Cobby later read that there are actually bicycle rental shops there, so that settles it! Yeah!
We arrived there around 9.30am so that it wouldn't be too hot. But thankfully the haze provided some shelter from the sun so it was hazy, warm and not too sunny. Is that a good thing? Honestly I don't know. So confusing!
I'm so glad that we all got the bicycles we needed! Jolie finally LEVEL UP to a two-wheeled bicycle. My baby girl is growing up so fast, I'm so proud of her! (emo...)
I got a bike with a child seat for Jayden. I would prefer the Mama-bike, but they don't have bigger child seats for those. Felt a little awkward. It's been SOOO long since I rode a mountain bike.
Cobby got his regular bike and off we go! I read that it's 2.4km? So I was quite surprised when it took less than 5 minutes to cycle across a short bridge to Coney Island! What? Maybe 2.4km is the bicycle track within the island? And there were so many people! Maybe because it was a Sunday? In that case WHY they left the bloody gate closed? Everybody had to squeeze through the small little side gate. Just to let people take photo of the gate? Really?
When we got in we felt a little lost. In front of us were 2 different routes. One is a narrow cemented road while the other is wide but rough gravel road. Most pedestrians took the nicely paved narrow cement road, but it's definitely too narrow to share with cyclists. The gravel road is much wider, but I was worried that it would lead to difficult and rough terrain. Can the kids handle it? Also, the crowd was really staring to annoy me. I come here for some peace and serenity. Would it be this much people throughout the whole island?
I was feeling abit flustered when I saw some ladies cycle out from the gravel road. Aiyah, heck it lah! If those "aunties" can do it, so can I! So we just hopped on our bikes and cycled down the wide gravel road.
Once we started to cycle away from the gates, we were surprised how nice the place was! The surrounding was natural and untouched, the road was wide with not too many people. My favourite part was that if you stop and stay really still, you can experience a kind of muted silence you don't get in mainland Singapore.
It's wonderful...
So we've decided to cycle all the way across the island 1st (see blue line), before turning back and checking out all the stops along the way. It didn't take long to cycle across the island.
On the way back, one of the side routes lead to a small beach. We took the opportunity to rest our bums.
There was a notice saying there are sand flies, so we didn't stay long. Jolie is a bug magnet. Maybe because she's so sweet!
Jayden was busy pouring sand onto his sister's sandals. Haha.. he's such a jerk to his sister sometimes..
At the next exit we found a boardwalk running parallel with a mangrove stream. So beautiful and serene! The boardwalk was elevated so it was quite nerve wrecking watching Jolie cycle through it.
The boardwalk also led us to the beach but this area was more fun. That was where the mangrove meets the sea, so we saw schools of little fishes in the clear water.
Seems like a perfect time and place for a picnic, we settled down to have our sandwiches by the beach. Say Ham and CHEESE!!!
OK so maybe sitting on the beach at mid day was a little too hot and glaring. So I suggested moving our picnic to the side of the mangrove stream. The giant stone blocks would be great as we can sit and watch the little creatures of the mangrove scurry around as we eat. I think it's great that NParks had the hindsight to put up these blocks. When it's high tide the water would be contained safely within these stone blocks. They even made a wooden barrier so people who accidentally fall in would not be swept out to sea! Good thinking!
After our sandwiches we had apples! Jolie decided to climb down to better observe the mangrove critters.
If you sit real still, you can see so many creatures moving around on the sandy grounds of the mangrove. We saw fishes, tiny crabs, mud skippers and some bugs that we don't know what they are. Hmm, maybe they should put up signboards. Or maybe an App! Information of the commonly spotted animals / insects in Coney island! Hmm maybe I should suggest this to NParks.
While cycling out on the boardwalk again, what we dreaded really came through. Jolie lost balance of her bicycle and fell off the boardwalk!
I was cycling in front when I heard a crash, followed by Jolie's cries. I quickly turned and rushed back to her. Poor baby was sobbing as we checked for injuries, but no blood was found. I think the bicycle hit her arms and legs. And she got a bad fright from falling off. After resting a while Cobby decided we push the bicycle out to the main gravel road instead, and I didn't complain.
At the end of the boardwalk Jolie shouted to us that there was a butterfly on the track. We saw this species of butterfly all over the little island. Jayden and I stopped for a photo op!
After awhile I realised that the little thing wasn't planning to move. But the other cyclist would crush it! So picked it up and wanted to move it, but Jayden was so excited and asked to hold it. I was surprised he wasn't squeamish, but the moment the butterfly wriggled, he threw it away. Haha..
OK, enough fooling around. I quickly picked it up again and put it in the bushes. If it wanted to rest, at least rest somewhere safe.
We cycled all the way back to Punggol after that. It was getting more and more hazy and I can tell Jolie was getting tired. Amazingly we have cycled for close to 2 hours, which was the longest Jolie have ever cycled. So we quickly returned the bikes and headed home for a cool shower. Amazing fun!
