Asher's back seat Ride

 We got the bikes out for a morning ride.  This ride has been a long time coming and Asher is sitting astride a fat tyre flier.  First I had to pump them up.   These bikes hadn't been used for awhile. As a rule the thinner the tyre the higher the pressure.  I stopped pumping at 60kps she is getting heavier but not that heavy.  The others I got up to 80kps and that was my exercise done.  The ride timing is determined by the coffee van which promptly packs up at Midday so we were off around 10:00am.  The coffee stop was an hour probably longer as Asher is getting more proficient at the playground equipment.  There was a bit of wind about but it pushed us downhill to get home.

Asher's Ticket to Ride

 We thought about something to do so came up with a stroll in Queenstown, six hours later we arrived back after a major outing.  The stroll started out in the main street checking out a number of shops. Clothes were bought, as well as books, kitchen goods and coffees. A few galleries were thrown in like the Leunig gallery, which was expensive for essentially stick figures. We got back top the Brewery Hotel for lunch which was very busy.  After lunch the carnival had started up across the way, so Asher tried a roller coaster and the those funny mouth clowns that swallow the balls.  Then it was Nelly by the Sea for more coffee. This looks to have potential as it is licensed but we did not see the menu. 

Funny Hat Club

Reading with actions

Nelly's

Not convinced

Under the Rainbow

 This is a book about Edward Cole, who had many adventures trying to make his fortune including gold digger to pie baker. He built Cole's Book Arcade in Bourke St. It was famous around the world as a huge book store but expanded just like Amazon, to sell a lot more than books.  It was more a department store, complete with tea rooms but not to be confused with the Coles supermarket chain which bought his site after he died, hoping to cash in on the similar name. That site is now where David Jones is located. The other connection for me is the huge mansion in Essendon known as Earlesbrae.  Edward Cole bought it in 1911 to become his own residence away from the city.  This in turn was sold to the Anglicans to become the girl's school Lowther Hall.

1880's

Spoors Return

 Non stop rain overnight and into the morning but in the afternoon we were over at the beach during a break in the clouds.  We only lasted an hour as the rain came on and off.  However in dusting off the gear at the back door we noticed some white heads poking thru the dirt. Giant mushrooms had popped up with the overnight rain. This was the location that the mushroom box was scraped out about a month ago but it seems that some of it is still dormant but viable and has sprung up.  The strawberries have been going ok as well, with at least a couple picked per day of late. The blueberries aren't doing much. We have had one only so far.

Mushie Monster

Two Beach Day

 We borrowed Daniel's surf board for a bit of a photo shoot but he will never know because we have washed it, cleaned it and put it back in the bag with out a hint of use . Unless he reads this blog which he does from time to time.  That happened over at the main ocean beach and while we were there Mick and Anna as well as John and Teresa, Anna's cousin, came dawdling past.  It was like old adventure week as we tried to remember the last adventure race that I dragged Teresa along to. There is always a shortage of females for these types of events. It was in 2007 and finished in Lorne.  We went back home for lunch but was still a warm day despite the forecast for storms which were all around us but distant. So another two hours was spent on our beach watching the Yu Yangs get dumped on with storms but no rain for us. 

Stormy Yu Yang

Teresa crossing the line in Lorne.

New Year's Day Ride

 We took the Klye's on the circuit tour of Drysdale. I still had a few sore spots but managed to get to the end of the 16km  ride.  That was after we did a short beach walk of 2.56 km with the Taylors, so right now it is rest time.  There was some lightning in the distance but it stayed very mild for the whole day although the cloud cover swept in during the afternoon.  I cleaned out the Webber using a foam spray can which seemed to work OK as there were bits of silver foil melted into the frame work.  All the sheets have been washed again so we are ready for Asher's return in a few days.  I put down over 400 articles on the blog last year, the first time I have done that in one year.  Altogether they were read over 8420 times with 200 comments left.

Start with Bacon and Eggs

 Lets start the year with a cooked breakfast but the talk quickly turned to the covid stuff again so it seemed that deja vu was setting in and you just can't get away from it.  We went for a 2.5 km leisurely beach walk but cut up thru the Little Dell and onto the golf course. The tide was low so there were many bubbling fountains in the sand where the spring water was issuing. 

B & E

Old well

climb out

cheap docking fees

Yacht and Yu Yangs