has anyone done this? what sort of bike did you use? what was your budget like? how safe was it? i’m considering arriving and just purchasing a honda spada 250. is this insane? lol.

"A" is for Avulsion wrote:
has anyone done this? what sort of bike did you use? what was your budget like? how safe was it? i’m considering arriving and just purchasing a honda spada 250. is this insane? lol.

Insane by no means. A trip like this has been a back burner fantasy of mine for about 15 years now.

However my trip idea is in a land rover. A good share of Australian is a desert or desert like environment and think say going from Melbourne to Canberra (my ideal route) you would have issues with intense sun exposure and other such factors.

Years ago I had come across a bunch of self drive tours. Ranging anywhere from you in an SUV and a map that shows you the available camp sites between Melbourne and Canberra to the up to 4 star hotels along the way. It could be set up where you make your schedule to you need to be at this hotel on this date.

Their service for the basic self guided (my personal choice) was simply you rent their vehicle and they sell you the maps and the best part to me was a guide book that would detail for you what you are seeing and pointing out all the side trips and alternative routes to check out all point of interest. The guide materials were only something like $75 US and car rental for the 10 days was about $50 to $150 a day depending on the class of vehicle. I wanted to go with the one that is a cross between a camper and a van.

My bad I meant Cairns not Canberra.

Melbourne to Cairns routes I think were some 3000 to 4000 km

No this is not insane at all. In fact, it will be an adventure of a lifetime. I have never done this yet, but I would like to do drive across Vietnam on a bike.

By the way have you ever heard of the British TV show called Top Gear. They did an episode where they bought bikes for 1000 pounds and drove across Vietnam. You should look it up on youtube.

And as long as we are on the subject one of my dream drives was Coast to Coast US. I did that in 1991 from Norfolk to San Diego.

However for years ever since I was about 12 or 13 I have wanted to drive from Southern Chile to Barrow or Fairbanks Alaska

I later in life decided to make it to Churchill, Canada and instead of driving to use local transportation etc...


I have also wanted to follow the route of Marco Polo and Cape Town to Paris.

Lots of big journey plans, most of which will probably not come to fruition but it is always nice to plan and dream.

All good reasons to hold off on starting a family until the late 20’s

Have a look at this site www.worldbybike.com This guy has written some excellent books about his bike touring as well. And there is ?? is it Ewan McGregor, the actor??? (am I confused) he has written about his bike tour as well.

shelley wrote:
Have a look at this site www.worldbybike.com This guy has written some excellent books about his bike touring as well. And there is ?? is it Ewan McGregor, the actor??? (am I confused) he has written about his bike tour as well.

That guy really has an OMG experiences. It boggles me how some people can do this financially. I mean he has had to taken months on some of these trips. I suppose he must be financially well off.

Robert wrote:

shelley wrote:

Have a look at this site www.worldbybike.com This guy has written some excellent books about his bike touring as well. And there is ?? is it Ewan McGregor, the actor??? (am I confused) he has written about his bike tour as well.

That guy really has an OMG experiences. It boggles me how some people can do this financially. I mean he has had to taken months on some of these trips. I suppose he must be financially well off.

He is Robert. He was very comfortably off as a economics whizz and advisor to the NZ govt as well as having a successful investment company. But the lovely thing about him is, that he is the most down to earth person you will ever come across. He has always maintained that all he wants is enough money to go fishing occasionally and do these bike trips, (with his wife - she is the original biker BTW)
Any way - he is very comfortable, financially - and then!! His son starts up a little online trading company, like a lttle ebay - which several years later he sells to Fairfax media for $140 Million or something like that. Good old Dad lent him $70, 000 in the start up years, which made Gareth’s (Dad’s) shares worth something like $36M !! the glorious thing... he went on National tv and said it was a bit of a pain to have that much money and he was giving it all to charity. I have my suspicions that maybe he kept a little, because they certainly have stepped up theri bike trips since. But he really is the most likeable person - he’s always on our telly and I’ve heard him speak a couple of times.
He does have some really good advice for route planning especially tricker trips like his Afican one.

