Blogs

Life is not always simple, they say. Certainly, for a corona virus like me it’s neither simple or fair. Well OK, it is actually quite simple, I’m only a single-stranded, positive-sense RNA (ribonucleic acid). Indeed a lot of biologists don’t even consider viruses like me to be alive at all. I certainly take offence at that, virusism at its worst.

But it certainly isn’t fair. There I was, happily infiltrating a bat’s DNA, as my kind have been doing for millennia and I was just about to migrate to the nucleus of my host’s cell, the big push as we call it,  when for some reason I found myself part of some unwanted cross-species transmission. It wasn’t my idea I can tell you. I was happy in the bat. I like bats.

A few weeks later, and everywhere you look, you beings at the pinnacle of evolution are blaming me for the collapse of civilisation. It’s not my fault you lot can’t keep your sputum to yourselves. Stop touching each other all the time.

You’ve been responsible for accelerating global warming for more than a hundred years now. I can’t even envisage such a timespan. I can only live for a week or so at best. I have friends who don’t make it past their 3 hour birthday so don’t come whinging to me about having to postpone your annual holiday. I don’t get the chance to even think, well I can’t actually think but you know what I mean, about a holiday.

Let’s examine my raison d’etre, my reason for being. There are a number of theories regarding this.

Some say we viruses represent genetic elements that gained the ability to move between cells or that we were previously free-living organisms that became parasites. Not sure I like the sound of that, hardly a compliment. There’s even a school of thought that says we may be the precursors of life as we know it. Much better.

Then, of course, there are creationists. A creationist is someone who believes in a God who is the absolute creator of heaven and earth, and everything that exists therein.

If that is the case then it’s only logical to assume He also created us. Does that make any sense at all? Why deliberately create something that is only going to cause unpleasantness for others? Maybe He was having a bad epoch. After all, He’s done it before. Take the Naegleria fowleri for example. Also known as the brain-eating amoeba.

Why is it known as the brain-eating amoeba? Take a guess.

These little critters live in warm freshwater, and there’s plenty of that about. Get a few up your nose and before you know it, they will have crept into your cerebrospinal fluid, the clear, colourless body fluid found in the brain and spinal cord. Not long after that, when they fancy a snack, they’ll start munching on your neurons and from then it’s a slippery slope to a nasty death. There is no known cure.

Now I know that I have been responsible for a few deaths around the world, quite a few actually and for that, if I could feel pity, I’d be sorry. But for the most part, nothing happens at all, or maybe you have a bit of a snuffle and some sore joints. What are joints anyway? Within a week or so it’s all over and you’re back to your old polluting ways.

So, before you blame me for forcing you to stay home think about how, when this is all over, you could minimise your own global footprint. Fly less, drive less, eat less meat.

I dream of having a footprint, but even if I did it would only be 0.125 microns wide.
And you think I’m the bad guy?

A couple of weeks ago my wife, Tracy, and I took delivery of two brand new Leitner electric bikes. These are becoming more and popular as people realise that cycling doesn’t have to be such a challenge in a hilly city like Brisbane, it’s OK to have fun as well.

We’d enjoyed a few fairly short trips around the city and decided it was time to venture further afield. Our destination was the beautiful Nudgee Beach with a side trip to Boondall wetlands, both situated to the north of the city.

There are a few routes you can take and we were quite proud we only needed 2 attempts to work out the best one, with a few deviations.

First Attempt 

We headed out along the Brisbane river towards Bretts Wharf. This is fairly straightforward although we did take the opportunity of getting a bit lost around Newstead House. In order to cross the river, you have to turn slightly left before you get to Newstead House and go over the Breakfast Creek bridge. If you continue through the lovely Newstead Park you’ll be faced with some steps from the riverbank to access the bridge as there is no ramp, nor indeed a ferry!

A few kilometres before arriving at the Wharf, towards the end of the recently completed bikeway adjacent to Kingsford Smith Drive, turn left onto Nudgee Road. This involves crossing Kingsford Smith Drive. There’s an intermittently marked bike path along the length of Nudgee Road. It’s not a very busy road as, although it is one of the options to get to the airport, most people don’t use it and prefer to continue along Kingsford Smith drive to take the expressway.

Due to continued expansion of the road system in the vicinity of Brisbane airport in the last twenty years, you are faced with something of a challenge to re-join the bikeway as you have to cross ten lanes of traffic.

Crossing wide highways when the traffic lights turn green poses a problem for cyclists, as the lights are timed for faster-moving cars. Here, the electric bike comes in handy as, despite there being no steep hill to climb, by selecting the highest assistance level you can whiz across the road before the lights change. This flies in the face of one of the edicts of safe driving, never accelerate towards a hazard, but it can’t be helped unless you want to find yourself in the path of a truck heading for the cargo dropoff at the airport.

Your aim, once clear of the airport access roads, is to join the Southern Cross Way. There are a few options and signage is not overly helpful.

On our first attempt, we backed the wrong horse and found ourselves being drawn inexorably back towards the airport. There are some good tracks around that area and it was very quiet and peaceful but not particularly picturesque. Eventually, we gave up and headed home.

Wishing to avoid the perilous highway crossing on our return we consulted the map and discovered a route via the Kedron Brook Bikeway which brought us back via Victoria park and avoided most of the highways we had crossed previously. We made a mental note to use this route on our next foray north.

Second Attempt (and Success)

Like the explorers Hudson and Amundsen before us, searching for the elusive North-West passage, we knew there had to be a better way.

After poring over maps, i.e., asking Google, we realised that the best route avoids the Brisbane river altogether. We headed due North up some steep hills towards Victoria Park. Crossing the park it was only necessary to ride a short distance on the road before linking up with the Kedron Brook Bikeway. This is accessed via a small bridge and is where we saw, and heard, the titular bat colony.

The Kedron Brook Bikeway is a beautiful meandering path which was abuzz with dog walkers and children. Fortunately, apart from the odd errant child, walkers and riders are separated on two different tracks which thread their way towards the Toombul shopping centre. Crossing the road here at an official bike crossing we were only a few kilometres from the Jim Sorely bikeway. On this purpose-built path, following the signs for Nudgee Beach, we soon arrived triumphant at this beautiful spot where the river meets the ocean. 

After having coffee and chatting to some other cyclists we headed back to town but not before taking a slight detour off to the right and availing ourselves of the short 5 kilometre or so path which leads to the Environment Centre in the Boondall wetlands. This is another lovely track which weaves between casuarina trees and grassland. We stopped for a few minutes at the Environment Centre before, goaded on by the mosquitos, heading back to join the Moreton Bay Cycleway and head home. 

Our first major exploratory ride via the North-West passage was complete.

Footnote

All trips completed before social distancing norms.