To the Bat Colony!

Yesterday afternoon I discovered Norman Park Greenway. It's a lovely little path that meanders through parkland alongside the creek going from Norman Park to Stones Corner. One section carried an interesting smell and familiar noise coming from the trees which I couldn't quite place... is that ducks?, I thought,... then I looked up in the trees and saw all these bats hanging from the branches. I'm going to take my long lens out there and try and get a better picture than this:

(Fail)

As far as the cycling goes, we know our way to Mowbray park. After that you follow your nose out of the park, up Laidlaw Parade (the hill, as Kirsty said, was easy) and left onto the shared footpath on Wynnum Road. This takes you to the traffic lights at junction of Norman Avenue. You have to cross at the lights and then cycle down Norman Avenue. The turning for the Greenway is a few hundred metres on the right. I was too busy pedalling to stop and get a picture so here's one from Google that looks remarkable similar:

You cross over the creek a couple of times as you go through and eventually you end up on the juntion of Stanley Street and Cavendish Road where you have to cross at the traffic lights. You'll see a signpost on the opposite side of the road (on Stanley St.) indicating where the path continues. That then takes you down to Stones Corner. This bit was a bit unclear to me as the path ends under the Stones Corner busway terminal. You have to cross the main road (Logan Road) and go right on the footpath, crossing over Cleveland Street and then the bikepath appears again on the left just before the bridge. Take that down to the little bridge on the right, cross over and follow through the park, over Junction st, down Fern Street. You see a signpost indicating the SE Freeway Bikeway and you need to go right to head to the city. It's a bit confusing because you then emerge back on the main road which is now O'Keefe Street. Take this shared footpath/bikepath under the highway and cross at the lights. NOW you are on the SE Bikeway heading to the City. Phew! Confused? Here's a map:

After that, the bikeway takes you all the way through (and over) Wooloongabba ending finally at Lower River Terrace by the Captain Cook Bridge.

Looking back, the only hill I had to really work at was the one coming out of Dockside on the way to Mowbray Park. The rest of it was relatively flat. I tried to record it on my phone but I ran out of batteries by the time I got to Dockside! Next time, deffo.

All up the 26km took me about an hour and a half. That's including a stop to admire the bats and some slow, confused cycling and pauses to scratch my noggin.

We could extend this ride for almost as long as we like by heading south on the SE Bikeway instead of turning right to go across the little park here. The possibilities are endless!