Amazing road, revelry and rain - roadtrip 2012

Ken,Peter,Dave and Phil ready to ride

The 3 Muskateers (Paul,Dave & Ken) grew to the Fabulous 5 with the addition of Phil and Peter for our 2012 roadtrip to Cania Gorge.As we prepared to leave at 7am the sky was a beautiful blue but the forecast had plenty of storms forecast.
 Some Christmas bling was mandatory with some santa hats, tinsel, bells and even reindeer antlers gave us some of the spirit.With plenty of rain the previous day and threats of rain coming we gave the twisties of Mt Glorious a miss...so it was two BMW's , two Suzuki's and my Kawasaki Custom that headed off to Esk then up past the beautiful Somerset dam

In NZ the fish were this Big!

Dave always the Bakery connoisseur

The trip saw us cover over 1,300km in three days....cover plenty of awesome scenery...and particularly enjoyed the hospitality of Monto and Proston..... and Clovelly winery

Check out a quick video of our ride up to Cania Gorge HERE

Thanks to Dave we ended up at Monto's best (only) caravan park (ask Dave about our hosts) for an overnight stay and enjoyed their annual Christmas Street party......with fire eaters...true.

"Come on guys..there's a street party on"

But before the fun we had a great country Pub dinner...and country banter....and on to the street party and fire eaters.

We told you their were "fire eaters" in Monto

We awoke from a BIG night in Monto ,Peter had a particularly interesting one having encountered Dave's ability to keep the dead awake with his snoring...so we packed the bikes ..and headed off for breakfast a "do duck in"....
Having digested a wonderfully healthy breakfast we made our way off to our destination...Cania Gorge...a great road and some great ah,ha moments.

 So...tha'ts it ...time to head for home...... back through Monto.....find a BIG storm to ride through, a great winery and an ovenight at the Proston Pub!

 Check out the "storm chasing" video HERE

Ken enjoying a well deserved rest

 We had seen this on the way up but the lads wanted to play "boy racers" and we missed the turn but on the way back we made sure we stopped in a "Clovelly" wines . Arrived mid-afternoon as the restaurant was closing but managed to negotiate a large platter and Tempura prawns at the "Cellar door" as we tasted a great range of wines.
 Ahhh...life on the road is tough but I guess someone has to do it.
We discovered "lucky" Phil was the wine connoisseur and manage to fit four bottles into his pannier for home . It was a great interlude on our roadtrip....something to savour....but we had to finish our prawns and wine and find our evening accommodation at the Proston pub and we were in for a real treat as Pete found a great back road there.

So where can you get accommodation, breakfast,dinner and great country pub conversation for under $50...Proston of course.....I think we doubled the number of patrons and we had a great night listening to stories as the storms rolled in. It was great when you can just park your bikes under the shop awnings in the main street

So after a great nights sleep (thanks to getting Dave his own room) and with a big country breakfast on board we headed for home

Check out the ride home video HERE


....and the final unsolicited endorsement....of sorts

....one last image in my mind symbolising the freedom of the trip was Pete with his hands raised in the air riding the wonderful road around Proston, unfortunately I never seem to have the video on at the time...but Phil did his best coming down the Gateway Bride as we were finishing...thanks Phil

look mum...no hands

A Christmas ride to the Mount Tamborine to finish 2012

Our riding year has come an end all too soon...but we celebrated with a short run up Mount Tamborine..to a celebratory brunch and some last minute Christmas shopping.....
The price of admission being some bling............and some made a real effort

..and Larry got dressed up

Check out the following video for more bling..........

even Santa (aka Dave) came for the ride

so off to mountain we went

and found a cosy spot for a bruch or two...took over the place

What........!!  Sorry had to lay on my side

..all we needed now was a little shopping therapy....and Anita (on her first bikers trip be it in a Jaguar car with Daves wife, Helen) had an enjoyable time with that.
Well that's it for the year...have a safe and blessed Christmas...and remember the "reason for the season"

Novembers Magnificent "M's" ride

After not riding in October we were all keen to put some "K"s on the bikes with all the "M,s" ride ie. Mt Mee, Maleny, Montville and Mappleton...a ride we haven't done for a year. We gave Maloolaba a miss this time but usuallya great spot for an ice coffee by the beach.
We had a great turn out for the ride, so while Dave luxurated with his life group on a beautiful motor cruiser on the bay, 15 of us headed of through Samford Valley and Daybro to Mt Mee.

Peter

Tim, a "chappy" with a V-Max

Paul looking great with hi Suzuki..but what's the go with the skulls

Joe...... all ready for cruising

Ron, over from MTM for a ride

Peter...the "map man" and his suzuki sporty

Joddie, Petes better half, with a great exhaust

All lined up ready to go

We love a big group but challenging getting through the city and its traffic lights....but once on the road and having a lat'e or two...its fantastic. After a great run through Samford and up Mt Mee we stopped at "Birches Resteraunt" for brunch...and thanks to Dave Waltons call ahead we were met with a fabulous spread and had an awesome time...thanks Dave for your generosity.

