Dreaming of a motorcycle trip to distant climes? This section will help you to plan your trip, whether it's to the next state, country or all the way around the world! Start here!
The Achievable Dream 5-part series - the definitive video guide for planning your motorcycle adventure. Get Ready! covers planning, paperwork, medical and many other topics! "Inspirational and Awesome!" See the trailer here!
You could just get on a plane with your credit card and passport and buy or rent everything you need when you get there. That includes the bike, riding gear, etc. etc.
Gear Up! is a 2-DVD set, 6 hours! Which bike is right for me? How do I prepare the bike? What stuff do I need - riding gear, clothing, camping gear, first aid kit, tires, maps and GPS? What don't I need? How do I pack it all in? Lots of opinions from over 150 travellers! "will save you a fortune!"See the trailer here!
So you've done it - got inspired, planned your trip, packed your stuff and you're on the road! This section is about staying healthy, happy and secure on your motorcycle adventure. And crossing borders, war zones or oceans!
On the Road! is 5.5 hours of the tips and advice you need to cross borders, break down language barriers, overcome culture shock, ship the bike and deal with breakdowns and emergencies."Just makes me want to pack up and go!" See the trailer here!
Tire Changing!Grant demystifies the black art of Tire Changing and Repair to help you STAY on the road! "Very informative and practical." See the trailer here!
With an HU blog, you'll get a lot more readers than in some obscure corner of the web, it's all set to go, no setup required, and it's free! Start your Travel Story Blog right now!
800+ HU Communities in over 115 countries! People who want to meet travellers - yes that's YOU - and can provide local assistance, and may be your new best friends!
Make a DifferenceTips on fundraising or donating time and energy to a cause.
After the big trip - Was the trip the best - or worst - thing you ever did?
Resources and Links
Horizons Unlimited Presents!
Ladies on the Loose! For the first time ever, a motorcycle travel DVD made for women, by women! These intrepid women share their tips to help you plan your own motorcycle adventure. They also answer the women-only questions, and entertain you with amazing tales from the road! Presented by Lois Pryce, veteran solo traveller through South America and Africa and author of 'Lois on the Loose', and 'Red Tape and White Knuckles.'
"It has me all fired up to go out on my own adventure!" See the trailer here!
Meet people who don't think you're crazy for wanting to ride your bike to South America or across Asia! They will encourage you, share their experiences and advice on how to do it!
We're not a big multi-national company, just two people who love motorcycle travel and have grown a hobby into a full time job and a labour of love.
When you decide to become a Member, it helps directly support the site. You get additional privileges on the HUBB, access to the Members Private Store, and more. Of course, you get our sincere thanks, good karma and knowing you're helping to keep the motorcycle travel dream alive. :-)
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T-shirts, Calendars, Stickers
T-shirts Cotton or synth sweat-wicking t-shirts with the cool Horizons Unlimited graphic on the front and a snappy slogan (changing every year) on the back.
Calendars Featuring the 13 winning photos from the Horizons Unlimited annual motorcycle travel photo contest!
World Map Sticker for PanniersShow your route on your panniers. Great conversation starter when you meet people on the road!
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Videos - Watch and Learn!
Horizons Unlimited presents!
Achievable Dream The definitive guide to planning your motorcycle adventure! This insanely ambitious 2-year project has produced an informative and entertaining 5-part, 18 hour video series. "The ultimate round the world rider's how-to!" MCN UK.
"The series is 'free' because the tips and advice will save much more than you spend on buying the DVD's."
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We just started a new thread for Part 2 of our Travel Story. If you want to know where we have been over the last two months, have a look at: Riding Down Under in NZ & OZ
We are now ready to hit the road again and look forward to it!!!
We are back in Melbourne after two weeks on the road, and very happy about our great GS motorcycles. We enjoyed great scenery and nice roads in the western part of Victoria, as well as in eastern part of South Australia.
