Cold winter photos.

It’s cold.

I know – you’re thinking – bah, Australia, cold?  Bullshit!

Well I’ve got some news for you – Australia has winter just like everyone else.  And sometimes, it’s really not very warm.  Like 0 degrees just before sunrise.  And possibly single digit daytime temperatures (although, to be fair, in Perth these are mercifully rare).  I lot of Northern Hemisphere dwellers are laughing their arses off at this.  ‘Thats not cold…’ blah blah.

Well, friends, thats fine, you’re right, but remember we don’t have:

1.  insulation
2.  central heating
3.  double glazing

So even a little cold feels properly cold.

Anyway, enough of the whinging – the sun was out and cold as it was, so I put on ,y new warm bike jacket went out on the bike to catch the golden hour, that magical time when the light is rich warm and soft.

Plus I get to be out on my bike again, something I haven’t had the chance to do in a good while because I’ve got an issue with my right wrist (ganglion cyst deep in the joint) and have had a really nasty sore left shoulder.  I fixed my shoulder (just a ‘small’ matter of tearing away scar tissue that had formed in the joint and was beginning to set in like frozen shoulder) and my wrist wasn’t bothering me, so it was ok to go out and play.

First stop, Point Peron. I’ve done this place to death – no need to go on about it again, other than to say how beautiful it is!

Up at the lookout, the views are lovely – over the bridge to Garden Island Naval Base – looking towards Rockingham.  Actually, although you can’t see it in the pictures, I think the ADV Ocean Shield was moored up at Garden Island – this crazy looking ship has been out in the Indian Ocean helping look for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight – I guess it’s back for supplies before heading out again.

The lookout – the old WW2 gun emplacement

One of the many paths that cross over this protected marine park

Looking back down the steep steps – my bike is so tiny at the bottom!

The mighty DR650 – with new yellow hard case on the back so I can stow cameras and wallets and tools and stuff.  It’s not the prettiest addition, but very practical.  I might spray paint it to match the bike though

I went a bit further round the coast to watch the sun setting across the boat moorings. Always a good spot.

And then further round, past Rockingham foreshore to the Kwinana jetty.  As I’ve said before, the jetty is actually the hull of the  SS Kwinana, which washed up on the shore after a tow went wrong in 1922 and rather than shifting the boat, they made a feature out of it, entombing it in concrete and building a jetty off the middle of it.  The rusting bow of the old ship still sticks out of the end hull shaped feature.  The jetty broke up a few years ago during one of the terrible winter storms we had (I think it happened 2 years ago when we lost our fences actually) and you can no longer walk on it, but it makes a good subject for photos.

This girl wasn’t happy that she was part of my picture!

To offset the grumpy look the girl gave me, the seagulls were happy about the fishing – and they gathered around int he drawing dusk to feed on the bait and to try to steal the fish.

So there you go – a little ride and some photos.  Nice way to finish up a Saturday actually.