The Hervey Bay Rebels MC Party Weekend

Bones, one of the Rebels, had been in contact in relation to getting Ozbike to cover this gala event. We jumped at the chance! A good 500 km or so round trip, a huge party, and the chance to catch up with some old faces is always a great way to spend a (very rare) free weekend.

BEAUTIFUL HERVEY Bay, a tourist Mecca for thousands of whale watchers from all over Australia and the home for a chapter of the Rebels MC.

10.30 am Saturday saw us on the road and headed north up the Bruce Highway. Only a brief downpour was encountered at Wild Horse Mountain with the weather holding up well for the rest of the ride. The Tiaro Hotel (which looks remarkably like a post office) is situated about halfway between Gympie and Maryborough and served as a good stop off point for a cool ale and to stretch the legs. The Caboolture chapter of the Rebels had the same idea and pulled in a short time later. After a few refreshing ales we were invited to join in for the remainder of the trek to the Hervey Bay clubhouse. Which was a good thing as with my sense of direction, we would probably still be looking for the clubhouse NOW!

No sooner had we taken the exit to the industrial estate when we were met by the Blue Boys welcoming committee. No real harassment as such, just the usual ID checks and a few happy snaps for their files and we were on our way in no time.

The clubhouse is situated in a new cluster of purpose built distribution outlets and warehouses. Gone are the days of the old row of tin sheds, this clubhouse was state of the art, with all the mod cons.

The walls are the canvas for some kick-arse murals which were laid on by Little Mick, and the huge Rebels colours which overlook the bar areas were painted by Eddie. The President of the Hervey Bay Rebels, Big Adam, would like to thank all who were involved in the building of the clubhouse, especially to Josh for his hard work as far as the overall construction which brought family and club together.

We met Bones and some of the other members on our arrival, and even though these blokes were flat out with the running of the event, they went out of their way to make us feel more than welcome. A measly $25 got you inside the gate, for this you got a live band, generously priced grog, strippers, and all the tucker you could eat… and I ain’t talking about a few bowls of chips and peanuts here — I’m talking about roast lamb, pork rolls, roasted spuds, and best of all, huge plates stacked high with prawns and crabs. These guys could put Sizzlers out of business!

With the feeding frenzy out of the way it was time to kick back with a few beers and listen to Flame doing their thing on stage. This fiery redhead and her band were belting out all the biker favourites in their own unique style and soon had the crowd up and dancing off a few extra calories from the previous feast. Flame played several sets throughout the course of the night and they never failed to please. If you get the chance to see them live, just do it… you’ll be glad you did!

The party took its natural course: a lot of laughs and a LOT of drinks, more music and the strippers were very tidy indeed.

The hard luck story of the weekend has to go to Pagey who got nabbed by the cops for having one of the classiest looking tool kits attached to the side of his bike. Looks remarkably like a fully operational NOS bottle but it isn’t! Unfortunately, the cop didn’t see the funny side of it.

A brilliant piece of foresight was the minibus that the club had organised to take patrons from the clubhouse to their accommodation and back again. Smithy has to get a special mention here as he worked tirelessly, running us drunks around all night. Well done, mate. With members travelling from places like Mt Isa, Cairns, Brisbane, Gold Coast, and NSW (to name a few) Smithy’s bus service got a pretty severe work out over the course of the weekend!

The Hervey Bay Rebels MC had all the bases covered and wish to thank the local authorities for their help, the Hervey Bay Hotel, to their club brothers from other chapters who travelled from near and far to attend, and to all those who came along for the party and made the night a total success. We got absolutely drenched going home the next day but I didn’t give a rat’s arse. When you’ve had a weekend like this, it’s worth every rain soaked mile.