Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Night ride

Last night I went to a deaf kids' parents meeting as the beginning of my research of the sign language here. It's held in Holder, a suburb 12 km away from the city of Canberra. For a moment I was thinking to go by bike all the way there. Then when I thought of the highway, it seemed not a good idea to do it at night. However, for its remote location and rare bus services, I decided to take the bus to the Woden Interchange and continued with my bike for something like 5km. All sounds not too bad. But when I have had my quick sandwich after the bus journey and walked out from the mall, I found myself right next to the highway. Having spent sometime in my google map, I started my bike journey at night. I was leaving the main traffic and the area turned so silent. I came to a road where was no street lamp. In the darkness, I recognized my way with the starlight and the light from the remote houses. I had to stopped when there was a car coming as its frontlight was just too bright for me to see anything. Then there were ups and downs that you never realized on the map. For a moment I was having the picture of Tour de France in my mind. However, there was a slope where I simply had to get off my bike. Actually the silence and stars were very enjoyable. I found myself in the countryside! For this journey of 5km from the city to the suburb via a no-man's land, I spent 1 hour & 15 min.

The meeting was interesting though, it's a different story. Once in my mind: " Would there be anyone who might give me a ride back?".

I returned alone, on the same route to the bus interchange. This time, it was only 30 min!

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