It's only one week to go, one week and the greatest adventure of my life will start. On Sunday the 7th August 2011 early in the morning my good old bike will be packed and I will leave my lovely hometown Sydney, not seeing this beautiful city for a whole entire year.

The plan is to first ride across Australia from Sydney to Perth, 4000km away. When I say 'we' I mean my humble little Suzuki DR650 and myself because for this first leg of the journey it's only gonna be the two of us. From Perth we will fly across the Indian Ocean to Johannesburg, South Africa. And then keep heading north towards Westafrica and Morocco. Catching a ferry from there will see us arriving in Gibraltar and will start the final leg of the journey to Germany. Finally we will arrive in the small town of Schoenheide in Germany, the place where I grew up and which most of my family still calls home. But at this stage Germany still seems a world away, much too far to worry about. For now.

Somehow our story will remind you of the famous tales of Don Quichote and his fearless horse Rosinante. A very able horse ridden by a rather clueless hero through the most incredible of adventures.
The 'hero' in our story would be me. A 1977 German born Australian who, until last year, has never ridden a motorbike. So the term 'clueless' fits perfectly. My own 'Rosinante' stood by me on the big adventure of me learning to ride motorbikes. And she is the one who paid the price, being dropped many times in sand and dirt and dust by her swearing rider. She's the one teaching me the secrets of her kind while bits and pieces of her spread out across the footpath in Sydney during various 'improvement' surgeries. She was always there and never complained and we properly checked each other out on a 3700km team bonding tour through the Australian outback and became good friends there and then. By now we are a proven team for almost 10000km worth of good times together. I am a very happy man to have her by my side for our first ever adventure trip.

But back to the real topic here – the journey. Once we made it to the other side of Australia we will both fly across the Indian Ocean to get the adventure really started. My old best friend Martin will be eagerly waiting for our arrival in Johannesburg. He will be there on his Honda Africa Twin. And we all will then travel together through Africa. Back to the old home country, back all the way to Germany. Passing through Central and West Africa on the way and meeting as many people as we can.

At this stage I would be incredibly nervous if I hadn't had the support of the Horizons Unlimited community. You guys gave me lots of great advice and patiently answered all my questions . So here I am, still nervous but ready to go. On a second thought – still incredibly nervous actually.

Provided there is an internet connection where we are going this thread will tell our story in text and pictures live from the road. So stay tuned and wish us luck and see if this newbie on his bike can make it through Australia and Africa and Europe!

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no risk - no fun

Good onya Marco! I look forward to hearing more about your adventures!

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Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Sounds like a brilliant trip!! God luck matey!!

Good luck Marco, have you got a trip website we can follow?

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http://www.teapotone.com

Argh! Apologies, cancel the above, I just found your website through your profile:

foreverfree for anyone else who wants to follow his adventure.

Cheers,

Bruce

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http://www.teapotone.com

BikingMarco i wish you the best for your trip...!!
I will waiting for your reports!

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3mountainsadventure

Hi,
I'm preparing my own RTW. And I have lot of interrogations for my road thru Africa.

I'll follow your adventure with a great interest.....

Safe travel.

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Damien - Motard du Monde http://motard-du-monde.net
https://www.facebook.com/MotardDuMonde.net

Just a quick update from the 5th day on the road. I am typing this in my tent, somewhere nowhere, a little conservation area 100km east of Ceduna in South Australia. Yep, I made it across the border to South Australia yesterday. And will cross another border once I made it across the Nullarbor, entering Western Australia.
There is actually not too much to write about. I wouldn't be able to point a finger towards any particular highlights during the last few days. There has been just an abundance of nothingness which in itself is a highlight. The road simply stretches on forever. Straight and flat. And there is nothing beside the road either. Just more flat ground. Some might find it boring but I love it. I can't really explain why. Being just a little dot in such a massive landscape is just awesome. It is hard to tell how far away the horizon is, maybe 10km, maybe 20. You are able to see such a huge and vast area, it just makes you feel ever so small. And free. There are some scattered trees, pretty far away from each other. But because you can see so far, you see so many of them, it looks like there is a forest at the horizon. But it's not, it's just scattered trees. With lots of space in between. So as you go along you will always find yourself in an empty landscape with an imaginative forest at the horizon. And because you can see so far, you see areas of rain with towering clouds and rainbows. And at the same time you see other areas of sunshine where the redness of the ground shines bright within the grey areas of shade. And you can see this spectacle many times as you look around you. There is hardly any others on the road. A big road train every now and then. Or a 4WD towing a caravan. But I have not seen another motorbike for probably 1000km. Sometimes it is hard to stay focussed and I need to stop, dismount and have a short brake. Once the engine stops it's dead silent. There is no sound at all. You can hear your own pulse. Every now and then I find a little dirtroad bypassing the highway which is good fun and a welcome change. There are some roadhouses every few hundred km which are a livesaver, serving hot coffee or Milo to warm up a bit.
Some other travellers told me that after a few days on tour you develope a routine. And they are right. After a few days I learned what works best and what does not work, learned where in my panniers I can find my stuff without unpacking the lot. Getting up at dawn means being on the road at sunrise. Just cruising along till around 5pm by which time the 400km mark is achieved, looking for a nice spot to camp, pitch the tent and watch the sunset for dinner. Not missing a sunrise or sunset in five days, pretty much owning these days completely, is quite an amazing feeling. Quite cruisy really.
At this speed I will reach Perth Wednesday or Thursday next week which gives me just over a week time to get the bike prepared for it's flight. And to get some bits and pieces replaced. Thought about putting a new chain, new sprockets and new brake pads on. And a new set of tyres, just dont know which ones yet. Considering some Heidenaus or Pirelli Scorpions. And then, in less than 3 weeks time - we will be in AFRICA!!!
My travel mate Martin and his bike are already in Africa. It is just awesome to read his emails and I can't wait to get across there myself...


