Yay - SPRING is almost upon us - the roads and cycleways around Te Atatu are filled with blossom and new growth. I can't wait, because it means going further afield on two wheels at last. And the NEW CYCLE PATH is finished at last and leads OUT and IN very nicely, from the motorway and the rest of the West. I might get on my wheels this weekend with friends, and give it a go.
What a perfect city for cycling Melbourne is. We came here for a 3-day holiday, and found it very busy with cycles. Hired one each for $20 for 2 hours, and set off along the Yarra river to check out the sights. My bike had no gears and back brakes, so it was a learning curve, but since there were hardly any hills, it didn't matter.
Some of the local wildlife stopped us in our tracks.
It was great fun! The paths were well maintained and used, and took you a good distance south of Melbourne.
We finally crossed one of the many bridges and came up the other side back into the Southgate side of Melbourne.
I stopped for a bit of minor adjustment.
Returning to the bike hire place, it was an interesting ramble through the back of buildings.
And Helen took every shot she could of all the cyclists we encountered. UNLIKE Auckland, most were clad in ordinary, or stylish, clothes, and negotiating the streets easily. SO IMPRESSIVE.
Loved this bike (below) seen tied up in St Kilda. Lots of pretty decoration all over it, and a wide seat and basket.
It's a bit sad when my posts are filled up with such things as the building of cycleways, but it IS winter, and my cycling is restricted these days to short trips down to the shops and back. Something to do with the weekends all being tempestuous and wet these days. Anyway, the good news is, that by spring there will be a much easier route in and out of Te Atatu, and it's somewhat thrilling to find one's wheels turning on virgin pathway (so to speak).
Plenty of footwear seems to have tried the new concrete route, but wheels will be turning in the future I'm sure. I only hope that it's possible to negotiate the pedestrians and pushchairs on the cyclepath that crosses the park. The green cycleway below ends in the angled parking of the main shops - and you need your wits about you to avoid backing cars.
I've been doing more DRAWING of bikes and adventures now that winter has set in, than actually riding mine, but it's all good. Having said that, I DO get mine out for brisk trips down to the local shops for mail, shopping and library books, but it has to be timed between showers for me. Have been asked to do these latest drawings. The top one for a header for a friend in England who is doing the London to Paris Race next year.
And these two for a community poster showing different aspects of neighbourhoods, and I'm very pleased the local council includes cycling in their future plans.
Today we have to photograph anything from our daily lives in Auckland. These are my attempts.
Yep, that's what it's down to right now. Snatched moments on the bike, heading down to the shops for groceries/library/post when the weather has cleared. The gutters full of fallen leaves, the skies changing radically in one day between blue and downpour, and a cold southerly wind sneaking between the layers of my clothing and turning my nose red. BUT I'm still managing to get out there, and the cycle lane is still being constructed, and occasionally I've even pulled for a longer trip, albeit on my own.
