Two ST1300's left Townsville on Saturday morning. John "Rhino" Maddy on his Red 2009 model and Andrea & myself on our Black 2010 (March 2011 ADR??) model. It was quite warm. Cardwell was the first stop for rehydration and smoko.
Mena Creek for lunch was our next stop. While stopped there, a storm came over the place. We were on the edge of it, so got dressed and rode off in torrential rain. We were out of the rain after about five minutes, though and didn't take long to dry out.
Our next scheduled stop was to be the Kairi Hotel and all was going well until just after we started up the Gillies Highway. We got caught in a tropical downpour that lasted from just after the first overtaking lane until we got over the top of the range.
The Kairi Hotel had taken in a group of backpackers and no longer had spare rooms, so they missed out on our patronage in the restaurant and bar, too.
Rode over to Atherton and stopped at the first motel we saw without a "no vacancy" sign. It is the Hinterland Motel. Not quite a 5/5 Star Motel, but the bed was big and comfortable enough.
We were joined by Rhino for dinner. He came armed with a Domino's Supreme pizza with anchovies and Andrea and I feasted on a Luisun Big Mama supreme pizza and washed it down with a nice red wine that Andrea selected from the local Cellarbrations ride through bottle shop.
https://www.facebook.com/LuisunPizzeriaTakeAway/photos/pb.173065989490435.-2207520000.1424654378./330435177086848/?type=3&theatreSunday morning ride plans for us were put on hold, as we were in need of repairs for Andrea's Rossi boots. The sole was starting to separate, so we ended up at Bunnings (of all places) to buy a roll of PVC tape and strap it back on for the trip to lunch and home.
The café had quite a few motorcycles out front when we arrived and the bays were barricaded off, so we parked in the shade a few spots back down the hill.
Ben "Me_3" from Atherton arrived on his 2003 Red ST1300 around midday. We ordered and ate lunch while talking about ST1300's and their possible modifications, as well as where we had ridden them etc.
At about 1:00pm we packed up and headed for home.
We got caught in a downpour in Malanda for a few minutes, but other than that I think we stayed dry. Temperatures on the way home were mostly 35+ and got up to 39 a few times, so even with all the mesh panels fully open and the zips in the sleeves and back open on the DriRider jacket, it was hot. Definitely not suitable for the OzSTOC jackets on a day like that.
Another stop was made in Cardwell for rehydration and we also nominated a stop at Frosty Mango was "required" for a final refreshment. I can recommend the Dragonfruit. It was a good way to sign off the end of the ride.
I'd like to thank Rhino and Me_3 for helping to make the ride more memorable for us.
It seems that some planning and coordination of riders will be required to find suitable dates and destinations for rides, so that more than three can be in attendance next time. On hot days up here, keeping the return trip to less than about 600kms will probably make it easier to make them into one day rides, also.
Regards
John
