Hi All,

Planning to tour Australia as part of a bigger trip from NZ to UK. If I fly the bike from Auckland to Melbourne, then spend approx. 6 weeks touring heading first to Adelaide then cross back over to the east coast and zig zag north (to take time away from the usual tourist hot spots) to take in Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns and then over to visit Alice Springs before ending up in Darwin to ship the bike to SE Asia...

Is this realistic?
Can anyone suggest some places I shouldn't miss whilst on this trip? (Going to be traveling 2-up up so will mostly be on tarmac) Have read the Lonely Planet but would love some personal opinions!
And is starting the trip in Feb a good time - or too early - so would March be better?

Thanks,
Joey

Hi, I think you are lucky, February is probably the best time to do it.

I think its a bit optimistic, time of year and distance in six weeks. Its possible but will require a few days of long hard rides if you want to stop off and see a few things.

February is one of the hotter months in the Southern States (SA, Vic, NSW), they've all had days in excess of 40C in the last few weeks - it is really very unpleasant to ride in those temps and potentially quite dangerous as you dehydrate much quicker. Its physically very draining. March is only a few degrees cooler.

The coastal areas will be cooler, but only just. As you go North along the East coast it will cool down a bit - tail end of the monsoon once you get up around Brisbane - but expect to get some wet weather and humidity. The further North you go the wetter and more humid it will get and there is a small and declining risk of cyclones until the end of March.

If you turn inland from Brisbane and start heading North West it will again start to get very hot - I'd advise against travel in that part of the country until late April - best time is from late June - daytime temps mid 20Cs nightimes can be cold even frosty at times. But a lot safer for bikers. Summer travel in central Australia is usually remembered as a dash between petrol stations with cold drinks and shade and filling up your camel backs with luke warm water.

Why not fly your bike to Brisbane, have a dash upto Fraser Island, then go South and East and end up in Adelaide and then upto Alice (Uluru) and Darwin?

If you can allow more time, I allowed 5 weeks doing the east coast and central outback by bus. There was so much to do, I found myself cramming in activities and hopping back onto the bus, all too rushed.

When I go back I will allow 3 months.

...Uluru is amazing, locate the campsite used by coach tours and find the view point. Spent the whole night up there watching the moon rise drinking wine with a beautiful girl, best valentines ever.
...Kings Canyon is nice, explore it and find secret pools to swim.
...Scuba diving on the Barrier Reef, awesome.
...Whitsundays, great for sailing, I had no time.
...Katherine Gorge, take the powerboat ride.
...Mission Beach, not much there. Only place you will see a wild Cassawary, very remote chance, I saw Mother and Baby. Great place to skydive.
...Dont miss Fraser Island, leave the bike behind and hire a 4x4, take 3 days and go up to the most Northeast corner, a surreal place and no tourists.

I drove from Perth to Cairns taking the Central Highway to Alice Springs, then the Plenty Highway to cairns. From here I drove along the coast to Sydney, a distance of 5000 miles in 3 weeks. As for places to see I fell in love with the 'Outback'. make sure you have a few cold s in some of those remote outback pubs, they're crazy. I visited one place on the Plenty Highway en-route to Mt Isa called Urandangi. The little pub there is bloody great, full of character.

Hi
I spent 7 months going around Oz and did not see every thing, on my way back at the end of the month to see some more before moving into Asia. Skip

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Do the best you can with what you have,
A stranger in a strange land now heading North South East West to.....

Joey,

Six weeks is too tight for your itinerary in my opinion.

If you need to go to Melbourne and Adelaide, spend time between the two, along the Great Ocean Road, Kangaroo Island off South Australia, through the Flinders and then up through the centre to Darwin. This will take six week easy. The east coast from Melbourne to Cairns would take six weeks alone.

Find a map of Aust with distances and add them up. The days on the road should be balanced with days stopped at the hundreds of destinations along the track.

Any other questions drop me a line.

Happy travels.

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Chris

Thanks for all the replies. Our plans have changed and now we're extending the time in Australia to at least 3 months, then if things pan out, ship the bike to USA/Canada to cross west to east. So the good news is we're planning to start the trip March 09 to somewhere in Oz, but don't have anywhere specific we need to be.

Any other recommendations for where we should ship the bike from Auckland to ?, and start out trip would be helpful.

Cheers,
Joey

Thats better, 3 months sounds more relaxing. Spent 2 months in OZ in 96 & another 2 weeks in 97, still missed out Perth & Darwin & Cairns!

