August - Queen Mary Falls never ceases to amaze

We had a big compliment of riders for our ride on a beautiful blue day for our 350km ride out through Beaudesert, Rathdowney, Queen Mary Falls and over the top through Kilarney and battling strong winds  home through Cunningham's gap.

 We again enjoyed the company of some new bikes , a beautiful red trumpy, a Bergman 650 scooter and BMW 650 GS

Dave Walton's new BMW GS650

Pauls beautiful red trumpy

Jo's first ride with his 650 Bergman 

Peter & Des with their pride & joy,a  Guzzi and Triump

a large turnout were ready and eager for a great ride
with John & Jan's MG as our support vehicle we headed off to Beaudesert for a morning tea at Macca's. We had a few bikes peal off at that stage to make their way home, the rest of us headed off to Rathdowney...then on to the climb up to Queen Mary Falls. It was a great 30km run out past Maroon dam to the turn off.

 And up the magical road, straight out of the "Lord of the rings" to the escarpment and a beautiful Aussie view. The wind was up and I think everyone enjoyed the brief stop.

Jason had a little problem with his stand and wind

Grahame and Marjorie were enjoy the ride

Jan was happy to stay inside the MG. a bit to cold outside

It was then off to Queen Mary falls themselves and a hot meal....some great conversation and a walk around he falls themselves.

bikes parked up outside caravan park store

Peter Sutherland gazing out on a very beautiful Queen Mary's waterfall. It was a surprise seeing so much water around given the dryness. It was good to get a little exercise with the 10 min walk to the observation area

OK lads lets mount up for a run to Cunningham's gap

What a great ride home...down through Kilarney and Settlers route, a short cut to Cunningham's gap and WOW wasn't it a challenge riding down with a strong cross wind but a little adventure was a great finish to a wonderful ride. Love to ride and love this weather.

July - A great Winters ride

The promise of a clear and sunny day drew eleven bikers & support vehicle (Tim and blax MX5) out of their bed to rug up and venture out into the cold on a ride. I was quite excited as this was my first ride in six months after a double hip replacement and overseas travel last 7 weeks.
We had a wide variety of bikes from BMW's, Kwaka's,Yamaha's,a black Mazda MX5 and Des's awesome '79 Moto Guzzi.

Des and his Moto Guzzi

We welcome Richard on his first ride

Richard , Leo and Peter enjoying a chat

Grahame & Marhorie just arrived back from usa

Whilst not a long ride was an interesting one.....a nice run down to a normal watering hole, The Outpost. at Canungra the up and over the windswept beechmont and down the twisties...a diversion up Henry Robers drive to Nth Tamborine and a welcome Irish pub lunch.

There are always interesting sights on the road.....like this custom trile...wow!

A quick stop on top of Beachmont road

The wind was howling at the hand gliding launch site

this would make a good patch,not sure about the Amrican thing

Dave & Dave enjoying some Irish hospitality & ploughmans lunch

Ahhh///cold winters day..on a ride....Irush stew

Thx Tim, finally a real support vehicle




Check out a quick video of the ride below

June ride.....The Gateway 300

A group of 7 bikers and our MG backup crew left Gateway under clear blue skies for a ride into the Sunshine Coast Hinterland and back – a distance of exactly 300km according to Google Maps.

Leon & new Ninja 600

The old and the new (bikes I mean)

Our morning tea stop at “Café au Lait” in Beerwah was a little more upmarket than usual (read ‘feminine’ décor) but the proprietors were most welcoming and the coffee was wonderful. The much needed toilets were a bit far away though (it was a cold ride up the highway).

After a short ride up to Peachester we turned into Bald Knob Road for a gentle ride under the gum trees before joining the Landsborough road up to Maleny. Plenty of mountain scenery and nice winding roads were enjoyed as we then headed for Kenilworth and the Bellbird Creek Café for lunch. The contrast of this Biker cultured café with the previous Café au Lait was very obvious as you will see with the photos. 

A very relaxing lunch was enjoyed and the constant ringing of bellbirds was God’s provision of background music to enhance our experience. The lunch time entertainment was provided by a carpet snake that was trying to find its way into the kitchen – snakeburgers for afternoon tea?

someone else we left behind

In Kenilworth we ventured into the Cheese Factory for a bit of cheese and yoghurt sampling (and buying). Unbeknown to us, Larry’s flat battery delayed his departure from the Bellbird Creek Café and we didn’t see him again that day. I (David E) accept responsibility for not going back to find out what happened to him – as leader for the day I should’ve shown more care for our fellow rider.

Our ride up to Mapleton from the west included that twisty, one way, bitumen section that was so much fun on a bike. If it wasn’t a dirt road in the opposite direction we may have been tempted to go back down and do it again!

After some refueling at Mapleton, we headed south through Montville and along the sweeping road toward Maleny. Here we split up for alternate routes home – some via Landsborough, some via Woodford (for yet another cup of coffee) and the backup crew took to the hills again, going home via picturesque Mt Mee.

Mays ride and a meeting with the pelicans

There was a bit of crispness in the air as a small group of 4 bikers and our MG backup crew left Gateway under beautiful blue sky heading for the Redlands area. Russell was on his brand new Ninja 1000 (he said he needed more grunt for passing!).

