this Sunday. Saturday's weather wasn't too great so I only popped out for a short run around town. I did get an extra long session down at the gym to make up for it. Went out for dinner at Deirdre's and Allen's place on Saturday night. Allen turns out to be quite a cook and Deirdre can make me desert any time! Don't tell Quentin that I had some clotted cream on my treacle tart though.

I set of at midday for my cycle run this Sunday, so I would get a full five hours of cycling and not have to worry too much about getting back before it gets too dark.

This first shot is of the Marathon steps which I went up last week and fortunately only came down today. You can guess which direction is more fun!

I managed to get to the seaplane base quite quickly today as I didn't make too many detours on my way there. Here's a photo of the place which was considerably less than impressive really. Even worse was that there weren't any planes around when I was there so I didn't get to see any taking off or landing. Maybe next time.

From Rose bay where the seaplane base was I went further east/north along the Sydney harbour front. My next stop was at Shark bay which again sounds quite exciting but turned out not to have any sharks and was only a small beach with a couple of snack shops. I stopped for some lunch to see if any of the small screaming kids would entertain me by being eaten by sharks but unfortunately not.

There is a main road along from the bay which is titled "Heartbreak Hill" in my cycling book. I guessed that this wasn't a good sign for my already tired legs from yesterday.

The cycling book wasn't kidding when it labelled the road Heartbreak Hill. It's a long winding road up quite a steep hill. I thought I was doing quite well making my way up the hill and thought I was near the top. I turned a bend thinking I must be near the top for it to flatten out, only to realise that the road then got even steeper and higher! At this point my legs gave in and I had to start to walk the rest of the way.

As it turns out I was probably around two thirds of the way up the hill. The view from the top was fantastic though and well worth all my efforts.

Near the top of the hill is what appears to be this very exclusive school. They must have some fantastic views out of their windows over the harbour!

I can only think that some of the richest kids get to go to this school. Either that or only the fittest as some of the must have to cycle up the hill to get to school.

Then again there were some quite exclusive houses around some of the streets that I cycled down up there. Some of them had magnificent designs and must have cost a fortune for their location and views. Other than their size or design the flash cars on the roads helped contribute to the exclusive neighbourhood. I saw a bright yellow Lamborghini Murcielago and also a very large new Bentley Continental GT. These were the cars on the road too! God knows what would have been in their garages!

I eventually got as far as this suspension bridge over Parsley Bay. It really does come out of nowhere as the bay is quite small and the bridge and bay is totally surrounded by large houses.

The bridge is quite small and rocks quite a lot if you jump up and down on it in the middle. Who me? :-)

Just past the bridge is Watsons Bay which I didn't get to today. I don't mind too much as I had already been there on my first week here with Roger and Andrew by ferry.

When I finally got back it was near five pm again and just starting to get dark. I managed almost five hours of cycling of which I was probably actually cycling for three of them. Needless to say my legs feel a little tired now and my coccyx is a little sore.

I decided to treat myself to a Japanese take out meal and some red wine to put on all the calories that I worked off today. Teriyaki fish with rice, miso soup and red wine, nothing better in my books for an evening meal after such a fun day out cycling.

Before I go, something quite funny happened to me when I was at some traffic lights today. As I was approaching the lights I saw a dark blue BMW coming from the road on the left. He was going quite fast and didn't even think to stop or slow down when turning left out of the junction, causing me to slow down for him even though I had right of way on the main road. Anyhow, at the lights I caught up with him and when I looked over at him he was always looking right to avoid looking at me. When the lights turned green I started to pull away and heard him stall his car. I couldn't have laughed any more. Needless to say after restarting his car he really put his foot down and revved his engine loudly past me. Tee hee.