Australian Wing Riders Association (Qld) Inc

BILL AND MARY CARTER ‑ PROFILE

zzzz In my dreams zzzz

It all started when Bill's mum and dad & Mary's mum and dad were very keen on each other.  Too much information? We agree.

So how did a tall rangy lady-killer from the Gold Coast get trapped ....err.... ahem married to a sexy stunner from Gladstone, and what happened after that? You see after finishing high school on the Gold Coast, I did my apprenticeship as a Carpenter in Beenleigh, and then back to the coast to surf, ride bikes, assist the breweries profit margin, (actually on reflection I could have bought a pub with what I spent in them), and cut a swathe through the femme fatale population of our world famous resort town. Life was great.

Then in a drunken stupor a mate & I decided to go on a working holiday around Australia. What a life changing decision. Within a couple of days we had bought a caravan, packed our gear, and in a wash of thousands of weeping females, and the cheers of the local beaus, set out on the first leg of our odyssey .... To build houses in Gladstone.

In the mean time, Mary had been born in Rockhampton, and then when her parents bought a rural property just outside of Gladstone, she became a farm maiden. Mary was a member of the Rural Youth Club, taught Sunday school, and although she had seen animals "getting married", she was totally innocent to the ways of the world. I thought she looked so cute in her pinafore and long white socks as I waited outside the school with my packet of boiled lollies.... No? Well actually I built a house right behind Mary's parents house & it was love a first sight.

The day my partner and I went to inspect the site and make sure that all of the materials had arrived, we had been having a couple of beers, (it is very hot in Gladstone). As there was no toilet on the site, & we really needed to "spend a penny", we did what all builders did in those days, wet the bricks. Well, Mary was impressed, almost as much as her mother. She came to the window, and with my "hammer" in hand our eyes met. She cocked an eye at me, I cocked an eye at her, and for what seemed like a suspension in time we stood there....cock-eyed.

I remembered I had seen her where she worked in a David Jones store in Gladstone, and from that moment on, my trip around Australia was bogged. Every day when we pulled up in our ute you could count on Mary opening the blinds in her dining room, flashing her sparkling eyes at me and with her gorgeous come-on smile telling me that I did not need to go around Australia.... everything I needed was right there in Gladstone.

As I had been a member of the Gold Coast Motor Cycle Club, and the Gladstone Motor Cycle Club, it was natural that Mary became involved also. We had a great time up there travelling around central Qld. attending bike races, and partying like there was no tomorrow. We got engaged on Mary's 17'h birthday, and were married just 10 months after we met. We moved down to Beenleigh where I continued building and Mary took up a career in Pharmacy.

Not long after, I realised that all I was going to get from the "building game" was sun burn, and a bad back, so I joined the Fire Service, (because they had paid holidays, and I hadn't had one in years). I stayed there for 20 years until I realised I was running into buildings that everyone was running out of. I enjoyed my time there with some success and was a Senior Officer when I resigned.

I went into private industry as a Sales Rep. Then Management of a training company before taking up my present position as a Fire & Safety Officer in QLD Health. Mary resumed her Pharmacy career after some time away while our children were growing up, and has been in her current position for some years. We have enjoyed 15 years of happy marriage, which is not bad out of 27. We have two wonderful children who are pursuing their careers in college.

We got back into motorcycling as a stress reliever because of the long work hours and a mid life crises. In the past I have owned 650cc BSAs, 350cc & 50Occ AJS, 250cc Kwaka, 38Occ Suzuki and now the Gold Wing. I raced in short circuit & scrambles, and rode in some endurance runs when I was younger, but now we just like to ride the Wing.

We test rode a lot of bikes before deciding on the Wing, & once we had placed our baby bots on the Wing there was no turning back. Everything else came second.

The Wing was bought as a toy, but when I gave back the company car it became my transport. I ride it every day to the coast and average between 1000 and 1200 klms per week on it counting our leisure rides. Apart from the enjoyment that we get from riding our Wing, we have found it to be a wonderful social outlet. We have met new friends through it, and we enjoy the company of people that we wouldn't have met without it. We enjoy riding on our own or in a group, and we don't care if it's around the mountains or up the highway, it's all fun for us.

We are looking forward to many leisurely, and fun filled kilometres on our Wing, so when you see us jump on your CB and say hi! We won't hear you because we don't have a CB yet, but you will feel like we are communicating and we would have said hello if we did have a CB. See you on the road.

On the road to Hivesville 2002

First published May 2001