We loaded up at our usual staring point in Redcliffe with a view to a full day's ride. Lunch was at the Crows Nest Pistol Club and then the homeward stretch TBC, depending on time, traffic and weather. Brenda and Michael were on the mightly CL1200, a BMW flat twin cruiser sometimes also referred to as the "Mothership". Peter was on his Harley and Trevor on his BMW GTL1600. On this trip I was on the Rainmaker, the old V-Star 650.
The first stage was out to Kilcoy where we stopped at Yowie Park. A nice leisurely run without too much traffic at all. The markets were on and so we stopped for a stickybeak and a chat. Here we are, inspecting the mothership.
After a good look around, we road up through Blackbutt, Yarraman and then turned left down through Cooyar and eventually to the Crows Nest Pistol Club. About 4.5 kilometres of gravel but not too bad of the main road and we were greeted by a great bunch of enthusiastic shooters. Unfortunately I had my helmet cam set up incorrectly and the video feed didn't work out.
It was the pistol club's Christmas shoot and so after some burgers, Peter and I just had to try out a few pistols. Peter is ex-US Navy and I'm ex RAAF, so a little bit of interservice rivalry sparked up. I've not shot a pistol since 1996 myself and that was a nine millimetre Browning. I'm getting old as well and have struggled to be consistent with larger calibre rifles so I wasn't too confident. Peter can't recall when he last shot a pistol and his usual service pistol was a .45. Nonetheless it wasn't too long before the inter-service rivalry sparked up and with both did fairly well on the Ruger .22 pistols. Later came out the .357 magnum ( with .38 ammunition ). Peter clearly aced this one.
Anyhow, back on the bikes, down through Corws Nest, Carbarlah, Highfields, Murphy's Creek and then onto the Warrego Highway. We pulled into the BP at Blacksoil and said our goodbyes as we split into different directions shortly thereafter.
Our next ride will be in mid January 2014. On the 8 February 2014 I'm off to the 2014 Adventure Travel Film Festival. My route will be down the Pacific Highway to Gippsland and then inland to Bright. After that I hope to ride to South Australia again and this time go as far as Port Lincoln to check out the Tuna fishing. That will depend on my university studies etc, so fingers crossed it will all work out. I'm determined to camp as much as possible this time and have changed a lot of my kit and the way it is packed to be more convenient and lighter as well.
The first stage was out to Kilcoy where we stopped at Yowie Park. A nice leisurely run without too much traffic at all. The markets were on and so we stopped for a stickybeak and a chat. Here we are, inspecting the mothership.
It was the pistol club's Christmas shoot and so after some burgers, Peter and I just had to try out a few pistols. Peter is ex-US Navy and I'm ex RAAF, so a little bit of interservice rivalry sparked up. I've not shot a pistol since 1996 myself and that was a nine millimetre Browning. I'm getting old as well and have struggled to be consistent with larger calibre rifles so I wasn't too confident. Peter can't recall when he last shot a pistol and his usual service pistol was a .45. Nonetheless it wasn't too long before the inter-service rivalry sparked up and with both did fairly well on the Ruger .22 pistols. Later came out the .357 magnum ( with .38 ammunition ). Peter clearly aced this one.
Anyhow, back on the bikes, down through Corws Nest, Carbarlah, Highfields, Murphy's Creek and then onto the Warrego Highway. We pulled into the BP at Blacksoil and said our goodbyes as we split into different directions shortly thereafter.
Our next ride will be in mid January 2014. On the 8 February 2014 I'm off to the 2014 Adventure Travel Film Festival. My route will be down the Pacific Highway to Gippsland and then inland to Bright. After that I hope to ride to South Australia again and this time go as far as Port Lincoln to check out the Tuna fishing. That will depend on my university studies etc, so fingers crossed it will all work out. I'm determined to camp as much as possible this time and have changed a lot of my kit and the way it is packed to be more convenient and lighter as well.