Helen and Tom's excellent bike adventures

With apologies for the radio silence, here I am on a Sunday, early evening, thinking about the movers and shakers that have featured over the previous couple of months (really, that long – time flies…), and I immediately got stuck on the old Alan ‘Fluff’ Freeman’s Pick of the Pops show (a lot of you will know the tune I mean, if not, goggle it) that was a must listen to in ye olden days on a Sunday evening. And what a fun-packed top 10 I have for you in this ‘Pick of the Tops’. So strap yourself in for the top 10 countdown starting with:

In at 10 – ‘I don’t like cricket, (no), I love it ‘ (10cc)

Yes, this was pretty much the point at which I left you last time with us just about to don our best Aussie cricket supporter guise and watch the one day international match v the West Indies at the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground for the less familiar). Will had helped us buy the tickets and knew where to get seats so that we were mostly in the shade – genius plan and worked a treat. Although not the sparkiest game of cricket you will ever experience, the Aussies batted first and made hard work of it but still some great shots. The Windies batting was slow but wickets didn’t fall that quickly which gave a bit of a scare early on, but the gold and green got it together and won through in the end. I’d forgotten how much I liked and knew about cricket – talking about power play as if I was a pro – and seeing it live was fantastic in such a great ground. It was certainly a great day out and made all the better by sharing the experience with John and Jane. A lovely pre-match lunch, much beer drinking and a bit of banter, ‘what’s not to like?’ as Timmo would say.

A non-mover at 9 – ‘I’m not going anywhere’ (Kelly Lang)

Tim had discovered Senior’s Day at the RSL which meant even cheaper beer and food, so he wasn’t in a rush to go anywhere!!)but…

at 8, an oldie but goodie – ‘Three wheels on my waggon (and I’m still rolling along)’.(The New Christy Minstrels)

Actally we’re talking two wheels, but you get the drift…

The start of February heralded a Bondi Bob road trip – Hurrah! It was a little strange getting re-acquainted with him, but he is such a star and we were soon in our stride. Up first was a couple of days in Canberra and getting out the (thankfully) fully functioning two-wheeled steeds for another exploration of the Capital. Good that we largely rememberd the excellent cycle ways which take you all the way from the site to the centre. Our main aim this visit was to go to the Australian War Museum which we did with a guide. Great museum, lots of exhibits and lots of people stories beautifully presented.

After a capital trip (see what I did there), we were off again – this time to explore the Snowy Mountain region which we didn’t manage to cover off last trip We were based at Jindabyne and what a great base it proved to be. Lots of mountain biking and, as our camp site was at the side of the lake, lots of opportunity for water fun too.

So, at 7 – ‘I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride my bike’ (Queen)

Well, I do and yet I have to say that the cycling around Jindabyne and up at Thredbo was on another level. Given the fact that a) I’m a wine country-cycleways-railtracks kind of cyclist, and b) that we have front suspension but not rear, and c) that I’m getting on a bit, the cycle ways in the Snowies are a bit of a challenge. Ok, the clue should have been that we were in the Snowy Mountains so not likely to be tremendously flat, but what was even more ‘rad’ was that it was also the Cannonball Mountainbike Festival for mad mountain-bike nutcases who love nothing better than to go to the top of the ski lift then cycle down along some of the rockiest, skinniest, hardest tracks I have ever seen (from a distance, you understand).

Now, we’re far too wise to engage in that kind of caper, so instead we picked up a leaflet from the TIC and looked for green coded tracks – green being easy, blue intermediate, red hard and black bleddy impossible unless you’ve removed the sensible part of your brain. So, up we went to Thredbo to try our luck on the green, Thredbo Valley Track. Well, sorry, but I maintain that these were not exactly easy and then there was a blue bit in the middle that you can’t really see on the map. The result was us hurtling down skinny, rocky, winding tracks like doing the Cresta Run on a tea-tray and with about as much panache. The look on some of the macho, full suspension, young bucks as we sailed by like a couple of lemmings off a cliff must have been a sight to behold! BUT we managed it (well, Tim came a cropper – not too badly but milked the sympathy all the same and had to have a plaster on his hand (yawn)) – and there was nothing better than a cooling tinnie at the end of it to soothe the aching bones and already you begin to see it in a much more positive light. So much so that we did another track the next day. I blame dementia as I swear we must have forgotten just how tricky it had been – or it must have been the promise of more beer at the end? All in 30 degree heat too! Anyway, it was great but our neighbours at the campsite were soon of the view that we were well and truly off our trolley.

