Community & Business
1 August, 2025
To motorcyclists with love
IT HAS been a love affair which began at just 15 years old.
Robin Leven fell for a young man who rode a motorcycle. But he didn’t love her.
“When he left, I kept my love for motorcycles,” she said with nonchalance.
Shrugging off the teen heartbreak, she continued this passion “for the rest of her life”, which has recently culminated in her first book, Motorcycle Musings.
As the synopsis explains, “Through the lens of a motorcyclist, muse, scientist, lover of life, and rural generalist, the author presents a rich tapestry of experiences, all while revelling in the enchantment of riding.”
The author grew up in Brisbane and studied medicine at the University of Queensland.
“I’d spend my weekends and spare time riding around SE Queensland and northern NSW,” she said.
The motorcycle also went with her when she moved to Atherton in 1987 and joined the Alice St Medical Centre.
“I used to turn up at work and hop off my motorbike, step into my Tardis and turn around three times, then walk into the hospital,” she said.
“What kind of impression did I make in Atherton when I moved there as a GP? They were very, very accepting,” she added with a smiling voice. “I have turned up to many a delivery of a child on my motorbike.”
After 28 years dedicated to the centre, and to her marriage and her two “now grown-up” children, Dr Leven stepped into her motorbike universe more fully and began writing.
Part autobiographical, and with some fictional twists, Motorcycle Musing begins in Atherton and ends in Bathurst - the “spiritual home of motorcycling in Australia,” she said.
“I travelled with six other people who are real people and live in Atherton. And I weaved in a storyline which is not entirely true.”
Three of the riders are her husband and two children, all of whom have been riding motorcycles from the get-go.
The book features “a crime” but the characters in the book “save the day”.
“Every person in the book is a hero,” she added. “But I don’t want to give the story away before you get there.”
Dr Leven said she began writing in 2021 and finished the book mid-last year, then gave it to the “fantastic” Bower Bird Publishing – based in Julatten – for proofreading, editing, typing and publishing.
“There are over 100 real photographs in the book, some historic, some current,” she added.
The book was launched earlier this year and has had good feedback (although Dr Leven insists that it is mostly from friends – “and they’re not going to say anything bad”,) as well as a lively review from Amazon, where the book is being distributed.
“Wow, what a ride! You kept me spellbound for the entire read, and once I picked it up, I had to continue reading until it was finished to find out how the plot unfolded,” wrote Author Gary Wood.
“You provided great insights into your life as a biker and the biker community. I have read a few of the contemporary biker stories over the years, but none that captured my imagination like yours ... an excellent record of the biker culture in this country.”
The bug has bitten, and Dr Leven is halfway through her second book.
She is also working in Norfolk Island as a locum – “where you fill gaps for people who need holidays”.
“Life’s too short to do the same thing forever,” she said.
She will return home in about a month, but even far away, her motorbike notoriety follows her.
“Here I am on Norfolk Island, and I saw a patient today whose three children I delivered in Atherton. She reminded me of how the nurses said, ‘Oh, Robin’s here’, as they heard me coming on my motorbike,” Robin said.
So it has to be asked, what is her motorcycle of preference?
“The bike I prefer is the one that’s between my legs, I don’t really care that much,” she said with a chuckle.
“But I have always been a Ducati enthusiast. And yes, we are classic and vintage fanatics.”
Copies of Motorcycle Musings are available at the Mareeba, Atherton and Cairns Central bookshops, and can be ordered directly from Bowerbird Publishing or Amazon books.
It is also available on e-book.
For further information, please contact Bowerbird Publishing
Email: leonardi.crystal@gmail.com
Website: www.crystalleonardi.com
