So after a washout on our previous ride NOTHING was going to stop us riding this month and definitely not 42deg C for 400km!! So with another 10 intrepid adventurers we set off to Beaudesert for coffee, Kyogle for lunch and Tumbalgum for desperately needed cold drinks.
getting ready to leave...with my drone hovering to get picture
It was great to see Steve's 6th bike ...a chopped honda XR 600...very nice. We also welcomed Andrew on yet another Honda 4.
Now this was the first outing of my new Mavic Pro Drone...unfortunately the departure footage was the only lot taken...just too hot :( but with our Tassie rodtrip coming up I needed to practice....
So got a good exit video with the Mavic pro drone as we made for beaudesert while the temperature was cooler.
After a heads up from John McG about a full maccas carpark we diverted to Every days coffee shop for some refreshment
With the temp rising we stopped at Rathdowney for some aqua and shade
hleigh baring some skine, Ray hydrating,dave looking good and John and Paul saying Hi
...then off climb the Main range....lots of twisties and slippery tar snakes.
beautiful blue skies and an open road ahead...no one else silly enough to ride in this heat:)
Another stop at the top of the main range for a break and shade...and some "boot" shenanigans with John :)
so turned onto the Summer-land Way and into another blast of hot air....42deg at Kyogle but this was distracted by the beautiful sweeping roads into Kyogle...fuel up the bikes and cool down the riders at Kyogle pub.
After a long lunch in air conditioned surrounds...it was off to Murwillumbah on a beautiful twisty road but what did was this we discover to start the run......DIRT ....but only for a few hundreds metres then the twisties..
A great road but still not without its bumps on corner....a challenge in those tight corners...but awesome views.
another stop in the shade to keep temps down and to enjoy Daves fine clobber for his new Aprilia and Brenton has an affair with a Harley Fat Boy Slim ..but not sure Caleb would like his Triumph Speed Triple :)
Down through Murwillumbah to the riverside pub at Tumbalgum, which was nearly deserted...seems no one likes the heatwave.
With some of the group off for a swim on the coast...others slabbing it straight up the highway..the rest followed the original route back along the river, through the cane fields then up Currumbin and Tallebudgerra Valleys to finish at West Burleigh Caltex. The ever present Blackbird filled my rear camera....John Buckman up to his usual trick..with Jude on the back enjoying her first pillion ride..what a start 400km...40:degg C
So we finally made to West Burleigh for a fuel top up and the long run home. The Hot way round was great...400km...40deg C...great roads and scenery and of course awesome people.
After an end of the world forecast the previous week that caused us to cancel our normal ride ,and yes ...the storms came through later :( and thanks to the leadership of Triumph Des there was a smaller ride out the following week. Though rain again was forecast it never really eventuated and the small band of bikers enjoy a great ride out to Flavors cafe for a good coffee and catchup.
So due to commitments at Gateway's Vision Weekend I was relegated to departure photographer...so her are a couple of happy bikers.
With Christmas now done an dusted and New Year here I thought it would be good to do little REWIND 2016 and enjoy the great year of riding and community we had...check out the video below and have a safe and memorable New Year.
Well another awesome year of riding had come to an end with our traditional Xmas Belgium waffle ride ....through Canungra, over Beachmont climbing back up Mt Tamborine on Henry Roberts drive to finish at Eagle Heights and some Belgium waffles and Band of Biker cheer.
The Band of Bikers and the particularly the Keilars got into the Christmas spirit with some very colorful decorations..and as usual we enjoy some great B.o.B community for leaving.
we celebrated with Ray on his new Versys 1000
plenty of Red highlights for Christmas
So with over 25 bikes in tow we headed off to Canungra for our first coffee, picking up a couple of Goldcoast riders on the way. This was not a long ride but thoroughly enjoyable with plenty of twisties, great roads and beautiful vista's ...and the weather behaved for us. So the long entourage wound its way to Canungra and some morning tea and plenty of fun
seems Pauls hair grew back for the day...and scott...he became a Christmas tree :)
With our bellies full and smiles on our face we headed off over Beachmont , enjoying the views and lower temperatures.
So just to keep the theme going we headed back up to Mt Tamborine via the steep Henry Roberts drive...best to go up and not kill the brakes coming down. Up on the mountain we stopped at the lookout for a few pics before running down to Eagle Heights and our much anticipated Belgium Waffle lunch.
Caleb enjoying the views...not sure what scott is up to :)
And then it was the short ride to our much anticipated lunch and an awesome finish to the end of our 2016 riding season.
So with our fill of waffle and after lots of laughs we headed back down Mt Tamborine savoring another awesome year of riding and some amazing people....wishing all Band of Bikers a blessed Christmas. Enjoy more of the Band of Bikers ride in my Vlog below.
It was time to go across the great river divide to the northside and the great sunshine coast hinterland roads to Kenilworth. With a great group of 22 bikes and 25 bikers it was just another awesome ride in the great Sth East! We welcomed a few new bikers on the ride and enjoyed our usual pre-ride community before heading off to BP Caboolture to meet up with northern riders and a big surprise.
welcome to John, Cindy,David and Joanne
So it was going to be a long 350km day which was made longer by the intervention of the boys in blue.
