Still naive after 18 years of marriage...

Tim has been enjoying his bike riding so much over the past year that he wanted to share this wonderful activity with Elliott and me. Well, we have done this once or twice in the past and quickly realized we were out of our depths with Tim and his bike riding. Somehow, during our month away, we had forgotten just how hard mountain bike riding can be here and we let ourselves get talked into a little outing.

We set off to some "fire roads" in Brisbane Forest. These are widish unpaved roads that have been made for emergency vehicles and also serve as a fire break during controlled burns or forest fires. Tim said there might be a few places we'd have to push our bikes, but it wouldn't be too bad. As we were driving out, he mentioned this was the way to Mountain Nebo. Perhaps it would be just a slight uphill incline the whole way... Elliott and I grumbled just a bit going up these steep hills, followed by precipitous decents. As we approached one particularly daunting hill, Tim said "This one reminds me of the Tour de France at the L'Alpe D'Huez!" Sadly, at that point, we had to park our bikes at the side of the road and walk the last little bit to see the view. I have got to remember - no riding unless it is a paved little pathway on the beachfront or the riverfront!

Still the front page news here is water. Northern Queensland is flooded at the moment, but Brisbane is still so dry. The State Premier Peter Beattie has done a fabulous political flip flop and is now saying we will have to have recycled water. This had been put to the voters and the voters said no, but the reality is there is no water. Elliott said it seemed just like a parent - giving kids a choice, but making them do something else after all. Why bother asking in the first place? Interesting wildlife sightings have been happening due to the lack of water - new creatures are coming out in Brisbane. First, scorpians have been sighted and now funnel web spiders have moved further into the suburbs. I am hoping they don't find a way to our house, as I have enough on my plate with redback spiders, cockroaches and ants.