There were lovely cycle tracks around the Lake too which we did but, although they were very scenic, there were loads of flies and crickets which proved an unwanted distraction just at points where you needed full control of the handlebars. I was flapping around like crazy to get them off my face and add to that being smacked full on in the face by crickets leaping off the track made me very cross indeed! In the end I decided to undo the cycle helmet straps so that they did the flapping for me and, frankly, I’d have preferred a smack on the head than crickets in the face anyday, but at least there were no accidents that day.

At 6, ‘New Tricks’ (Dennis Waterman)

As if negotiating downhill (and uphill) mountain bike routes wasn’t enough new tricks for one week, we found yet another adventure to try – Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP). As we were based on Lake Jindabyne, we very much enjoyed being able to have a nice swim and even hire a couple of kayaks from the campsite to explore the lake. As we returned said kayaks, I espied a couple of SUPs and thought – why not? So we booked them for the following morning. Not knowing anything at all about the boards or how to use them, we knew we might be in for a bit of a rude awakening, but I think it fair to say that – certainly at the start – Tim had met his nemesis. He was dipping in and out of the water more times than fries in a pot of ketchup at McDonalds I can tell you. It wasn’t really fair to laugh at him, but I did anyway as it was bleddy hillarious!! Luckily for us, a kindly young(er) lady came along on her paddle board (with a bluetooth speaker playing soothing tunes – obviously not afraid of losing that overboard!), and immediately spotted the main problem. No, not Tim’s ability, but the fact that the boards were nowhere near inflated enough and so, add on a few kgs of bodyweight and it was looking more like a banana than a board! She kindly fetched her inflator and blew both our boards up to proper tension and also provided a bit of tuition about what we were ACTUALLY supposed to be doing and all was well. Tim still fell in but nowhere near as often which was a shame really…. however, it goes to prove you can teach an old dog new tricks. A very lovlely couple of hours but a bit of feedback provided to the office on return of the equipment and a better experience for the next people hiring.

At 5 – ‘These boots were made for walking’ (Nancy Sinatra)

Another must do whilst we were in the Snowies was to reach the top of the highest point in Australia – to hike to the top of Mount Kosciuszko standing at 2228m. The first bit is easy as it’s a chair lift up to Eagle’s Nest and then a trek from there along a well maintained track along Rawsons Pass and onwards along the main range walk to the summit. The scenery along the whole route was breathtaking and we were blessed with a clear day so the views were magnificent. Plenty of walkers doing the trek but not too many to detract from the sense of isolation that only mountain walking can provide. A quick picnic at the summit and then the walk back down.

Reviews on using the ski lift to access the walk (saving lots of kms and time), were a bit hairy given that neither of us are that keen on heights, but it was about putting on the big girls/boy pants and cracking on with it. For sure, using a ski lift without skis was a first and it took a bit of thinking through – especially a) the bit where, ordinarily, you would just slide off at the top but on this occasion need to get a shimmy on to ensure the chair doesn’t give you an indelicate shove and find yourself base over apex in view of all the rad mountain bikers (thankfully that didn’t happen) and b) rarely would you descend on a lift when skiing, so this was definitely a first and quite a stomach lurcher over the first support pilon but all good and no dramas! Great views actually of the Cannonball Festival riders flying down the hill and of the surrounding area.

at 4 – ‘You’ve got a friend in me’ (Randy Newman)

What has been lovely on this road trippette (as with many others actually) is that we have met some really lovely people. The site at Jindabyne introduced us to Kevin and Vicky and they proved great company and furnished us with some great information as to our next trip stop-over – Bright in Victoria – which we duly booked. What a great place it was too. Very similar in lots of ways to Berry, which was where we spent Christmas the previous year, with lovely bars, cafes and stuff to do. The main reason for the recommendation (and, presumably due to having seen us come back to Bondi Bob in bits after the Thredo cycle experience), was that there is a fantastic rail trail that they had done before and thought would be right up our street. It was. The cycle route runs alongside the Ovens River with the Ovens Valley becoming a key centre for gold mining and dredging in the 1850s.

Cycling out from the campsite we did a short cycle to Wandiligong and then two longish cycles – one day heading towards Myrtleford with a great lunch stop-off at Ringer Reef winery, and a second day towards Harrietville (a return trip of about 54 kms and NO vineyard). By the time we arrived at Harrietville, the undercarriage was definitely feeling the effects of the hard bike seat, so coffee and snacks were needed to ease the pain. We also happened to see Kevin and Vicky who were just starting on their way back. ‘It’s all down hill on the way back!’ says they. ‘Yeah, right’, thinks I. But get this, it was!! What a treat, although we had not noticed a particular or obvious incline as we made our way to Harrietville (remember this is a disused railway track so inclines are usually avoided), it was definitely a case of more freewheeling than not on the way back to Bright. Fantastic! To celebrate we met up with Kevin and Vicky for pizza and beers at Bright Brewery that evening. See, all good things come to those with a sore backside from too much cycling.

