STARRING IN:
SINGAPORE TO ENGLAND ON TWO WHEELS, 2008.
No, you can't come, this is NOT a Ulysses Club ride !!
WHO
-
Mike Green, age 56, recently retired Civil Engineer from Adelaide. Married with 4 kids & a very understanding wife, Carolyn. - Chris Phillips, age 49, Technical Officer, from Melbourne.
WHAT:
- The ultimate road trip, riding a pair of BMW R1200GS’s from Singapore to England, April - August 2008.
WHY:
- Mainly because I’ve always wanted to, & because now……… I can !
OK, why (apart from early dementia, mid life crisis or possibly demonic possession) would an otherwise relatively well adjusted, middle-aged family guy decide to chuck in his job & ride a motorbike halfway across the planet? I swear this is true, I have been carrying the general idea around in my head for about 40 odd years, without any plans to actually do anything about it. A harmless fantasy, a bit of escapism really. But deep down I know the desire was always there, I just needed the motivation, the means & the opportunity to act on it. Here is how I got it. As for Chris, …you’ll just have to ask him, he may be a complete nutter!
UP, DOWN & ACROSS OZ.
I have always enjoyed motorcycle touring, and I have the photos to prove it! It took me 30 years, but I eventually managed to ride to the four geographic extremities of the Australian mainland. Not that I have some sort of bizarre master plan, or that I’m claiming to be the first to do it, or whatever, its just the way it worked out.
MOST EASTERLY POINT, 1976.
One of several trips to the east coast in the 1970’s.
Cape Byron lighthouse. (yes, I know everbody has been there)
& my trusty Honda Four 750.
MOST NORTHERLY POINT, 1997, & AGAIN 2001.
Twenty one years later, as a born again biker, this time with a dirt bike because I thought it would be safer, I signed on to do a trip to the top of Cape York. This was an organised off road tour starting from Cairns & using a hired Yamaha TTR 250, but it was nevertheless a big comeback! So in 1997, I got to the sign which designates the lonely outpost at the most northerly point on the Australian mainland.
The tip of Cape York. Proof that it’s all about the journey, not the destination, because there is bugger all else here!
But everything still has its price….OUCH !
MOST SOUTHERLY POINT, 2006.
So I eventually decided it would actually be safer back on a road bike! I settled for a Honda Deauville 650, and before too long found my way past the most southerly point of the mainland. Wilsons Promontory.
MOST WESTERLY POINT 2006.
In June, 2006, I set out on a five week loop of about 13,000 km from Adelaide to Darwin, across to Broome & down to Perth, then back across the Nullarbor. On the way, I stopped at Denham, the most westerly town in Australia. It’s about as close to the western extremity of the mainland that you can get on a road bike, & still get home to tell people about it.
Outside Denham, WA
So, that was it. On my various bikes, I had gone about as far from home as you can go in any direction. It had taken me 30 years, but I had mainland Australia pretty much covered.
SO WHAT NEXT?
Good question. While I was in WA, I chanced to meet a couple from Switzerland, Ivo & Jacqueline, who were on a 2-3 year round the world trip on an early model BMW GS. They had ridden from Europe to Australia & were planning to continue to New Zealand, then North & South America. I invited them to stay at our place when they reached Adelaide. During that week, we rode all over the place, & I found it fascinating to listen to their incredible stories. This was sheer, unadulterated adventure and I was talking to people who were actually in the middle of it!! And if I was ever going to leave suburbia & do anything this ambitious, it had to be soon. But no-one said it was easy.
It’s all their fault!! Swiss adventurers Ivo & Jacqueline, who inspired me to plan my journey.
Saying farewell at Victor Harbor. They have since been to NZ, Canada, the USA, Mexico, Central America, & all the way down to Ushuaia at the southern tip of South America, & are now in Argentina (Feb 08). We intend to catch up with them in Switzerland.
TELL HIM HE’S DREAMING….
The next step was to go & buy some maps, & start serious research. A quick refresher course in global geography reminded me of what country was connected to what other country. It all came back with a rush. Ah yes, the hippy trail of the seventies, the bus trip from Kathmandu to London, the fabled Silk Road, the Hindu Kush, the Khyber Pass, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq & Turkey. That was it, that was the one! But hang on, there are many compelling reasons why no-one does that anymore. What the hell, no guts- no glory. In late 2006 when I discovered Horizons Unlimited, a website for round the world bikers, I knew I had struck paydirt. One thing led to another, & that’s how I met Chris Phillips, a jovial Melburnian with an R1200GS, and similar plans. Of course by this time I had also seen Long Way Round, so Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman have to take some responsibility for this as well.
THE DREAM BECOMES REALITY.
Now here is where it started to get serious. Chris was already well advanced in planning a similar trip, & had firm dates in mind, so we explored the possibilities of travelling together, sort of sussing each other out while keeping our options open. One thing for sure, I was going to have to stop kidding myself & make some crucial decisions. I mean real decisions with real consequences. There was no small amount of angst involved, but it lead me to my ultimate conclusion, which was this: I had spent almost 40 years studying & working, ultimately for one purpose, to provide for myself & my family, & that task is now largely complete. When I finally kick the bucket, however & whenever that might be, I certainly won’t be wishing I had spent more time at work. I absolutely refuse to die of boredom. Life is for living, & when you get a once in a lifetime opportunity for challenge, adventure & fulfilment, you take it, end of story. So by about mid year the deal was done. I had decided to retire, sell my business, buy an R1200GS, and go for it. We were going to ride overland to Europe!!!