Episode 1 relates to the first week we spent in Melbourne and on a particularly nice sunny day, we took the tram to visit downtown and around. Melbourne is quite special for its architecture, history and has lots of great restaurants!
This video is 4 minutes long.
We left Melbourne with our newly acquired GS on Friday April 7th, on a warm sunny day and headed right away for the Great Ocean Road. Seeing the coastline live and its magnificent natural features is just unbelievable, much better than any pictures. I just LOVE Australia!!!
Episode 2 is 22 minutes long and covers the area shown on the following maps.
We stayed two nights at Big Hill Campground in Great Otway Nat'l Park, visited Apollo Bay, walked in the Maits Rest Rainforest, and visited Cape Otway Lighthouse with much interest. We were very excited when seeing our first kangaroos and koalas!!
We enjoyed riding on a very twisty road in Beech Forest, visited the volcanic plains up north and Red Rock lookout. We had an incredible storm on Sunday (so I spent the day reading a great book 'Two for the Road' in our little shelter...) and you will see how the roads were the following morning, all covered with leaves, debris and even fallen trees.
Before continuing west on the Great Ocean Road through Port Campbell Nat'l Park, we walked in a forest of giant Sequoia trees, which reminded us California. We spent a night in Princetown and continued on the coast to Portland Bay.
Episode 3 - Portland to Mt Gambier, and Limestone Coast
This video starts at Sawpit Campground in Narrawong, close to Portland, where you will see colorful birds playing around our site.
We had fun riding through Cobboboonee Nat'l Park where we saw many kangaroos jumping around. At Cape Bridgewater, we were much surprised to see the big waves splashing at Blowholes. Petrified Forest just beside, is also very interesting. These hollow columns are actually natural erosion of stone in the ground, with the remains looking like fossilized tree trunks.
After going up to Mt Richmond Nat'l Park, we found a nice camping spot at Dry Creek at the border with South Australia. The next morning, we continued our ride to Mount GamBier, where we visited the impressive Sinkhole Umpherston and Blue Lake. We admired the beautiful coast at Beachport, the big crayfish in Kingston S.E., then we found another nice camping site at Coorong Nat'l Park. The following morning, we left 42 Mile Crossing Campground in heavy fog that lifted up slowly as we continued our ride along the coast, providing an opportunity for some good shots. We took a short ferry crossing Murray River to Wellington, entering the Fleurieu Peninsula.
Episode 4 was created when riding through Fleurieu Peninsula, from Strathalbyn to Milang, Goolwa, Victor Harbor, and on Range Road to Cape Jervis where we camped one night. Richard made a new friend, our neighbour the emu.
The following day, we rode back north to Adelaide on Main South Road and we visited the city a bit before heading through the Adelaide Hills in an awesome surrounding. At the end of day, we took another short ferry in Mannum and camped along Murray River.
Episode 5 - Little Desert Nat'l Park and Grampians Nat'l Park
Episode 5 starts in a flat and desert area. We found a very nice quiet campsite in Little Desert Nat'l Park where we could see thousands of stars during the evening. We headed then to Grampians Nat'l Park where we enjoyed a very twisty road to Halls Gap before heading to Plantation Campground where we stayed two nights.
As you will see, we took many images during our stay in Grampians Nat'l Park while riding on different roads as well as when visiting Reed Lookout, Mackenzie Falls, Boroka Lookout and hiking to the Pinnacle. This track is quite special, in a very unusual setting as you walk between piles of rocks. There was actually a rescue performed by helicopter during our hike over there. Someone slipped on the rocks and was seriously injured.... hip fracture. Ouch!!
The last day, we rode up 10km to Mount William and hiked the last two km to the top. A good exercise!
This video is 15 minutes long.
Pay attention to two particular scenes:
At 5:30, see thousands of tiny ants at Zumsteins Picnic Area;
At 13:00, see kangaroos on the right side of the road.
