Monday 8 April 2013

Lunch and Flowers

Easter weekend I had bugged Terry til he agreed to come for a ride with me to the Cheese Factory in Mudgee. We'd decided that Saturday or Sunday would be the best days to take to the roads as that would be the times when there would be less crazies on the road. Saturday got busy so we didn't make that then Sunday rolled around with the pitter patter of rain on the roof in the morning. No trip last weekend but really I didn't mind that much, you just have to watch the news on Easter weekend to be scared off the roads, I don't understand why people cant learn and stay alive on these long weekends.

So this week I have Sunday and Monday off, we'd decided to go to Mudgee on Sunday, the weather was perfect for riding and I had a hankering for some cheese!! Unfortunately I also had a bit of a sore neck that I'd been nursing all week, it was getting better but I wasn't sure about riding about and hour each way with a heavy helmet on it. So ... we stayed at home.

But don't despair, we did get to ride ... it was such a lovely day, cool and sunny but the forecast was for showers in the afternoon, so a ride for lunch locally seemed like just the ticket. I'd gotten a new bracket for the GoPro last week and wanted to test that out too, this one puts it on my handlebars or highway bar. I wanted it for the highway bar, to try some shots from close to the road. So I attached that and before too long we were ready to ride.

I got a lot of shots of the town and traffic which was surprisingly busy for a Sunday morning in Dubbo. I wont share those they really aren't that interesting. I found one of Terry in front of me that gives the idea of the close to road thingy, as well as a nice shot of my front wheel, I like this perspective.



We had a lovely lunch at Old Ganarin, actually the cafe there is called Elements, but Old Ganarin is a lovely nursery about a kilometre out of town. I'm not sure what it used to be but it's got some history that I really should find out about one day.


Terry pointed out the Old Building

I was pretty proud of myself for parking in the finest and slipperiest dirt car park that I've come across yet, and I did it all myself first getting into the parking spot then getting myself out of it again!

That dirt was like powder with a few nice round pebbles thrown in for good measure.

Lunch was under an umbrella sitting surrounded by some amazing trees, with tables underneath on the grass and butterflies and Wrens playing all around us. I spotted one tree just near us that I liked and Terry asked what it was.


It was a Weeping Oak, and behind it was a Weeping Mulberry, just like ours at home 'cept ours is bigger.


 While we were waiting for lunch we saw this weird little bug on the table, I had to try to snap a pic of it with the phone camera but even though the bug didn't turn out that clear, I do like the effect of the glass table.


After a pleasant lunch we wandered around through the nursery for a while I wanted to look at some pots for a plant I was given from a friend that is getting very pot bound, I don't think Terry was looking at anything in particular, just browsing. I spotted a plant that I really do have to have, if only I can remember the name of it .. I know it was a chocolate something because amazingly the flowers smell like chocolate!!


At least I have a photo of it to show when I go back with the car to buy things. After finding the pots and putting in my order with Terry, we headed home. I was so nervous about backing the bike on that soft dirt but did it fairly easily in the end. Before we took off I carefully turned on the GoPro to video, I wanted to see how the lower perspective looked.

We took a more back road route home to make it more interesting for the video and it was more interesting. Just as we started to get into town again Terry chased a huge eagle off the road, it swerved away from him and then did a U-turn and headed back down towards the road before realising that I was there behind Terry, that bird had a wing span that was nearly as wide as my bike is long and he missed me by about two feet. I don't think there was any danger of him hitting me but it was exciting to get so close to him!!

Oh I couldn't wait to get home and look at the video. And when I got home and went to turn the GoPro off, yep you guessed it, I found it wasn't on. Ugh .. oh well I have the memory :)

19 comments:

  1. You write so beautifully; it feels like we shared your day. And it was fun!

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    1. Oh thanks Ally :) I'm glad you enjoyed the day out too ;-D

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  2. Brenda how's the neck feeling? Love the pics and the perspective. Lovely flower and anything that smells like chocolate s a winner.

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    1. Thanks for asking Dar, the neck was terribly painful last night to the point where my little whimpers kept Terry awake. But it's a lot better this morning, I do blame the ride and the helmet so I'm not going to ride to work this week see if it gets better. Though I dont think that's what caused it, it cracked hugely one night last week and has been sore since.

