penguineer
just luscious
Others have, long ago, posted up their ride reports of this trip and done a much better job of it...what was freaky was reading other ride reports and thinking "I've got a photo of that very same thing"...so for a twist back in time and sense of deja-vu.....
Taken me about 3 months to get into the mood to put this together, so it is a bit briefer than my usual efforts. Some of the piccies are pretty dreadfull - mobile phones aren't built around good cameras and this was the last trip I took my troublesome six-year old digital.
After 2011 little debacle getting to Imbil and Nindigully I decided to have another go - head up to Imbil on Friday night for the Leisure Riders party, then head for Nindigully on Saturday and an easy 700km home on Sunday.
Stopped outside Beaudesert to get a photo of some of the burning off(remember this was in November) - if you look in the burn area you can already see cattle grazing on the new grass.
Somerset Dam was pretty full - looking back towards the dam from the boat launching area:
It's not often you see a horologist these days - had to take a photo.
The view from McCarthys lookout was quite hazy (all the burning off):
Same lookout with the bike in front of some of the Glasshouse Mountains - Coonowrin(Crookneck) with Tibberoowuccum and Beerburrum behind, Beerwah(largest of the Glasshouse mountains) and Tunbubudia
When I left home I said I wasn't going to do any dirt roads. This is the bottom of Obi Obi road. Oops.
Welcome to Kenilworth.
The campsite:
Around the back of the main tent - John and Travis' bikes.
Doe, a deer a female deer....(it is the Borumba Deer Park after all.....)
Making sure we didn't get too close to his ladies.....
Partying down at the Stockyard:
That's it for day 1......
#############################################
Headed off to Nindigully on Saturday morning after a coffee from the van at the rally.
I'm a sucker for a sausage-onna-bread:
While I was waiting for my sausage to cook I saw this chappie, part of a scarecrow festival carried out arround the area:
Sorta explains the headless scarecrow at Kenilworth, but I still think it's wierd.
The road south of Kenilworth:
Tractor at the info centre in Blackbutt:
Pump number 1 at Moonie - looks a rather ad-hoc affair, but was likely the best in oil extraction in 1961. Makes a change from a headframe!
Had been seeing a few clouds closing in as I approached Moonie - while I stopped at the park I watched the worst the rain and lightning head south. There seemed to be a narrow strip of clear sky over the road west, so I headed out again. I stopped a couple of times to try to photograph the colours. These are the best of a bad lot(couldn't really pick my favourites):
Got into Nindigully just as darkness settled. Most of the others were already getting dinner brought out.
Another group ordered a road train burger:
A very enjoyable night ended too soon as we all had places to go on the morrow and headed off to bed......
#############################################
The rumbling of thunder coming woke me at dawn. Two mssive storm clouds were passing to the north and south of the pub. Others were already moving about, so I decided to get up myself.
My luxurious accomodation:
Various bits of Brisbane had been hammered by the storms I had passed yesterday, and Harry had been called in to work on coordinate repair and cleanup, so after a few phone calls and waiting for a bit more daylight(critters!) he headed out:
He wasn't the first though - various others were already on their way home!
The pub has rooms at reasonable rates, but a lot of people camp out - looking around I was surprised how many tents, swags, utes and caravans were scattered around the area!
It's after 5, so it's OK to head to the pub!(5am that is!)
These bikes belonged to a group of South African ex-pats that were on a weekend trip:
The 'wing riders should, no doubt, be thankful that my old camera was crappy enough that I didn't manage to get a shot of them trying to push-start the silver GoldWing......
Brian packing up.
As we were headed the same direction Brian and I travelled back together - straight to Goondiwindi for a breakfast at the BP truck stop, then south through the police checkpoints at Boggabilla to join the Bruxner Highway, back to Queensland through Texas, lunch at Stanthorpe, a break at the Warwick truck stop then part for the final leg home.
I missed a photo of the free beer sign at Nindigully - the South Africans were gathered there while their support crew tried to get the 'Wing going.
Along the way we saw these Aboriginal rock wells at Weengallon. As I travel, I often think of the people that used to travel this country on foot and horseback. The rock wells really brought this home - some of these wells were hand-carved 12 metres deep into the rock and had been used by several tribes travelling south, including the Kalkadoons. This was a bit of a stunner as the Kalkadoons originate around Mount Isa!!
While we were taking photos the South Africans passed us:
A little further down the road we passed them while they were having ice cream at a local store.
Why do these rides - the answer is obvious:
Spotted these structures just south of Texas(on the NSW side of the river):
After Brian posted his ride report they were identified as sheds for drying tobacco.
Well - we've been to Texas!
The Texas-Stanthorpe road is a hoot! The road snakes across the landscape from one set of hills to the next then twists it's way over the top and repeats. Well worth doing!
The usual end-of-trip photo at the usual end-of-trip place:
(we left the bikes alone for a good five minutes but they didn't make any new friends this time).
Heading towards Cunninghams Gap I stopped for a photo and soon lost Brian in the traffic(we would split at Aratula anyway). The clouds gathering over the Gap:
I passed through the base of a cloud at the Gap and continued back towards Boonah, keeping an eye on the storm brewing to the south.
At the park outside Boonah I saw this:
....quickly followed by a more substantial storm, including hail, as I holed up at Jim and Jens for an hour or so and caught up on the IMbil goings-on......
From there, home.
All up, about 1800km.....
