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Wing Notes |
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Newsletter
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February
2008 |
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www.auswingriders.com |
Australian Wing Riders Association (Qld) Inc |
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Wing Notes |
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OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE AUSTRALIAN WING RIDERS ASSOCIATION QLD INCORPORATED |
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EDITOR:.............Bevan Bradford Phone: 07 3822 3512 Mobile 0408 714 000 E-Mail: mail @ auswingriders.com Wing Notes is produced with the object
of keeping members informed about matters of interest to AWRA members. A electronic copy of each issue is
available to every financial member of the AWRA. Copies are also distributed to selected
motorcycle dealers in the greater |
Submissions for inclusion in Wing Notes should be with the Editor no later than the Friday following the monthly meeting, i.e.: Friday after the 1st Monday of the month. DISCLAIMER: Although Wing Notes will endeavour to reproduce submissions in their original form it reserves the right to edit submissions as it sees fit. Views expressed in contributed articles in Wing Notes are not necessarily those of the AWRA or the Editor. Wing Notes is produced with care, in good faith and from sources believed to be accurate at the time of writing. |
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Management
Committee: |
Meetings: |
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President Bill Carter (07) 5564 8996 E-mail: carterbm @ bigpond.net.au |
Secretary Val Thomas (07) 3848 0498 E-mail: secretary @ auswingriders.com |
Meetings are held on the 1st Monday of every month |
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Vice President Rob (Bear) Harriss 0409 052 218 E-mail: RHMRS @
iinet.com.au |
Treasurer Geoff Mead (07) 5529 5034 E-mail: meady @ auswingriders.com |
Next
meeting: New Farm Bowls Club, |
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February
meeting |
Upcoming activities: |
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23 February Social afternoon and dinner in Paddington 15/16 March Overnight ride to Armidale and home via 16 March Reg Jeffrey ride over the mountains 18/19 April AWRA (Qld) Inc Annual General Meeting in |
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The above photo could become a historical
artefact. This is the group that considered
and passed the revised constitution and it includes Ervin Reichert, a visitor
from Unfortunately, things went a bit pear shape on
Ervin’s last day with an injured back, he was unable to contact me as I ended
up in meetings all morning, I had no phone number for him and he had no email
for me to get in contact but Clint came to the rescue and showed him around
some before he headed home. Ervin really enjoyed his visit with us and is
looking forward to visits when the group goes to |
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The Editor Writes….. |
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The President Speaks…. |
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The Secretary’s Desk…. |
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Gidday all, Here it is, the combined January and February magazine. Thank you to those who have contributed this month and to those who have already submitted their ride reports for next months. That makes my job so much easier and means that we can actually produce a magazine. We now have a newly revised constitution that will see the Association into the future. The meeting created and allowed some spirited discussion and I hope made all members much more aware of the content of the constitution, the rules under which the AWRA exists and the responsibilities of the committee members. The February
meeting saw us with a visitor from The next big thing is our AGM. There will be some losses from the committee so be prepared to be nominated or to nominate someone to the committee. The nomination forms notification and details will be available on the website in the next few days. Start thinking, your association needs you. Have you booked your accommodation at the Jackie Howe Motel. Get in quick. It should be a big meeting with a lot of our Victorian members coming up for the weekend. For those that don’t know, the answer to last month’s rumour of who did Santa find, it was of course me. It’s taken a long time for me to succumb to the sirens song of the 1800 but it finally happened. While I’m not completely convinced yet, especially as all the little personalisations, like the CB, lights and chrome have disappeared, once they are fitted to the new one I’m sure that will change. I have to admit though, every time I tip it into a corner, I don’t need any convincing. Ride safe and don’t become a statistic. Bevan |
Hi all, It is a little late, but welcome to the New Year, and what a wet one it is so far. It just makes motorcycle riding that much more in tune with the elements, and it is great to see the dams getting a long overdue drink. On the club scene there has been some new activity, and a milestone that you all should be proud of. The activity
