Hi Will

Not shipping a bike from NZ. I have bought a Sumo Tekker 250cc bike in Peru on a buy back scheme. Cost will be around $NZ 10 a day for 80 days and that includes insurance. You only need a 250cc bike in SA. I have bought the Tekker second hand from a tour company and it has been refurbished. The company has a good rep but I will fill you in once the trip is completed.

I did Central America on a Suzuki 125 a couple of years ago. The bike, from memory, was nearly new and cost me $US600 and did not miss a beat over 8000km. I gave it away at the end of three months to a local kids charity because it was easier than going through the rigamorole to sell and I reckoned $200 a month for transport was pretty good.

The bikes are easily understood and fixed by local mechanics and parts are freely available .

When I did Europe, Morocco, Ukraine,Turkey I bought a V strom 650 in the UK and shipped it home to NZ for just under $NZ2000. My V strom was a year old and done 20k km when I bought it with panniers and full adventure kit. It cost me around $NZ6000. As I have UK/NZ citizenship I could swap my licence for a UK one and get cheaper insurance. I have done in excess of 50k km and she has not missed a beat - just changed the sprockets and chain and put on Metzeler tyres. We will rust away together I think

I did one of those training schemes a few years ago and I remember it was paid for and sponsored by the local council ( I live on the Coromandel) so it may be worth giving your local road safety officer a call

You can travel on a bike pretty frugally. I do not camp in less developed countries and living well costs me around NZ$75 a day In Nicaragua I met a couple of kiwi boys ,who spoke passable Spanish, supplementing their funds working as a barman and surf instructor- they were surviving pretty well. Kiwis have a good reputation for hard work and if you have some skills, dive master, canoe, rafting, skiing , mountain bike instructing you can often pick up work. Hell,I even managed to work for six months in Thailand after I retired as a divemaster.

Ok raved enough.

Regards

Peter