Hi Jil,The weather here in aus can get very hot in the summer ,up to 40c.
I have attached a link for the australian weather website showing the average temps in different parts of the country.

Australian Weather Calendar

Then if you click on the individual states shown on the top right of the page(where it shows NSW VIC QLD WA etc ) it will show the current forecasts for those states.
The north of australia in summer is the wet season.Hot,humid,wet and prone to cyclones so if starting in perth heading across the bottom of australia to south australia then heading north through victoria and nsw would be the best bet.
fuel stops when crossing the eyre hwy are around 200 klms apart so make sure the bike you buy can exceed that distance as strong headwinds will use more fuel,or carry extra fuel.
The most popular website for buying motorcycles here is gumtree.

Perth Region, WA | Motorcycles & Scooters | Gumtree Australia Free Local Classifieds

paying cash is usually the preferred method.

The cost of registration for a motorcycle in western australia is $355.10 for 12 months or $104.30 for 3 months.

As long as the bike is registered it is valid after the sale in the state the bike is registered in(if the bike is registered in WA and is bought in WA then the registration on it is valid).you will need to fill in a form with the seller at the time of purchase that says you are the new owner.
We have recently had personal insurance included in the registration for accidents but it may be a good idea to have your own travel insurance as well that covers you for riding motorcycles.

regarding your other questions i am sure someone more knowledgeable will be able to help.

Thank you very much Pete, it helps me a lot

Google "buying a vehicle in WA" - lots of advice from government websites and the full process that you need to follow.


Selling at the end of the trip may be a bit harder - its like selling a French vehicle in Germany - the new buyer will have a lot of paperwork to do to get the vehicle registered in Queensland so you will have to allow for that in the price - about $500.


Google "selling a motor vehicle in QLD"


Address - a youth hostel or hotel bill will do, plus passport and licence.


Weather - if you can delay the trip by two months you'll avoid the risk of the very high temperatures. If you must start in January carry lots of water with you at least 10 litres for a safety margin. Stick to well travelled roads as Outback roads may not have anyone on them at that time of year.


Have a great trip.

Hello

I've started to check gumtree, really good website, but I've found plenty of 250cc road bikes in my budget (around 2000 $), but very few trail bikes.

My question is, could a road bike be ok to travel around Australia ? I mean, a CBF250, for example, is cheap (even the recent models), light, reliable, with a big tank, so it has virtually everything I need except long shocks and offroad tires...
Does it worth it to invest more to get a trail bike like a TTR250 or XR250 ? Or during the summer, can I travel reasonnably everywhere in southern Australia with a road bike ?

The vast majority of Australian tourist sights can be reached on a road bike. If it is your first trip here .. you'll have enough to see and experience with the road bike to keep you happy.

The bike ... you will need to fit luggage ... most 250s get used for commuting not touring so they won't have panniers. Hopefully the bike will have a rear rack.

One thing about a trail bike ... if you fall off there will be less damage to the bike.

You really don't need an offroad bike to see Australia, we used BMW R65s and still rode the Alpine dirt roads and the Birdsville track - only change was to put Metzler universal tyres to give a bit better grip in the dirt/mud/snow. You might need to slow down a bit with a road bike on dirt roads, met a Dutch guy in the mid 1980s who was riding an R60 across Australia from Perth - he left the bitumen roads near Kalgoolie and got back off dirt roads when he got close to Toowoomba in QLD.


Doing a Perth to Cairns trip along the coast I'd be going for the comfort of a road bike setup for touring.

The small SL230 did it quite well. Of course the packaging was not optimal , and with the small tank I had to take a side jerrycan, but frankly, even offroad, it was OK.
And I'm glad I choose an offroad bike, to be limited only to roads in Australia would have been a pity for me

So great to see an update, and to hear it all worked out!

I still haven't made it back to Aus, and I'm still thinking about it!

__________________
Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250

Hi, I can see this is an old thread but I’m doing much the same, this October. Flying into Sydney from Canada. I’ve been looking at touring bikes such as Honda ST1100 which seem reasonably priced.
Has there been any significant changes to buying, registering and insuring a motorcycle in the last few years; especially for a newly arrived tourist?

THANK YOU for the follow up.. I am planning on a FULL around the country tour.. a year or more.. and plan on a light weight dual or dirt.. Possibly the BMW 310 gs.. with upgraded suspension, spoke rims, dirt tires, etc.. I agree on a "adenture style " bike that can handle both or dirt primarily..
cheers, Coco

that was good JIL to get feedback on your trip and how the bike "buy/sell" experience was for you.
This is of interest to a lot of people who propose coming here and buying a bike, I suspect that you were just fortunate with such a quick sale, esp with "out of state "registration.
Your choice of bike was good even if you'd have suffered a bit crossing the Nullabor - easy to sell.
I see that a couple of people have thought about buying Honda STs. Yes, great bike and comfortable touring and can be bought quite cheaply. Of course, there's a reason for this. I see ones on FB and Gtree sitting there for a long time before moving.

Hi Jil

Thanks for the excellent photos and account of your journey.

My husband and I are experienced bikers from the UK (and used HUBB extensively in 2011 to research a trip when we shipped our bikes to Nairobi and spent 7 months riding across Africa together). This time, we're heading off to Perth from the UK on 5th March for a 3-6 month trip across to Brisbane (sticking more to tarmac this time as we're >10 years older and fancy a bit more of a 'vanilla' trip).

Rather than shipping our bikes over there we've also decided to buy 2 bikes in Perth. We'll store them with friends in Brisbane and then fly back hopefully in a year or so to pick up the rest of the journey across Northern Australia, back to Perth, where we'll sell the bikes (unless we want to do it all again)! [UPDATE - we might only have to buy one as we've been offered one to borrow and just lorry it back to Perth from Brisbane when we're done! Some people are just kindness through and through].

Your account was therefore really timely. I just had one question (at the moment) regarding insurance.

A friend (also an incredibly kind and helpful person) in Perth sent me this link about the compulsory third party insurance that is part of the Rego (registration document and license transfer) and I hope it might be useful for other bikers looking to do this too.

https://www.icwa.wa.gov.au/motor-inj...surance-policy


The key point being.....

"Your Motor Injury Insurance Policy is printed on the back of your vehicle registration (“rego”). Two insurance products make up the motor injury insurance policy: Compulsory Third Party (CTP) and Catastrophic Injuries Support (CIS).
A policy is paid for when a vehicle is registered with the Department of Transport. The CTP policy covers the driver or owner of a vehicle for injuries they cause to others in a motor vehicle crash anywhere in Australia. The CIS policy covers a person for a catastrophic injury caused in a motor vehicle crash.
The motor injury insurance policy does not cover the cost of damage caused to vehicles or property from a motor vehicle crash. If you have your own motor vehicle insurance, these costs may be covered.".

But my question is did you travel just with the compulsory 3rd party insurance that was part of the Rego? Or did you get any extra insurance to cover you for 3rd party vehicle damage in the event you caused an accident? Just wondering really since I contacted an Australian insurer (Shannons) and they said they couldn't insure us because we didn't have a "fixed, permanent postal residential and garaging address" :0(

Thanks for posting such helpful stuff! Hoping I can add to this in due course from our experiences too.
Maria

I got up to 45°C indeed
Being in summer was also the reason why I choose not to travel via the "Great Central Road", but via the southern Nullarbor.