Saumarez Bike Ride

Friday (June 6th) and again on Monday (June 9th) I rode my bicycle out to the Saumarez Homestead where I've done a little volunteering.  I was a little nervous; it's embarrassing but I don't remember how long ago it was that I biked 8.9 kilometers (5.5 miles) and my $20 tip shop bike is a little dubious. Anyway, thank goodness for infallible optimism (and a combination of no other options and that lovely feeling of obligation).  That hill on the way out of the town is killer, but once you get past the airport and off the sealed road, it's really beautiful.. even if the bumpy gravel road bruised my palms a little bit.

Friday, my first trip, was a terrifically foggy morning even at 9am.  I had my lights on for the ride (and of course completely forgot they were on when I got there.)  It was a little surreal, I really couldn't see anything of the countryside once I turned onto Saumarez road so coming back was a little surprising--all these hills and trees I hadn't seen on the way there.  Herded some cattle on the way there; didn't see any wallabies, though.

Some of the cattle ran away, some just watched me nervously.

Note the lack of fences along the road.  That's just the way these roads always are.

The Saumarez Homestead is out in the middle of cattle grazing fields, like anything else in the country in this part of Australia.  The property (buildings and grounds) are a part of the National Trust of Australia.  I didn't take any pictures of the house (some other time), but "homestead" has a bit of a quaint feel--let's call it instead the Edwardian mansion that it is.  It's really fantastic--the house was built in the mid-1800s and renovated in the early 1900s, and everything inside the house is from the family's occupancy until the last daughter moved into an assisted living centre in the 1950s or so (as my memory serves).  We took a tour through the mansion on Saturday, it's really quite fantastic.  Cold, though... I don't recommend taking a tour in early winter if you can avoid it.  An hour of just standing around in an old chilly house, even as fascinating as it is, is too much for me.  (But I'm a wimp.)

But this is a bit off-topic, as today all I have are pictures from the road.  More beautiful autumn Australian New England Tablelands trees and hills.  The fog had lifted on my way home and the clouds were really gorgeous.  By the time I approached the airport it had cleared up even more, with a mountain of clouds retreating into the distance.

It's kind of funny to look at these pictures; it's just such a different feel to the trees we see on our street in town.  You don't have to go very far outside the city to see a shift in the flora.  Here, which would be just a 10 minutes drive and all you see are just a couple different kinds of eucalypts.  The deciduous imports that make up most of the trees in town have lost all their leaves, but the only bare trees I saw on my way to Saumarez were some old giant eucalyptus skeletons.

If I didn't know better I might think it was summertime.

The Armidale airport runway.   I watched a little two-seater take off and disappear above the clouds.

Anyway, this dude and I are off to the Saumarez Homestead again tomorrow, and then I'm going to take the plunge for the remaining 20km and go down to Uralla (and catch a ride back with Reid up to Armidale).  Twelve miles, that's nothing, right?  For a person who dislikes cycling, I think that's pretty good.

Mi bicicleta y yo // 私の自転車と私