HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND AWESOME NEW YEAR !!!!!!! Christmas Eve 2010 !
From Moonee Beach we made it to South Ballina and the next day dodged weather..thanks to the rain radar on Bevins iPhone, the $29 phone I got to replace the one lying very lonely somewhere on the Pacific Highway, doesn't have such fancy trappings. We stopped at a MCDonalds along the way..starting to become a habit but hey it had a basement to park bikes under whilst waiting for the rain to go over before continuing onto Byron Bay..whew now it that was hot and absolutely teeming with people. Onward to friends Shane and partner Kylie in Mudgeeraba arriving with seconds to spare when just as we had pulled into their garage the heavens opened with THE most earthshattering, earsplitting electrical storm and big big rain,..was all over in 45 minutes. Had a lovely couple of days catching up with them and Brandon(11 years) and wee one, Xander(11 months) and stalking the local malls..Robina and Pacific Fair at Surfers Paradise. Had a look up Q1 tower at Surfers, awesome views, its just 5.5 metres shorter than Aucklands SkyTower..got bit nostalgic seeing signs..2500k's to Wellington and its direction and 2700 to Auckland
Now here we both are in Gladstone, Queensland for Christmas, at my cousin Lara and her husband Bevan (not to be confused with Bevin) and 2 young lads Ben and Joel, and my cousin Michelle ..Lara's mum and dad Barry are here too all the way from Dunedin so its great to be with family.
Its shaping up to be a hot wet one ..its already very hot and humid but so far the rain has stayed away, though there was a thunderstorm first night we were here, there may be possibility of cyclone heading this way, so at least we may be hot in the rumpus room under the house but dry and not in our tent if weather goes all pear shaped on us.
We got here last Wednesday after a very wet ride up…we were totally meaning to be here on the Tuesday, but it turned out to be one of those learning curve days with no damage done. We headed off from our friends Shane and Kylie's at Mudgeeraba on the Gold Coast with about 600 odd k's to ride..no worries we thought, so after a time on the motorway I took the lead and rode for about 2& ½ hours to Gympie where a stop at McDonalds was had ..well it has great aircon, free wifi, Macafe for me and burger and thickshakes for Bevin and the parking is always so easy on the bikes. After leaving Gympie Bevin takes the lead after making me turn around and follow him..why? cos Tom Tom (navigator) with Yoda being the master..decided to take us on a shortcut..more like a wee trip to the dark side thanks Yoda. So here we are taking a shortcut out back of beyond..great little road, hmmm gets a we bit narrower and then whadya know its 6 k's worth of dirt road, then a wee river crossing and then it's one great big farm with Brahman cattle roaming free..they didn't care much for the bikes invading their personal space J Next we know the fuel lights are starting to flash and so then a quick calculation is done to see where the closest gas station is…oh dear, 100 k's one way and 64 k's back the way we have come neither looks good, so back we went and we at least now know when our camels run out of fuel..Bevin's ran out at 525k's and 300 metres short of reaching the gas station..how incredibly lucky was that? Mine had enough to get there apparently cos my back tyre is slightly larger and therefore I can go a bit further…now doesn't that sound like a Bevinism to you?? Anyhow mine was refuelled and bought back enough fuel for his to get there and refuel also. So now we have backtracked we still have another 350k's to go and its getting late..oh and it seems to get darker earlier as they don't have daylight saving up here. We rode for another 100 k's odd till at Gin Gin it was dark..riding at home you would not think twice really but we have been warned time and time again not to here due to Kangaroos, wombats etc crossing roads on dusk, and after Bevin smacked into a pothole cos too hard to see it was decided it might be a clever move to stop. That was reinforced when a truckie came running across to see if we were looking for a friend, a fellow biker as a motorbike had just had a serious accident not far behind us, no we were not looking for a friend, merely trying to find somewhere to stay for the night but again very friendly locals put us onto a caravanpark/truckstop and 24 hour diner..that killed all our birds with one stone..got a cabin for the night with aircon, just as well as it was sauna central haha. Sat and had dinner with some truckies and got the lowdown on the area.Walked out of diner and I said to Bevin oh look at all the wee birds..ok did not have my glasses on..turned out to be heaps of the renowned cane toads..I thought they were cute despite being poisonous pesties(No I didn't kiss any I wasn't allowed in case I might have found a better riding partner haha). In the morning it was tipping it down so geared up and rode off into the wettest day we have had here..at least you could kinda see all the potholes filled with water now..they have heaps of potholes up this area. One said 'Caution Potholes next 110 k's' choice!!
Last couple of days has found us sweating profusely doing last minute bits, now its Christmas Eve and Australias Carols by candlelight entertainment is on and am now feeling the pinch at not being at home, but am thinking of you all
Have a great one everyone..take care, much love from the Kiwi's Down Under x x
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Bevin & Felicity Lealand iPhone
+61412205936
http://bikersfromdownunder-lealand.blogspot.com/
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