During the recent holidays I was excited to take Sophie on our bike ride along the lake. A few weeks earlier I had walked a very long way along the track with my friend Anne, probably about 8kms from Long Jetty, through Killarney Vale and into Berkely Vale. The track is gorgeous and it’s interesting how much more you see when you walk as opposed to ride. I had ridden this track many times and had never seen the “Bear Crossing” until that day.

Sophie tells me that she doesn’t really enjoy bike riding however I managed to talk her into coming with me with the enticer of a special surprise. We had recently had a period of torrential rain so the ride was even more fun due to the amount of water still lying across the bike track!

We had been riding a long while and I wasn’t sure where exactly the “Bear Crossing” was. There were lots of things to see along the way, including a man setting up a remote control plane, which he was about to fly across the lake. There were heaps of deep puddles to ride through and we were having loads of fun getting completely drenched. Sophie didn’t want to go any further and I still hadn’t found the crossing. I decided to turn back as the water was getting a bit too deep to ride through in parts!

It was when we were on the way back that I found it.

It seems we had been distracted by the man flying his plane and had completely missed the “Bear Crossing”. It is easy to miss. I stopped Sophie and showed her the sign. She thought that was cute but no big deal. Then I said “look up in the trees”. She giggled her head off and found her phone to take photos. High up in the trees were the bears. Teddy Bears. A really big one and some smaller ones. How cute are they? It makes me smile to think that someone has such a good sense of humour and is creative and fun enough to climb the trees and place the bears up there! (Or did the bears climb up there themselves????)

I have since been there again with a friend who has lived here for years and who has ridden along this track thousands of times. He was amazed that he hadn’t noticed it either.

Note to self: Live each day with your eyes wide open!

It’s the little things that count and happiness is everywhere x