50km; Medium Ride/ moderate Pace/ Some Traffic/ Significant Hills

Starts: 10.00AM;Picton Railway Station carpark. Undulating ride on mainly quiet rural roads with some significant hills.Enjoy rural scenery and orchard country as the ride takes in the towns of Picton, Thirlmere, Bargo and Tahmoor. Lunch at the Bargo Hotel.

5 of us set out for a great ride. The weather was gorgeous and Wollondilly looked it’s best. The route was a figure 8 encompassing Picton, Thirlmere, Couridjah, Bargo, Tahmoor, Thirlmere and back to Picton.

We stopped for a scrumptious lunch at Le Jardin Cafe in the delightful new Tahmoor Garden Centre ( Bargo) and ended with a drink at the historic Imperial Hotel, Picton. As a mum and keen cyclist I found this a very pleasant way to spend Mother’s Day – Thanks Phil.

A crew of nine inspirational young adults will be cycling through Bargo on 3^rd of April 2010 with a mission to inspire youth to think about sustainable consumption in their everyday lives. On arrival in Bargo the bike riders will have covered 1200kms of their 1300km journey.

The Otesha Project (Australia): Cycling for Sustainability launches their East Coast Tour at the Sustainable Living Festival in Federation Square, Melbourne on the 19^th of February. The tour will take them to regional schools along the South East Coast of Victoria and up through the Sapphire Coast to Sydney.

Since 2000, The Otesha Project (Aus.) has pedaled across Australia educating youth and raising awareness about environmental sustainability and social justice issues. Otesha is the Swahili word for ‘reason to dream’ and is the underlining philosophy of the organisation. The Otesha crew combines theatre performance with interactive workshops to empower high school students to consider their life choices to ensure a positive and sustainable future.

Current consumption behaviours in Australia have far reaching consequences that are both unsustainable and inequitable. The negative impacts of these practices usually affect the most disempowered people in society, including young people who now face an uncertain future. For Rachael – tour coordinator – the experience of the bicycle tours is fulfilling on many different levels:

“I’m thrilled to be on tour bringing this important project to regional schools. These tours are the perfect way to inspire youth to be the change of the future. Also it’s just a great and fun experience shared by everyone involved.” she says.

The tour participants from all over Australia have spent the past six months working hard collectively to plan the tour and create the three interactive workshops focusing on some of the major sustainability issues concerning youth: Consumer Choices, Culture Jamming and Food. As well as the workshops the tour will also present their hilarious ‘Morning of Choices’ theatre performance, which encourages the audience to consider their own choices made during an average morning.

The Otesha Project (Australia) is seeking support from your community; any donations of food would be welcomed, and we’d love to engage with other sustainable community initiatives, so please contact Kate Tucker at info@otesha.org.au.

Notes to Editors:

• The Otesha Project (Australia): Cycling for Sustainably – reason to dream

• Currently seeking support as our 9 cycle team members come through your town:

East Coast Tour (19 February – 9 April).

• Contact:

• Email: info@otesha.org.au

• URL: www.otesha.org.au

A pleasant ride through rural Bargo, down Charlie Point Rd to the chime of bell-birds then up Arina Rd and out to Nepean Dam.

Some of us hooted down to the upper Dam area, to a look-out with an expansive view across the water. It was a shock for me to see the difference in water levels from June 07 when the Nepean was last at 100% capacity.

Nepean Dam Low Water Level, March 09

Water Level June 07

We then rode across the dam wall which provided a scenic backdrop for a group photo:

Cycling across Nepean Dam

before tackling the “significant” climb back UP to the picnic area.

Derek did a marvellous job with the snags, and we tucked into a delicious brunch.

Group Photo at Nepean Picnic Area

We split the ride back to Bargo so some could do a few extra km.

A pleasant ride for a belated start to the BARBUG year.

Next ride: Autumn in the Southern Highlands