Non Extreme to Extreme!

What a(nother) fun weekend I've just had. From a not so extreme 'sport' to a much more extreme and fun one!

We went to Ian's 29th birthday party on Saturday afternoon to evening. Ian is the support guy who works for Wallingford Software over here for those who don't know. He's from Sydney so knows most of the area quite well. He held his party at a lawn bowls club! It was quite a good idea as it was a cheap venue and it was a lot of fun to have a go at lawn bowls.

I was imagining that we would be surrounded by old age pensioners but most of the people there were quite young and also having a good time.

I had a good time and also got to know a few of Ian's friends as well. This first photo is of Roger having a go at the game. I think the awkward pose is just a strange camera shot rather than him doing an impression.

I even won a couple of my games while playing in teams, but it helped that I was in a game which turned out to be quite competitive with Ian's friends.

On Sunday Roger and I arranged to go mountain biking around the Manly Dam course. It's rated as an intermediate course apparently so there's nothing like being chucked in at the deep end again for me as it was my first time.

This is Roger at the start of the course which is a short cycle from the Manly ferry. He's done this course at least once before so had an idea of where to go and what it was like.

It's been a sweltering weekend over here with temperatures just above thirty degrees. It reminds me how hot my apartment gets when it's warm here. At least the hot weather makes cycling a very pleasant pursuit for a weekend.

This is a view from one of the higher points of the course. There were some lengths of the course which were very 'technical' as Roger puts it. What he meant was that they were quite tricky and either very difficult to ride up or quite scary to ride down!

I was expecting some tricky moments but nothing prepared me for how rough some parts were going to be. The uphill parts were the most difficult as you need to maintain quite a bit of momentum to keep moving, especially when you come across some steep and rough rocks which were almost bigger than the wheels on my bike!

Going downhill was much more fun though. I say fun in that you have no choice but to keep flying down the rocks on your bike hoping that you can maintain balance and don't come to a sudden halt into a rock or tree beside the track.

Even though some bits were very scary it was also lots of fun. I came off my bike in a controlled manner quite often when going up hills and loosing momentum on the big steep rough rocks. Going down hill was loads of fun and when you're moving at quite a rate and your bike is bouncing up and down quite fast below you it was fantastic!

There were a few moments when I could have come off and if I had fallen off it would have resulted in quite a messy accident but fortunately I maintained my balance and had a big smile on my face. I did fall off once unexpectedly, but fortunately I wasn't going very fast, but I did fall into a bush and get some twigs in my face for he pleasure!

The above photo is me on the ferry on the trip back at the end of the day. You can just about make out the mud from my knees downwards. There was even more mud on my bike though! I'd love to go again (and again).

Even better was that I came across a great ice cream stall at the Manly Ferry port. It has 32 flavours of milk shakes! I was like a kid in a sweet shop, I wanted mango, mint choc chip, chocolate and coffee flavours, but not at once. I eventually settled for coconut after changing my mind many times. :-)

Mohamed Visits and Horses.

Mohamed, our boss at Wallingford had been visiting us for the past week to see how we're getting on. As you can see from the photo we're working very hard and even Mohamed had to join in our work.

We had a really good week while he was visiting. We each took it in turns to show him around Sydney and where we lived. I took him to the Orbit bar for 360 degree views of the Sydney skyline while having some cocktails. We then went to the very swanky Wildfire restaurant near Circular Quay. The service there is very good but the food not quite fantastic for the prices that we paid. Oops, wrong photo, this should be the one that I want to show:

I had a great chance to go horse riding over last weekend. We should have gone the weekend before but it was all rained off. I still managed to cycle down to the Centenary Park stables in the rain though which was really good fun.

Here you can see me bonding with my horse, Dave. Most of the time he was more interested in eating rather than moving anywhere. Can you see the fear in my smile?

Once you get on the horse the higher up views are quite good. I can well see why police use them in crowd control. Talking about the police...

This is Allen doing his impression of one of the Village People. His horse was rather more frisky than mine. It kept wanting to move as soon as it got the chance. While my horse needed quite a lot of effort to get moving.

I was all set to do my impression of Indiana Jones on my horse but Dave wasn't having any of it. He would barely move when I was in the paddock and would only trot once another hose was in front of him that he could follow.

As it turned out I did managed to do some trotting and then even managed a gallop at one point. I now know why women generally prefer horses! When you're trotting along you have to try to time your own bouncing up and down with the horse movements. Most of the time you find yourself bouncing down when the horse is moving up. Quite awkward as you can imagine!