Sam..... how good does he look with the rose (ha,ha)

After a great stop at Mt Mee  it was off on the great twistie run dow the mountain, through Woodford and back up the mountain to Maleny. What a great ride this is, a great variety of riding condition and what beautiful scenery. So it was up through Maleny to Montville for lunch...yes more food. We stop at our favourite "Edge" resteraunt overlooking  the whole of the sunshine coast.

Its a tough life on the road but someone has to do it, we again enjoyed some great food and chatting together...how interesting are peoples stories, I love this community.
Joes certainly seem to be enjoying the stop and enjoyed showing off his biker T-Shirt.

We lingered a little longer before we decided to head off, it was getting a little late and the bones were aching too much to head off through Maloolooba as normal, so it was down through Nambour and back on the freeway for home..... ah another fantastic ride for our band of bikers.

An Amazing Day in September - our ride 17/9/11

This ride was one of those that will not fade from the memory too easily... a large group of bikers, the bluest of blue skies, a warming temp and some great roads to be riden

..a great photo..and more bike to meet on the road

....and of course  some awesome first timers including

Dereck and his "Cool" Harley 883

Ben..his Honda and all that leather

the ladies - Veronica & Sahara and Dad - Tuli on the monster 1600 Boulevard

So , after everyone caught up, we headed off down the freeway to Nerang and the temp went up towards 30 deg, stopped for a cold drink and some of us took the opportunity to pop into a RSPCA opp shop to get a cool T-Shirt.
Then it was off to the beautiful Numimbah Valley.....first the twisty's then onto the beautiful valley and hills in the background

Now it doesn't get better than this.... hanging behind a harley....great road and scenary and heading toward the border and a break.

Caught up with Paul on his new/old suzuki..looked good but I don't know about the skull motif on the bike.

Dave thinks Paul's bike is OK... but think Pauls really like Dereks Harley

Then it was down the hill into NSW and a little detour to the quaint old loggin town of Tyalgum. We luv to catchup at Flutterby's, waitresses all dressed up in period costume...a bit hot on a day like this

wonder what are the Boy's and Veronica looking at...???

Before we left Tyalgum we came across an amazing lady who had ridden down from Cairns , on her way to a new job in Camberra......all in 4 weeks, now thats a biker!!!

Then we had to endure beautiful countryside and curving roads through Murwillumbah to the Tumbulgum Pub for lunch. Larry caught up with us there with his new Triumph sprint. After a relaxing feed we took Ben's advice and headed back into the hinterland ...following Sam on this new run ....a great little prologue before we hit the freeway and home.

A ride to remember, with a great group of bikers for sure ..... to re-live the run check out the video below

August ride - Blues skies and repaired roads

Ah.... it was another crystal clear morning in the wonderful SEQ, if not a little nippy, as a big crew and our back up vehicle (aka...Johns MG) headed off for morning tea at Esk via Wivenhoe Dam.

We welcomed Sam to his first ride with the crazy crew.... will include a picture in future...but did finally get pics of Johan and Helena...who did not have best memories last time they did this ride having got a flat near Wivenhoe and spending 3 hours waiting for RACQ...this time Helena had her own bike and I think they had a great time.

Off on the boring motorway out to Ipswitch ....check numbers at Blacksoil then off the Warrego Hway to Esk....with a stop off at Wivenho Dam for some leg stretching but ahhh...that big blue sky

Our morning tea stop at our usual Esk Bakery was great, some warm coffee and one of their awesome pies. Then it was off on the repaired Esk-Hampton Rd with a little diverion to "Perseverance Dam" with Larry ( in his new triumph leather Jacket) giving us a little run down on the bikes...looking forward to seeing your the "Sprint" when it gets out of the repair shop..those driveways can be treacherous.

After some leg stretching at Perseverance we then motored off for lunch at the "Farmers Arms" at Hampton..what a great ride , some twisties and great scenery...and of course that big blue sky.

Yes this photo did include a few ringin's, seems like veryone and their Honda club were out for a ride on this day......by the way would highly recommend the "Farmers Arms" tuker..well its a lot more than that...a great menu!!

Oh, Leo left holding the bag for Magna.... its about time you got her a decent seat for your Kwaka.

So after a sumptuous lunch we headed back through Highfields then down the mountain through Murphy's Creek...still signs of flood damage but road repaired and not a lot of visible damage.

One can only imaging what that wall of water was like....a nightmare in such an idylic setting.

We hit the highway and off home.....another great ride.....with some great people...in a great part of the world...it can't get any better than that.

Ckeck out the following video for a little bit of a taste.......click HERE