26/11/08 We are back in Australia visiting family and
friends, the motorcycle is sleeping in New Zealand awaiting our return.
It's now the usual restocking of spare motorcycle parts, purchasing
clothes and equipment for the next, 11 month trip.
This next trips plan is to return to New Zealand on the 1st January
2009,
travel there with a couple of Australian friends, then attend the
Horizons
Unlimited meeting out of Christchurch on the 21st and 22nd of February
before
a quick ride up to Auckland and shipping the motorcycle to Hong Kong.
Our
biggest logistical problem will likely be getting the motorcycle into
China.
We have only managed previously to sneak it in for a few kilometres,
ten
years ago, and despite many enquiries and attempts at different borders
we
have not otherwise been successful. Our new plan is to ship the
motorcycle
to Hong Kong, import it and register it there, then apply for a Chinese
mainland
license plate so it can be ridden across into China proper. Well that
is
the plan, we will see what happens. We would like to spend three months
touring
China (April - June), exiting to Kazakhstan or Mongolia, ride across
the
central area of Russia which we haven't previously visited (July and early August), then into
Finland
and down towards the south of Europe towards Spain as the weather cools
and
heads into winter, returning to Australia about November 2009. A more
thorough
revisit of Europe is then planned for the following northern summer in
2010.
But as usual, that is just the plan, only the future will let us know
what
happens.
17/12/08 Less than a month later than the last report and after doing
more research the above plan has hit a few insurmountable hurdles.
Whilst Hong Kong is a duty free port the Government levies a 35% first
registration fee on all vehicles. Whilst vehicles owned for more than
six months overseas can be imported by nationals without an
Environmental Protection Agency certificate, they must be a resident of
the country to obtain the concession, meaning our 15 year old
motorcycle would need to pass strict vehicle inspections including
exhaust emissions, then we still have to get it dual registered for a
trip into China proper. So we have asked for assistance from the
Harley-Davidson representative for China to see if he can help. Failing
that we will ship directly from New Zealand to Europe at the end of
February for a summer in that region.
31/12/08 At the time of leaving Australia we were no further advanced
on what our destination would be after New Zealand.
We are taking a more relaxed approach to our riding, perhaps it is age,
perhaps it's familiarity, and are planning to ride with more travellers
and
attend more motorcycle rallies over the next couple of years, so if you
are
heading in our direction or having a rally about the time we are likely
to
be in your area we would love to meet up, our email address is on this
websites front page.
Our next update will be in January so enjoy the festive season till
then.
You can now move onto the first country of the
fifteenth trip if you wish, Start Travelling