As planned we headed off up M1 to BP roadhouse Caboolture to meetup with Leigh McQueeney our fearless ride leader for this run and a few other northern riders...well that was the plan but riding into BP we were confronted by chaos, motorbikes and cars everywhere...and the boys in blue writing out tickets at their leisure. Apparently there was a very large meetup of not so suburban bikers and the police were in a feeding frenzy with non-compliance everywhere....unfortunately no video was taken though one photo was found of our unfortunate Gold coast member...Scott, who was the unfortunate one sprung for a non-compliant helmet ( 1 in 3 that road past the police were the same) but he got the $365 fine and 3 demerit points (later he became known as D.Merrit). The big issue was he couldn't ride till he had a compliant one! So off they went to buy a new one before joining us again at coffee stop at Woodford bakery.
B.o.B enjoying Woodford bakery break...Brenton checking his notifications
We had to wait for the other helmet buying bikers to join us...things were settling down after a disruptive start but Scott seemed to have moved on...check out the video below.
Finally we headed off to the twisty roads up to Maleny then over and down the Mary valley to Kenilworth... snaking our way through the hills with a large group of bikes.
...and who said Harleys couldn't go around corners....its an awesome run down the valley
We were heading for the Pub at Kenilworth for lunch ...and you never know what you come across ....we saw a bike towing a trailer...good idea
We settled into the pub for a good lunch and refreshing liquid. Everyone were on high spirits after a great run..
potato wedge temptations and the worries of a ride leader
Another great time of community but it was time to retrace our steps back up to Maleny...its a nice road up as well then some sunshine coaster split off and headed home...the southerners headed back home via Mt Mee (we do eat twisties for breakfast) , stopping at the pit stop for afternoon tea before getting fuel at Dayboro and battling the late afternoon Saturday traffic home through the city.
Check this video I call ..."Where's John" , a close call as we entered pitstop cafe :)
The pitstop cafe on Mt Mee is a great place to stop with awesome views for a selfie :)
So ended another awesome day riding in the Great Sth East ...and though it started in an unfortunate way (sorry scott) it got better and better as the day went. Riding clears the mind and gets you in tough with the amazing God who created all of this...and as we know "your tribe determines your vibe" and riding with this awesome community really does fill your tank. You can enjoy more great vision in the video below...also please forgive me for my first Vlogging attempt, many newbie mistakes ( always in conversation with ray om the intercom but you can;t hear the other side of the conversation :) also a little crackling noise I need to sort out.
I had a great idea that instead of our normal 3 day November roadtrip ...we would take our Band of Bikers and 4wd'ers (rut conduct) to an awesome Christmas creek property for some family fun and adventure....and we certainly got all of that and more. Unfortunately only a few of us rode bikes whilst other bikers bought their families and vehicles ..which was awesome to see.
we enjoyed a meetup at Beaudesert maccas for morning tea as we made our way out on Friday
So we arrived at this wonderful Christmas property with its quaint old Homestead and amazing shed. The advance party setup accommodation and cooking facilities...the bikers comfortably ensconced in the homestead with the 4WD in tents and caravan.
Now with storm clouds brewing we headed off to cut wood for our evening fires....there were a myriad of dead trees and an eager group of woodcutters armed with chainsaws...and supervisory skills.
After filling up the vehicles with firewood we thought we would head up the mountain on the property for a reconnoiter...but we were greeted by a storm, lightning and hail...we hightailed it down the slippery mountain holding our breath at time..not before God gave us an awesome surprise.
Hail was falling, lightning flashing in we faced a slippery drive back...time to air down...was it cold Mick?
wow...God showing his spectacular grandeur
When we arrived back it was time to set up for an evening meal and our obligatory fire pits....a great space for building community.
During the early evening we saw the storm return , not a problem for those sleeping in the homestead but made life for some in tents a little difficult. As we woke to a better day we planned for a meetup at Oreilly's with bikes running through Canungra and the 4WD's running up duck creek rd.
As the bikes enjoyed a twisty run up to Oreilly's we had one eye on the skies not wanting to be caught on the mountain in the rain....whilst we enjoyed ascending through the gumtree line we were caught off guard by the impact of the storm which created deep and wet leaf litter all across the road making staying upright a challenge.
a great ride to O'Reillys.... variety of landscapes and in the end...a dirty bike
view from Oreilly's
t was an enjoyable time at O'Reillys as we shared some good food, some talking to the animals and even a walk along the rainforest "skywalk" ..a great time.
It was then down the mountain and the backroads back to Christmas creek .... being stopped by a herd of dairy cattle to provide some comic relief. The run down Kerry rd to the Darlington range then onto Hill view .
So it was back to Christmas creek..enjoying the setting sun for some dinner and Movie night...and you guessed it ..."Wild Hogs" was on the menu. Despite plenty of preparation for board children they never bothered with DVD's or technology...too busy riding around the property, swimming in creeks, patting horses, climbing hills...you get the picture. Hmmm..a whole different way to live.
Calebe enjoyed some spectacular pork while we were away :)
We awoke to on Sunday to a spectacular day...after some discussion we agreed to hold a small service down at camp with concern about accessibility up and down the mountain. It was an awesome time as we shared what the weekend had meant to us, enjoyed communion and prayed together.
great community of food, the dishes and communion
With a few hours before lunch we decided to give it a go to try and get to the top of the mountain and its beautiful vista's..it would be a great way to finish our weekend together.
We celebrated an awesome weekend with great people from a small plateau on the mountain top...wishing that we could stay longer.
So once packed up the bikers made their way home via Rathdowney, MT Alford, Lake Moogerah and Boonah ...what a way to finish! Check out a video of the weekend below....and sorry you 4WD'ers , of course it has lots of motorcycle riding :)
