Beautiful one Day... Perfect The Next

It's been a while and a lot of roads have been travelled - too many to write about! But after an amazing days riding in the beautiful D'Aguilar Range north west of Brisbane I knew it was something I needed to share!
The Queensland tourism board once promoted the slogan "Beautiful one day, Perfect the next" to describe life in the far north-east state of Australia and they got it absolutely right - especially if you ride a motorcycle!
Just 15 minutes out of Brisbane city via Waterworks Road and the road starts twisting through mountainous rainforest with towering trees, huge palms, ferns and spectacular, breathtaking views (if you're able to take your eyes of the road to look).
With my mate on his Ducati 848 and myself on the Speed Triple climbed higher up the twisting, winding road we felt the temperature drop and the air became crisp and damp.
Words can't explain how good it was... perfect road surface, spectacular scenery and following a Ducati 848 echoing the mountainside with that sweet v-twin anthem.

Mt Nebo is home to the first little cafe on the way up. We kept going and being cautious to obey the speed limit we pull up at Mt Glorious Cafe, already crawling with bikers at 8:30am with every bike imaginable lined up on both sides of the road.
Following a local had many benefits, the road into Mt Glorious has a 50 km/hr speed limit; it's wise to stick to it!
But, some people never learn, a kid coming for a morning coffee on his GSXR found out the hard way - pinged as he rounded the corner with the cafe in sight - as he took off his helmet the bike cop was already there writing him the ticket!
After coffee and great breakfast, we decided to keep going down the other side of the mountain and do the loop through Fernvale and back to Brisbane.
I thought the mornings ride was the best I'd had for years but there was more to come!
Heading down the mountain, surrounded by towering rainforest reminded me on riding in the Otway Ranges in Victoria.
Eventually, the road opened up into wide sweepers and countryside similar to the Wye River area west of Apollo Bay - it went on forever. The only thing that that's dodgy is the way farmers here let their herds wander along the side of the road eating grass - they didn't seem to want to come out on to the road which was good!

We finally reached a t-junction & pulled up - my mate called it "bullshit corner". Apparently all the bikers pull up after riding the stretch of road from Mt Glorious and share their knee scraping stories. Sure enough, as we stood chatting, one by one, sports bikes of all shapes & sizes pulled up with riders eager to have a cigarette and share their tales.
Turning to the right at the t-junction leads to Somerset Dam and a little place called Esk with cafes and craft shops. To the left, the road winds around the edge of Wivenhoe Dam and back to Fernvale.
I was told that heading back around Wivenhoe Dam was a good option and to top it off we swapped bikes.

I threw my leg over the Ducati 848, turned the key, hit the start button and wanted one!
That ride was one I wont forget - what a bike! At first, it felt like it was under-powered but once into the mid-range it just wanted to take off. The steering was heavier than the Speed 3 and needed more counter-steering on the bends but the entire bike felt so stable it was incredible. The rumble of the v-twin testastretta engine and the mid-range torque it produces makes this a fun bike to ride.
The road to Ferndale was incredible with lots of wide sweepers and big straights to test out every aspect of riding skills and machine.
Apparently Ferndale has a great pie shop that's a popular stop for bikers on the week-end loop around the mountain.
We followed the road back to the Ipswich motorway and followed it back into Brisbane, over the Storey Bridge and home - what a day!