Thebine Ride: 19th August 2007

by Warren Walker

A total of nine bikes left the Quay Street car park on a cool and overcast day. We travelled via Goodwood Road to Childers where John Burridge left us to return home. The remainder of us continued on to the service station outside Maryborough for a rest stop and to allow some to top up their tanks. Continuing on we turned off at Maryborough onto the road to Biggendon and then onto the back road to Tiaro through Mungar. Passing through Tiaro we turned off the highway again and took the road less travelled via Gundiah and onto Theebine.
On arrival at the Theebine pub we discussed the option of the lookouts at the Gunalda Range repeater station and weather radar station. Various reasons were cited for staying at the pub before John Alexandra and Tim decided they were keen to go. So the three of us left to have a look. We went via the old Gunalda Range road (boom gates are meant to be ridden around, aren’t they?) before undertaking the steep climb to the look out areas. Here we were rewarded with spectacular views despite the overcast conditions.
We returned to the pub at a more rapid pace with Tim and I having to chase John who had expressed a desire to have some fun on the series of tight 40 Km/Hr corners between the highway and Theebine. He wasn’t going to be put off by the small matter of a slow coaster bus which got in his way so a small amount of off road work and he was past. It must have given the driver quite a start because he pulled up and allowed Tim and myself to pass easily. Thanks John. We continued on in a spirited manner to rejoin the others.
On hearing a bus load of people were arriving for lunch we decided to get in quick and placed orders for lunch from the customary Sunday barbecue. The bus load of elderly people arrived shortly after with Harry appearing to be popular with several of the ladies stopping to chat with him.
While lunch was good we were forced to eat in the backyard to escape the load music being played by live musicians, with some people expressing doubt over their musical ability. It was suggested that the elderly customers from the bus were able to cope with the volume by switching off their hearing aids but for the rest of us it was simply too loud.
Due to work commitments Veronica was forced to depart early with Dave and Tim electing to accompany her home. The rest of us waited until 1:30 for the possible arrival of Peter and Tony who were returning from an over night trip to Brisbane. We returned the way we had come after deciding it was less hectic and much more pleasant than the highway. Stopping at the Torbanlea Mobil we wondered why John had departed from the plan and pulled up at the servo at Sexy Coffee. John duly arrived to join us for coffee and explain his wayward actions.
Preparing to leave who should be coming down the highway but Peter and Tony. They had arrived at Theebine about 10-15 minutes after we had left. A quick conversation on the servo forecourt ensured where we checked out Peters new Triumph Sprint. We left to do battle with the highway traffic before pulling up at the normal spot outside Harvey Normans.
A more thorough inspection of Peter’s new bike was made by all while Peter extolled its virtues and performance over the weekend. He is obviously well pleased with his choice.
We all headed for home after travelling around 360 kms for the day. The weather had been kind to us and although we had travelled over some sections of wet road the only rain of significance we had encountered was while we were at the pub. We had enjoyed the back roads and found them to be a pleasant and relaxing alternative and agreed that the highway sections of the days travel were heavily trafficked, hectic and nowhere near as enjoyable.
Thanks to all who rode and thank you to Kevin for acting as tail end Charlie for the day.