A lovely clear and chilly morning. While we waited for the thermometer to reach a respectable temp, above 10deg would be nice, we had a hot brekky to warm us up. By about 9am it had rocketed up to 7deg so we got on our bikes and off we rode. First we followed the bike path out to Emu Point where Wendy proceeded to fall off when we were taking a shortcut to another path. Luckily it was a slow-mo half-hearted sort of a fall onto some sand covered with grass. Only her pride was hurt!
About this time the sun started to hide itself
behind some cloud and a sneaky/lazy breeze came up so we didn't hang round to
admire the views too long. However we were very grateful for the tailwind that
pushed up all the way along the foreshore path to the road which leads up to the
Albany Heritage Park. This park is truly amazing; 260 hectare of parkland set
on the summits of Mt Clarence and Mt Adelaide overlooking King George Sound,
Albany Port and Middleton Beach. It contains gems like Padre White Lookout,
Princess Royal Fortress, National ANZAC Centre, Desert Mounted Corps Memorial
and Convoy Lookout. All of course connected with WWI. Although the lookout on
top of Mt Clarence is only 177m above sea level, it was a decent climb on the
MTBs nevertheless. However the view was well and truly worth it. The Desert
Corps (Light Horse) Memorial is just off the top of this lookout and a fitting
and superb tribute to those brave men.
The ride down to the ANZAC Centre (on Mt
Adelaide and much lower was a real buzz. Spent some time wandering around The
"Fortress" which is an old barracks (built in 1893) now housing a
museum for the Light Horse.
Hunger and that cold wind finally got the better
of us and drove us off the top of the mountain and into a lovely warm Chinese
restaurant in the city. For $11 each, lunch special, we had a very nice meal,
prawns & veggies for Greg, satay chicken for Wendy. It was then home to
swap the bikes for the truck as we wanted to venture further out of town. 31km
ride.
Unfortunately the sun really made itself scarce by this time so the photos on the iPhone are just not good enough to publish. But we went to the other side of the Harbour out along the Flinders Peninsula to places like Frenchman Bay, Cable Beach and the old Whaling Station at Discovery Bay.
It was then back into the city to fuel up ready
for our drive tomorrow and to do some shopping.
