New Farm. Charming? Not any more, New Farm Charm was not considered egalitarian enough so a new tour name was devised; New Farm 4 All. The central planners at the World Skating Council Politburo would be proud. Would the new tour name attract a whole new generation of skaters or would we be looking at the usual suspects?

The 1:30pm start of the tour was once again disrupted by football, or more accurately, the lack of parking spaces caused by football. This saw a steady trickle of people arriving with tales of parking woe and much dark muttering under the breath. Julie, who was busy collecting money, informed us that the tour was going to be lead by Bruce who was no where to be seen. A phone call confirmed that he too could not find a parking spot and was currently skating across town to join us. This story would have been extremely plausible had he not arrived clutching a Snow Biz bag containing a brand new pair of skiing mittens! After comparing brands with Anne, it became apparent that carrying them around for the whole tour would be a bit of a pain. Anne volunteered to put them in her car and duly disappeared clutching the Snow Biz bag. I would like to point out at this point that it was Bruce who jokingly said let’s go now, and not me, even though the blame for this thought was apportioned to me on Anne’s return.

With everyone gathered, it was determined that the new tour name had not attracted any new recruits and that we would be skating as a single group. All that remained to be done was make the introductions. Bruce, seeking revenge for his showing up at Nudgee, volunteered me to introduce everyone. Luckily, the group was reasonably small and I managed to remember all but one name, although I did get my cyborgs muddled up and introduced Vaughan as the Terminator when his tee shirt quite clearly depicted Robocop. Sci-fi faux par aside, the introductions were complete and Bruce prepared to lead off. He was to be assisted by Lyndal, Vaughan and Jo.

We skated back across the Goodwill Bridge and down through the Botanical Gardens, before heading off to Eagle Street. Just to make things a little more challenging, Bruce decided to lead us through the Eagle Street Sunday market. As we weaved our way through the massed throng, looking for opportunities to shuffle forward another two feet whenever the slightest chink of daylight emerged in the crowd, we slowly picked our way through the tangle of market stalls. Our already slow progress finally ground to a halt when Bruce spotted a stall selling large metal puzzles. Grabbing a large clanking lump of ironwork that looked more like a medieval torture implement than a brain teaser, he proceeded to take it apart in seconds. This however, turned out not to be the real challenge. The really perplexing thing about this particular mind bender was putting it back together afterwards. This taxed Bruce’s puzzle solving abilities for a not inconsiderable time as the rest of us milled about trying not to get in the way of the seasoned Sunday market patrons. With one final ‘clank’ Bruce threw the puzzle down and we once more began the tortuous shuffle through the market crowds.

We eventually re-emerged on Eagle Street and made our way round to the River Walk path. After the slow trek through the market, we were all ready to extend our skating legs and raced along the entire length of the path in no time. After a brief pause at the end, we picked our way through the back streets and over towards New Farm Park. As we stood by the entrance to the park, Dave appeared, as if by magic, and joined us for the rest of the skate.

The park, like the market, was packed with people and our half lap was interrupted by manoeuvring cars trying to find somewhere to park. We veered off at the Power House and after a quick run round the back; we got onto James Street and headed towards the small café that was going to be our lunch stop. It seemed that on this particular day, everywhere in Brisbane was busy and so it proved to be at the café. After initial enquiries, we were accommodated after the usual bout of Planet furniture shuffling. While most people sat down to order food, Lyndal and Anne disappeared off for a high speed jaunt along the river. For the rest of us, the food of choice was a bowl of chips, however Bruce and Vaughan decided to order an item from all three major food groups (beef, pork and lamb) and after a short delay, their end of the table was groaning with food. Lyndal and Anne arrived back presently and rejoined us just in time to help empty the numerous chip bowls.

With lunch consumed and a noticeable chill developing as we sat out of the sun, we trouped inside one at a time to pay for our food before gathering on the pavement outside ready to set off. While debating which way to go, someone noticed we were stood next to a long reasonably steep hill. The idea of giving it a quick bomb was mentioned and mere minutes later a few of us were stood at the top trying to get our breath back and wondering if exerting so much effort after large quantities of food was a good idea? Undeterred, we raced back to the bottom, joined the rest of the gang and set off once more on our way.

After a spot of ad hock direction finding between Bruce, Vaughan and Dave, we arrived at the top of a particularly notorious hill (if only I had checked it’s name). We were told it was steep, windy and just for good measure, bumpy. Keeping our speed under control would be a good idea and we had to watch out for the last bend as it tightened up unexpectedly just as the tarmac became increasingly rough. Bruce, Vaughan and Dave went down first to close off any exits and to point out the worst sections and then Lyndal sent us down a couple at a time. I somehow ended up going first and wound my way down carefully, braking all the way. By the time I got to the bottom, my well worn brake had completely disappeared. I decided to change it for another one and found a spot between a couple of cars to perch on the curb and start making running repairs. A few seconds later, Mannie appeared and had the same idea. Anne arrived next and was watching the alfresco brake maintenance workshop when there was a sudden and very loud bang. It was the kind of bang you hear when something runs into a section of crash barrier. From my vantage point between the two cars and with my skates in bits, I couldn’t see where the noise had come from, but a concerned look on Anne’s face indicated that something was not as it should be. It transpired that the ‘bang’ was the sound of Zarah overshooting the last corner and ending up in the barrier. Luckily she was alright apart from a small cut on her forearm. Dr. Bruce raided the medical supplies in Vaughan’s bag and applied liberal quantities of antiseptic and iodine, which made the small cut look like she had just had major surgery on her arm. Patched up and still smiling she headed off with the rest of us towards the city.

We were soon picking our way down Brunswick Street before heading back towards the Botanical Gardens. With one quick photo stop on the way to get a picture of Bruce showing off his broken finger by the big hands, before long, we were back at the domain. After saying our goodbyes we headed home after an inclusive, but still charming afternoon’s sk8ing.