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outh East Queensland R,, rds & Pies: NeoY C I X J ~t C I

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n the southeastern corner of Queensland, Australia, lies a weaith of great riding county I was fortunate enough to meet up with some fellow riders back in August to enjoy a day's riding on some great roads only a stone's throw from Surfers Paradise. It all started when my wife and family made a quick trip to Queensland to celebrate a family birthday. I dropped a question on the Yahoo FJ group asking what the weather was like in the pineapple state, and suddenly found myself overwhelmed with an offer to meet up with a group of fellow FJ owners for a day out. Those who remember the Yamaha FJ1200 will know that it still has a great following as a grunty sports tourer that eats up miles and pulls like a locomotive. A bike would be obtained by fair means or foul by the 'Convict scum', and I would be taken on a ride to remember. Threats of being dangled over the Purlingbrook Falls and pelted with rocks were included in the initiation ceremony into the Ozzie FJ group. I was filled with the anticipation of what was to come. After a few days of full on shopping I was ready to escape. Saturday morning dawned with the weather looking like rain may not be far away. I was picked up by Klavdy, ringleader of the Ozzie blokes and whisked away to his lair in Currumbin where a smart yellow Ducati 620 Monster waited in the driveway. The group of four other riders duly arrived from as far away as the Sunshine Coast. Hands were shaken as I put faces to the names I'd previously only met on the internet group. They apologised profusely for the lack of an FJ1200 for me but I was elated. I hadn't ridden a Ducati for a very long time and the little machine promised a great ride. It had been hired for the day for the very reasonable sum ot $1 50 from Scoot 'n' Toot on the Gold Coast Highway, at Miami. A cup of coffee and some chocolate brownie provided by Mrs

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sub-tropical rainforest. Agaln there were apologies, thls time for the low temperature. Cold? 20 degrees In August! The sun burst through many times durlng the course of the day and kept th~ngsnlce and toasty. F~rststop was the Purllngbrook Falls. We joked about the inlt~ationceremony and dangllng over the falls. At 110 metres stra~ghtdown they are an impressive sight. People with sufficient energy had found the~rway down the many walking tracks and looked like ants as they peered back up from the bottom. After the obligatory photos, we movedvn to a very nice raads~decafe In the bush where the hungner ones had their next snack. A small bus load of stghtseers had just booked up all the tables so we took up station outade. Fellow rider, X-ray, showed how he could still pull the birds when a noisy gang of lorikeets pounced from nowhere and tried to wrestle his burger from him. They scattered the crockery off the table much to everyone's amusement and had the cafe owner rushing out to apologlse for the nuisance. Continuing the climb, we headed to the Best of All Lookouts where the panorama of the bottom corner of Queensland and the top of New South Wales was spectacular. It was a little colder up there. Ow bregth from the quick hike up the t d In rlding gear produced steamy white chuck and the wind was wh~ppingup a bit. More photos W it was onward wlth the ride. I was findtng the little

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Klavdy topped up our fuel tanks, and after a quick consultation about the day's ride and an eyeballing of the map we took to the road. I was very pleasantfysurprised by the lightweight Ducati. After riding a dinosaur '92 FJ1200 for the last few years, the little Ducati seemed to dive into the corners with ease. With Klavdy bringing up the rear with his helmet cam videoing the inaugural Trans-Tasman FJ1200 Rally, we headed inlatld towards Mudgeeraba and wound our way up into the hills. The hinterland, as Queenslanderslike to call it, is home to a number of national parks including Springbrook. The roads get progressively mistier and climb steeply through