It's been a while since we posted anything, already 3 weeks have passed since we left Melbourne. When the weather is great, we just ride and visit places. When the weather is not so good, we try to find a place to prepare our videos and post them. However, it has been a challenge to find good Internet connection, to the point that we had to reduce the size of our files, therefore altering a bit the quality of the film.
Episode 7 shows our journey on Melba Highway and Maroondah Highway to Wangaratta and Howlong. We entered the Snowy Mountains through Kosciuszko National Park up to Dead Horse Gap and then to Jindabyne. OMG, it was freezing!!! The temperature dropped down to 1C and we had a few snowflakes. At one point, I was wearing seven layers of clothes on top and 3 layers at the bottom. Felt like 'Monsieur Michelin'.... but we enjoyed the road and scenery very much!!
We ended up in an hotel in Cooma that night. Next morning, we rode to Tathra on the East Coast and up north to Batemans Bay.
Episode 8 shows our ride from Batemans Bay on Kings Hwy to Canberra and our visit on Capital Hill. Then we headed north on Federal Hwy to South Goulburn and rode on Tablelands Way to Oberon. Finally, we took Edith Road to the amazing Jenolan Caves and back up to Blackheath, some other very twisty roads!!
The video is 16 minutes long.
Episode 9 - Blue Mountains, Hunter Valley and Central Coast
Episode 9 starts in Blue Mountains Nat'l Park with views of the Great Canyon from different lookouts as well as during our walk down the canyon. It was a great hike!
The following day, we rode from Blackheath on Megalong Road to Katoomba to see the Three Sisters at Echo Point, and then on Bells Line of Road to Mount Wilson and further up to Mt Irvine. The Autumn colors were really nice, especially when we camped at Cathedral Reserve.
Next day, we took Putty Road from Windsor to Broke, Wollombi and Cessnock. Hunter Valley has many vineyards.
We enjoyed viewing paragliders in Wyrrabalong Nat'l Park at Crackneck Lookout where we met Scott, a HU Member just before his taking off the cliff. We continued our ride on the Scenic Road to Killcare and then the old Pacific Hwy South to Sydney.
The video is 19 minutes long.
Our wonderful guide Nathalie, my dear cousin, took us on the ferry from Manly to Circular Quay where we had incredible views on the bay. It was a very beautiful sunny day for walking around Opera House, the Botanic Gardens, the Business District, in Queen Victoria Building, along Darling Harbour, in 'The Rocks' and back to Circular Quay West. We left on the ferry at sunset and at the same time as a big cruise ship. The colors and views were just splendid!
On the following day, we went to see Chloé surfing at Freshwater Beach and we all walked back to North Curl Curl, enjoying the views of the ocean.
Episode 11 starts when we leave North Curl Curl, riding from Hornsby to Galston Gorge, which was very busy on a beautiful Sunday morning. Then we took the direction of Wisemans Ferry on Northern Road, through Maroota. The ferry took us across Mangrove River and we continued on the river bank towards Central Mangrove. From there, we continued north towards Kulnura. On this road, you will see that there was a car accident with some injured people. From Kulnura, we went east to Wyong and then took Hwy M1, ending our day at Karuah Nat'l Park, where we experienced very slippery muddy roads...
The following day, we took a road called ‘The Bucketts Way’ that starts in Raymond Terrace up to Gloucester. From there, we took ‘The Thunderbolts’ that lead us to Carsons Pioneer Lookout and then to Walcha. New England Hwy took us to Armidale, Glen Innes and Tenterfield. We went visit Bald Rock Nat'l Park but the clouds were very low and the rock surface very slippery. We continued on Bruxner Hwy and then north on Clarence Hwy, ending in lovely Woodenbong.
The following day, we took the beautiful Mt Lindesay Highway and 15 minutes later, we were in Queensland. We went through Rathdowney and Beaudesert on our way to Brisbane.
The video is about 8 minutes long.
