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Ten Thousand Flying foxes

A day of rest and then back on the saddle.

I decided that one week in Sydney was enough so I took a day off in Batemans Bay. Did not do much, went for a walk and sat by the sea reading, but on my way to the sea I stumbled onto the most amazing spectacle: 10,000 flying foxes hanging from the trees.

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Could not believe there were so many and I had to go closer to see.

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Looking cosy up there.

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Of course they are upside down we’re down under.

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Some are stretching other seem interested in me.

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Undeniably bad for the tree.

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I started asking myself if there was a pecking order.

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What are you looking at?

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Yes, I’m talking to you!

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There is always an exhibitionist.

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Not easy to catch one flying, but amazing when you do.

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At the 50th tree full of them I had to go and let them be.

I had to leave after a while, being also worried that they might drop on me with possible severe health consequences.

I went down to the town and bought a new and better heat torch as well as some more Bushman’s cream to take home with me. After that I just sat on the sea front admiring the view and getting on with my current book: Prey by Michael Crichton.

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The view towards the sea with the far away breaking waves.

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The Batemans Bay metal bridge with the amazing lifting middle.

In the evening I had the last instalment of the kangaroo burgers and this time I had got buns for them as well as cooking them in the gas BBQ outside, the result was far superior.

In the morning I left not as late as I thought I would. The route today was only a bit more than 30 miles so I did not want to leave at a time that got me to the destination too early. As I passed through town I took a last picture of the bridge and reminded myself of the fact that I was in fact taking a picture of the bridge over the river Clyde.

The bridge over the river Clyde

The bridge over the river Clyde

The ride from Batemans Bay to Ulladulla was a tale of two halves, the first half quite relaxing, filled with music and nice forest scenery, the second half full of stress, without music and with my eyes firmly trained onto the bicycle chain.

Route 3,073,261 – powered by www.bikemap.net

 

As with the tyres the chain is coming to the end of its life. It was fitted more than 4000 miles ago and, given the load and the mountain roads that it has seen, it is due for replacement. Just past half way, while derailing to get to a low gear the chain got tangled and when I stopped to disentangle it I noticed that it was bent in one of the links. I took the tools out and straighten it and I believe I corrected the fault. The fact that this happened though made me worry that I might not get through the next 150 miles with the chain in one piece and not manage to get it changed once I get back to Italy. I’ll keep it closely monitored and hope for the best, after all I am now in a very populated part of the country so I can always get some help and support.

Nice view!

Nice view!

I made it to Ulladulla by 13:00 and once I was set up and clean I ventured to the harbour for a walk. I did not know what to expect and in the end I managed a close encounter with a giant sting ray and a superb milkshake in a bar in town where I also finished the book.

Harbour view

Harbour view

With a forest of sea weed

With a forest of sea weed

Stunning animal

Stunning animal

Turning and posing for the photographer

Turning and posing for the photographer

Out of the water to say hallo

Out of the water to say hallo

And then down again. The wing span must have been at lest 5 feet

And then down again. The wing span must have been at lest 5 feet

I will have a relaxing afternoon, probably starting my next book and starting to do some planning fro the summer and autumn. It is always important to prepare lots of plans otherwise what is there to change.

The view from my typing spot.

The view from my typing spot.

3 thoughts on “Ten Thousand Flying foxes”

  1. ciao alex

    ho trovato casualmente questo sito e devo dirti che godi della mia più grande stima ed ammirazione.

    volevo poi dirti che indirettamente io ti conosco ed ero spesso aggiornato su questa tuo viaggio per i racconti fattemi dai tuoi genitori che conosco da alcuni anni in seguito a dei viaggi in camper fatti assieme.

    chiedevo spesso e spesso mi parlavano di te e specialmente in questi ultimi periodi a causa di questa tua impresa (si può chiamarla così?)

    beh alex, non posso che farti gli auguri che tutto possa andare per il meglio e che magari un giorno ci si possa anche conoscere di persona.

    un abbraccio
    alessandro

    1. Grazie Alessandro, mamma mi dice che vi vedrete in un paio di settimane, ti mando un abbraccio e chissà, il mondo di noi viaggiatori è sempre più piccolo per cui è facile che ci si veda.

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