No riding day around Lake Illawarra : November 1 2025

Was not the best night's rest - there was a lot of rain. First time I looked at the watch it wad 7 am. Thought did cross my mind to get in the car to drive to Shoalhaven Heads to get my spare bike. It was raining - nah - take a day off and do local stuff by car. We said farewell to the riders - cooked breakfast (not me this time) and went driving

Drove out to Oak Flats on the other side of Lake Illawarra. My wife had family friends who had a house there 45 years ago. View across the top of the lake to the Southern Tablelands

View across the lake. When we first stopped there was smoke coming out of the steelworks - now the game is spot the smokestacks

The houses now go all the way up the ridges. Photo is about the cormorants drying off their wings in the foreground. They did not move for the 15 minutes we were there

Lots of black swans

Fancied this bright red flower. Looks like a version of cafra - the plan to get a lake view too

A few angles work back to the Southern Tablelands

Fab mix up of spring flower colours right on the edge of the lake

A garden with a few strelitzia in good form - pose with the lake behind

Opening out fully. Why photograph them? Symbol of my first army regiment - 6 SA Infantry. Was not the best time of my life but it did shape a huge slice of who I am

We had coffee in Oak Flats. We shopped for presents for grand kids. Time for a rest in camp.

I went for a walk to get some steps and soak in the lake. Walked up to the road bridge

In the old days there was no bridge. Had to drive all the way around the lake

Pelican action under the bridge

Under the bridge and a view to the heights above Oak Flats. We drove some of that earlier - no photos down

Path now closed off along the lake in front of the old caravan park - now an over 55s. My wife's friends had a permanent van here years ago

Saw this trailer parked just up from the lake - looks like a mini-caravan. Evidence around - a bike, shoes underneath, milk crates - all suggest someone is living there

View back down the estuary to the mouth

Pelicans hoping the fisherman has success. Those big boulders are key to holding the bank in place. The last floods damaged a lot of this bank

Under the beady eye of a seagull

Pig face in the dunes - we call them vygies where I come from

Walked down to the breakwater - photo back to the bridge with a boat returning from fishing day

Wave action in the estuary mouth

Onto Windang Beach looking north to Port Kembla. Spot the smokestacks

Red flags flying on a patrolled beach. Nothing to patrol - no swimmers today

Swim between the flags

Never seen one of these. Mostly we see signs saying "no heat beads". Here you can have a charcoal bbq and dump your hot coals right there

Still had a long afternoon to use up before group dinner. Dug out the laptop and wrote a product review

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Also spent some time betting on horses. I like to watch in the days coming up to Melbourne Cup to assess who is in form. Picked two jockeys at two tracks - bagged 8 winners between them. Paid for the first beer - Kirin Ichiban paid by the winner of the Kirin Ichiban Cup

We walked over to Bowling Club early back along the lake under the bridge. Joined the crew after a little of our time. Had a good dinner - so many clubs now have Chinese operators. Food was good and fast and great value.

After dinner was a few more drinks in camp kitchen - I ducked out. A few things to do

Been a good weekend catching up with people with common backgrounds and shared interests. Part of the weekend was sad as one of the main organisers foes a few weeks back. We will miss our Kim

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Daily Activity, Photowalking, Shopping

Height 183.0 cm		Weight 90.0 kg		Body Fat %
Waist cm		Thighs cm		Chest cm