Today dawned fine and clear and the sun shining off the water at Redcliffe was beautiful.  Ruth donned leathers and helmet for her first ever ride on a motorcycle – riding pillion with Meredith!

We took off through the northern suburbs and out towards Samsonvale, where a group of Donnie’s family and friends flagged us down in front of the hall with a $100 donation and hugs and congratulations.

Then on through picturesque Dayboro and on to the Mt Mee Tourist Drive.  This has been described as one of the best motorcycling roads in Australia, with every conceivable type of corner and camber!

The girls rode it beautifully and we stopped at the Glasshouse Mountains lookout on top of Mt Mee to draw breath, talk about the ride, and celebrate!  Then down a fantastic stretch of twisties to D’Aguilar and another break to plot our next leg of the ride.

We had read about another great riding road, which had a detour with a biker café which had a mob of wild kangaroos and decided to detour from our planned course to see if we could find it.  The directions said take Old Gympie Rd north of Cabooolture.

We found Old Gympie Rd which was great fast riding for 10kms or so, then missed a turn as it peeled off to the left.  After backtracking and getting back on to Old Gypmie Rd, the bitumen disappeared after about 100m and we found ourselves dirt tracking it through the forest and pineapple plantations.

Deep in the forest we saw a 3 foot long Goanna on the road which scuttled off into the bush, then just around the corner there was a washout with a 20% incline up the other side, all gravel.

The group had ridden so solidly on the gravel so far we thought it worth a try, but Megan and Meredith tested it first on their own bikes.  They rode up no trouble and found the gravel only continued for another 500m.

The whole group saddled up and rode up the slope without a hitch and back out on to a major road.  At this stage we figured the rest of the route we were supposed to take was either gravel, or we couldn’t find the right road, so we bailed back to Wamuran to fill up the smaller bikes, before shooting up Beerburrum Rd to Australia Zoo.

The whole group went in for lunch and for Gail and Liz to see kangaroos and koalas.  They did all that and more, also meeting Terri Irwin and getting her autograph.

After lunch it was back through Landsborough and more petrol before taking the best road of the ride so far – up through Maleny, Montville, Mapleton and back down through Nambour to our overnight stop at Maroochydore.

Two local Dragon Boaters were waiting for us along with a photographer and reporter from the Sunshine Coast Daily.  By the time we had photos taken, we had barely time for a shower before heading to the Waterfront Hotel where we had been invited to speak to the local HOG Chapter meeting.

After such an epic day of riding, a drink was definitely in order, so we shuttled the group down in the van rather than riding.  The HOG meeting were great and after hearing our stories gave the group a standing ovation, bringing us all to tears.

Then it was back to the Youth Hostel for a good night’s sleep before the next day of our adventure!