At 4 – ‘Ezy Rider’ (Jimi Hendrix)

Well, actually, not that easy but they make it look as if it is! Yes, pop-pickers, it was the much awaited return to Phillip Island but this time for World Superbikes!! The campsite was at the start of the Island at Newhaven and we needed to get over to the circuit which was near to Cowes (not far from Ventnor, Rhyll and Wimbledon Heights – here we go again with the names!), so we went to the Tourist Information Centre to find out about shuttle buses and duly started our first day at the track via that service which was nice and easy. We had got chatting the previous evening to a bloke with a very nice Tiger 800 – David – who was watching the racing with his mum and dad (Terri and Bob) who were all renting a cabin on the campsite. We were only just walking along the start/finish straight on our first day, when we bumped into them and they invited us to join them at their vantage point which was great. We ended up spending the whole day with them and chatted and enjoyed the racing as if we’d known them for years. They were all riders, had travelled lots and were well up on their motorbike racing, so lots in common. They even gave us a lift back to the campsite after the last race which was a massive help.

Day 2 went in a similar fashion with them giving us a lift to the circuit as well. What was great was that bikes were allowed to ride around the outside of the circuit and park up where you spectated (another advantage of all the space that Australia has when designing new stuff), and so Tim rode pillion on the back of David’s bike to have a good look at all of the track. Lots of great racing with the final World Superbike race being won by Brit Alex Lowes, but only after quite a delay as an engine had bown in an earlier race had left oil over the track which obviously needed to be cleared. Anyway, a great couple of days racing at a fantastic circuit and then pizza and beer with Terri, Bob and David before all moving on the next day. What a great weekend.

At 3 – ‘You’ll never walk alone’ (Gerri(ngong) and the Pacemakers)

A return trip to Gerringong felt the right thing to do after our lovely experience there the previous trip (and the naughty butcher who let me think that I’d not got a turkey for Christmas dinner – yes, him). This time, the main objective was to do the coast path from Kiama back to Gerringong – some of which we’d started when we were there at Christmas but not done the whole thing. Off we popped to Kiama on the bus (still love the ease of public transport in Oz), and after the obligatory trip to the lighthouse for Timmo and coffee and cake, we then enjoyed a very lovely walk in scenery not that far removed from our beloved Cornwall, enjoying seeing kestrels and sea eagles on the way.

At 2 – ‘Hello, hello I’m back again’ (Gary Glitter)

Back again in Sydney and back again at Lane Cove, our home-from-home in the City. Such a useful campsite and so easy to get to the metro, railway and bus systems to get over to Bondi. There is also the added bonus of being able to steal Will’s Triumph again which is a delight to ride and cuts the travel time down by half. Anyway, lovely to be back with Will, Nicky and Caden as we prepare for our babysitting stint.

So then pop pickers, after that run down, we are finally and the end of the show (for nw) and so…

Top of the pops and top spot – at 1, ‘We are family’ ( Sister Sledge)

Yes, Will and Nicky were off for a well-earned holiday break so we moved into their house to look after Caden. It takes some getting back into, but just as it is with the other grandkids, you soon get into the swing. The first couple of days was about getting into a routine and this was helped in part by him being in nursery and having the stability of that so soon after mummy and daddy had gone. Then it was full on grandparent time with visits to Tarronga zoo and Sydney sealife centre plus lots of playground and beach time. Both the zoo and sealife centre were fantastic. The zoo in particular was so well thought through enabling you to get good close-up viewing of the animals without being too intrusive – genius! Seeing koalas and turtles (Caden’s faves) close up as the first two exhibits was a big bonus but there were very few (if any) enclosures or areas where the animals were not in full sight and so lions, elephants and giraffes were able to be enjoyed in their full size and glory.

Really special memories made and what a delight it was to have that time together. He was such a good boy, but you do soon forget just how completely consuming it is to look after little ones – talk about eyes in the back of your head and 3 trillion decisions a minute! But you’re soon back up to match fitness and the realisation you are beginning to remember more than you forget, means you’ve finally got it! Tired, yes, but seeing a beaming smile first thing in the morning – regardless of time – and some of his many fantastic reactions to just about everything, is priceless.

So that’s it for now. Off to the Hunter Valley in a couple of weeks. For those less familiar it’s wine country so no surprises as to what is likely to be in store. More of that next time. We’re having such a great time and feeling very at home. We saw this the other day and have already agreed to be part of the pilot scheme as we definitely fit the criteria. Just so you know! TTFN