Biking Bonanza

Remember this post about my bike getting stolen? Well, I'm not sure I ever mentioned that I found the same red bike for sale on eBay a few weeks later. It's not an uncommon bike here, because it's made by Reid Cycles, an Australian company, but I did think for a second that it might actually be mine being resold by the thief (it wasn't). Anyway, so I have a red bike again, and on Sunday, Zack and I did a loooooong ride with Kristy and Nigel along the Yarra River. Kristy has the same bike as me, but hers is white.

After several kilometers of riding, we arrived at our destination, Fairfield Park Boathouse & Tea Gardens. This riverfront restaurant was extremely popular and crowded on this sunny Sunday, and we had to wait a long time for our food. In the meanwhile, we enjoyed sipping on spiders, which is what Australians call floats. You know, like root beer floats...soda with ice cream in it. We had a raspberry soda one, and it was delicious. 

This place really is a boathouse, and you can rent canoes and kayaks here to paddle around in the river. The whole area is very scenic with tall eucalyptus trees, a bridge, and ducks swimming around. I wish there had been a koala in one of the trees; that would have made the place perfect!

After lunch, Kristy shared her fairy floss, which is what Australians call cotton candy. If you're a longtime reader, you may remember that from the post about Zack's birthday last year. Anyway, we sat along the river and soaked up the sun for awhile (Zack even took a little nap!) before hopping back on our bikes for the long ride home. We got a bit lost for awhile and couldn't seem to find the path back to the river, but we eventually made it and biked home to collapse on the couch for the rest of the evening. We sure slept well that night. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon spent with friends, though it hurt a bit to bike to the store the next day!

Sipping on spiders-ignore the rogue piece of hair in my face!

A Ride Down the River

I had a coupon for a boat rental, so we continued my birthday celebration weekend by using it on Saturday, January 28, which was luckily a hot and sunny day. We picked up our little motorboat in the Docklands, and we spent a couple of hours driving it up and down the Yarra River. It's not exactly known for being the cleanest of water (they say it's brown because of the dirt-I'm not sure that's all!), so we stayed dry and didn't attempt going for a swim.

It was cool to gain a different perspective of Melbourne by going under the bridges and seeing things from the river. I had no idea how ornately some of the bridges were decorated or how much of a tourist attraction the Yarra River was. There were several riverboat cruises on the water that day.

My favorite part was probably going through the Federation Square area and near the Flinders Street Station. I couldn't believe that we were allowed to just motorboat down this river, passing famous sites, with no boating license or permit of any type.

I like this shot because it shows a cool bridge, palm trees, and the Eureka Tower (highest building in the CBD).

Back in the Docklands, we circled around some of the big shipping boats before heading back to turn in our boat. If we had shipped over our household goods, they would have come in a container on a boat like this. These things are huge!

We probably wouldn't have done this without a coupon, but I'm glad we had the chance to enjoy a day viewing beautiful Melbourne from the water on a gorgeous day.

Zack relaxes while I drive for awhile.