mtbrider wrote:PS I actually live in Carindale now and do remember the arsenic stories from the old tannery. I think this was closer to Bulimba Creek on the southern side of the golf course and not really where the shopping centre is. Mind you I was very young at the time having been brought home as a new baby to Winstanley Street Carina about 3 houses up from where Carindale shopping centre is now.
We did not stay there too long as mum didn't like living in a housing commission area and we moved to Morningside / Seven Hills (we lived on the corner with one street in M'side and the other in S Hills) so I only had to cross the street and I was in the bush for a bit of trials action dodging the rangers on their Honda XL's.
Apart from a stint in Mareeba and Gladstone have not really strayed too far have I.
Yes now you mention it I think I was geographically wrong about the tannery - oh well. So you have lived in similar places to me hey? Balmoral 1959-1981, Thornlands 1981-1983, Moorooka 1983 - 1988, Alligator Creek (near Townsville) 1988 - 1995, Gladstone 1995-present. When were you in Mareeba? I used to go trail riding all over the place from Eungella to Palmer River when I was up there and in the Pony Expresses and Observed Trials.
Hi David it seems strange that we never met some where along the line. I know we know mutual people - remember the schoolfriends email
Carina 1958 Morningside 1959 - 1976 (Cannon Hill State and Balmoral High) Mareeba 1977 purchased TY175 C Gladstone 1978 Balmoral 1978-79 Purchased TY 250 D Algester 80 -92 Carina 93 Carindale 94- Purchased TY 250 B
When I was in Mareeba I used to head out towards the drive in (Atherton way) and there was some highly eroded creek beds which were very steep. This was where I rode the TY in the afternoons when work finished - you just had to watch out for the Death Adders which also liked to lie in there. Also had a Suzuki trail bike and we (the Bank johnnie blow ins) would ride out towards Dimbulah and come back to Lake Tinnaroo via the dirt tracks next to the irrigation channels then back home. Also on the way out to Dimbulah there was a large granite hill which was fun on the TY.
Went out to Mt Molloy a couple of times to watch the enduros held out there but never tried them - too fast and scary for me as the locals were crazy - that's why I like trials I suppose.
Who would ever have thought that a post in the bikes for sale column could turn out to be such an epic stroll down nostalgia lane? How did I not see this sooner?
David, you will have some confusion over the site of the wool scour, because there were in fact several wool scours, a tannery, and a fellmongery (whatever that is). They were all scattered along Bulimba Creek between the golf course and where the sewerage plant was, so different people will tell you different things which seem to contradict each other, but they still might be right. When we next meet I'll tell you more about the arsenic that I'd rather not say in an open forum.
The site of the actual sewerage plant is parkland, and there are still some dirt banks down the back towards the creek which I sometimes look at longingly, and wonder just how many minutes I could ride there before they came to lock me away. (I only live a couple of minutes drive from there.) And the model planes are still flown, but a couple of miles further north at what used to be Porter's Paddock. At least they still were a year ago when I was last in that little corner of the world.
Dad, I've got to agree with you. Whites Hill / Pine Mountain was my favourite spot too.
And Mtbrider, I didn't know the guy, but I also remember somebody on a Bultaco who always carried fuel with him. I remember I was always amused that he'd have such a relatively large, heavy, and thirsty bike, and then fit it with the smallest fuel tank.
I recently heard the story from way back then about why a girl shouldn't wear her flares outside of her boots when sneaking from Coorparoo to Bulimba Creek via Whites Hill on an unregistered bike. But I won't do the ungentlemanly thing and name names or give details.
I have been following this thread for a few days now and it is amazing the memories that have come flooding back. The memory that came straight to mind was in I think 1976 my mates dad took him and I to Tivoli raceway to see then World 125 Champion Gasten Rahier. The following weekend his Dad was out and we hatched a plan (at age 15) to put on helmets and ride my mates Dad's road registered Suzuki TS125 a few miles from Camp Hill to the local cattle yards/property (now Carindale shopping centre). There were plenty of bikes there that day everything from Elsinores to DT400s. All was going great until over the hill came half a dozen cattlemen on horseback to chase us out. Both of us jumped on the mighty TS125 and headed to where we knew where was a hole in the barbed wire fence but the crafty ringers had already done the fencelines and put fresh wire in any holes. This bloke on the biggest horse known to mankind knocked us off the bike and then made us drag the bike under the fence during which we managed to rip the seat on the barbed wire in the process. We were both terrified at the time although we both look back now and laugh.
(My mate may cringe at this story being told because he is now a successful businessman both in and out of the trials community.................but don't worry Kal Daley, I won't tell anyone)
He who dies with the most toys wins - Vivo Lente !
That is soooo funny to hear! Mark & I grew up over the road from there: where the Bus Depot is now. Just a natural progression for me to have those paddocks (surrounded by beautiful post and rail fences) as my back yard either on a horse or a bike.
Donny Ross kept his heavy horses and some cattle in the paddocks @ 'Bulimba Creek' where the shopping centre is now. He would have leased it until it was purchased for the shops & development. He often delighted in chasing 'bloody bike riders' out of his paddocks away from the stock.
I still catch up with him even now, he lives around the corner from Kal. You can't miss his house...... with all the clydies (really big horses) in the yards.
Yes it would have been 1974 that I had to add a bike to my stables. So many noisey bikes at Bulimba Creek then, it wasn't safe to ride my horse to the water hole without her flipping out... long walk home.
Hell there are so many of us still riding that rode in those places back then, if ever there is a team event at a trial, we could enter as a team. I haven't thought of a good name for the team though.
Val I'm going to have a good look at you next time we ride together. I'm having trouble reconciling your age with your appearance. All I can think is that you must have been pretty young when you started riding dirt bikes in 1974.
This evading capture stuff reminded me of the day I was illegally riding from my place to the bush to practice - 2 streets away - on my Alpina. Illegal because I was only 16 at the time and not eligible for a road licence. Luckily the bike was road rgistered - unluckily it was the day before an ACU trial, and I had taken the number plates and lights off in preparation for the trial, so my bike loked quite interesting to the police who saw me riding along. I tried to explain why I had taken the number plates off but I'm sure they didn't believe me because that was one of the charges I had to face in court. Anyway, my day at Holland Park Magistrates' Court eventually came and I was amazed to see how many of my trials riding fellow competitors were there at the same time. It was like being at riders' briefing at a trial, except we were all dressed up nicely. They must have saved up all the similar offences to be dealt with on the one day.
David you might have to rename this thread to 'bulimba creek riders coming out of the woodwork'
I remember trying to ride up the upper slopes of pine mountain, only problem was you had to stop before the top as the dropoff on the other was quite severe to say the least - Pine Mountain Quarry!!!!!!!
Oh yeah and if you heard a siren you got the hell out of there real quick - Blasting in progress!!!!!!!!
And I still cannot recall who that rider was that was riding up and over the sewer mains when Indus St was being developed, was 1974/5 and he was on a new ty.I remember him wearing 'proper' bike boots, the best we had was army disposal canvas jungle boots.
Dad
God doesn't make mistakes, but you are proof that he has a sense of humor. - unknown
This thread just won't die!......After reading David's comment on a name for a team trial event I remembered my next door neighbour and all of his mates regularly rode in the Seven Hills bush area back in the 70's and they always referred to themselves as the "Three Hills Trials Team". The name was based on the surrounding suburbs of Cannon Hill , Camp Hill and Seven Hills.
Keeping things on topic of the original thread, I bought a Cota last month
He who dies with the most toys wins - Vivo Lente !
