Its the Aussie way, getting together, having fun, putting sh.t on each other and its even better when motorcycles are involved, I have been riding with mates ever since I left school at 15 and so many left school at the same time and we all got into dirt bikes then later when we could get our licences road bikes, we are all still riding except for the ones who are under the thump of the wifives who demanded the man gets rid of that thing as they are dangerous.
In my local area of Sandgate it was always a motorcycle heaven from way back in the 20s and every so often we all get together with over 200 to 300 biker friends and usually goes for 3 days setting up away from others usually out at someones property or at the back of some out of the way country pub, usually have a few bands playing, lots of games to play during the day, drinking lots of beer, perving on all the sheilers (girls to the unknown) and where ever we have it the local comunity all get involved, the local rotory clubs cater for the food, the local pub makes lots of money selling cans of booze, the scout groups make money collecting the discared cans, they set up a dirt drag strip for the ones that want to prove whos faster, the local police even set up at the front gate so if anyone is leaving they can blow in the bag to see if they are clear to ride home, so no leaves drunk while on the road, the Ambos are on hand for any minor accidents and there is never any problems and if there was its delt with pretty quick and you get there your own way no need to ride in a massive group and you leave when you want, we normally pay a small fee of $20 to pay for the bands, you set up camp or lay your swag beside your bike.
All bikes and riders are welcome and everyone is there for one reason to have FUN, if your not into that then you just don't go, so simple, but its a great way to seeing friends you haven't seen for a long time or just making new friends.
Once a year where we all can let our hair down and not have any worries to worry about, life can be hard enough as it is so having that time together is very important and even the locals who don't even ride bikes are all welcome to come along.
We are not a bikie gang or not even a club, we are all just mates who think its very important to get toegether once in a while and to remember fallen mates, to remember the good old days or all the fun times we have had over the years.
As for wearing gloves who cares if you wear them or not, here in Aussie land its just way to hot and humid, well in my state of Queensland anyway, we have very hot summers that last for 8 months before it starts to cool down, but our winters are not that cold here and its up the each other to wear what you want without some law makers telling us what to do, myself I don't wear gloves and in winter I might wear my fingerless gloves, I like to feel my handle bars and wearing gloves you don't quite get that feeling in the hands and thats my choose, just look at some of the temps that our country is getting at the moment, no rain, droughts and very high temps and riding sometimes is like riding in oven, but hey we are a tough bunch down under and the best part we all stick together looking after each other, where just a friendly mob who enjoy what we do best, not many countries understand our ways but we don't really care.
If you come to Australia for a visit and spend time with us you to will learn to like our wierd and wonderful ways and everone is welcome.
Ashley