Once you start to gallop though it's a different story altogether and the horse movement is much smoother and as a result much more comfortable. The only problem is to be able to control the horse as everything is moving much quicker.

Here you can see all the riding team. Unfortunately taken by the instructor with my camera phone as no one had bought a decent camera along for the ride. From left to right is Jennifer, Joe, Allen, Roger, Me and Deirdre.

Roger probably did the best among us as he had ridden quite often before and knew how to get along with his horse. He was quite happily trotting and galloping around. He even helped hose down and put his horse to bed.

I quite enjoyed the horse riding. If someone had asked me to go before I went last weekend I would have been indifferent about it. But now I would jump at the chance to go again. It's not something that I would push to do again but given the chance I wouldn't turn it down.

My final day and which blind date I went for...

On my final day here I managed to delay my check out time at my hotel so I could enjoy some of the facilities. My flight wasn't till after lunch so I had half a day free to relax.

And, relax I certainly did! I was booked into a 5* star hotel as I wanted to spoil myself for my birthday. The place was quite deserted as it was the low point of the tourist season. I had the hotel pool and surrounding sun lounges to myself till eleven.

It was absolute bliss to sun myself in the morning sun and take a dip into the pool whenever I wanted to. I couldn't imgine a better end to my short break and two long days walking than to relax in the sun beside a nice pool. I must admit that it did cross my mind to delay my flight back to Sydney and take another day holiday. I could have quite easily done so but figured I'll have other holidays later on next month and it was quite expensive to stay here another night.

On my flight home I took some good photos of some of the Australian landscapes.

Here's one of the massive salt lakes that are in the centre of the country. Very impressive from this height, possibly less so from the ground level.

I've had an amazing four days holiday on my own. Seeing Uluru was good, the Olgas impressive, but the long walk around Kings Canyon was something else!

If anyone reading this has a chance to visit this area of Australia then I would recommend that the visit Kings Canyon above all else, despite the attraction of Uluru, the canyon is much more spectacular. Where else could you walk right up to the edge of a 100 metre drop with such fantastic views?

The King and his Canyon.

What can I say about Kings Canyon. Well it is a three hour drive there, four hour walk up and around the rim and back down, then a three hour drive back, that's it.

I almost had a bad accident on my way there. I was much to busy admiring the James Range on my right when I looked back to the road I had veered off to the left. The road is basically just a one lane tarmac strip and I veered off it and then overcorrected to the right went a little sideways and slammed on the brakes. Left some very long skid marks and just managed to maintain control of the car. The last hour of my journey was much less eventful as I barely took my eyes off the road.

I suppose I had better let the pictures do most of the talking. I was very impressed with the Kings Canyon and I can highly recommend it if you are near there and have the energy. Unlike the Olgas there aren't any water points along the 6km loop and I did run out of water before the last couple of km.

Accompanying me on my trip around the rim were Betty, Martha, Ken and Brett. They were my constant companions, buzzing (flying) around my head all day much to my annoyance. They weren't that bad and it was the winter so I can imagine it being much worse in the summer time.

Me near'ish the edge!

You can see the 'beehive' domes which have been created by weathering.

You eventually end up walking along the edge of the left hand side later on.

Me even closer to the edge of the 100m drop!

The view looking back from the third photo.

The canyon rim.

At the end of the canyon creek you can climb down some wooden steps to see a small water area called the Garden of Eden!

This guy was busy sunning himself at the top of the canyon and posing for me too!

Enlarge this photo and read the sign. I though it was quite funny, but obviously not for what it actually meant.

I stayed at Kings Canyon till just before sunset and then started to make my long journey back to the Uluru resort. Once it got dark about an hour into my journey, I was even more surprised by the amount of wildlife around the roads. Roger had warned me to be wary of animals running around the roads at night so I was possibly expecting a kangaroo or two if that.

However, along one thirty minute stretch of road I must have encountered half a dozen kangaroos in separate incidents, one dingo and a couple of rabbits! Most of them were obviously playing chicken and just darted out from left to right just as I was coming along. I had to slam on my brakes every time I saw them run out. One kangaroo and its offspring were in the middle of the road when I came around the bend! I would have taken some photos but I was a little busy trying to control my emergency stops.

Fortunately I managed to avoid them all and got back to the resort without hitting anything, other than the millions of flies and monster dragon flies on the front of my car. I think that having the kangaroos on the roads would be very good for the UK roads to keep the drivers speeds down and alert at night! I certainly didn't go past the recommended speed limit knowing that one might jump out from the bushes beside the road. Much better deterrent than speed cameras I think.

Miss Olga.