SPOT track(via Jason Jonas' most excellent spotwalla.com ): http://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=5ae250a4e98cae093
Cheers!
Taken me about 3 months to get into the mood to put this together, so it is a bit briefer than my usual efforts. Some of the piccies are pretty dreadfull - mobile phones aren't built around good cameras and this was the last trip I took my troublesome six-year old digital.
After 2011 little debacle getting to Imbil and Nindigully I decided to have another go - head up to Imbil on Friday night for the Leisure Riders party, then head for Nindigully on Saturday and an easy 700km home on Sunday.
Stopped outside Beaudesert to get a photo of some of the burning off(remember this was in November) - if you look in the burn area you can already see cattle grazing on the new grass.
Somerset Dam was pretty full - looking back towards the dam from the boat launching area:
It's not often you see a horologist these days - had to take a photo.
The view from McCarthys lookout was quite hazy (all the burning off):
Same lookout with the bike in front of some of the Glasshouse Mountains - Coonowrin(Crookneck) with Tibberoowuccum and Beerburrum behind, Beerwah(largest of the Glasshouse mountains) and Tunbubudia
When I left home I said I wasn't going to do any dirt roads. This is the bottom of Obi Obi road. Oops.
Welcome to Kenilworth.
The campsite:
Around the back of the main tent - John and Travis' bikes.
Doe, a deer a female deer....(it is the Borumba Deer Park after all.....)
Making sure we didn't get too close to his ladies.....
Partying down at the Stockyard:
That's it for day 1......
#############################################
Headed off to Nindigully on Saturday morning after a coffee from the van at the rally.
I'm a sucker for a sausage-onna-bread:
While I was waiting for my sausage to cook I saw this chappie, part of a scarecrow festival carried out arround the area:
Sorta explains the headless scarecrow at Kenilworth, but I still think it's wierd.
The road south of Kenilworth:
Tractor at the info centre in Blackbutt:
Pump number 1 at Moonie - looks a rather ad-hoc affair, but was likely the best in oil extraction in 1961. Makes a change from a headframe!
Had been seeing a few clouds closing in as I approached Moonie - while I stopped at the park I watched the worst the rain and lightning head south. There seemed to be a narrow strip of clear sky over the road west, so I headed out again. I stopped a couple of times to try to photograph the colours. These are the best of a bad lot(couldn't really pick my favourites):
Got into Nindigully just as darkness settled. Most of the others were already getting dinner brought out.
Another group ordered a road train burger:
A very enjoyable night ended too soon as we all had places to go on the morrow and headed off to bed......
#############################################
The rumbling of thunder coming woke me at dawn. Two mssive storm clouds were passing to the north and south of the pub. Others were already moving about, so I decided to get up myself.
My luxurious accomodation:
Various bits of Brisbane had been hammered by the storms I had passed yesterday, and Harry had been called in to work on coordinate repair and cleanup, so after a few phone calls and waiting for a bit more daylight(critters!) he headed out:
He wasn't the first though - various others were already on their way home!
The pub has rooms at reasonable rates, but a lot of people camp out - looking around I was surprised how many tents, swags, utes and caravans were scattered around the area!
It's after 5, so it's OK to head to the pub!(5am that is!)
These bikes belonged to a group of South African ex-pats that were on a weekend trip:
The 'wing riders should, no doubt, be thankful that my old camera was crappy enough that I didn't manage to get a shot of them trying to push-start the silver GoldWing......
Brian packing up.
As we were headed the same direction Brian and I travelled back together - straight to Goondiwindi for a breakfast at the BP truck stop, then south through the police checkpoints at Boggabilla to join the Bruxner Highway, back to Queensland through Texas, lunch at Stanthorpe, a break at the Warwick truck stop then part for the final leg home.
I missed a photo of the free beer sign at Nindigully - the South Africans were gathered there while their support crew tried to get the 'Wing going.
Along the way we saw these Aboriginal rock wells at Weengallon. As I travel, I often think of the people that used to travel this country on foot and horseback. The rock wells really brought this home - some of these wells were hand-carved 12 metres deep into the rock and had been used by several tribes travelling south, including the Kalkadoons. This was a bit of a stunner as the Kalkadoons originate around Mount Isa!!
While we were taking photos the South Africans passed us:
A little further down the road we passed them while they were having ice cream at a local store.
Why do these rides - the answer is obvious:
Spotted these structures just south of Texas(on the NSW side of the river):
After Brian posted his ride report they were identified as sheds for drying tobacco.
Well - we've been to Texas!
The Texas-Stanthorpe road is a hoot! The road snakes across the landscape from one set of hills to the next then twists it's way over the top and repeats. Well worth doing!
The usual end-of-trip photo at the usual end-of-trip place:
(we left the bikes alone for a good five minutes but they didn't make any new friends this time).
Heading towards Cunninghams Gap I stopped for a photo and soon lost Brian in the traffic(we would split at Aratula anyway). The clouds gathering over the Gap:
I passed through the base of a cloud at the Gap and continued back towards Boonah, keeping an eye on the storm brewing to the south.
At the park outside Boonah I saw this:
....quickly followed by a more substantial storm, including hail, as I holed up at Jim and Jens for an hour or so and caught up on the IMbil goings-on......
From there, home.
All up, about 1800km.....
SPOT track(via Jason Jonas' most excellent spotwalla.com ): http://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=5ae250a4e98cae093
Cheers!
