| On the Anzac Day Weekend Sharyn and I
ventured to Tamborine Mountain (inland from the Gold Coast).
Click on pictures for full sized view
Stonehaven Manor |
|
Leaving Friday morning we rode to
Tweed Heads to our favourite second-hand book store, then up to
Pacific Fair for a little shopping and later to the Honda shop in
Nerang to buy Sharyn a new helmet. We made it to North
Tamborine around 5.00 pm. We were greeted at Stonehaven Manor by Tania
who showed us to our room and helpfully advised us of the location of
nearby restaurants. |
| After a bottle of red wine and a
shower we walked around 200 metres to the closest restaurant (Granite
and Grape) where we were placed in front of a log fire with a Crown
Lager and a Russki. The meals were wonderful, the hosts and
their staff very friendly. The walk home (uphill) seemed to be a lot
further than it was to get there. |
|
 |
Time for bed |
|
Exhausted by the day's riding and
shopping we soon retired to our king sized bed. I searched most
of the night, but never did manage to find Sharyn in there. That bed
was bigger than our bedroom at home! |
 |
In the morning we woke to the
sounds of the birds in the beautiful tropical gardens outside our
door. Most of the weekend we simply left all the windows, curtains and
the door open to the gardens and we didn't see another soul. The
privacy and the beauty of Stonehaven Manor is wonderful.
Upstairs for breakfast, served
(and cooked too I think) by Tania. Sharyn enjoyed the waffles while I
dug into sausages, bacon and eggs. Tania once again was full of
helpful advice regarding local attractions. |
|
 |
 |
|
We spent the morning at Gallery
Walk visiting the arts and crafts and antique shops. Sharyn was in
seventh heaven here. I also picked up a couple of new hatpins for my
vest. |
| While in Gallery Walk a busload of
Japanese tourists arrived. My bike drew a lot of attention and many of
them had their photographs taken with the bike. The guy in this
picture is a Japanese policeman. His daughter asked for permission to
take his photo standing next to the bike. He was very pleased when I
allowed him to sit on it.
Must be the colour, eh Lloyd? |
|
 |
| After a bit of a ride around
looking for views of the Gold Coast (we never did manage to find a
lookout, but we found one looking inland) and a bit of a rest on the
side of the road, we headed down to Canungra for lunch.
All of Tamborine Mountain's roads seem
to have 60 km limits. Nevertheless the roads are wonderful and I had
a lot of fun negotiating the endless supply of winding roads on the
big VTX. 60 km was plenty fast enough most of the time (even for a
speed freak like me), besides I had the handbrake on the back to
keep me under control :)
After lunch we went to Cedar Creek Estate
Winery
(http://www.cedarcreekestate.com.au/) for a little wine tasting.
We did end up buying a couple of dozen bottles (which they
obligingly had couriered home for us). |
 |
|
Exhausted, we wandered back to
Stonehaven Manor around 4.00 pm. Sharyn woke me from my nap around
7.00 pm and we headed down to the Granite and Grape for dinner
(again). We managed to get home by 8.30 to watch The Bill (can't miss
it!) and had an early night. |
| We made sure we were up in time
for breakfast at 8.30 (couldn't miss Tania's lovely waffles and
bacon and eggs) and afterwards packed our bags (with the
shopping we'd done this took a bit of re-organisation), loaded the
bike, checked out and headed down the mountain back to the Gold
Coast. We didn't time our ride too well,
we had to make some detours to get around the Anzac Day march, but
we managed to get through and head on home. |
|
