The multi bike racks are a sure give away as was the car park full of families with eager young things sporting oversized helmets, outlandish goggles and bikes with noodle- like wheels. We are not put off and head in to explore The Gap Reserve near Mount Coot Tha.

A bushland full of eucalypts, scented, spotted, too many to name, in various forms of undress, their trunks resembling works of art. Home to insects or their eggs enveloped in white. A luminous yellow butterfly and paths that undulated gently and then turned sharply revealing surprised and speeding bikers at every turn.

(Ant you would love this terrain.)

The bikers appeared in a flash and then disappeared The birds invisible and everywhere. We saw red flashes of finches and cinnamon doves, heard bellbirds, cat birds and parrots but it was the bikers who won us over on this one. Every group racing past said “G’day”, “how are you doing”, “sorry, whoops”, “thank you,” and “enjoy your day”. We were the invaders in their space but they were the ones with the manners that mattered.

Now enjoy a smattering of those birds – https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bnIci5clUVc