Sunshine Coast

[Cormanus]

I'm almost embarrassed posting this given the conditions many of the Forum's members are enduring. I tell myself it's to help encourage you to believe that, but the time the Ferret's new bike is delivered, the weather will have turned and you'll be on the road again.

I had to go out on some errands this morning. In spite of what follows, it rained a bit and the CB1100 and I got a little wet. There was a bit of a landmark as the bike passed 7,000 kms (4,375 miles).



I went to a town called Yandina (map of the ride) and then over to the coast. As I headed to the coast, the weather cleared, so here's a couple of photos of the Pacific Ocean (in which I later swam).



The bloody great lump of rock in the background is said to be the second largest monolith in the Southern Hemisphere after Uluru (Ayres Rock). It's called Mt Coolum and towers over what used to be the Hyatt Coolum Resort which hosted the Australian PGA until 2012. Only golf fans will have the slightest interest in this piece of trivia.






The photo below is taken approaching the farthest point you can see in the photo above.

 

[Aussieflyer]

Great pics Cormanus ... totally envious of your riding opportunities in that part if Australia. Keep the pics coming. Cheers A.

 

[Cormanus]

Great pics Cormanus ... totally envious of your riding opportunities in that part if Australia. Keep the pics coming. Cheers A.

Ride up and see us sometime.

I know it'd keep me off the bike, but a few days really solid rain would be pretty damned good at the moment.

 

[the Ferret]

Sweet pics Cormanus! Never seen the Pacific Ocean ( been to the Atlantic many times), but the Pacific is a couple thousand miles from here..however..I plan to ride to it and swim ( or at least dip a toe) in it this summer. Got close last fall when my wife and I toured Montana, Idaho, eastern Washington, Oregon and Wyoming, but fell a couple hundred miles short of actually seeing the Pacific.

One thing I notice in your pics is the road surfaces always seem nice. Do you guys get potholes?

 

[redbirds_imp]

Love it when you fellows in Australia post photos. We have always wanted to travel there and the great pics always get me fired up to go. Cheers!

 

[CA200_imp]

Great pictures , Cormanus - after 5" of snow today but will will warm to almost 33F today I will have to go out to the garge and make
vroom vroom sounds.

 

[Cormanus]

Sweet pics Cormanus! Never seen the Pacific Ocean ( been to the Atlantic many times), but the Pacific is a couple thousand miles from here..however..I plan to ride to it and swim ( or at least dip a toe) in it this summer. Got close last fall when my wife and I toured Montana, Idaho, eastern Washington, Oregon and Wyoming, but fell a couple hundred miles short of actually seeing the Pacific.

One thing I notice in your pics is the road surfaces always seem nice. Do you guys get potholes?

The road surfaces around here are, generally, pretty good. We do get pot holes, but they seem to get filled pretty quickly. We get a lot more of them when it rains, because, when it does, we get a lot of it. For example, one day in January 2013 we had just under 9 inches of rain. The monthly total was 21.6 inches which is nearly the annual average from Hobart in Tasmania. Sounds more dramatic in millimeters—550 mls for the month with 220 in one day.

My cage is a VW Jetta 2.0L diesel. In my ignorance when I bought it (second hand) I didn't do enough due diligence on the wheels. They're alloy and look good; they're a decent size, so the car handles pretty well. But the tyres are low profile. Actually, I probably would have bought it anyway; some lessons you have to learn the hard way.

One dark night in the pouring rain, heading down the road at around 60 kph, I hit a pot hole, blew out the front tyre and totaled the rim. I cracked the back rim as well, but that was repairable. Cost me the best part of $1,500 to replace the rim and get a couple of new tyres.

So, yes, we get potholes. We also get roads washing away when the rain gets serious. But generally speaking our roads are well maintained.

Finally, we have dirt roads too. I was on one today. Pretty enough, but they make me a bit nervous.





Turned into dirt ...

Great pictures , Cormanus - after 5" of snow today but will will warm to almost 33F today I will have to go out to the garge and make
vroom vroom sounds.

Thanks CA200. I fell about laughing when I read this. But it's helpful. When (if) the rains come, I'll know what to do: stand in the garage making vroom vroom sounds. Maybe I'll lightly clench my right fist and twist it clockwise at the same time.

 

[IndianRider_imp]

Beautiful roads and ride

 

[enzo_imp]

George,
is that seat dampener any good?

 

[OldF7Guy_imp]

Great pictures. I always like seeing them of other places. Cormanus, talking about the road conditions and your VW made me wonder how much you guys pay for gas down under? I paid 3.39/gallon yesterday and I cuss everytime I fill up because part of our price is for road taxes and it seems like our roads are in terrible shape. I was just curious.

 

[Cormanus]

George,
is that seat dampener any good?

Yes, mate, it makes a difference. Takes a lot longer for my bum to get sore. It's an AirHawk. Can't remember what it cost and I'm not home so I can't check, but I will if you want.

Edit: Due to the wonders of the internet, I've discovered it was $139.90. The agent is in Noosaville. Aussie Biker Tours. Pterodactyl in Sydney also has one and recommended it to me.

Great pictures. I always like seeing them of other places. Cormanus, talking about the road conditions and your VW made me wonder how much you guys pay for gas down under? I paid 3.39/gallon yesterday and I cuss everytime I fill up because part of our price is for road taxes and it seems like our roads are in terrible shape. I was just curious.

OldF7Guy, we pay around A$1.50-A$1.60 a litre. My arithmetic is pretty ghastly but I think that means you'd pay around US$6.36 a gallon using Australian prices. Petrol's expensive here, but to get a real comparison you'd have to factor in relative cost if living and that sort of stuff. That's way beyond me, I fear. If you want to check my maths, I used today's exchange rate of A$1 = US$0.89.

 

[davidsargee_imp]

Ouch, $6.36/gallon, that stings.

Thanks for the great pics, Cormanus, I always enjoy them.

I thought about Australia for my spring road trip, unfortunately, the CB is not amphibious. Seriously, I have always wanted to visit the land "Down Under", just haven't had the opportunity. One of these days....

 

[Cormanus]

Ouch, $6.36/gallon, that stings.

Thanks for the great pics, Cormanus, I always enjoy them.

I thought about Australia for my spring road trip, unfortunately, the CB is not amphibious. Seriously, I have always wanted to visit the land "Down Under", just haven't had the opportunity. One of these days....

Look us up if you ever get here, David. I'm not sure whether anywhere hires CBs. I doubt it given how they've sold here.