The weather has remained good this week and it's feeling like Spring already. We played tennis on Saturday afternoon for several hours although the sun was obscured by distant smoke for some of the time as it's the start of the 'back burning' season - this is where the 'firies' manage controlled bush fires in the high risk areas where dead vegetation has been allowed to accumulate.
On Sunday we had an early start for another bike ride with the group - this time there were about 15 of us who met at Palm Beach to catch the ferry across to Ettalong. This takes about 30 minutes crossing to the north of the Hawkesbury river estuary and the ferry has to negotiate the moving sand bars to reach the final wharf where we all got off.
We then had a ride of several hours along bike paths next to Brisbane Water and ending up at an art gallery and Japanese garden in Gosford for lunch. It was an easy, flat ride, but quite scenic and interspersed with stops for punctures and other reasons. Had a good lunch and then the group split into 3 parts with the faster ones aiming to catch the 2.30 ferry back to Palm Beach, but in the end we all made it there in time - the last group with minutes to spare!
The ferry ride back was a good chance for a rest and we were accompanied by some dolphins, which was great to see. We then loaded the bikes back in the car for the drive home and a chance to put our feet up for the rest of the day.