Anywhere really.


The official halfway mark. Kimba, SA


Almost forgot to introduce ourselves: that's me and my little Suzuki

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no risk - no fun

Hello Marco,

You are writing about the landscape : The road simply stretches on forever.Some might find it boring but I love it.

I agree totaly what you explain here. I crossed lot of time USA, especially cross the prairies. Is just awesome. You explain with good words the sensation, the feeling when we travel inside this type of landscape. Some people don't understand that when I'm trying to explain. During this period we feel free, and your spirit could raise...

Same for your routine... After some days, and after some travels, we develop a form of routine, and it's not necessary to unpack all the stuff. You know what you need and where is. Same when you travel with someone (in my case my wife...) not necessary to speak. Each know exactly what we must do when we stop for the night and in the morning.....

Continue you report !!! I'm waiting for AFRICA !

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Damien - Motard du Monde http://motard-du-monde.net
https://www.facebook.com/MotardDuMonde.net

Hi Marco it's Quentin,

Am reading your description on Monday morning before going to work. Could almost cry that's how envious I feel of what you are doing! Must be an amazing feeling, that sense of freedom. Look forward to more stories so keep up the writing.
Cheers
QB

It's the end of day six into the trip. And I made it across my last Australian border crossing: this morning I crossed from South Australia into Western Australia. 3000km since leaving Sydney. All day yesterday and most of today I spent in an area called the 'Nullarbor'. It is huge plains along the Great Australian Bight with, as the name suggests, no trees. Not one single tree for almost two days. What remains is the usual flat landscape and the narrow straight line of the Eyre Hwy. It feels like an ocean, just made of land. But, for a change, there is a real ocean as well. Through the Nullarbor NP the Eyre Hwy runs just a few km parallel to the Southern Ocean. The Nullarbor plains is an elevated plateau around 60m above sea level. So if you just venture off the Hwy a bit you arrive at the cliffs where Australia ends and the Southern Ocean starts and you are looking straight towards Antarctica (which unfortunately remains hidden behind the horizon). It's quite a spectacular sight after days of desert and I just couldn't get enough of it and tried every little dirt path off the highway to adore the beautiful ocean from the cliff tops. I noticed then how much I missed the ocean.
It was one such spot where I camped last night, on the cliffs with the ocean in hearing distance. It is hard to describe the awesomness of a sunrise and a sunset over a landscape which is flat all the way to the horizon, in every direction, half land half water. No one else there. And listening to the sound of the waves breaking at the rocks below while falling asleep. I really love camping for moments like these.
Travelling further west today I reached the end of the plains just this afternoon. Crossing the border into Western Australia had a feel of an international border crossing to it. First a friendly roadhouse with the big 'border kangaroo' sculpture, then a quarantaine checkpoint where you need to stop and declare pretty much all food items in your luggage to the friendly officer. I had to negotiate a bit to keep my bag of fruit and nuts but at the end the officer was happy for me to 'import' them into WA. Once through there, one or two km down the road there was the Police checkpoint. Every one had to stop, the vehicle was briefly checked for it's roadworthiness, the driver was checked for the correct licence and had to pass a breath test. No drunk people will get into WA today!
The rest of my time travelling through WA went by rather eventless. Tired and exhausted from so much riding in a straight line I was looking for a suitable spot to set up camp near the Madura roadhouse. There is a dirtroad connecting the Transaustralian Railway Line and the Eyre Hwy near Madura, the railway line runs approximately 100km parrallel to the North of the Hwy. Sounded like a good road to look for camping. So I went up from the plains onto the small escarpment. And what can I say - just a few hundred meters along a small dirt track - the best ever camping spot. It's in the middle of nowhere but there was a little fireplace and two chairs, overlooking the plains from the edge of the escarpment, surrounded by beautiful grass. No idea what two chairs were doing there so far from civilisation. But I took it as it came, sitting on a comfy chair watching the sunset over the plains. And typing this report. Life is awesome!


The eastern entrance to the Nullarbor Plains


Back at the ocean


Sunrise in the Nullarbor


The border into Western Australia - the 'Border Roo'


Two chairs with a fireplace in the most unexpected place - thanks, much appreciated.


Camping is fun

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no risk - no fun

Thanks for the thumps up guys! And sorry for the time lag. The post above was written a couple of days ago but today is the first time to have mobile internet reception. I made it all the way across the endless plains and am having now lunch in Norseman, WA. Good to be back in civilisation. From here it is only 600km to Perth, the end of the first leg of the trip. And admittedly the easy leg of the trip. And from now it's only two weeks till Africa!
I'm extremely happy with how it's all going. Apart from a few lost bolts on the bike (just can't keep away from shaky dirt roads) everything just works out perfectly. People, the weather, the roads - all have been very friendly to me so far.
I will go through my pics tonight and will send an update with some more photos soon.
See you all later...

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no risk - no fun