Bushwalking in the blood

This is a photograph of my grandfather bushwalking on the Baw Baw plateau near Melbourne about 80 years ago.  

This was me about to go bushwalking in the Bunya mtns in the 1960's. There is a distinct similarity about the socks and walking stick. Bushwalking in the blood?

Surfing in kayaks

Taking to the surf for the first time in the sea kayak was great fun. Bribie was the venue with Damiano giving paddling tips and taking the photos of me enjoying the waves.

Wednesday Morning air time.

A great morning for a mtb ride out in the Daisy Hill forest. 18 of us took to the singletrack with our usual skill and constant chatter ;-) There was a bit of air to be had, with Kylie being the winner of most air time and most style.


Flyboy gets a lot of air at work and also got some through the rock garden on TOL today. Here he is keeping it solid.


ABQ took to the air on Koala but landed softly. Here ABQ shows his RR attack style so as not to get any more air over Stonehenge

50k ... its been a while.

Original photo by FPK (this one highly edited)

Its been a while since I rode 50km on the mountain bike ... so it was time to get out and join the Dirt Dogs Glasshouse Mountains tour. A very enjoyable ride of 50km over the best trails that the area had to offer.

... and there was only one patch of mud :-)

A dual suspension single speed ... not something you see everyday.

Turtle, stingray ... SHARK :-0

The plan was a short paddle from Victoria Pt to the northern end of Macleay Island via Coochie .... but with the arrival of a strong southerly change, Kev's inaugural voyage of the "White Knight" was to be some what shortened.

With 20 knots of wind gusting 25 and forecast to get stronger, some of us managed to paddle part of the way to Macleay. On the way, a small turtle surfaced near us, there was also a stingray taking to the air as it flew out of the water. I also noticed the dorsal fin of a shark ..... a SHARK!!!  :-0 .... not more than 7 metres away. I'd estimate it to be about 1.5 - 2m long ... so not that big, and it wasn't interested in us (that we knew of) .... maybe that is why the stingray took to the air ???

An enjoyable and somewhat challenging paddle at times.

Kev making final adjustments on the "White Knight"

Karen gets the jump on Kev and is first out of the starting gates.

Extreme Vespa washing

While most of us go to great lengths to save water, someone went to extreme lengths the other morning to wash their Vespa.

Summer at Byron

Summer means surfing at Byron. After 2 months without a decent swell, it was on for young and old when it did arrive.

Conditions ranged from 35knots southerlies to off shore winds on corderoy lines of swell to glassy mornings of waves to yourself.

Up the creek ... with a paddle.

Spent a very enjoyable few days paddling up the Noosa River. The sky looked ominous as we head out across Lake Cootharaba.

but the weather cleared for a perfect time on the river

... and a lot of time in and under the river as well  :-)

There are so many great places to visit ... so little time.

Christmas Day on the Bay

What can I say?

started Christmas Day

on the Bay

What better way?

It must be Christmas

There was the sound of jingle bells in Daisy Hill this morning which can mean only one thing ... its Christmas eve.  A dozen of us had a great ride again this morning finding all the hills we could to burn off as many calories before Christmas lunch tomorrow

The lads were all in the spirit of things wearing there Christmas antlers which they had to take off before Stonehenge  ;-)

Have a great and safe Christmas 

Summer nights

Summer in Qld means that it is often better to ride at night than in the day to beat the heat. On the shortest night of the year, seven of us got out into the wilds of Daisy Hill to enjoy the dark, moonless but pleasantly cool evening.

There were bugs a plenty but we didn't notice them at the time. Each one of the dots on the image is a bug reflecting the flash.

There were also plenty of koalas out as well.

Kids rides

Its holiday time so its good to get the 10 year olds out on the singletrack ... a new generation of mountain bikers in training.  and its always good to try new bikes :-)

Have a great Christmas !!!

Daisy Hill morning rides in review

Well its that time of year when we look back on the year that was .... and looking back at the regular Wednesday morning rides at Daisy Hill ....  it was a great year.

To view the photo highlights:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Avjh3oB-R4w

Bushwalking the Budawangs ...

Anyone interested in bushwalking may get a laugh from the fashions in the 80's. If you haven't been to the Budawangs south of Nowra, they are definitely a great place to walk. No mtbing though.

For wide screen video:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=X-ao3PK4MUI

hail the mighty Yeti

Finally I got to ride a Wednesday morning again after a few weeks off with wet weather and bike out of service. Fitness has gone down noticeably as heart rate was nearly maxing out on one of the climbs :-O

The lads were impressed by the new frame on the Yeti and held it high so they could worship it ;-)

the return of the YETI

The raw 575 has arrived ... a big thumbs up.

A great day on the bay

After four days of rain and storms it was great to see a clear, sunny day. Four of us spent the day paddling from Victoria Pt over to Coochie, down the eastern side of the Macleay Island to Karragarra Island for lunch. WIth the ebbing tide, we headed north along the western side of Macleay then back across to Coochie and Victoria Pt. All up we paddled 27km .... certainly a great day on the bay.

Plenty of dugongs and turtles to be seen on the way.

For more info on our route and export it to Google Earth, have a look at the gps track on motionbased. com. Just follow the link below:


http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=68193&unitSystemPkValue=1&episodePk.pkValue=7223520

Count the jelly beans

Jelly beans? Sea kayaks more likely  ;-) 

Spent the weekend at the Sea Kayak Symposium on the Gold Coast ... an excellent weekend with too many highlights to count ... although seeing the photos/videos and meeting the lads from the Australia to New Zealand sea kayak paddle was certainly up there. Learning to eskimo roll was also fun.

This is not today

No Daisy Hill Wednesday morning ride this week as the tracks are sodden after much rain over the last few days.

This photo was taken last week on the commute to work ... riding along the river is a great way to start the day !

It may not be white ...

It may not be white but I am still happy to get a replacement frame :-)

Within the week, the new raw frame will be swapped in and it will be out with the white (tears welling) :-{ The new frame will be lighter (no Noosa dirt) and quieter (no cracks).... you won't hear me coming.