Kingaroy Overnighter with GT
Date Saturday, 21st April 2018 to Sunday, 22nd April 2018
Ride: Kingaroy Overnighter
Ride Leaders: GT & Scott
Ride Reporter: Mr Do Bee
Given the weather forecasts, this weekend was expected to be a rainy one but after some early morning fog, the day turned out to be a beauty.
A great turnout for the ride as well. GT was our Ride Leader, Splat drove the support vehicle and was Tail-End-Charlie. We also had Jethro & Coco, Blush & Wayno, Stoney & Happy Feet, He-Devil & She-Devil, High Beam, Cowboy, Mr Doo Bee & Cackles. Scott & Barb met us at Kingaroy with their Police escort.
GT turned up at Browns Plains with a new accessory for the Beamer, a large esky for his pillion. That esky, as we would find out later, was filled with some yummy cheeses, dips & crackers for Saturday night’s pre-dinner snacks. It also had our delicious selection of brekky treats.
GT lead us out onto the Motorway and then down the Centenary Highway to the Cunningham Highway, down to Amberley and out the back of Rosewood. Some nice riding over to the Warrego Highway, crossed over and stopped at some roadworks on the roadside to regroup. This is when High Beam told GT that a bathroom visit was urgently needed. Her exact words were “I have to pee”. GT took it has “I have a bee”.
Luckily for High Beam’s bladder, Jethro pulled the group over at the next Servo because he obviously heard it as “pee”. Nonetheless, by the time we stopped, High Beam was bouncing all over the place trying to get unkitted to head off to the loo. Splat tried to hold her back, but she was on a mission. Eventually, GT, who had headed off into the distance with Stoney & Happy Feet, came back to check on us. Loo breaks over for a few more “weak bladdered” peeps and we were off again.
We headed over to the Brisbane Valley Highway and passed much visited towns like Esk and Toogoolawah, onto the Dag Highway and up past Blackbutt and Yarraman. Splat looked down the New England Highway and had a shudder. His mishap was about 12 months ago.
GT’s plan was to refuel at the United in Nanango but as we arrived, it had turned into a building site. U-Turn back to the BP further back. In this day and age, it is still remarkable to see a Service Station that does not link its bowsers to the cashiers. They still have a bloke outside writing our total bill into a raffle book to take inside to pay. Great service though. I spilled some fuel on my tank and whilst I was finishing up, he was off to get water and paper towels. Once refueled, we were ready to go and head back down the Dag Highway.
A small way down the highway was Pottique Lavender Farm which was a stop to sample some Lavender Wines and have a wander through the wares of the shop there. After a few bottles were purchased, we were off again.
Our destination for lunch was Dusty Hill Wines and Prendergast’s Irish Tavern. The Tavern was located near Lake Barambah and is situated between Wyalla & Murgon. You had to travel well off the beaten track to get to this place but obviously it had a good reputation as there were a fair few cars in the lot as we rolled up.
As we gathered out the front of the tavern, we were greeted by one of the staff asking if we were GT’s group. They showed us to our table and offered table service instead of having to head up to the bar to pay like all the other sods. Great selection of foods, decent sized plates, very tasty. All of the food arrived at a similar time and the staff were friendly and very helpful. I would thoroughly recommend this as a location for lunch if you are headed out this way.
After lunch, the girls headed around to the other side of the building to the wine tasting areas and some of the boys headed off to the fudge tasting area.
Quote at Wine Tasting:-
Wayne – What are you doing Wife?
Debbie – Getting drunk, Husband
Once we had sampled a few of each area, it was time to head off. Remember that rain that was promised for the weekend, well here it came. Cackles and I had taken the time to get some wet weather gear on Friday night before heading in to see the Broncos get humiliated by the Storm so we were eager to give the gear a bit of a tester.
Having previously just winged it on previous rides and paid the price with shoes full of water etc, I was not taking any chances this time.
Cue whole group getting into their wet weather gear. If you have ever been on a ride where adults try to put on this stuff whilst still being fully kitted, you will know that it is a funniest thing ever. What made it worse is that it took us about 30 minutes to get fully dressed, by the time we headed off, he didn’t really catch any further rain into Kingaroy. He got a small shower, but it wouldn’t have drenched us too much.
Stoney did make a point though that as we passed through Murgon, the roads were super wet, so the time wasted on the wet weather gear may have actually saved us from a drenching in that area.
We had intended heading to another Winery but the group all agreed that we should head to our accommodation at Kingaroy and start the relaxing part of the trip.
Our destination in Kingaroy was the Pepper Tree Cabins. The owner was able to put us all in one area and well away from the other residents. He provided us with a couple of tables to set up our nibblies. No time to settle, off to the Bottle-O to get some drinks for the night celebration. Some tension between Cackles and Splat when Cackles bought the last 2 six-packs of Bundy Bears. She did offer him one can to appease him but it didn’t help.
By the time we got back, Barb & Scott had arrived. The Police car parked nearby looked like they had received a Police Escort to the cabins.
So, out the pillion Esky from earlier in the day, GT provided us with cheeses, dips and chips. Some wine from earlier in the day completed the picture. Pizzas later in the night to fill the void and were happy. Great company made for a great night.
One great conversation from the night centered around Karen (Happy Feet) and Max (He-Devil). Now, Karen had been chatting with Max all day but Max has been ignoring her – full on ignoring her. Karen had had enough and brought it up at the table.
This sort-of how it went:-
Karen – “Why have you been ignoring me all day Ken?”
Max – “My name is Max”
Karen – “I have been calling you Ken all day and you just have been ignoring me”
Max – “Yeah, cause my name is Max”
After much belly laughing and further hilarious discussions, Max’s catch-cry was the Destiny’s Child hit song “Say my name, say my name”
Some wisdom from the Gogo Mobile man – “M-A-X, not the Ken, Karen always thinks it’s the Ken …”
So, if anyone sees Ken around, tell him to stop being so ignorant. Karen is not impressed.
Day Two – Happy Feet checked on us all to see if we were still breathing and got us up for Brekky. Out of the Esky came our brekky treats as well. Ham and eggs and fruit salad. Splat went off and got us all a coffee so we started the day in a happy mood.
Today’s trek would take us to the Bunya Mountains. Scott was our Ride Leader for today and Splat was Tail-End-Charlie. There were some picturesque scenery heading up to the mountains. On the top, we stopped for a coffee and GT & High Beam headed off for a walk in the bush.
After a brief stay, we headed off to lunch at Crows Nest. We lost about half the group as we headed towards Crows Nest and they headed home. After a lovely lunch at the Grand Old Crow, Scotty led us down through Murphys Creek and out to our ice-cream stop at BP Gatton. Hugs and handshakes, then we headed home. What a great weekend. Thank so much to GT for a well-organised weekend and for being Ride Leader for Day one. Thanks to Scotty for Ride Leader duties on Day two and thanks to Splat for Tail-End-Charlie duties for the whole weekend. Many thanks to all that attended. I, personally, had a blast and hope we can do it all again next year.
Mr Do Bee
