This year's Australia Day, we marked it with a family bike ride. For us, it was more essential for the children to have a well rested body and mind AND consumed a substantial breakfast. So, we left quite late in the morning.
Williamstown was the destination. We have not done this before from Surrey Hills. However, as we planned to ride Williamstown via the city, we know some parts of the way like the back of our hands. We were keen to try the new bridge, Shepherd Bridge, that crosses Marybrynong River. It is a product of ten years of cyclists lobbying for a safer route.
Thomas rode on his road bike - the Louis Garneau Ren 20. Kim coupled on Ella Mae's Ridgeback MX16 on the Followme Tandem to his bicycle, Ridgeback Comet. I was on my own but had the responsibility of the Ortleib pannier bags on the Vivente Anatolia. The pannier bags had muesli bars, maintenance kit and spare tyre for all the bikes, travel pass, hats, sunscreen, phone, keys, bicycle locks and wet weather gear (even though it was dry forecast).
The paths were relatively quiet as most Australians love the tradition of barbeque on Australia Day.
This time of the year also means blackberry foraging for us. Purple hands and lips made us all very happy.
We always stop at the HA Smith Reserve as it is an opportunity to top up our water. There is also a lovely playground, beginners skate ramp, bicycle repair station and the Hawthorn velodrome (and toilet) near here.
Under the freeway is an opportunity for us to pretend to be trains and "choo-choo-ed" our way through. This path is very narrow. Thomas had a "superman-style" fall here a year ago when he cycled too close to the barriers. His handlebars caught one of the balusters. Luckily, there were not many cyclists around and one cyclist stopped to help us with the bikes while we carried him back to the end of the bridge away from the path. After he checked out ok, we rode back. The best thing for him since he was not too badly hurt was to get back on his bike.
We rode past Augustus' dad at Burnley bouldering walls. He was on his way to work but had stopped there for some exercise. We love this part of Yarra River as it overlooks Herring Island.
There was a crazy guy who as on a motorised bicycle that zoomed in and out of the path of at least 40km/hr. He must have had a bit too much barbeque...or not enough?
We had to detour near Morell Bridge as there were construction work on Swan Street Bridge. It was peaceful to go past AAMI Stadium and the Glasshouse. This is a better detour compared to riding on the otherside of the river past the Melbourne Botanical Gardens.
We rode past the tennis fans that were going to the Australian Open. We couldn't resist a photo opportunity....to be taken by a tourist.
While we cycled through the Docklands, we met with preparations for the Australia Day Fireworks. Part of the cycle path was closed and the diversion was lacking in signage. Nevertheless, we found our way and continued on our journey.
As we cycled away from the Docklands, there was drought of places where we could have a spot of lunch.
We staved off our hunger with some muesli bars. We ate them after crossing Shepherd Bridge. It was a pretty bridge with colourful metal balusters. It with quite a challenging ascent for Thomas as well as Kim (since he was pulling Ella Mae up as well). Normally the children are keen to have a particular type but this time around, it was a little different. Ella Mae declared, "I am so hungry I do not mind which one I have!". As I knew that today they will be making an extra effort to ride, I took time to pick up their favourite!
As we rode through Yarraville, it was mainly on a shared pavement by the road. There were not many areas we could top up water, toilet facilities or bicycle maintenance stations after we left Boroondara Council.
We stopped under the West Gate Bridge Memorial Park to pay our respect. Last year, we drove across West Gate Bridge and the flags on the bridge were at half-mast. We didn't know why and found out later that it was a tribute to the victims of the bridge's tragedy, whereby during construction, part of the bridge collapsed and killed 35 workers and injured 18. That day was 15th October 1970.
There is a beautiful mosaic of a kookaburra at Newport Park. It is a symbol of a HMAS Yarra and Victoria. It is found at the HMAS Yarra Memorial that is dedicated to the crew of that ill fated ship. It was sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1942.
We rode past a house with a taxidermied horse on its second floor.
We brought our ice-cream from The Ice Cream Shoppe. The ice-creams were tasty but they were melting at an alarming speed. One lady had to bend 90 degrees forward as she wasn't managing her cone very well. The pavement was a sticky mess!
On our return journey, Ella Mae rode on her own for about 2 km. She rode fabulously by keeping on the left, and getting off her saddle when riding up the "hills".
We caught the Westgate punt from Spotswood Jetty. It was as if it was waiting for us to come by. It was AUD5 one way for adults. The children traveled on it for free. The water was calm and we had a spectacular view of the Westgate bridge as we floated under it. After crossing onto the Port Melbourne side on Westgate Landing, it was quite an easy ride once we found our bearings.
There was only one section whereby the trail discontinued and we continued on the road. We also stopped to adjust the front bars of Ella Mae's bike that allows her bike to be attached to the Followme Tandem. It was slightly loose.
We missed most of the Australia Day celebration crowds as we went past the south side of the Webb Bridge. Southgate was abuzz with shoppers and diners.
It was a slow ride home but it was worth it.
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