Pakapanthi Wetlands Exploration.

 

The Adelaide Parklands form a figure of 8 around the city and North Adelaide, with 29 parks in total.  

We recently learned that Park #16 aka Victoria Park aka Pakapanthi had undergone a major reconstruction and recently opened as extensive flood mitigation works in the guise of wetlands.  Someone more observant than us may have noticed the construction works taking place as we pedaled through the parklands over the last year, but nope, we didn't have a clue until the wetlands appeared on our radar fully completed and just waiting for exploration.  

So off to explore we went.

 

Down the hill again, magpie tape installed in anticipation of this year's swooping.

 

I didn't get quite the shot I wanted.  Can you go back up the hill and try again?  No?  Why not?

 

 

The wetlands gained the seal of approval from an elderly lady who shuffled along the path, using her walking stick to wave at bicyclists who passed too close or joggers who jogged on the wrong side of the pathway.  She was very happy with the end result although she had words to say about the dust and noise of construction, let alone the time it took.  I didn't suggest that she should have ignored it like some of us did, and then it would be a pleasant surprise to discover it, like some of us were doing. We agreed happily on our approval of the birds that had taken residence in the ponds, and our joint anticipation of things getting even better as the plants grew bigger.

Grebes: Australasian and Hoary-Headed.

Wood duck family enjoying the sunshine.

The bicycle paths were smooth and wide, with just the right number of pedestrians and bicycles so everyone could enjoy themselves without excessive ringing of bells and sudden leaps into the bushes to avoid collisions. The sun shone and the water sparkled and everyone was very happy.

Having exhausted the possibilities of the Pakapanthi wetlands, and reluctant to go home too soon, we took a quick lap around the Botanic Gardens and along the River Torrens into the city. The Torrens was busy with paddle boats and pleasure cruises, taking its status as a real river very seriously.

The Torrens looking grander than it is.

Training on the river.

We crossed the river and dawdled in town: Roger's phone had a distressing tendency to stop recording and tracking his ride and as any bicyclist will know, if you can't record the ride it didn't happen, and it would be dreadful if the whole enjoyable afternoon should be obliterated due to not existing on a bicycle tracking app.

I took photos while I waited to find out if Roger's afternoon existed or not.  I wasn't worried about my afternoon: my app was working so I was untroubled by existential crises.

City scape #1.

City scape #2.

Bicycle reflections.

Finally, having confirmed Roger's existence, we pedaled back out of the city and caught the train back up the hill.  It being the weekend and beautiful weather, we shared the train with a horde of mountain-biking teenagers and two security guards who were there for the express purpose of wrangling mountain-biking teenagers into some semblance of civilised beings.  Which I'm glad to say they were for the duration of our trip up the hill.

Views from the train.

And then it was home to pay our dues to the cat.