Crossing the bay on another day

Penajam is one of my favorit cycling trip around Balikpapan.
we can make it on a half day trip,
taking wooden boat, followed by cycling around coconut plantations

This time there was no exception,
we started on Saturday morning around 07:30 from office parking lot,
and after few minutes waiting, finally our group were ready on 07:45

The special thing about this trip was the participants,
we have 2 ladies and 12 men, with mixed nationalities.
There were 7 indonesians, and the rest are French, Spanish,
Venezuela and Canadian,...



I was the group leader, and on the previous day I had told them,
that it would be an easy ride, no uphills nor extreme track,
and up to some point they were happy with me,...

but then we arrived at the end of a road which was still under construction,
instead of simply taking the opposite direction,
we were tempted to find a short cut,........






so we had to cross a swampy coconuts plantation,
I was on my small folding bike, so no questions,
I have to lift my bike crossing that area,



after about 30 minutes of mud and bush,
finally we found a firm soil again, and from there we went back home,



All of them said that it was a good ride,
anyhow I am not sure that some of them ever come to ride with me again....

Perth, some references

To rent a bicycle in Perth is easy, I rent mine from AboutBikeHire,
their shop located at Point Fraser car parking area,
not too far from Causeway Bridge.

GPS coordinates of their shop is
E 115.87967 deg
S 31.96443 deg

Their website is www.aboutbikehire.com.au .


We can rent either basic hybrid bike to go around the suburb,
or a mountain bike with associated accessories
for outing few days on Munda Biddi Track.

On their leaflet, they suggest some rides around Perth
that can be done easily on basic hybrid bike,
like Kings Park, Fremantle, Guildford or Mandurah.
Mandurah is about 45 minutes by train from Perth,
but it is easy to bring along our bicycle on train,
which is convenient if we only have limited time to go around.

Bikes and equipment for more challenging tracks are also available,
and it will be suitable for rides on Munda Biddi or John Forrest National Park.

With my limited time,
I only take a tour around Perth with basic hybrid,
and so far, this is one of the best cycling experience I ever have.