After enjoying the sights and smells of agricultural land it was then back to the Motorway for a brief run at 110km/h before heading to Cabbage Tree Point where the water views of the bay were spectacular. About 17 pelicans welcomed us - some in the air, some in the water and there were a couple of pole sitters! (No, not the Casey Stoner variety.) Then it was off to morning tea at the Horizon Shores marina by the boat sales office. Some brief looks in the office window at the used boat advertisements confirmed that motorcycling is a MUCH cheaper hobby!

David then took us southwards on some back roads to show us the grand entrance to Mick Doohan’s residential property east of Coomera – couldn’t stop too long, we were probably being filmed and our rego numbers are now most likely stored on his security data base!

Daves suzuki picture for his desk

look up in the sky..is it a bird..no its pelican!

Some more back roads through new residential estates had us finally on some country roads heading for Canungra. En route we were all stopped by the Police!  A bikers’ RBT, which we all passed of course, including John in the 4 wheeled MG. There was a car drivers’ RBT station further up the road as well (in the opposite direction). After such excitement we enjoyed our lunch at the Outpost which was surprisingly quite for a Saturday. Perhaps all the other Bikers had already been through at morning tea time (or perhaps they failed the RBT). We split up here with some going home over Tamborine and others going around it. A great day. Would love to see more join us next time.

A great Autumn ride to Somerset Dam - April 2012

A group of 6 bikers on 5 bikes and 4 commuters in 2 cars set off from Gateway under gloriously clear skies for David’s “Water Supply Run”! This was the inaugural drive for Tim (and son Nathanael) in his new Mazda MX5 (yes, alas, another mid-life crisis). 

Pete's new custom

Des with Davids twin

Phil with wife Andrea on first ride

Peter had his brand new blue V Custom 900 for its first Gateway Bikers’ excursion (the one he got as an accessory to the helmet he bought at the recent Motorcycle Expo!). It was also good to have Phil’s wife Andrea along for the first time. We headed out along the Ipswich Motorway and then the Brisbane Valley Highway to Fernvale for a relaxing morning tea at the popular Bakery cafe. Here we were joined by familiar biker Tim and first timer Des whose Suzuki GSX650F is a twin of David’s.

From there it was along the Wivenhoe Dam wall and then up through Esk before enjoying the beautiful scenery along the connecting road to Somerset Dam.  There were plenty of photos taken at the picturesque Spit picnic area which was buzzing with jet skis, water skiers, swimmers and picnickers. The water was so inviting Phil was really tempted to have a dip himself.

Just south of Somerset Dam we took the alternate route via Splityard Creek dam back to Fernvale. This would have been a nice winding ride if it wasn’t for the number of separate 60km/h roadworks sections, none of which had “End Roadworks” signs at the end of them – very frustrating. So it was “welcome back” to the same cafe for a delicious lunch and more friendly chat under the trees, by the fountain. We farewelled Tim, who preferred to ride the twisty bits through Mt Glorious and then farewelled Peter, the MX5 duo and Leo before venturing home via Mt Crosby and the water supply pipelines to Brisbane (no, not inside them, beside them!).

Great weather, great scenery, great company and great machines – an excellent day. Curiously, this group was a totally different one to that on the previous ride in March (except for leader David who wondered what that really meant???).

A Beautiful Boonah Bike ride in March

wayyyy...to many sports bikes..where are the cruisers?

Although missing a few regular riders, a group of 11 bikers on 9 bikes set off from Gateway on St Patty’s Day under cloudy skies. We welcomed first timers Jenna on her black Ninja and Russell on his blue Suzie 650F (that made 2 of those with our leader David on his usual blue 650F). 

Russell and Blue Susie

Jenna and the Ninja

Warricks wild new V-strom..matches his jacket

Heading south and then west our party increased to 10 bikes when Glen joined us at Logan Village on his Busa. Lovely country aromas of bush flora and cow manure wafted through our helmets as we headed south along Mt Lindesay Highway! A leisurely morning tea (brekky for some) was enjoyed at Beaudesert Maccas (where there were already 2 other bike groups).

100% healthy biker food!

Then it was off onto the Boonah road where we experienced pleasant aromas from the refuse station (not!) before discovering the new Wyaralong Dam recreational area, so scenic and peaceful, even after we arrived! We got off our bikes to enjoy the water views and the mountains (sorry Veronica, I mean “hills”). Back onto the main road we enjoyed the high quality deviation constructed because the dam submerged the old road. Under David’s control, we all stuck to the 100 km/h limit, much to the frustration of others – Richard was later heard to say “I didn’t realize 100 km/h felt so slow”!

what a beautiful sight...now don't knock over the dominos

Ah the life of the retiree...Grahame

now lets look knowledgeable

 Turning onto the Boonah – Ipswich road some heavy spots of rain appeared but quickly disappeared, thankfully. This was a good country road with plenty of scenery to enjoy (which you can do when you’re sticking to the speed limit). A short stop at Peak Crossing to say goodbye to some and then it was into Yamanto Maccas for some more sustenance and a good friendly chat. It was pleasing to see the big grin on young Jenna’s face at every stop – further evidence of how enjoyable riding in the country is. Rain came (and went) while we sat at Maccas but the roads weren’t too wet when we set off for home via the Centenary Highway, with its numerous large roundabouts (nice for bikes), and then along the toll road (to have our tails photographed). Another great day on two wheels in beautiful SE Qld country.

David