Spyder Wars: Tamborine Man
Todays plan for the bike was to take
a nice ride no matter how short it seemed up Mt Tamborine though I had no ideas
after that. I first had to navigate the roads to Nerang where I was going to
meet up with a family member and have a chat while waiting for the time to come
where I would need to meet Paul and Barb at Dreamworld. That was the plan and I
was sticking to it.
The road was busy on the way up, but
not bumper to bumper busy though I was happy to follow someone who was going
10kms below the speed limit though we did pass one car that had broken down
along the way that was luckily not an accident, but the traffic had slowed down
and flowed again soon afterwards. I had to stop at a nearby park for the loo
before heading to a local caravan park in Nerang where I spent some time
drinking coffee and chin wagging before it was time to move on and meet up with
people at Dreamworld. The theme park was actually not very far up the road from
where I was drinking coffee and by that time I wanted to visit the service
station not for fuel. My problem with that place seems to be that I keep
missing the entrance and have to do the block. Dreamworld was actually across
the road from the highway so I could easily get over there.
The ride over to the theme park was
different as I had not gone that way before. I may have, but I cant remember as
the last time I went there was when I was in high school and I finished that in
2000. With no idea where I was going other than following the signs around the
roundabout I found there were two more that I had to follow. The carpark did
look pretty full from where I was riding, but once I ended up down the far end
the place was partially empty. It was hot too so I was looking for at least a
little bit of shade. Where I parked wasn’t very shady, but I would leave my
bike there while waiting for Paul and Barb to turn up. I spotted them once I
had walked past the Big Brother sign. Less than impressed with that
monstrosity, but I went looking for their bikes. We made plans to head up the mountain
where we would have lunch. Then we would make our way down the mountain and go
our separate ways
With the song ‘Leader of the Pack’ in
my head we headed up the mountain like the blind leading the blind as I had no
idea which roads I was supposed to take and I do have a habit of taking the
wrong turn off and going in a complete different direction. The signage was
actually really easy to follow and I did not need to stress. Some parts were
steep going up the mountain, but I only met one truck that was slowly going up
and there was an overtaking lane so he was far, far behind us. We made it to
North Tamborine though from there I was actually lost and had no idea where we
would have to go from there. I was actually starting to feel hungry and after
passing through the main part of North Tamborine I stopped to ask what we are
going to do. Food was on everyones mind so we had to turn around. I lost the
other two bikes, but found them again as I had gone too far. Back in the town I
found a carpark and the two bikes went on ahead where they turned around and
parked behind me. The carpark was more a drain for the water to flow when
raining. I really do not want to be there when it was raining.
We did find a restaurant to eat right
in front of us called The Monkey Tree Restaurant. While we were wandering to
get a seat and the flirty waitress was crooning that she wanted to ride our
bikes, I realised I was missing something very important. That important thing
was the all powerful key to my bike and I suspected that the key was safely
hidden in my storage compartment in the front of my bike. I was panicking just
a little bit as I looked in my bag and I really did not want to break my boot
or call NRMA for assistance. Looking out at my bike I was wondering if I should
have a look at the thing that is sticking out of the bike. I walk over and find
the key is still in the bloody bike. Crisis averted, I locked up the bike,
pocketed the key and headed to the table to enjoy lunch. I really do think the
firty waitress like Paul who seemed oblivious to her. I liked her accent though
and they were happy to chat away. She was funny when she said she didn’t give
out cards this year. ‘I don’t speak English, mate’. That was funny. I still
think she wanted to ride with Paul as she never did go out to have a look at
our bikes.
Once lunch was polished off we were heading towards Canungra
that would take us past Tamborine. We did pass through what was a little blink
and miss it town, but I was unsure if it was Tamborine. Still I did see several
winerys and pass the sign for the glow worm caves. I will have to look at the
glow worms another time when I head up. I did find some interesting objects
near the bottom of the hill like a war memorial on the side of the road. The
turn off to North Tamborine and Canungra showed up a heap of bikes that had
been ridden up the hill. We made our way to a set of traffic lights and a small
park where I had the idea to have a photo shoot with the ‘Welcome to Tamborine Mountain’
sign. We did the usual Christmas stuff with the Bah Humbug hat and the bikes
were tinselled, which was scary that they had taken the stuff with them. After
our little bit of fun, we were ready to head down the hill. We all would be
going our separate ways once we were down as Paul was heading up the coast and
Barb and I were going to separate in Nerang where we would go our own ways. The
way down the hill was a little hairy especially when there were several hairpin
turns that greeted us like old friends. I had a Harley bringing up the rear and
I was making sure I was slow going around as I have heard about the reputation
of the roads. Once I felt like my rear wheel wanted to go another way, but that
could have been my imagination. Once at the bottom of the mountain I nosed my
bike towards the Gold Coast and Nerang where I would be following the Beaudesert
– Nerang road away from the town of Canungra not that I knew I was at the time.
Barb soon caught up as she had been saying goodbye to Paul when I went past. I wasn’t
stopping as I had a very friendly Harley behind me. I lost Barb in Nerang where
I needed a pit stop and then headed down the coast while she was on her way to
find Sanctuary Cove.
