Unpredictable weather

Monday 24 September

Monday was a quiet day at home again.  After an early morning hail storm we decided it would be safer to get the cars under cover, so we put them in the garage.  Very unusual for us is that cars are always left outside here, even if people do have a garage.  In Australia the interior and the paint work last a lot longer if you keep your car under cover, so that's what we are used to.

Anyway, the weather didn't improve much during the morning and we had a quite time at home.  Later in the afternoon we really needed to stretch our legs and decided to walk to Walmart to get a few items for dinner. Since we'd bought rhubarb we needed meat for stew. (The meal is called zomer-hachee in Dutch)  Luckily it stayed dry long enough for us to walk the 20 minutes to and from the store, but it was very cold and windy.

Later we managed to skype again with Kevin and friend Leonie on Bribie Island.  Nice to be able to keep in touch.  You may think, why never with Stephen, but first of all Stephen and family are away on holidays (as it is school holidays in Queensland) and besides, Kevin can take a bit of time out a work to chat, whereas Stephen has a different kind of job and can't be expected to chat with his mum early in the morning.... :-)

Tuesday 25 September

It's not quite like Melbourne (four seasons in a day), but the weather here seems to be quite unreliable too. Lucky for us the sun was out again and it got warm enough to have our coffee on the patio.  After the usual games of Wordfeud (I have become quite addicted...) we got the maps out to have a look at some bike tracks.  However, most of the Rails to Trails tracks are not very close by and we didn't feel like taking the car, so we had lunch and then rode our bikes to Hamburg Village, which was just about manageable.

Pleasant Ave, Hamburg Village

Very unusual for us to say so, but we are not exactly thrilled with the bikes we have here.  Nothing wrong with them as far as bikes go, and good quality, but they are of the type we both don't like.  They are kind of sports bikes and therefore the handle bars are too low and can't be raised high enough, which in turn doesn't allow for the seat to be raised high enough for comfortable paddling.  We both keep slipping of our seats and our backs just aren't up to this kind of bike riding... Besides, having to lean heavily on my wrists isn't helping either, so all we manage to do is short stretches.  But......., we persevere.  We've got the bikes and ride'm we will!

As I said, today's venture took us to Hamburg Village and back via the post office for some stamps and a little icecream shop for a rest:

After that the stretch of road narrowed considerably underneath the railway crossing, so we tried to find another way back as we didn't quite like to share the road so closely with the passing traffic.  We discovered a narrow pathway which lead across four railway lines.  As the trains are noisy enough you can hear them coming miles away, so we thought it safe enough to cross.

After that we took to Lake Shore Road again, along Lake Erie, on our way home.

On the lake's edge we sat again for a while, watching the sea gulls.  One of them occupied itself trying to concur a fish or something.  I couldn't get a good close-up but it was interesting watching the bird.

An afternoon well spent, but it was great to put our feet up for a rest while sipping a cup of coffee on the back patio in the afternoon sun.

And as was predicted, just before dinner time the clouds came rolling in and the sun disappeared.  Hopefully this will repeat itself tomorrow.  I don't mind the clouds, nor the rain, as long as they don't show during daytime. :-)