Living it up on the wrong side of the tracks...

This morning Ruth and I managed a 50km ride despite it starting to rain. We got 3 circuits of the Lambert/Harts/Indooroopilly road in as well as 2 runs down Meiers Rd. We decided to punctuate that with a coffee at the new place where the Whistle Stop used to be but alas it wasn't open at 8am. We spotted a place across the train tracks so ducked under the subway and found a very pleasant place. You could tell it was the wrong side of the tracks because you get a hell of a lot more coffee for your dollars round here and only 2 bucks for toasted banana bread. Excellent.

Avocado picking

I forgot to post about the avocados!

A few weeks back, a small but dedicated group of pickers went down to Celia and Keong's place in Barkers Vale to pick avocados to sell to raise much needed funds for the ride...

Not a bad place to hang out for the weekend...

Cate had a bit of pre-picking creativity to release...

Darryl made sure we kept our fluids up...

Celia strode with purpose towards the trees...

There was an art to the snipping tool...

The fruits of Cate's labour...

Yes, taking photos and commenting was definitely thirsty work...

The size measure: they had to reach the top of the beer label to qualify

Jackson got the prize for best picker, scampering up to the canopy to pluck off the biggest ones he could see.

Cate fashioned a catcher out of a branch and a sarong.

It really was a gorgeous weekend...

The kids picked too - but managed to get some relaxing and playing in too...

 All in all we picked 530 avocados! Thanks Celia and Keong xxx

Thank You Grill'd!

This morning I went in and picked up the cheque from the Local Matters competition at Grill'd...which we WON! Here's me picking up the cheque for $300...

Cheesy Grins All Round

Here come the tea ladies!

On Friday, Jax and I dressed up as more mature ladies and, armed with a trolley full of tea, coffee and sweet things, trundled round Channel Ten handing out the goods in return for donations...

It was such a laugh. Everyone really got into the spirit of it and I think it was pretty timely given the low Channel Ten morale at the moment.

And we made $235!

First big one

The three riders left in our posse, Ruth Mel and myself, FINALLY went out for a big ride together on Sunday morning. I think we picked the coldest, windiest morning of the year to do it. We took in the wondrous sights and sounds of the South-East Freeway bikeway followed by the much more pleasant Bulimba Creek Bikeway which was a bit confusing at times. Luckily Mel's sense of direction was better than mine and we twisted and turned our way north past the Criterion track at Murrarie and on to Lytton Road just near the Gateway Bridge.

Lytton Road was huge and a bit intimidating but luckily not busy being early on a Sunday. For me this was the part of the ride I had dreaded but it wasn't too bad in the end although there was a fierce side wind at one point. After turning right onto Apollo Road and jumping on a CityCat at the end of the road, I felt much better! Then it was off at Teneriffe where we headed to Sourced Grocer for coffee which was excellent. Mel had a rice pudding which was beautiful - with toasted coconut and almond and lemongrass(?) and tiny herbs of some description and rhubarb and topped off with some coconut cream Mmmmm! Coffee was great also.

Then back by the river...

 A grand morning out and legs not too shabby the next day so we're on track, I reckon!

Freezing cold market morning

Michelle and Emma got up at the crack on dawn on Saturday to set up the WEWW market stall at Davies park. It was a great spot, close to all the food stalls and the Gypsy Caravan. Right next to a busker.

Earrings, scarves, gift tags, cards, brooches, buttons, mini woven baskets and home grown turmeric all created by us! It was a pretty slow day. The cold kept people at home, we reckon. Having said that, we had fun despite being FREEZING and met and chatted to plenty of people passing by. Special thanks to Sandy and Wiet for their generous 'keep the change' offer - gratefully received!