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The last ride of 2008 - Oz Zoo Sunshine Coast

Mike.C

Mike.C

High Miler
Joined
Oct 27, 2008
Messages
982
Location
Brisbane
This year Christmas falling on a Thursday gave us an excuse to close up early on the Friday beforehand and take a long overdue holiday for several weeks :woohoo: :woohoo:

As we had scored a couple of free tickets to Australia Zoo by doing a deal with a customer - you know the sort of thing - yep I'll do the job for you by tomorrow morning, but you'll have to make it worth my while! Some might remember Steve Irwin "The Crocodile Hunter" love him or hate him, the zoo was started by his dad and is now a major tourist attraction on the Sunshine Coast about 1.5 hours north of Brisbane at Beerwah. Inland from there is the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, the Brisbane Bikers' playground. Full of great mountain roads, good accomodation, speed cameras and cops :blink: . Well to put it in context, they are mountians as far as Australian bikers are concerned, those in Europe might call them wee hills....

So in perparation we had the Nevada serviced by Marcel at worksop 2000 Moss street (great mechanic, really cares about what he does) and I changed the oil in it now that we have 20 Litres of the Penrite SIN 10 - Thanks Pete! I also took the Breva to him for the 10,000km service and had him give it the once over as the warranty runs out in Febuary. I decided to change the oil and filter myself to save him doing it as he was really pushed for time just before Christmas..

So purchased some filters
 
And then realised that I needed a wench to fit it, so panic calls to Mario at Thunder Bikes in Perth and one arrived by Express post, great service.
 
Now problem was, I found out that they had some time ago changed the design of the UFI filters to be 14 flute and use a cheaper wench (the old one was $180 so Mario told me - bloody hell).... problem was I now realised when I went to take the old one off that it was the older type and my brand spankin new wench wouldn't fit.

Now at this point I would like to make it clear that I am a Ag college and on the job farm trained mechanic, I was taught to use what is to hand. To achieve that end it is often not pretty, but I have over many years learned to get the job done and the end result has always been a road ready machine...


So in true shed mechanicin form when in doubt get the hammer out, and I resorted to the tried and true screw driver through the filter trick. Problem is I was in a hurry as it was 9:30pm the night before we were to depart, and The Minister was getting nervous that the Breva was in bits on the back verandah..... so nervous she took it upon herself to record the proceedings aand resulting mess :dry:
 
Which I was responsible for, and promised profusely would be completely cleaned up and leave NO marks or oil residue on the concrete. Which I can now report was the absolute truth .... well sort off : :eek:hmy:
 
In the end as promised, all was good and Friday lunch we were away, bloody hot so glad to be moving. Left Brisbane via the back way and up through Mount Mee - a very popular ride with some great roads which meander their way up into the hills behind the Sunshine Coast with some nice places to stop for a breather.
 
And some stunning views. The mountians (?) in the pic are part of the Glasshouse Mountains, don't ask me why they are called that, I am sure there is some quaint reason.
 
The larger pointy one is Mount Tiborogargon, Hmmm no maybe it is Mt Beerwah - actually I have no idea, anyway they looks nice!
 
We stayed at Clouds of Montville, what a host - I can't recommend the place enough - they redifined biker friendly accomodation in my opinion! They put our bikes in their garage and even drove us to dinner each night no charge - in his words "so we don't have to deal with helmet hair" never thought I would care, but there you go something new every day!

Saturday woke to find it pissing down, so left the Nevada in the garage and I dinked The Minster down to Australia zoo - what a great place, even if it is a tourist trap.

Saw the Guzzi of the animal world (well a Guzzi as I pilot one anyway).
 
And for those who are interested, some iconic Aussie critters. As well as Sumatran tigers and a host of other native and exotic wildlife including of course CROCS!!!!
 
Heading home Sunday the weather was perfect, overcast and about 20-25C and the roads are like runways, but have been the result of some horrific bike accidents, so are well signed and great fun.
 
With some really great twisties, I wish I had had the new Hyperpro suspension on the Breva but time did not permit so will have to go back up and try it out :woohoo: :woohoo:
 
What a great weekend, I am soooo lucky that Sally (The Minister for Stelvio Finance) has taken up bike riding and we can enjoy it together. Aint she great! :*





Postscript: There are hundreds of K's of dirt fire trails and tracks through the forests on the Sunshine Coast waiting to be explored, but that's a story for another day...
 
Indeed Mike, nice post and ride! Love to see you "operating" on your B, nice job there mate. Hope you got the concrete clean. :huh:

Now, about that info on Sally's Nevada for the Registry. ;)
 
Hmmm, a Galapagos turtle up there? Not Lonely George, I presume? :D
 
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