includes the planning for the Ulysses AGM in Townsville, our own AGM in On the subject of the AGM, it is in April this year if you haven’t booked your accommodation you will need to hurry. Call the Jackie Howe Motel on 1800 466 141 or you may not get in and have to stay somewhere else and be away from the action. Some of us will be going up on the Friday night, but others will come on Saturday. This is also the time of year you get to choose your clubs Management Committee so if you would like to participate on the Committee; the nomination forms are on our website. Members of the Japan Gold Wing Club will be coming soon, so don’t miss out on the opportunity to meet them, and maybe go for a ride with them. Meady will advise of the details. I guess we will have a substantial contingent travelling to Townsville in a few months, and Mary and I will be doing some touring to coincide with it. A great opportunity to see a bit more of QLD and we look forward to seeing many of you there. Finally, the milestone that I referred to is the updating of the Club’s Constitution. I am elated to advise all of you that the new constitution was endorsed with only one change at the February General Meeting. This is a great step forward, and will see the Club well into the coming years. Remember, take every opportunity to ride when it’s fine. Pack your wets for when it’s not, and keep away from those cars. Keep it up Bill
Carter |
Hello everyone, Happy New Year everyone, and let us hope 2008 is a great one for us all. Thommo and I had a lovely 10
days down at What is a new year without a resolution? We made a serious pact to revise our diet with the intention to lose weight. So far, so good and with all the good tips and advice we have been given, we should be able to keep it going – fingers crossed. Our year began with a double
whammy – both our daughters are giving us new babies!! Of course having all the rain has been an added blessing this year, our tanks are over-flowing, and my hanging baskets look much healthier. We received some interesting photos from the kids in Emerald – they were cut off from the township on their side of town, and Mike hasn’t been able to work – not a pleasant result from the floods, but hopefully life will get back to normal pretty soon for everyone. We are now starting to plan our Annual General Meeting, start thinking about your nominations please as all positions on the committee will be available for your consideration. In the meantime, ride safely and look forward to seeing you
Ride
Safely. Valerie
& Thommo |
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A
few weeks ago Mary and I went to the Zingara show at Jupiter’s Casino on the
Gold Coast. “So what” I hear you say. Well the highlight of the show for me
was the motorcycle stunt section. They did an extreme version of the ‘Globe
of Death” where they ride bikes around inside a steel globe. I
have seen this before, but never as skilful, dangerous, and daring as they do
it on this show. I was absolutely gob smacked, and left wondering not only
how they did it, but how they thought of it, and how many died trying to
perfect it. It is well worth the price of admission. I won’t |
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elaborate
on what they did because I don’t want to spoil it for you if you can get
there. The only down side is that there is about a dozen scantily clad women
that someone obviously thinks are attractive getting in the way of the show
all through the night. I didn’t look, honest Mary. Just
a little background on the Globe of Death - I was told that it was started
originally by a speedway rider called Herb Durkin, (not sure about the
spelling), when he went up the wall during a race and came back down again.
He thought if he could do it once he could do it again and started the Herb
Durkin’s Wall of Death, which progressed into the Globe of Death. It
was a sideshow act and I saw it when I was a little kid at Mundubbera, along
with Vanessa Lee from |
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Years
later I saw the Globe of Death again and as it turned out, a mate of mine who
was a speedway rider used to ride in it. He was the one that told me how it
started. I was amazed back then how they did it, (being a 650cc Beeza man),
but my mate said that when he was doing it everything went in slow motion. I
have heard Formula 1 drivers say the same thing because their brains are
processing everything so fast. Anyway, my mate said that he could be going
around inside the wall of Death, and count the punters coming through the
turnstiles. Better him than me. Anyway,
we enjoyed the show and others that I have spoken to since said that they did
too. Bill Carter |
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"I'd move heaven and earth to be able to break
a hundred on this course," sighed the veteran golfer. "Try heaven," advised his caddie. "You've
already moved most of the earth."
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We were back from Up at |
breakfast still attracted 30 hungry members. After last year being so hot and humid, this year
turned into a pleasant morning which meant I had emptied the garage for no
purpose other than being able to give it a good tidy up. Pancakes were soon cooked and the lamb chops and
snags were sizzling on the grill. With
dampers due out of the oven and another to go in, I was missing Kevin’s
skills as assistant cook when I remembered Kay had arrived in her Aussie flag
apron. She was soon wielding the tongs
and lifter with great aplomb although there was some consternation that a
woman was allowed to use the BBQ.
After a battle with some of the thinnest shelled eggs we had ever come
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across, (I didn’t hear anyone complain about shells
in the eggs), the bacon went on and breakfast was served. Thanks again Kay for the assistance. Memo for next year, more orange juice required and I
must remember to put the champagne out before the orange juice runs out. After a hearty breakfast, diets were forgotten for
the morning, the meal was finished off with the traditional damper and syrup
and all that washed down by a few delicious drops of Goldwing Christmas port
thanks to Thommo. |
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After breakfast it was time for the morning ride for
coffee and an ice-cream. That meant I
had to lead my first ride on the bike.
