| Myrons Daily Journal - Page 14 April 26, 2004 I mentioned yesterday about the large number of young people I see here in Australia (and also NZ.) There is something else you find here by the thousands that you seldom see anymore in the states (some people would wish I was still talking about teenagers.) I’m talking about pay phones; they are everywhere; sometimes you will see 15 of them together in one location. I could see this if cell phones were not around; but, there seems to be plenty of these; at least I see the "give away type" ads for them and hear them singing their tunes here. Maybe they are just behind the curve here and catching up. For the latest in cell phones, first it is Japan and Singapore, next the US and then Australia. Went through the city botanic gardens along the Brisbane River while touring the city on my bike. While in the gardens I came across the gardens cafe and coffee shop. What a beautiful setting. Like having coffee in a rain forest with ibis birds begging for handouts; in fact! It is a rain forest. The signs say this is what the riverside was like over 100 years ago when this was a penal colony. To top it off, they serve Douwe Egbert coffee. The same we dispense at the office. You can bike in these gardens; something you couldn't do in the botanic gardens of Sidney. I am surprised that only a few people are enjoying this beautiful setting considering Monday is still a holiday. This is sanity, compared to the street insanity I witnessed last night. It seems to be a badge of honor for some at the hostels to brag about how drunk you got or how late you came in the night before. While writing this at the botanic gardens, I was impressed by this 9 year old boy who came by with his mother. He stopped to look at my bike and then said to his mother: "look, it has rear suspension." This is something that almost none of the adults who look the bike over carefully notice. When I complimented him to his mother, she said that earlier he was explaining! How the disk brakes work on the electric train they were on. I said she might make a great mechanical engineer for a son someday. It would have got a lot more cities riding in today, but it couldn't leave this wonderful setting. When it remember Brisbane, this setting will come to mind. Also, there is a university and some colleges in town. That might account for all the young people; but, so does San Diego have USD, San Diego state, and UCSD without the density of college aged kids down town. I did tear myself away early enough to do some of the bike path on the north side of the river and all of it on the south side. What a great path. I had run out of path and as in the high rent district along the river when it passed a mother and her very young daughter walking along. After I passed, what the little girl said made me laugh for at least a click. Behind me I heard this little high pitched inquisitive voice asking her mother, "mom, what was that?" I shall remember that moment for a long time. Today I had 2 very interesting comments about my bike from the very young crowd. April 27, 2004 I called JP Shelburn this morning. He is a good friend of Tim and Kelly Sobolewski and at one time lived in Cardiff by the Sea near Encinitas. He also has been a chef on a small private island in the Fiji group. Kelly manages Park Plaza Executive Suites and is my daughter's girl-friday. Tim and Kelly will be traveling to Brisbane in July to attend JP's wedding. Rode my bike over to see JP at the house he and his fiancé are renovating. They were pouring cement and JP was manning a wheelbarrow. I felt like a job superintendent (super) because I was standing around drinking coffee watching everybody else work. They are doing a great job upgrading a house built in the 1800's to modern standards. JP plans to take homes like this and upgrade them and put them on the market. JP invited me out to dinner. Will bike over to his fiancée’s parent’s house in the suburb of Chelmer to meet him and his fiancée. They are living there during the remodel. I went back to the City Gardens Cafe for lunch in the rainforest. Again, what a neat setting for lunch. A correction for yesterday's statement that you can't bike in Sidney’s botanic gardens; that should have been Wellington’s gardens. Maybe you remember me exclaiming about the number and height of the apartment towers in surfer’s paradise. Remember seeing one tower that I thought was built out at 40 floors. They had a "38" banner a few floors below the top. JP informed me that tower is only half built at 40 floors. When finished it will be the tallest apartment building in the world at 80 floors. I guess I underestimated what was happening in surfer’s paradise. Too many people in one spot for me. Another thing I failed to mention yesterday is the rock climbing being done along the south bank of the Brisbane River. It was quite impressive and even after stopping to watch it was still hard to keep your eyes on the bike trail while biking by 100's of meters of cliff with scores of people practicing! With safety ropes hung from the top of what I estimate to be 100 meters high. It reminded me of biking into Diablo Canyon in Boulder Colorado, except it is much higher and you would need to be an expert to climb Diablo Canyon. Here the rock structure is more like a climbing wall. Thursday I will bus to the zoo. Was first going to bike there, but learned it is 90 clicks away. Maybe I will get to see the crocodile hunter's famous infant while I am there. April 28, 2004 Enjoyed my visit with the Korganow family last night. They took me out to a great fish and chips restaurant. They have a beautiful home with one great patio area at the back. A typical sub tropical setting with a great variety of bird calls coming from the trees. I understand they are in the metal fabricating business and build units such as utility beds for work trucks for organizations like the power and telephone companies. It was quite a fun ride to their house. It is always a challenge to cross bridges which were built years ago. Their lanes are usually too narrow to travel in with the cars. Cities eventually make some type of accommodation for pedestrians, but usually leave a lot to be desired for bicycles. Jim and I came across this (no pun intended) a lot in our trip around the US. The few times I got my adrenaline pumping was while crossing bridges. I made it a point to start early since I would have to cross a very old bridge. In fact it had been a toll bridge, but the toll had run out years ago. I knew I would be returning to Brisbane when it was dark. To be prepared I did the bridge both ways while it was still light. Most of the time the approach to the pedestrian walkways are very confusing and not made for bikes, especially long recumbent. Another factor was that my night rider headlamp has failed and all I have is my camp light for the front. It is quite enough to be seen with, but doesn't help you see potholes or glass. I still have a brilliant tail lamp. Had no problems returning over the bridge, but took the wrong road coming off a very large roundabout. The roundabout is so large there is a ford dealership in the center. I kept going for quite a few clicks before I knew something was wrong. I backtracked and got on the right finger of the roundabout. That added at least 8 clicks to an already long ride in the dark. JP invited me to visit him at the remodel again today, but it was starting to rain, so I am just taking it easy. I already have over 100 clicks of city riding. Tomorrow I will visit the zoo. I hope they rent umbrellas if it rains. I don't want to be Gene Kelly at the zoo (hint: his famous movie.) |
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