In the afternoon of my first full day after Uluru I went to see the Olgas. They are often overlooked as Uluru dominates most of the tourist itineraries. They are around a half hour drive from Uluru.

All I can say is that in my opinion they are much more impressive than Uluru. There is a long three hour walk that you can do that is called The Valley of the Winds Walk and allows you to walk though some of the Olgas. The views on this walk were spectacular and something I will remember forever, especially on my birthday.

It's quite a long walk at a 7.4km walk, but there are two water points along the walk where you can replenish your water supplies and take a rest in some shade.

Some of the views from when the rocks tower above you from either side are awesome. There were very few people doing the long walk, so I could quite easily get away from everyone and be on my own to enjoy the peace and scenery.

I stayed around the Olgas till after sunset and then headed back to my hotel. The sunset was quite good too as I managed to catch the moment when the Olgas change from orange to red to brown just when the sun just sets on the horizon. It was quite a colour change and took me by surprise when I was looking at the rocks.

Miss Uluru.

Well just like all the post cards and photos that you've seen of the big rock. This is it! To be honest when I first saw it it was wow, then as I drove around it to get my bearings, it was; well this is great but why doesn't it jump up and down or move about?

It's impressive at first but I quickly got a little bored of staring at it. It doesn't appear as impressive as the pyramids or The Great Wall. Probably because it's just a natural bug lump in the middle of nowhere. The land around the place is quite flat and just full of scrub. The air views were much better when flying in to Ayres Rock airport.

I was very surprised to see the number of people climbing up it though. Even though it's advertised everywhere that the people here don't want you to climb up it people still do. The reason that you aren't physically stopped from climbing it is because of the money that it brings in. I just can't believe the lack of disrespect that some people have though.

After checking into my hotel I walked around the Ayres Rock resort. I was surprised how touristy the place is. Despite it being low season there were quite a few tourists about. The place is hardly busy but there are enough people here to not allow me to be alone around the rock.

I watched the sunset from one of the viewing points today. I must say that I wasn't too impressed. After all I had heard about the amazing colours at sunset I was expecting more than I saw. Maybe it's better in the summer with a more intense sun. It was hot enough for me at 30 degrees and I can imagine it gets much worse in the summer. There were a few flies but not enough to be anything more than just a little annoying.

I've booked myself on one of the shorter guided tours tomorrow morning and am looking forward to walking around the base and watching the sun rise tomorrow morning on my birthday.

I managed to get up to see the sunrise at Uluru today. That means getting up at 5am for me as the sun rises around 6am here. I decided not to go to the designated sunrise viewing point for Uluru as it would mean the sun would rise behind you which is not what I wanted to see.

Instead I went to the same sunset viewing point that I was at yesterday. Needless to say that it was empty and there were quite a few cars and coaches that passed behind me on their way to the sunrise viewing point. I was surprised how many cars and coaches went there.

The sunrise view was good, but when the sun actually rose and I could see it rising up on the horizon the view was absolutely spectacular! I couldn't believe how beautiful it was to see the sun rising next to Uluru. I was very happy to be where I was and it really made my morning.

After seeing the sun rise I went for some breakfast and then went to a short two hour tour that I had booked yesterday. It was an interesting tour and outlined some of the methods of the Aborigines. The best part though was being able to have a go at throwing an Aborigine spear. I even managed to hit the dummy kangaroo on my first go too. Probably more by beginners luck rather than anything else.

Out to the wild west.

I headed out west today, not wanting to go anywhere in particular other than just west from Sydnew centre as I hadn't been west on my bike.

I went passed the Sydney fish market which is just past the the very touristy Darling Harbour and Pyrmont bridge. To be honest I expected the Sydney fish market to be a lot bigger than it really was. Its more a load of small restaurants and fish stalls rather than a traditional fish market. Still the price of fish is quite cheep there and there were plenty of Chinese people there buying up all the fish stocks on a Sunday lunch time.

The picture above is the eastern on ramp to the Anzac bridge which is Sydney's newest bridge. It was quite good fun to cycle up and even more fun to cycle down it at speed on my way back.

This is the Anzac bridge. It's only a small bridge but makes quite an impression when you're cycling across it. There were the ususal great views of the other side of Sydney Harbour and the Harbour bridge.

As usual with the rest of the city, there is a well built cycle and pedestrian lane along the bridge to seperate yourself from the cars. I've noticed that in most areas of Sydney where they have put extra effort in to add cycle paths around the harbour and greener areas. There are even some special cycle path signs to guide cyclists around special routes around the city.