It will be a real shame to get it dirty, but that’s what it’s for!
NUTS & BOLTS STUFF.
So the next six months was also a flurry of emails & web- searching as we ploughed our way through the mire of unanswered questions that had to be answered. I can only guess how impossibly difficult this would have been without the internet & Lonely Planet. Gradually we started to fit all the pieces together. Itinerary, routes & distances, customs documentation, sea & air freight, insurance, getting the bikes equipped & ready, accommodation, finance, visas, what gear to take, what gear not to take, vaccinations, considering the worst case scenarios, & so it went on. In the background, the constant stream of media reports about suicide bombers, political assassinations, bird-flu pandemics, catastrophic earthquakes and the like brought things into sharp focus. This venture might be really dangerous. Anyway, all this activity was exciting, frustrating, fantastic, depressing, exhilarating, scary, & sometimes all of the above at the same time - pretty much like we expect the trip itself will be.
Our planned route will take us from Singapore, through Malaysia & southern Thailand. From Bangkok we intend to make a quick detour to Cambodia & back again to visit the Angkor Wat. It is just impossible to take a motor vehicle into Burma, so instead we will crate up the bikes & fly to Kathmandu. From there, it will be down into northern India & across to Pakistan. We hope to be able to travel on the Karakoram Highway up as far as the Khunjerab Pass on the Chinese border (at elevation 4733m one of the highest mountain passes on earth) but this will depend on the security situation. Then its back down following the Indus Valley & across through the desolate Baluchistan region of western Pakistan & into Iran, skirting uncomfortably close to the dangerous Afghan border areas. From Iran into central Turkey & down to the Mediterranean coast which will lead us via Gallipoli & on to Istanbul. Then its into Greece, a ferry from Patra to the heel of Italy, & more or less straight through to the UK, with a stopover in Zurich to catch up with my mentors, Ivo & Jacqueline, who plan to be back from South America by then. Twenty one weeks & about 20,000 km in total. The bikes will then be shipped back to Australia. Well, that’s the plan, but there are only a few hundred ways it could go wrong!!
The other pressing task I had was to get used to the R1200, & evaluate some of the options for accessories & other equipment. All eight of my previous bikes have been Japanese. I must confess, each time I have ridden non-oriental machines, I thought they felt too weird. BMW do things in their own way, like the indicator set up, & positioning of some of the other switches, which I still regard as intuitively wrong. Even checking the oil is a hassle. The sight glass is a hands & knees job, & in my case, reading glasses as well. The seating position is a little too upright for me, & the stance a little too wide, from a road point of view. Off road, I concede that it makes good sense. The bike is big & ugly, and a bastard to clean, but these are somewhat minor points. At the business end, the power & torque are absolutely awesome, they just keep on coming, & the suspension & ABS brakes are superb, in a class of their own. They sure got those bits right!
A quick trip to the Flinders Ranges & onto the Birdsville Track in December 07 only reinforced the above viewpoint. Heavily loaded up with equipment, I covered about 1200 km including 300 km of unsealed road, some sections badly degraded, and some stretches were wet, & I came back very pleased, but with a list of relatively minor adjustments to make for improved comfort, protection & handling. I reckon I’ve got all that sorted out now, although how it goes carrying all that weight in deep sand or mud (& more to the point, being ridden by me) remain a bit of an unknown to this point. I guess we will find out somewhere, although we won’t actively be seeking those answers.
Blinman, Flinders Ranges December 2007
Marree, start of the Birdsville Track.
REALITY BITES, FEBRUARY 2008.
We now have the bikes booked on a ship to Singapore, & will deliver them (fully loaded with all our gear, serviced & with new tyres) to a freight depot in Melbourne on 27 February 2008. I will then return to Adelaide, leaving us a month to address any last minute issues before I fly to Singapore, carrying little more than a toothbrush, on 29 March, & hope Chris turns up on the following day.
It is going to be weird not having a bike to ride for a month, while I cool my heels at home. I am reminded of Hernando Cortez, the Spanish explorer who, on reaching the New World in 1519, set fire to his ships to rule out all thought of retreat. As a result, his men were well motivated to succeed in their new venture. So will I be, if I’ve got to go to Singapore just to get my bloody bike back! And if I’m there, I might as well keep going.
The bikes crated in Melbourne, 27 February 08
These are original BMW crates & straps, kindly donated to the cause. We had to drain the tanks & disconnect the batteries, but we were able to leave the front wheels on, & only had to remove the top boxes, windscreens & mirrors, & drop the handlebars down a bit. Then we just added some cladding to the framework. The crates will be stacked in a standard sea freight container. As long as nobody drops the crates, or drives a forklift through them, we should be reasonably OK !! Fingers crossed.
The finished product.....looks unremarkable enough. Next stop Singapore.
