It's done! On the 01/06/2012 at 9:15pm my little Suzuki and me, we arrived at my Mum's and Dad's house in Germany. Some 35000km after leaving Sydney nearly exactly 10 months ago. Sydney to Germany - the African way - is now complete.
After leaving Romania I very much just kept riding. As the countries got more developed, roads became faster and busier riding became the most fun part to do in these countries, no longer sightseeing. There was this strong urge to keep going, finish the journey.
First there was Hungary. My route led me through only 180km of this country. Not enough to even bother changing money. Or bying a map. The Eastern part of Hungary, where I passed through is an all flat landscape with huge farms everywhere. The road became a perfect freeway, perfect bitumen, perfectly signposted. Perfectly clean cars came rushing past us as my little Suzuki travelled along at her favourite speed of 90-100km/h. No, freeways are not her favourite terrain.
By now, all the rain in recent days started having an effect on the chain. The rain just kept washing the chain lube away and the dry chain started making a strange noise. After all, this chain has been running for more than 30000km! So in the sunny conditions of Hungary I kept spraying lube on it, from a spray can I bought long time ago in South Africa. It made the strange sound disappear straight away. But now I sprayed the last bit on, the can finally was finished. No more rain please!
In the town of Debrecen a big 'Suzuki' sign sprang into my view. My little Suzuki still had one problem. Her front tyre was still original as fitted some 30000km ago in Perth/Australia. The old Pirelli Scorpion still had some thread left on it. But not enough to make it 'road legal' in Europe. Hungary would be probably the cheapest place to change it.
At the Suzuki dealer they could help me. It was a professional Suzuki dealer, something I had not seen since South Africa. And as so often in this journey people surprised me. The guys from the workshop liked my Aussie bike. We took photos of each other with the bike. We chatted. They changed the tyre. They did not accept any money for their work. Just pay for the tyre, nothing else. Instead, without me telling them my chain story, they gave me a big can of chain lube as present. How cool is that? Right on the day when I finished my own some friendly strangers give me a new one!
Including the tyre change I was through Hungary in just over three hours. It was the country with the sunniest weather I had seen and should see in Europe, the only country where I never got wet.
After Hungary it was Slovakia. Slovakia surprised me as that their currency was already the Euro. It was a quite modern country, again with good roads, perfectly signposted. Plenty of petrol, there was a choice between four or five different kinds of petrol on the stations. Cheap ones, ecological ones, performance ones... I got a really good map covering Slovakia and the Czech Republic which made travelling more pleasant. As I could now navigate along smaller roads and avoid the freeways. Both my little Suzuki and me, we don't like freeways. We are just not made for that way of travelling. That night I slept in Trencin, a town near the border to the Czech Republic. As usual it had rained and was pretty cold. So the luxury of a nice pension was extremely welcome. The next night I thought would be my last night on the trip which I would like to spend camping. One more time.
The next day I entered the Czech Republic. There is no longer a border from Slovakia. Just a sign announcing you're there. Riding along small roads the route lead us through hilly terrain. It was really beautyful, green, often forested with pine trees. The roads mostly small, just big enough for two cars to pass each other. And some lovely clean towns along the way. And some huge shopping malls and supermarkets and even 'Hypermarkets'.
Halfway through the Czech Republic, near the famous town of Plzen (where Pilsen style
has it's origin) it started to rain again. And kept raining. The temperature was displayed somewhere as 9 degrees Celsius. It was cold. Bloody Europe! The weather here has a lot of potential for improvement!
At around 7pm I arrived at the city of Karlovy Vary. Wet and cold. And still raining. No, I did not feel like camping today. Riding through town the hotels and pensions all looked extremely expensive. It's after all a town of many famous hot springs and baths, a destination for wealthy German people to cure their little aches.
Looking at my map I realised how close I was to my Mum's and Dad's place. Only 70km! I decided there and then to finish it, to go all the way, no to spend another night on the road. So I stopped at a petrol station, spent my last Czech money on petrol and muesli bars and energy drinks in it's heated shop. It was so nice and warm in there! And now both, my little Suzuki and me, had the energy to go. And as we went along and the km rushed past it felt like we gained even more energy. This epic trip would come to an end soon...
At this time in the evening the roads were mostly empty, all our's to cruise along. Again, there is no border crossing between Czech Republic and Germany, just a sign. When I reached that sign I had to stop, to take it all in. This is GERMANY!
From here to my parent's house it's only 30km. I knew this road from long times back when I was still living in Germany. Not much has changed here. It felt weird to ride along here now. All the way from Sydney!
The rain had stopped now and a bright half moon illuminated the sky. My little Suzuki just flew along, that Czech fuel must have been rocket fuel. Her little single cylinder the only sign of life along this road.
Within these 30km strange things went through my head. I felt happy and sad, had tears in my eyes. For some reason the Tanzania national anthem came back from memories long ago and I shouted it from my helmet into the empty German sky along this empty road. No one could hear me. Or my little Suzuki's single cylinder happily cruising along.
Finally arriving at my parent's house at 9:15pm. The big moment when I turned the ignition key to 'off'. Remembering the feeling of when I pushed the starter button for the first time in this trip, 10 months ago just outside my appartment building in Sydney. But now, there was no time for nostalgia. My mum and dad came running towards me. And my brother, his wife, my nephew. There was not even time to take the helmet off, no, there was hugging, laughing, happiness.
So yeah, here I am. The journey complete. Sydney to Germany - the African way.
Give me a day or two and I'll give you a wrap up of what's happening now. And some statistics. As for now - a big thanks to you guys for joining me on this journey on your computers! It's been great!!!