Riding To The Zoo

Monarto Zoo lay just down the hill from Mt Barker, so when we decided to go to the zoo it made perfect sense (of course!) for me to ride my bicycle to the zoo. In order to arrive by zoo-opening hours I left just before sunrise, thus missing out on watching the highlights of the last stage of the men's Tour de France. Such are the sacrifices one must make for one's minor obsessions.

I cheated a little bit and got a lift to Nairne, skipping the first busy and boring 5km.

It will be daylight soon.

 

I avoided the Old Princes Highway, sticking instead to minor gravel roads that wound through paddocks painted in bright green from winter rains. Big old eucalypts stood sentinel over grazing sheep and morning sunlight teased the tops of the hills.

I obeyed all speed limits.

Sunlight was in short supply down in the valley.  The wind was cold.

Because I like big old eucalypts.

The coffee at Kanmantoo Genera Store was meh, but it was warm and that was what counted.

Down the valley I went, all the way to the Angas River.  Now the downhill was fun, don't get me wrong, but it was somewhat demoralising to see the next uphill already waiting for me.

Down into the valley...

...along the river flats...

...and I rode every inch of the way up the other side.  I took a lot of breaks mind you, but there was an 11% grade in there so I claimed a victorious KOM  in my one-woman slow-motion race to the top.  Tour de France has nothing on me.

 

From there it was all downhill to the zoo.

With a pause for some bicycle posing at a teeny-tiny municipal building.  I think it's in private hands now, given it appeared to be in someone's front yard.

The last stretch on Monarto Rd wasn't very pleasant due to all the traffic on their way to the zoo.  A truck loaded with crates of live chickens passed me, the chickens no doubt oblivious to their future calling as an evening meal for exotic carnivores.

I took one last bicycle photo:

It is.

 And off I went to the zoo.

But that's a story for another day.