What a great weekend!
Was talking crap with my sister about 9pm Friday night, saying we were going to Melany for an OzSTOC RTE, and she said the words "how about I have the kids for a couple of days" at this point I am throwing a bag at Teela and said "Pack" she said where are we going? "No idea" was the response….
Fuelled and loaded we head for Maudy’s Restaurant & Bar to meet up with Diesel & Co, quick pitstop in Esk, and it was a good run up, it was good as I had not really tested anything on the bike since I had one all the upgrades.
Had a great run up the the Café with biggles and Diesel, the café was supurb! Coffee was perfect, and the food was a 10/10 rating for me, the staff there are all characters, we even got the chef in the photo below….
It was great to see, Diesel & Marianne, Biggles, IanB & Helen, nothing like old friends and bikes to start a day out. Then it was where to go from there, waved goodbye to the others and we headed north for Gympie, little bit of drizzle, but we didn’t care the road was good, the bends where great, and there was not a lot of traffic….sighs could just keep riding those roads.
Once we hit gympie, it was a matter of where to stay, we thought Hervey bay would be good, so I went to
http://www.bike-stay.net/australia and searched accommodation and we came up with RainBow Getaway Apartments, lock up garage, 5 mins from the surf club and the beach (
http://www.rainbowgetaway.com.au/) , so off we went, finished the day with 381km under our belts. The Stay was worth every penny, several corona’s and midori’s, a good steak for dinner, and walk on the beach and it felt like a world away from the mad house that is home
Back to the Apartment, Good Night’s Sleep, then it was up early to meet Diesel for Coffee in Landsborough
We Decided to take the scenic route down the coast so we ducked into sunshine beach and then down to Caloundra, was great to see the waves rolling in as we rode down the coastline, then we broke out to the Thunderbirds Café in Mooloolah Valley, great little place, who do a good cup of coffee
Then Diesel took us a on a little back roads tour past the glass house mountains, we even had our first motorcycle Bluetooth 3 way (side note the Sena Bluetooth units worked seamlessly the whole trip) and into Bribie island, stopped for a cold drink on the water,
Stopped into Teela’s Aunt & Uncle on the way out to Kilcoy, it was getting pretty warm by this point so we had another break in Kilcoy, and the Shark helmet was really starting to pay for itself
It is amazing how closer to home things start to get interesting, I suggested we stay in Kilcoy, as it was getting hot (and we didn’t have to be home), but Teela want to get home so away we went, into Esk and it was HOT, teelas knees where starting to play up from being on the bike to long, and we had one of those rational, logical discussion’s that make perfect sense….that finished with us both listening to music and not talking as we headed for Hampton.
30km out of esk, it dawns on me….I have not fueld up today, I was supposed to fuel in ESK…..now the most I have gotten out of a tank on the ST1100 was 465km without gear & Pillion, so I was a little concerned….that record came and went with the gauge on the white line, got to Hampton, girl behind the counter said “sorry we stopped selling fuel months ago”, I even rang brock to ask him how far should we get out of a tank? His wise advie was keep going and let me know how are you get….sit is amazing how much you stare at a fuel gauge as your riding along using the drag from a caravan to make sure your not using extra fuel. Amazingly enough we made it to Highfields,
489km for the tank, and I put in
23.61L so could have gone heaps further!
Well we made it home, cool breeze, so it was riding gear off, shorts on, cold drink and pretzels on the back lawn!
870km for the 2 days, 41.30L Fuel
Google Map Link:
http://goo.gl/maps/HjR3I
Side Notes from the Ride:Make sure your Gear fits properly, Teela has lost a heap of weight, so helmet/jacket/pants way to big.
Make sure you fuel before you argue!
Delkevic Exhausts have burnt in nicely and sound fantastic!
The Custom Screen worked a treat, bounced the air away nicely, and the water off the screen pealed away and i didint wear it.
Woolen seat cover with my custom seat worked really well, Teela before hand would get through a couple of hours and be uncomfortable, she got through two days with only me as a pain in the backside
the smaller tank bag was a great move, didn't notice it at all, and it was easy to move for fuel and the like
Tipsy's Highway Wings really worked well, just gave that extra position, and simple to lock away when needed to.
the NAVIGON GPS App on my iPhone worked seamlessly even on the back roads, it is a keeper.
thats it for now, i am pondering when we can go again :)
