“Which way shall we go?” my brother asked.

“Somewhere new. How about Lindum way?” I suggested.

Bill nodded.

“You lead and I’ll follow,” I said enthusiastically.

I love cycling with Bill. He always finds exciting places, off the beaten track, for us to discover. Yesterday was no exception. We turned off the main Wynnum road onto Fleming Road and before long we were in new territory to me; this time it was definitely horse country. It’s funny how things look so different when you’re cycling, especially at a leisurely pace; you have the chance to notice and appreciate everything.

We found a nice cycle path that looked promising but ended abruptly near properties with acreages and horses; however, there was a dirt track with tyre marks, that meandered around to the left of the creek and into the bush. Just as we reached the point where we wanted to turn back, a Ute pulling a trailer that carried two quad bikes appeared from the bush. I waved at the men in the truck as they passed by and was surprised a few minutes later when one of the men was stood holding a gate, waiting for us to come through so he could lock up.

“You must be brave,” said the man.

“Why? Are there croc’s?” I joked.

“Far worse than crocodiles,” he laughed, “swarms of mosquitoes! We’ve just been in there spraying them now.”

“So you are the men we have to be grateful to,” Bill said.

“I bet it’s horrible in there,” I added, to let the man know that we appreciated the difficult conditions of his work.

“Awful!” he twanged, “the mozzies swarm around our helmets in a black cloud – you can hardly see!”

I thought of the old film, “African Queen”, in particular the scene where Katharine Hepburn has the flying horrors from a swarm of black insects, and I got the picture.

“It must be a terrible job for you,” I sympathised.

“You must be kidding,” he broke into a broad grin and waved his hand in the direction of the quad bikes, “How many people get to drive around in those all day long?”