From the Anzac bridge I headed further west to Rozelle where there was this great bay where you could cycle around. The Sydney college of art was right next to the bay so there were plenty of students and rowing clubs about the place. I lost count of the number of rowing clubs after the fourth one that I saw there. I'd be quite jealous of any student studying in Sydneey that's for sure!

On my way back I passed though Balmain where Deirdre and Allen have their rented house. I really didn't realise how close their place was to the bay as I had only visited them by taking the bus. I can well understand why they chose Balmain to live in when coming here for the second time.

I went though the Pyrmont Bay on my way back home. There were plenty of modern apartments there which have excellent views of the harbour. It is the Sydney equivalent of Canary Wharf in London I guess. The very expensive apartments are just to the right of this photo and you can just make out the Harbour bridge on the left.

Incidentally my apartment is located just next to the tallest building you can see on the right of the photo.

Hailing in Sydney!

I couldn't believe it, but it was hailing in Sydney today!

What makes it even more amazing was that over lunch we ate in Hyde Park as it was quite warm and sunny. Then come the afternoon it suddenly got quite dark and we could hear thunder in the distance.

It then started to rain and then hail quite heavily. Its probably the closest that Sydney will ever come to it snowing here!

These two photos were taken on my camera phone just outside of the Sydney Water offices.

North Head.

I'm afraid just more cycling adventures around Sydney for now. More exciting things to come later on at the beginning of next month when I have a plan to go away for a long weekend.

My plan was to head out towards Manly Beach today to go for another swim and spend some time on the sand. However I wanted to visit North Head which is next to Manly before hitting the beach.

When I got to North Head I was very distracted by the magnificent views so decided to stay there for my packed lunch and spend the afternoon there and save Manly for another weekend.

The cycle to North Head takes about an hour or so from my place. It took me about two hours thanks to getting lost quite a bit and also detours to here and there.

The first photo here is of North Head looking south towards the Central Business District of Sydney. You can just about see the entire Sydney Harbor from here and it's an amazing view.

To the left of the photo is the opening of the harbor and essentially the Pacific ocean. To the right of the photo are the north Sydney suburbs.

I got someone else to take the next photo for that tourist shot and also just to prove that I really am here and seeing these amazing views. Just to the right of my head is the very north end of Watsons Bay which I went to a few weeks ago.

There were plenty of sailing boats in the harbor and also this great traditional sailing boat. Unfortunately its sails were all folded up, I wonder where it had been to.

With views like this I can well understand why people would want to live out here on a permanent basis. There have been very few dull days since I've been here. Like any big city in the world Sydney has its fair share of dodgy and rundown areas but it also has many places with magnificent views like this.

There were very few people around North Head which I really liked, unlike Manly which was quite busy when I cycled through it to get here.

This next shot is of an old lookout post that was still standing here. It was used during the second world war to look out for enemy Japanese ships and submarines that might have been tempted to try to invade Sydney.

I could just imagine people in this lookout post with equipment to watch for the enemy during war time. I suspect they would have been bored with the scenery in no time though unlike me!

Apparently here was an incident of a Japanese midget submarine that managed to get into the harbor and the people manning this observation post totally missed it as it crept into the harbor. I'm not sure of the facts here so don't quote me. I'll have to look them up later and find out about it.

The final shot here is of the eastern coastline looking north towards Blue Fish Pt. There were some great rock colours on the cliff edge. Even out here looking east towards nothing but the Pacific Ocean it wasn't that windy at all. It must have been a very calm day today.

After finishing my tour of North Head I cycled back down to Manly and then decided to catch the ferry back to Circular Quay which is only a five minute bike ride to my home. I just didn't have the heart to cycle all the way back again. It was quite hilly on the way here and I did cycle down quite a few hills as well.

I like the fact that it doesn't cost any more money to take a bike onto the ferry and it was very pleasant to be able to take a ferry back after such a great day out and about.

It's winter and horrible here!

Allen, Joe, Jennifer and I went out to the Orbit bar on Saturday night. It's a slowly revolving restaurant and bar just next door to where I live. I didn't even know that it existed till Allen mentioned it. It was very trendy and quite smart too, and anyone who visits me now will almost certainly be taken up there.

The bar is on the top floor, the 47th and has some fantastic views of the city. Unfortunately I only had my camera phone for pictures and as it was dark the photos come out very poorly. Well you can just about make out the harbour bridge in the middle of the photo. It really was a spectacular view of Sydney's landmarks. I guess if it wasn't for the two buildings blocking my view of the harbour bridge I would have this view from my apartment as well.

