Commuting - The things you see on the way to work...

I wish I had a camera sometimes. On my commute this morning, a shot of the background office block, middle ground string of cars queued at an intersection and foreground kangaroos bounding across the bike path in front of me would have been a classic. And this is about 3km from the city centre in Australia's capital!

cheers!

The kangaroo courier service has finally arrived in Canberra. Works well but you never know if you'll find any 'presents' on your carpet.

While we're on about Australian wildlife, I hate it when the koalas get hungry and chew through the phone lines.


:D

The kangaroos on their way to a sitting of Parliament?

Actually, there are a couple of Federal Ministers who are keen cyclists -- Tony Abbott is one who was interviewed on television not long ago looking tired but dressed in cycling attire while on a fund-raising ride in country Victoria. He even said: "Kerry, I can't answer that because I am on a fund-raising bike ride..." or something along those lines. Another Minister Kevin Andrews also is a cyclist. It helps to have people in high places.

Nice one Ants. When are you back in Hobart?

R

On my old commute I used to see Brush Turkeys passing through Burleigh Head National Park. These days it's mainly seagulls.

Kangaroo Supreme Court perhaps.

Funny thing is that it's about 800m from my inner city flat to the local shopping centre/bus interchange/multi-level carpark/office blocks and I often see kangaroos on the way to the shops. It's really scary though when you're going down one of the insane hills here at 80ks and they hop across in front of you...

I've noticed back at home lately a lack of bandicoots, echidnas and wombats. I think the suburban sprawl and spread of predatory household pets is driving them away :-(

Back in Hobart probably in December but only for a week or so. Hopefully it won't be too long before I move back permanently.
I was down a couple of weeks ago and got in good rides to Neika, Collinsvale, Bonnet Hill and out to Granton. Didn't see any wildlife though. I guess all the tourists have scared it all away.

Canberra has a reputation as bike friendly and certainly has heaps of bike paths but that Hobart bike path is way better than the ones here - it's lit and has a decent surface. Shame there's only one of it. And Canberra lacks real hills - it just has short awful steep little bumps, like 3km long at 9%. But I must say my commute to work is pretty good - 18km and about half of it totally away from cars. It's just a bit funny that if I drive it's only 12km. Just as well that I ride because I enjoy it.

cheers,
Ants

Originally posted by Ants
I've noticed back at home lately a lack of bandicoots, echidnas and wombats. I think the suburban sprawl and spread of predatory household pets is driving them away :-(

Back in Hobart probably in December but only for a week or so.


A lot of the wildlife has gone back bush after reasonable rains. Still see potaroos, native cats, and possums as road kill occasionally. Possums are still trouble at night on the Bonnet, though :)

Further out it has been Tasmanian devils littering the sides of the roads. And yes, agree about the predatory animals. I have personal views on cats in particular that would start a holy war if I let them out.

Look us up if it's early December. ChrisL will be in town as well in December. I'm off to do the Melbourne Hobart yacht race about 10 days before Christmas, though.

The Intercity Cycleway is still pushing northward, and it's almost past Berriedale and into Claremont (will be there by the end of this calendar year). We are looking now to do something about providing feeder routes into it. I'm hoping ChrisL might moderate his views on shared paths a just a little after experiencing it.

R

Originally posted by Rowan
I'm hoping ChrisL might moderate his views on shared paths a just a little after experiencing it.

OK, slightly off-topic, but I couldn't resist this one. Even if I did have a one-off good experience on a path, I doubt it would change my views on them too much. I still say demand the same ease of passage on my bike that someone would have in a car - and this is particularly important as a transportational cyclist.

Sure shared paths might be great for a 10km/h cruise around an artificial lake or whatever, but I'm not even going to think of using them for transport. And if that means riding through a traffic jam (as was the case riding home tonight) so be it.

Having said all that, I'll still ride that particular one in Hobart with an open mind. I just don't think it's going to alter my views on paths for cycling transportation.