No problem with that except that it currently has no CB and meant
losing the group at the second set of traffic lights. Eventually we found a coffee shop that
disappointingly didn’t sell ice-creams but being a resourceful bunch that was
resolved by a walk to one of the nearby shops. Thanks everyone for turning up again. Therese and I enjoy getting everything ready
and providing the breakfast so I hope we see you all here again next year. Bevan |
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This is one way to get 17000 klms from a Goldwing tyre |
When you’re in it up to your neck, shut up and say nothing |
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Well as always it is a hectic time to finalise work,
prepare Christmas festivities and pack the camper for our holiday. We have our family Christmas tree a week early,
so our celebration on the 16th December is a great relief for everyone, and
then we have the week to prepare to get away. The camper is set, X-trail is washed, polished and
packed and we are on the highway for |
Bob & Fran (Bear & Jayne’s friends who run
the Motel in Kirrily and her friends had decorated a tree, and
presents had arrived from Santa, so we even had little presents to start the
festivities. We rarely left the beach site, and listening to the
surf every day, all day was magic. We
had a delightful surprise visit from Meady and Scott who decided they would
like to do a day ride, and even they were |
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It is such a pleasant drive (even in a car) and we
arrive at the The weather was excellent, plenty of cloud – but no
rain. We had plenty of beach of walks
(the Harriss’ did the most), and the 3 musketeers – Thommo, Bear and Dags did
a lot of beach and rock fishing, catching plenty of little sharks amongst the
rocks. Jayne caught a flathead, which
gave her a lot of fun, Thommo caught the first Brim and had it for tea, and
Bear also caught a legal size Brim for his breakfast. Our evening sessions were very enjoyable,
consequently even the Harriss slept in, and Bear had afternoon siestas – much
to his own surprise as well as ours. Christmas Day we had a feast fit for a 5-star resort. |
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‘impressed’ with our camp set-up! We did have a days drive out to the Pub
With No Beer, had a very pleasant lunch and then we did a very ‘interesting’
(sometimes scary) look-&-see drive in the hinterland on a forestry
track. The views were magnificent,
when I was game enough to look away from the narrow slippery track. We have no idea where it was going to, we
believe it would have been New Years Eve we saw in safely, and we were very
well behaved – the entertainment that had been organised was disappointing,
so we made our own fun and we saw both new years in safely before retiring
ready to pack up in the morning. Now
Thommo and I were determined not to be last this year – and we were up and
tinkering about a whole hour before the Harriss’ made a move – But we were
last, but only by 10 minutes, which is pretty good for us. We made it out of the camp grounds by Our annual holiday was almost over, we had a
breakfast stop at Gatton, then a coffee break at Reedy Creek and it was time
for hugs and good-bye. Great Valerie |
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First to explain the photo on the right. It had nothing to do with country music but
for the whole time we were there, these two were parked outside the local
tattoo parlour. Bill and I thought
they made an interesting photo. What,
Bill and Bevan at a country music festival?
I’ll let Bill tell his story, here’s mine. Last year, Therese’s niece competed in the Starmaker
Quest and Therese and her sisters went down to provide moral support. The husbands elected to stay at home. That’s Therese’s niece, Sarah McMonagle,
below right being backed by her sister Emma, a good country singer in her own
right. Sarah writes a lot of her own
material and is a great storyteller. |
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Anyway, at the suggestion that this year all the
husbands accompanied Therese and her sisters on the pilgrimage to support
Sarah and while I like country music, there are quite a few currently popular
female singers that I find sound more like someone playing a cross-cut saw
than someone I would like to listen to, so, with a statement that if I have
to listen to singers like that, I’m coming home. With a week planned including a couple of days at |
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Following an incomplete attempt to fix an
overheating problem with the car and the inclement weather, we ditched Arriving in |
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(Any one want
a big camper that’s now a bit big without the four boys to fill it). From here on, I was really surprised by the
festival. So much varied entertainment
available by either just walking down the main street which was closed for
about 4 blocks or by going into any of the pubs where solo singers or groups
entertained all day and night. The
variety and ages of singers covered all country genres and ages and these
were interspersed by street entertainers with magic, balancing, fire and
dancing acts. Just about anything you
would want was there. Five days and
the only show I didn’t particularly enjoy was one of the only two we paid to
go and see. Bill and Mary arrived late on the first night we
were there and I’ll let Bill tell that story.