As its winter here the weather isn't so pleasant. It's only been clear skies and sunny all weekend with temperatures around 20 degrees. It's so horrible with clear blue blissful skies and very pleasant temperatures. Well very pleasant for someone from the UK anyhow.

I went cycling out to Bondi beach today and met up with Allen for a swim there. Like my cycling a month ago, I hadn't been swimming since I was a teenager. I forgot to bring my main camera again so you're stuck with poor quality mobile phone pictures, at least there was plenty of light.

The water was quite cold initially but after swimming in it, it felt quite warm. Well relatively warm anyhow. This is a view looking north up the beach. As you can see it wasn't very busy, well it is mid winter here. :-)

This picture shows some surfers in the sea. They're the black dots all in their wet suits, after only being in the sea for about half and hour or so I can well understand why they wear wet suits. It was quite refreshing to go for a swim, but I could have chosen a better beach to start out on instead of Bondi.

Bondi is known for its great breaks and hence great surfing, and even though today was a calm day it still felt more than a little rough in the sea. I swallowed more than my fair share of seawater at times when I was submerged by the breaking waves.

The final picture is of the south side of the beach. It really is a very beautiful beach but I suspect coming here later on in the year will mean that it will be much busier.

My cycle back was quite tiring at times, especially after a short swim too. I didn't think I was going to make it up the steep hill from the beach but I did make it in the end, and without stopping too which put a big smile on my face. Well something had to counteract my aching legs! Allen took the bus back home and I even managed to beat him home. Mind you he did say that the bus stopped at every stop that it could.

Now to figure out how to get sand out of every item of clothing and orifice on my person! Lucky I didn't bring any cucumber sandwiches.

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.

Nothing to see, just more cycling around Sydders.

It was raining quite a lot on Saturday so I figured I wouldn't get much of a chance to go cycling in the afternoon. An extra work out in the gym would just have to do for my exercise fix today. I certainly managed it by spending two and a half hours there. Working out that is, rather than hanging around like a bad smell.

I did get a chance to get out and about on my bike on Sunday afternoon though. There were a couple of scary clouds in the sky but nothing that looked like it was going to rain for too long. I still managed to get my gym work out in the morning just in case I couldn't get out in the afternoon as well.

The photo above is from Rushcutters Bay, it's the same place where we went for our charity boat race earlier on in the year. You can obviously see the Sydney Tower in the centre of the shot which marks the centre point of the Sydney shopping area.

It's great to think that just a few hundred yards from the busy streets of the town centre is a yachting harbour. In fact there are many many yachting harbours around the Sydney harbour as you can imagine.

I managed to make it out to Double Bay today which is the next bay further east along from Rushcutters Bay. I really wanted to go further along the harbour to the Seaplane base, but it was getting late by the time I got to Double bay. I'd managed to get lost so many times today which didn't help. I did buy a book on some bike rides around Sydney but it's difficult to follow when you're cycling around and you have to continually refer to the book for directions. I'd much rather just head one direction and see where the road takes me. This does however mean getting lost quite often but it's also much more interesting. I guess I have time here to explore more and more as time passes.

The second photo is from Mrs Macquaries Point and looking over Farm Cove to the Sydney business centre. I watched the sun slowly set from here as it's only a few minutes ride from my apartment. The picture makes me realise how much of a lovely city Sydney really is.

Bondi beach, at last, well almost.

I went out cycling again on Sunday afternoon. This time I decided to head east towards Bondi Beach. After a quick cycle through the centre of the Sydney business district I was on the main road towards Bondi. I did notice that my legs did ache quite a bit from all the cycling yesterday, especially when going up hills.

I didn't quite make it to Bondi beach. I saw the beach from the top of a hill but really didn't want to have to cycle back up the hill today so decided to save it for another day. On my way back from the beach I did come across a lovely small monument to Australians that had died in WWII, the Korean wars and Vietnam. It was in a small park just off the main road and I stopped to take a rest. I guess the Aussies just can't stay out of a brawl wherever it's going on in the world.

On my way back there was quite a bit of traffic on the main roads. I had quite a lot of fun cycling through the stationary traffic. It was quite exciting passing cars and having to look out for cars pulling out from the left and right. At one point I was in the middle lane of three lanes of traffic because the right two lanes turned right. A big 4x4 passed me by on my left and clipped me on my shoulder with his drivers side wing mirror!

I couldn't believe it, he must have seen me and known he had clipped me but he didn't stop at all. I was quite shocked at being hit and more annoyed than anything else as no damage had been done. I suppose it could have been much worse and I was lucky to get away with just being clipped.

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! :-)