Sunday, April 20, 2014

Winter Is Coming. Obviously.

Game of Thrones bandwagon title!

After two years in Tasmania, I've decided I enjoy all the seasons pretty equally. Especially as we actually have four so you never have time to get tired of any particular weather. Distinct changes in season remain a novelty when you're from Perth. But if I had to pick a favourite, I'd pick Autumn because the turning leaves, cool gusts and soft light combine to soothe my Celtic DNA. I love to push my face into the crisp evening air and inhale the promise of winter deep into my lungs. I love to arrive at my destination with pink cheeks and wind-curled hair. And I love to cycle in Autumn! The Turners Beach to Ulverstone Path seems to be at its prettiest during this time so Ginger and I were on it the second things tipped over into 'tights weather'. For me, not him. Although, no judgement if he ever wants to wear tights. Different strokes, etc.

I tried to take pictures in transit, with a lot less success than other bicycle bloggers. My rolling selfie game is weak. Also the front facing camera on my phone is not nearly as nice as the rear. (Insert bum joke here.)

Ginger over my shoulder.
I taught myself to arm knit off the YouTubes and
made this snood/Infinity Scarf.
Autumn colours and an excuse for scarf wearing.
What more could I want?

Saturday, April 5, 2014

At The Hipster Corral.

The sad thing about North West Tasmanian bicycle infrastructure is we have yet to link up the excellent but currently town specific shared paths. The happy thing about North West Tasmanian bicycle infrastructure is that this results in cyclist clusters at either end of each path, providing me with bicycle spotting opportunities. Especially in the case of the Wynyard path which ends (or begins, depending upon your point of view) at Bruce's*, the beachside café with bike racks and a heap of community spirit. This community spirit compelled them to have an end of summer garage sale, at which Ginger and I bought a rotary phone (Peak Hipster) and mingled our two-wheels with the sunscreened masses.

White Mixte, Red Cruiser.
The bike racks were surrounded by second hand goods.

The cruiser & us. The cruiser is apparently a Fluid brand bicycle - which, ew.
A little bit. Right?
But here is where Australians can buy them.

The red Fluid (Again, ew. Yet I've no problem with the word moist. Go figure.) was certainly eye-catching, especially with more inbuilt carrying features than your average cruiser. Just look at Ginger's blue Schwinn next-door for comparison. Not even a back rack let alone front carrying. The front basket was added by the owner but fit so perfectly I had no idea until I Googled the bicycle brand. The rear rack has no 'rat trap' but as you can see in the first picture there's a gap for attaching straps or tying something on semipermanently. A pretty perfect bike for Wynyard which is flat, has some interesting shops, a boardwalk section of shared path and plenty of beach to pose your cruiser next to.

Or which ever kind of bicycle you own.


*Since I first mentioned Bruce's last year, I have befriended the proprietors. Another wonderful thing about life in Tasmania. I still pay for cake and tea like everybody else and they have no idea I am blogging about their café.