With the Planet Inline skiing junket in full swing, it should have been a fairly safe bet that the chances of anyone turning up to a drive away skate like Wynnum-Bay-Go would be slim. Wrong! By 3:30pm, the car park opposite the Wynnum-Manly bowls club was looking rather crowed as a motley assortment of none skiing types milled around eager to brave the strong winds and skate the seafront path.

Michelle was going to be leading the tour with assistance from Justine. That made up the entire compliment of Planet tour staff, so the trainee marshal induction by fire option was exercised and myself and Andy volunteered to assist.

First order of the day, once the introductions were complete, was to investigate a new section of path that Mannie and a few others had discovered. As we were still waiting for a couple of people to turn up, we split up into a greeting party and a scouting party. The scouting party turned left and set off. The new path turned out to be a loop called the Wynnum North Reserve Circuit. It runs alone the foreshore to an internationally significant(?) migratory and shore bird roosting site before looping back along a mangrove boardwalk that runs around the edges of the Moreton Bay Marine Park. We actually skated about five minutes of this; the rest of the information was gleaned from a handily placed council sign. Further investigation however may reveal a whole new Wynnum skate!

Back at the car park, the greeting party had welcomed Sash and Jo and we were now all ready to start the skate proper. Michelle had decided that we would split up into two groups. A break away group would be lead by me and Andy and comprise of Greg, Mannie and Sash. The rest of the group would be lead by Michelle and Justine and would follow on behind. Organisation complete, we turned right and set off.

Progress at the front was relatively swift despite the strong wind and we soon arrived at the pier. It was decided this would make an ideal backdrop for a group photo so we waited for everyone else to arrive and made our way to the end. With the tide right out, the entire length of the pier was surrounded by an endless mud flat. A large group of children had seen this as an opportunity to emulate the antics of your common or garden hippopotamus and were now making their way down the pier covered from head to toe in a thick coating of slimy black mud. While the mud on their faces only served to emphasise the size of their grins, it would have been extremely interesting to see the look on the parents face on their arrival back.

Gathered round a couple of benches at the end of the pier, we quickly got the obligatory group shot ‘in the can’ before heading back to the path and continuing on our way.

We hadn’t been going long when Andy spotted an ice cream van and called for an emergency rest stop so that he and Greg could indulge in a little light, frozen diary based snacking. With Greg sporting a small cone and Andy manhandling a large bucket of ice cream away from the van, we again waited for the others to catch up. As they arrived a passer by walking a small dog on an extremely long lead came sauntering along. Normally this would not garner a second glance, however in this particular case the dogs’ appearance was causing something of a stir, not because there was anything particularly unusual about the dog, but more because of the head gear it was sporting. This pooch was waring a perfect fitting bright red baseball cap. The only thing that could have made him look cooler would have been a pair of matching shades. In dog circles, this canine would certainly be considered a ‘dude’!

By now, we weren’t far from the end of the path and a final push got us there in a single run. As we waited by a grass bank that leads down to an open field, Sash raised the idea of a spot of downhill grass skating. Andy rose to the challenge and made a clean run down the small bank. I gave it a go and so did Sash. No problems. Emboldened by the successful first run, Andy chose to make the descent by a slightly trickier route that involved skating over a small rocky outcrop at the top of the bank. He again descended without a problem. Sash then decided to give this route a try as well. Unfortunately, the rocky outcrop unsettled her balance, the front wheel of her left skate dug into the soft earth and the result was a grass coated Sash sporting a drink bottle shaped indent in the small of her back. Applying the old bike adage of getting straight back on, she jumped up, dusted herself off and retried the same route, this time without incident. Pride restored, the grass skating element of the tour was complete.

As the sun was beginning to set, we turned around and began our run back. We again split into two groups and against what seemed like an even stronger wind set off. The pace back was fast and by about two thirds of the way we stopped for a rest. The others caught up and Pepsi noticed a ring of small decorative poles covered by flat metal caps with a taller thin metal pole in the centre. This immediately raised the possibility of balancing on the top of one of the poles on a single skate and having the moment photographed for posterity. Holding on to the tall pole, balance was achieved before letting go and having a photo taken. The resultant picture shows a smiling, confident Pepsi, performing an act of supreme balancing prowess as an awed crowd of onlookers clap and cheer their appreciation. What most people won’t see is the second photo taken a moment later showing a blur of arms and a grabbing of the centre pole while the expression on most of the surrounding peoples faces has changed to a look of concern. Minor balance drama over, Pepsi climbed down, we all regrouped and made the final run back to the car park.

Skating over, we pulled off our boots and headed over to the fish and chip shop round the corner. Well, most of us headed over to the fish and chip shop round the corner. Somehow, Andy and Teresa weren’t clear on the exact location of our dinning destination. As the rest of us queued in the shop, my phone rang and a distant sounding Andy asked where we were. A brief exchange of locations revealed that he was now roughly three towns over but in the process of performing a u-turn and would be with us shortly. A few minutes later he appeared in the shop and we were soon all enjoying a variety of deep fried fish and potato concoctions.

With dinner finished and the last of the chip wrappers deposited in the near by bin, we all said our goodbyes and headed for home after a windy but enjoyable afternoons sk8ing.