Oh yeah, obligatory on topic content: no, I haven't yet seen any cane toads on my commute. This is probably just as well, because those things are a menace and I'd be just desperate to run them over! You know something is a problem when even the majority of environmentalists want to see it become extinct.

Originally posted by Chris L
Oh yeah, obligatory on topic content: no, I haven't yet seen any cane toads on my commute. This is probably just as well, because those things are a menace and I'd be just desperate to run them over! You know something is a problem when even the majority of environmentalists want to see it become extinct.

Now a threat to the great Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory. There is some conjecture that some large water dragons will be extinct within a year if these horrible creatures break through to their habitat. And the governments are sitting on their hands, doing very little to stop this scourge.

One of my favourite memories of living in North Queensland for two years was driving a 4WD at night along a wet road with this pop-pop sound from under the tyres.

For those who don't know, cane toads were introduced to Queensland to eradicate a sugar cane pest. The toads have glands on their skin which contain poison so potent, it causes skin irritations to the hands, and can kill anything that eats the toad. Ergo, there are no natural predators. And the females breed millions upon millions of eggs at a time. Ugh!

R

I have heard that one tourist resort in Nth Qld is offering canetoad golf. Basically they leave some bait outside for the canetoands at night, wait until they're absolutely swarming, then let the tourists loose with golf clubs - and a message not to open their mouth under any circumstances! :D

Rowan, sounds like you and I might just share an opinion on cats. There used to be a lot of native animals around my parents place - rural/bush type place - now there seems to be just cats. (Except for possums - nothing much seems to bother them.)

The biggest problem I find with the Hobart cycle way is all those damn roads you have to cross and the associated barriers. Ah well, I guess the fences stop idiots creaming themselves under cars. The terrain through which most of the path passes is not particularly attractive, so I guess that keeps the pedestrian levels down. You do seem to get a few brown baggers at night though. The problems with the Canberra paths are the usual ones of no lighting, poor surface, idiots, kids, dogs, enormous detours, road crossings...

Doing the west coaster - cool. Great sailing out there (A big downer of Canberra is that the sailing is really weird and it's a long way to the coast.) What's the boat?

If I'm down early enough I'll look you up.

cheers,
Ants

Originally posted by Ants
Rowan, sounds like you and I might just share an opinion on cats. There used to be a lot of native animals around my parents place - rural/bush type place - now there seems to be just cats. (Except for possums - nothing much seems to bother them.)

I dare not venture the opinion in an open forum.


Originally posted by Ants
The biggest problem I find with the Hobart cycle way is all those damn roads you have to cross and the associated barriers.
Try Main Road and the traffic lights. The ride through to the northern suburbs is almost seamless by comparison. And the Brooker Highway... well, try it if you're game up over the Domain with no shoulder. The chicanes do serve a function, and now we've installed directional and behavioural signage within them they are a bit more useful than before. My favourite ride now is racing the freight train around 5.45pm from the Botanical Gardens to Berriedale. You can tear through right next to the train and the driver's can't do a thing about it:D


Originally posted by Ants
Doing the west coaster - cool. Great sailing out there (A big downer of Canberra is that the sailing is really weird and it's a long way to the coast.) What's the boat?
Conquistador, a black Knoop 30 half-tonner moored off Wrest Point Casino. Her owner is a work colleague.

And, yes, look me up at CyclingSouth if you do get down in time.

R

This morning I saw a rider lawnmower parked next to a driveway near the road that had been TOTALLY consumed by flames. Three of the 4 tires had exploded and there wasn't an inch of paint left on it. It had been completely destroyed. A man standing next door told me that the woman cutting her grass on it heard a loud backfire from it and went inside to see if there was something she could do to correct the engine problem. When she returned, it was completely on fire, burning the tree and leaves 8-10 feet above the mower. Of course, the grass was also burned in a symmetrical circle around it. Strangest thing I've seen in a while!