When I was in Denali there was a biker that had started in South America (Southern tip). Said he was going as far north as the road. Bike looked hammered, but he looked happy. He was born across the ocean.

I would think a 250 is too small. I would want at least a 650.

Best, Eric

Well really with today’s technology if you are a wiz at the online trading. You can get yourself a Satellite phone that has tether capability and a set of solar chargers and a low power netbook and be sitting in the middle of Russia and perform your business a few minutes a day and keep you check coming in.

I read a few of his stories last night. What amazing experiences. And really that is one of the BEST ways to really see something. You can stop when and where and for however long you want. I think it would be great to go along on a trip with him. He is living one of my fantasy’s

I bet he has been through several passports by now.

Eric wrote:
When I was in Denali there was a biker that had started in South America (Southern tip). Said he was going as far north as the road. Bike looked hammered, but he looked happy. He was born across the ocean.



I would think a 250 is too small. I would want at least a 650.



Best, Eric

gah. thanks eric, why do you think that? am i going to get bogged down in muck or something?

Robert wrote:

"A" is for Avulsion wrote:

has anyone done this? what sort of bike did you use? what was your budget like? how safe was it? i’m considering arriving and just purchasing a honda spada 250. is this insane? lol.

Insane by no means. A trip like this has been a back burner fantasy of mine for about 15 years now.



However my trip idea is in a land rover. A good share of Australian is a desert or desert like environment and think say going from Melbourne to Canberra (my ideal route) you would have issues with intense sun exposure and other such factors.



Years ago I had come across a bunch of self drive tours. Ranging anywhere from you in an SUV and a map that shows you the available camp sites between Melbourne and Canberra to the up to 4 star hotels along the way. It could be set up where you make your schedule to you need to be at this hotel on this date.



Their service for the basic self guided (my personal choice) was simply you rent their vehicle and they sell you the maps and the best part to me was a guide book that would detail for you what you are seeing and pointing out all the side trips and alternative routes to check out all point of interest. The guide materials were only something like $75 US and car rental for the 10 days was about $50 to $150 a day depending on the class of vehicle. I wanted to go with the one that is a cross between a camper and a van.

thanks robert. i wonder though. someone HAS to have done just that. although i am picturing myself with a backpack loader with hydration systems, bbqing. lol.

shelley wrote:

Robert wrote:

shelley wrote:


Have a look at this site www.worldbybike.com This guy has written some excellent books about his bike touring as well. And there is ?? is it Ewan McGregor, the actor??? (am I confused) he has written about his bike tour as well.

That guy really has an OMG experiences. It boggles me how some people can do this financially. I mean he has had to taken months on some of these trips. I suppose he must be financially well off.

He is Robert. He was very comfortably off as a economics whizz and advisor to the NZ govt as well as having a successful investment company. But the lovely thing about him is, that he is the most down to earth person you will ever come across. He has always maintained that all he wants is enough money to go fishing occasionally and do these bike trips, (with his wife - she is the original biker BTW)

Any way - he is very comfortable, financially - and then!! His son starts up a little online trading company, like a lttle ebay - which several years later he sells to Fairfax media for $140 Million or something like that. Good old Dad lent him $70, 000 in the start up years, which made Gareth’s (Dad’s) shares worth something like $36M !! the glorious thing... he went on National tv and said it was a bit of a pain to have that much money and he was giving it all to charity. I have my suspicions that maybe he kept a little, because they certainly have stepped up theri bike trips since. But he really is the most likeable person - he’s always on our telly and I’ve heard him speak a couple of times.

He does have some really good advice for route planning especially tricker trips like his Afican one.

och. yeah. i looked at this guy’s site and was filled with envy. lucky bastard. ;)