2010 Tour Down Under

2010 Tour Down Under stage 1 Clare

On the day before the start of this year’s Tour Down Under in South Australia I took a hour or so to travel through the small towns near Clare to photograph some of the interesting decorations in the district.

This was the first time in the 12 years of the tour that a stage had come to Clare, a well known wine growing district. It also happens to be where I used to live some 26 years ago and where my daughter now lives. She is a teacher in the local high school.

The people of the district had taken the trouble to decorate old bikes and put them on display along the route the cyclists were taking. On the outskirts of town one of the local businesses had put and old car on display, complete with an ancient bicycle on the top (see photo above – click to enlarge).

2010 Tour Down Under stage 1 Clare

Walls of hay bales like those in the photo above dotted the course taken by the cyclists, each one announced a new town for the racers to swoosh through on the journey towards the finishing line. Note the “family” of bicycles perched on top, from father bike, to mother bike to junior bike and finally baby bike. Cute.