A short walk to the Queanbeyan River
As I have decided to do a bit more biking this year, and my friend Peter was still on vacation, I suggested to him that a ride down Woolcara lane would be a good idea. He agreed so we parked our car at the end of the near(ish)by Sugarloaf Ridge Road and took off.
There was some slight concern that Peter's tyres were a tad underdone as they were slicks which had performed well on the paths beside the Danube a year ago, and the track in mind wasn't quite that smooth or flat. After 7 km this proved to be accurate as a fair sized hole appeared after a reasonably rapid passage over some rocks. The spare tube turned out to function well and we progressed (with somewhat greater decorum on the more jagged bits).
At 14km I found what I thought was the track down to the Queanbeyan River and we set off to visit same with some hope of seeing a platypus. There were lots of wildflowers including this spectacular fringed lily (Thysanotus tuberosus) as well as some orchids.
We found the way towards the river well endowed with Kunzea, Bursaria and Leptospermum scrub. In fact it was rather over-endowed from the perspective of easy walking. This is a shot of the track we had followed after it had closed over behind us. I was heard to comment that the area could benefit from fatter kangaroos to leave wider tracks.
We got to the river, which was platypus deficient but as Peter found, when he went for a wade in it, silt enhanced.
He had kept his shoes on which we decided was a smart move in view of the amount of glass littering the ground as we walked back to the main track. It is close to Queanbeyan after all. As well as leaving their empty stubbies behind some one left their truck: possibly after finishing off a few stubbies.
Back to the bikes, noting that the trip back involved much less bush bashing (and distance from the road) than the way in. On riding back - with continued high decorum - we had dome 28km on the bikes and my guess was abut 3 km of walking. A hoot.
There was some slight concern that Peter's tyres were a tad underdone as they were slicks which had performed well on the paths beside the Danube a year ago, and the track in mind wasn't quite that smooth or flat. After 7 km this proved to be accurate as a fair sized hole appeared after a reasonably rapid passage over some rocks. The spare tube turned out to function well and we progressed (with somewhat greater decorum on the more jagged bits).
At 14km I found what I thought was the track down to the Queanbeyan River and we set off to visit same with some hope of seeing a platypus. There were lots of wildflowers including this spectacular fringed lily (Thysanotus tuberosus) as well as some orchids.
We found the way towards the river well endowed with Kunzea, Bursaria and Leptospermum scrub. In fact it was rather over-endowed from the perspective of easy walking. This is a shot of the track we had followed after it had closed over behind us. I was heard to comment that the area could benefit from fatter kangaroos to leave wider tracks.
We got to the river, which was platypus deficient but as Peter found, when he went for a wade in it, silt enhanced.
He had kept his shoes on which we decided was a smart move in view of the amount of glass littering the ground as we walked back to the main track. It is close to Queanbeyan after all. As well as leaving their empty stubbies behind some one left their truck: possibly after finishing off a few stubbies.
Back to the bikes, noting that the trip back involved much less bush bashing (and distance from the road) than the way in. On riding back - with continued high decorum - we had dome 28km on the bikes and my guess was abut 3 km of walking. A hoot.
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