October Social 2009
It was a warm & balmy night when we all met at BP Staplyton at 5.00pm for our social ride on the 24th of October 2009.
Kay & Noel (Gecko) were the first to get there, and were waiting patiently for the rest of us to arrive. They were soon joined by Eric & Deb, Winston & Jan, Phil & Vikki, Bill & Mary, Larry & Annette, and us the ride leaders – Trevor & Lee.
While some had coffees, the rest said their hellos, and it was soon time to start the ride. To the south of Staplyton, the black clouds looked rather threatening, but when we turned left onto Jacobs Well Road, they seemed along way away. We passed through Alberton, Woongoolba, & Norwell, then turned onto Norwell Road, Pimpama-Jacobs Well Road, then went through Jacobs Well, and onto the Old Pacific Highway at Pimpama.
As we weaved our way through the sugar cane fields, curving right & left following the road, the Rocky Point Sugar Mill seemed to keep moving from left to right, and at all times we were watching the black skies. Then the lightening started, and some of the strikes were quite scary, and continued for at least 30 minutes and sometimes seemed only two feet away from the bikes. The stunning light show and the sunset out to the west were amazing. Just when we thought it was all turning out ok, it started to rain, but luckily we were only five minutes away from the “Whistlestop” food & wine restaurant, and I’m sure we all breathed a sigh of relief when we saw the restaurant in the distance. As the men parked the bikes, and scrambled to put the covers on, the ladies gathered under the verandah for shelter, to get out of the rain.
The owner Sara, had a table set up for us, and we were soon laughing about the light show that we had just come through, and the amazing orange & red sunset.
We started with a selection of breads which included garlic, garlic & cheese, herb & garlic foccacia, pesto & tomato foccacia, and Turkish bread with a trio of dips. Then 7 pizzas came out which included – The Works, Tropicale, Traditional Italian, Bit of Bull, Mediterranean Chicken, and Barbados Chicken. By the end of night everyone was very full, and everyone appeared to be impressed with the selections.
Larry & Annette were the first to leave, as they had come in the car, and were dressed up really flash, as they were going dancing after the meal. Eric & Deb and Kay & Gecko road home together as they were off to the north side of Brisbane and the rest of us went back to BP Staplyton for coffees & ice creams. Thankfully the wind, rain, and lightening were nowhere to be seen, and by then the roads had dried up, and it was nice night time riding. We will have to do another pizza ride sometime next year, but I’m not sure if we will be able to organize the same lighting and sunset show as we saw that night.
Travel safe & have fun riding!
Regards
Trevor & Lee Waller
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