In Episode 12, it seems we entered in a very different environment with much more humidity and warmer temperature, day and night, different vegetation and a lot of new birds, bugs and spiders... And, we saw our first banana, pineapple as well as sugar cane fields!
Lots of twisty roads again in this video, some in thick fog…
On our way to Brisbane, we met a lovely couple, both riders and members of HU. Beth and Arran gave us lots of tips on things to see, where to go and how to solve our problems with loading files on the web. After a quick overview of Brisbane high rise buildings, we settled for a couple of days about 25 km northwest in Samford Village. From there, we could easily explore the area and ride on a few twisty roads, especially in D’Aguilar Nat’l Park where we had lots of fun. Pay attention in the video and listen to the Bell Birds at the Westridge lookout (9:15 to 9:45).
We left Samford Village to Mount Mee, where we had a nice view on the Glasshouse Mountains and enjoyed the roads on Blackall Range. We stayed one night in a Holiday Park in Bli Bli where we met another lovely couple, Angie & Roger, who like riding their Harley all around Australia.
We continued our way north along the coast heading to the Town of 1770, the only place in the world named with numbers… 1770 is the year Captain James Cook discovered Australia. Seventeen Seventy is a lovely town with beautiful quiet beaches, close to the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef that we hope to explore in the coming days.
Have YOU ever wondered who has ridden around the world? We did too - and now here's thelist of Circumnavigators!
Check it out now, and add your information if we didn't find you.
Check the RAW segments; Grant, your HU host is on every month!
Episodes below to listen to while you, err, pretend to do something or other...
2020 Edition of Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.
"Ultimate global guide for red-blooded bikers planning overseas exploration. Covers choice & preparation of best bike, shipping overseas, baggage design, riding techniques, travel health, visas, documentation, safety and useful addresses." Recommended. (Grant)
Ripcord Rescue Travel Insurance™ combines into a single integrated program the best evacuation and rescue with the premier travel insurance coverages designed for adventurers.
Led by special operations veterans, Stanford Medicine affiliated physicians, paramedics and other travel experts, Ripcord is perfect for adventure seekers, climbers, skiers, sports enthusiasts, hunters, international travelers, humanitarian efforts, expeditions and more.
Ripcord travel protection is now available for ALL nationalities, and travel is covered on motorcycles of all sizes!
What others say about HU...
"This site is the BIBLE for international bike travelers." Greg, Australia
"Thank you! The web site, The travels, The insight, The inspiration, Everything, just thanks." Colin, UK
"My friend and I are planning a trip from Singapore to England... We found (the HU) site invaluable as an aid to planning and have based a lot of our purchases (bikes, riding gear, etc.) on what we have learned from this site." Phil, Australia
"I for one always had an adventurous spirit, but you and Susan lit the fire for my trip and I'll be forever grateful for what you two do to inspire others to just do it." Brent, USA
"Your website is a mecca of valuable information and the (video) series is informative, entertaining, and inspiring!" Jennifer, Canada
"Your worldwide organisation and events are the Go To places to for all serious touring and aspiring touring bikers." Trevor, South Africa
"This is the answer to all my questions." Haydn, Australia
"Keep going the excellent work you are doing for Horizons Unlimited - I love it!" Thomas, Germany
Horizons Unlimited is not a big multi-national company, just two people who love motorcycle travel and have grown what started as a hobby in 1997 into a full time job (usually 8-10 hours per day and 7 days a week) and a labour of love. To keep it going and a roof over our heads, we run events all over the world with the help of volunteers; we sell inspirational and informative DVDs; we have a few selected advertisers; and we make a small amount from memberships.
You don't have to be a Member to come to an HU meeting, access the website, or ask questions on the HUBB. What you get for your membership contribution is our sincere gratitude, good karma and knowing that you're helping to keep the motorcycle travel dream alive. Contributing Members and Gold Members do get additional features on the HUBB. Here's a list of all the Member benefits on the HUBB.
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