He’ll mention we had a couple of ports but won’t talk about the fact
that Mary was concerned he wasn’t sharing the bottle “that he bought to share
with Bevan”. It wasn’t that we didn’t
share; it just turned out easier to have a bottle each ‘cause is saved moving
for refills! There was a bit of rain here and there over the
weekend but once that cleared the weather was great; How did Sarah go?
She missed out on the finals of the Starmaker Quest but won a Tamworth
Independent Artists Recognition Award for one of her own songs against some
well known artists. So that was
great. Who’s coming next year? Bevan |
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The young
minister...... When I was a
young minister, I was asked by a funeral director to hold a grave-side service
for an elderly man from a local nursing home, who had died with no family or
friends. The funeral was to be held at a new cemetery way back in the
country, and this man would be the first to be laid to rest there. Since I was new and not very familiar with
the area, I became lost and, being a typical man, I didn't bother to stop and
ask directions so I continued to ride around until I finally saw the backhoe
and its crew, who by this time, were eating lunch. Since I was an hour late, the hearse and funeral
director were nowhere in sight so I parked my car, got out, apologized to the
workers for my tardiness, and stepped to the side of the open grave, where I
saw the vault lid already in place. I assured the workers I would not hold
them up for long, but this was the proper thing to do. The workers gathered
around, still eating their lunch. I
poured out my heart and soul. As I preached, the workers began to say
"Amen," "Praise the Lord," and "Glory"! I preached and preached, like I'd never
preached before: from Genesis all the way to Revelations. I closed the lengthy service with a prayer
and walked to my car. I was opening the door and taking off my coat, when I
overheard one of the workers saying to another, "I ain't never seen
anything like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty
years." |
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Don’t tell anyone, but Mary and I have been
yippeeiokiayed at the Tamworth Country Music festival this year. I never thought it would happen. In fact I thought
country music was somewhere between saws being sharpened, cats with their
tails caught under the rockin’ chair, and a six cylinder engine with no
muffler running on four cylinders. Of course you have all heard the one where you play
country music backwards and the cowboy’s dead dog comes alive, his ute gets
repaired, and his daaarrrllin comes back to him. Well that was where I was at as far as As Bevan and Therese said that they were supplying
the bedding and everything we needed, we decided to ride down and meet them
there – until the skies opened up and the forecast was for more to come. Mary
suggested that we take the car for safety sake, and what could I do? Good
move Mary, it bucketed down. Anyway we got down there about On Saturday we went for a walk down the street to
see all of the sights and the scores of buskers outside just about every shop
window. There were some great acts and we even bought a couple of CDs. We got to see Bevan and Therese’s niece sing and she
is very talented. I am sure we all will be buying her CDs and seeing her name
on the telly in the near future. We were accosted by someone trying to give us
tickets to a concert at the Town Hall that night, and after some persuasion I
took four from him not thinking for a second that I would go. The thought of
being stuck in a hall listening to saws being sharpened, cats in pain, and
faulty engines left me cold. Later on after a discussion with Mary I was able to
see the benefit of going and we all went along to the concert that night.
Every now and then I make a good decision, (seriously), and this was a good
one. We had a great time. All of the
acts were first class and even a country phobic like me had a ball. It was the best money I never spent, (the
tickets were free), but I still went and bought another CD during the
interval. |
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With work waiting we had to get back home so we left
after brekky on Sunday morning. That gave us time to stop in at the Guyra
Lamb and Potato Festival on the way home, but that is a whole new adventure. Would I go again – yes. Even if you are not into
country music there is such a variety of good musicians and singers, and the
gala atmosphere really make it a worthwhile trip. Maybe we should make it a club outing one year.
Thank you Bevan and Therese. Bill Carter |
AUSTRALIAN WING RIDERS ASSOCIATION (QLD) INCORPORATED
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Date |
Destination |
Ride /
Social Event |
Ride
Leaders |
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23 February Social |
Paddington |
Meet at BP
Regents Park on Mt Lindsay Hwy Lots of road
changes there recently so keep a look out for signs to the BP. |
Thommo and Valerie |
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15 – 16
March Ride |
Armidale |
Meet at Aratula
8:00 for |
Meady |
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22 March Social |
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