      It's such a pretty flower isn't it, bonus that it smells like chocolate, I want to get a bunch of them and plant them just outside my back door!

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  3. I like that you also capture details of plant life or animals (bugs or otherwise). The only chocolate smelling plant I can recall is one native to Mexico: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmos_atrosanguineus
    It looks pretty similar to the one that you captured.

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    1. I love life Sonja and want to share my facination with it whenever I can. I'm happy that you enjoy that part of my posts, it's also one of the reasons that I love riding, you are so much closer to the things around you on a bike.

      That's the plant!!! Thankyou, as soon as I saw the name 'Chocolate Cosmos' I remembered it ... I think I want ten of them ;D

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  4. Looks like a very nice day out on the bikes. Shame about missing the shot of the eagle - GoPros can be a bit temperamental sometimes eh? A wanna get the wireless remote...

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    1. Yeah I know eh Andrew, it would have been an awsome shot if I had've got it. I don't think a remote would really help me, I keep thinking I've turned the stupid thing on til I get where I'm going. I just need to look more closely for the little red light. But it would be a great idea for turning it on only for the bits you want, does that remote give you option of changing from still shots to video?

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    2. Yes I think it gives full control of the camera. Might place an order...

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    3. Cool, i'd be interested to hear how that goes for you. Let me know.

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  5. Your lucky you didn't hit that eagle, that would really hurt. There must be a lot of eagles around at the moment as the last ride out that I went on we saw 2 of these very close to the road just over head.

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    1. Yeah there's heap out lately, I saw one on the trip at christmas to Wagga, then the weekend of easter I saw another large brown one, and two wheeling in the sky above me that were white. If I didn't know better I would have said they were Sea Eagles, but there aint no sea round here. I have no idea what they were but they were definately birds of prey not parrots, and they were huge.

      Love spotting them but sheesh I'd love to get a decent pic of one too ;( Stupid GoPro .....

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    2. Oh yeah and yep it would hurt, I dread being hit by a galah out here (which is going to happen one day, they are crazy fliers) and they are less than half the size that this baby was.

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  6. Pretty pictures. Love the flower in the last one.

    One of the reasons hubby returned his GoPro was that is was never on when he wanted it and on when he didn't. Wasn't as user friendly as he would have liked.

    I am glad you got out for a ride even if it wasn't a long one. Hope the neck feels better.

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    1. I don't find it that hard to use really, it's just that I have these senior moments :) Have you guys looked at the contour cameras, one of the guys who stayed with us had one and seemed to really like it, but I think he said you can't change from video to still shot on the camera, you have to connect it to a computer to change any settings. Seemed easy tho with just an on/off button to worry about.

      Thanks, my neck is much better today :)

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  7. Brenda;

    You had a lovely day out for lunch and a ride. Hope your neck is feeling better. Good thing you didn't hit that Eagle or it may have aggravated your neck again.

    The frustrating thing about the First Model GoPro Hero1 is not knowing whether it is on or not. I have the Hero3 with the remote. The LCD screen on the remote is the same one that is on the camera so you know if it is on or not. You can snap stills or video from the remote. You can also turn your GoPro OFF in standby mode (to save battery power) and turn it on when you need it.

    You also seem to be getting lots of practice parking on dirt parking lots. Just remember to only use your rear brake.

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast

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    1. Thanks Bob :)

      I really have no excuse for not turning it on properly, maybe I was just thinking too much about how I was going to back the bike out on the gravel.

      Only back brake on dirt, I got that! I've also been practicing using both brakes to stop and I think that has finally clicked tho I still have to put my foot down if I am stopped for while like at lights. Thanks for that advice Bob :)

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  8. Lovely pics and story! That Go-Pro really seems to give you fantastic shots. I may have to consider getting one for my Suzuki Inazuma GW250 for my journey in June down through Spain!

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    1. Thanks Black :) It's a great little gadget. A trip through Spain would be an awsome time have one. I would look at getting more power for a trip though, you can get extra battery packs for them, or get a usb power thingy for your bike to connect it to. I'm definately getting the battery pack for my next trip.

      Hope you have a great time in Spain!

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