As where to land I suggest you go Melbourne then head south west to Adelaide & all the way around! Should enjoy it! Stops at places like our Fellow Hubbers recommend...


Ride Safe/Save/Sober

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Joey - Brilliant compromise! some might say that this should be the #1 choice itinerary in any case. E.g. Get the last of the fine southern hemisphere weather in Australia; and then afterwards arrive in the northern hemisphere at the very start of another summer. As I say .. brilliant stuff!

Contact me if you need any help regarding North America. Just lately I'm spending a lot of riding time over there. Indeed, I leave again for San Francisco CA this coming Sunday, March-16.

Shipping from Auckland ~~> Australia? I'm sure there's quite a few options to consider. I'll be looking at this myself for the end of next February /beginning March '09. My preliminarily research suggests that this firm, Get Routed, seems like a good one to approach. They appear to arrange shipping from Auckland to Brisbane, (see Booking Forms page) which is my particular preferred ozzy destination port. It will all depend on their outbound leaving date(s) for me though.

Good luck with whatever you eventually do. Who knows, maybe we might bump into each other - not literally, of course! - one day after all.

Regards

KEITH

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Right Way Round ...

That sounds more like it! I'd suggest you stick to your plans going to Adelaide, and zig-zag up north , cut across to Alice etc. The long way round is a bit of a bore in some areas nad loooooots of kms through empty space. So rather pick out important & scenic places and connect them up into your route.

Some of the spots have been named already...

Adelaide and Flinders Ranges
Great Ocean Road
Melbourne
Alpine Region, Snowy Mts
Sydney, Blue Mts
Coober Pedy
Uluru, Kings Canyon, Kata Tjuta
Katherine Gorge
Kakadu & Litchfield NPs

And if time allows (not too far from Katherine):
Kimberley
Bungle-Bungles


Hans

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do we go beyond the limits of our little lives.
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I think shipping from Auckland to either Sydney or Melbourne would be the cheapest, as they are the most heavily used. My experience is that Get Routed only ships at certain times and the destination varies depending on where the majority of bikes are going. Dave at Get Routed will fill you in on how it's done.

Whatever way you ship, make sure that your bike and gear are spotlessly clean or else you could end up with a whole lot of added costs and downtime waiting for clearance!! Customs and Quarantine in Australia are rabidly concientious on that.

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Joey,

If you can make it to Tintaldra 2009 Horizons Unlimited meeting that would be a great way to meet some of the local riff-raff HUers. Tintaldra is near Albury on the NSW - Vic border. Date for next year is likely to be late February and there will be 140-150 like minded peolpe.

Let me know how your plans are going later in the year.

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Chris

Hans that might be better from Sydney?

Sydney, Blue Mts
Alpine Region, Snowy Mts
(add Victorian Alps)
Melbourne
Great Ocean Road (add Grampians)
Adelaide and Flinders Ranges
Coober Pedy
Uluru, Kings Canyon, Kata Tjuta
Katherine Gorge
Kakadu & Litchfield NPs

And if time allows (not too far from Katherine):
Kimberley
Bungle-Bungles

(add Broome if you have the distance ?)

Humm shipping to USA .. best done back on the east coast ..

Probably via Mt Isa back to Brisbane ... long stretches of little but horizon .. what teh outback is about.
Lawn Hill NP is up to the north .. but dirt... there are a few nice dirt tracks up there ... but being dirt are not that friendly to pillions.

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Regards Frank Warner
motorcycles BMW R80 G/S 1981, BMW K11LT 1993, BMW K75 G/S

Hi - I flew to Perth, bought an old BMW K75 and rode it to Brisbane - visiting all the major cities along the way, back in 2002. I took 3 and half months to do the trip but a month of that was lounging around doing what I do best - nothing!! However I had approx 6 weeks riding the length of Oz. I think 6 weeks is possible at a nice (not rushed) pace but you do have to keep moving. I spent a couple of days in each city, (a week in Sydney) but could have spent so much longer to absorb the places and really get to know what they have to offer. I feel I've only skimmed the surface really. I would advise to do less in more depth and plan to go back if at all possible. Doing too much means you get fatigued and ironically see less.

To beet the heat try heading up to Bright area North of Melbourne. The mountains would be cooler and offers another side of Oz from the beaches and desert outback (which are beautiful as well I hasten to add). All of the nature of Oz is fantatsic and diverse so it depends on what takes your fancy really

Hope this helps a little and you have a great trip.

Cheers