An Australian lap attempt.....anti clockwise

The black art of moving from A to B on foreign soil
OnHellas
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Re: An Australian lap attempt.....anti clockwise

Post by OnHellas »

Whether it was excitement or a few nerves we were up and gone by nine o’clock in what we hoped would be the last day of our lap of Australia.
We had planned a potentially nicer route than just following the motorway to Sydney.
The A48 from Sutton Forest down to Wollongong, the home of ‘87 500cc world champion Wayne Gardner, was an absolute delight.
Starting off with some easy sweeping bends we were delivered to the top of a pass which saw about 20km of tight, twisty corners with a few hairpins thrown in.
We guessed that even if Wayne was still living in Wollongong he wouldn’t let us in so we kept going.
We kept going toward Sydney, via the once more stunning coastline and also through the Royal National Park.
A quick stop for a cuppa was in order before the twisty park roads. Another joy. The roads, not the tea. Although that was OK too!

I’d read in the internet that the park entrance was $12 per vehicle. Not from the end we entered it wasn’t. There was a pay booth for those going in at our exit point...happy days. $24 to invest in something else....I wonder what.

The last 15 miles was on the A1. Towards Mascot, the suburb of Sydney where we started from. We’d booked ourselves back in to the same hotel which is near the airport (?) but it seemed like the thing to do.
A lap starts and finishes in the same place right?

We made it, our bikes made it! Bloody hell, a lap of Australia. Done. 15,786 miles or 25,461 km. Either way it’s a long way.... and we bloody did it.

Today ends slightly differently because it’s..

Two extremely happy people, two extremely well thought of bikes!!
OnHellas
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Re: An Australian lap attempt.....anti clockwise

Post by OnHellas »

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OnHellas
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Re: An Australian lap attempt.....anti clockwise

Post by OnHellas »

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OnHellas
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Re: An Australian lap attempt.....anti clockwise

Post by OnHellas »

So that’s it....for Australia anyway. It’s been a blast. Meeting people on the way, fellow motorcycle traveller and those with buses, trailers, cars AND a motorcycle has been great.
Kaye and Grub, legends!
Marc and Diane, perfect hosts!
Guy aka Chappee on his Harley and Scott dong it off road on his KTM690.

Just a few of the people we met along the way who became a big part of our Lap.
Then there’s the Italians on their 1200GS, Mikele and Valentina, all of the people that made route suggestions and places to visit.
The Tasmanian Motorcycle Club that let textile clad adventure bike riders out on track, all the people that made us laugh, whether they knew that they were or not.
And of course you lot....especially the ones who click ‘thanks’ as it means that I know that someone is reading this stuff.

We’ll get on with sorting out shipping to New Zealand and I’ll let you know our on going plans.
I’m sorry to say that I won’t be posting any ride reports from NZ. NOT REALLY, YOU’LL STILL HAVE TO SUFFER IT!!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
dibbs
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Re: An Australian lap attempt.....anti clockwise

Post by dibbs »

All I can add is Thank You, That was bloody brilliant!
royle100
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Re: An Australian lap attempt.....anti clockwise

Post by royle100 »

Great report. Safe travels in NZ


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mark vb
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Re: An Australian lap attempt.....anti clockwise

Post by mark vb »

Hey Paul,
still have to ride through a 'Canterbury'? NZ may well be the place after all! :)
The real one is distinctly gloomy right now :( Safe riding to you both.
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Re: An Australian lap attempt.....anti clockwise

Post by andyfrizzle »

OnHellas wrote: Sat Jun 30, 2018 11:58 am
As we were coming in to land at Sydney airport we could see the very ship that had bought our bikes from home sitting in the harbour......

Once we had paid the dock fees, customs clearance fees and quarantine clearance fees.....not cheap....we took a taxi to the warehouse where our bikes were.....This is it, the ride begins......ish!!

The staff at the Freight warehouse were super helpful, paperwork was minimal and simple.
......
Whereabouts in Sydney were the bikes/freight office located, where you needed to collect them from etc?

Thanks.

Andy
OnHellas
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Re: An Australian lap attempt.....anti clockwise

Post by OnHellas »

andyfrizzle wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 11:39 am
OnHellas wrote: Sat Jun 30, 2018 11:58 am
As we were coming in to land at Sydney airport we could see the very ship that had bought our bikes from home sitting in the harbour......

Once we had paid the dock fees, customs clearance fees and quarantine clearance fees.....not cheap....we took a taxi to the warehouse where our bikes were.....This is it, the ride begins......ish!!

The staff at the Freight warehouse were super helpful, paperwork was minimal and simple.
......
Whereabouts in Sydney were the bikes/freight office located, where you needed to collect them from etc?

Thanks.

Andy
I can’t remember the name of the company, ANL containers maybe.
It was all arranged by MotoFreight in the UK. We then used Bikes Abroad (trading partner of MotoFreight) to sort Carnet, Quarantine and all of the other paperwork.
We just turned up at the warehouse once we had the word that everything was done.

Why? Are you thinking of sending your bike out here?
andyfrizzle
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Re: An Australian lap attempt.....anti clockwise

Post by andyfrizzle »

OnHellas wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 1:39 pm
andyfrizzle wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 11:39 am
OnHellas wrote: Sat Jun 30, 2018 11:58 am
As we were coming in to land at Sydney airport we could see the very ship that had bought our bikes from home sitting in the harbour......

Once we had paid the dock fees, customs clearance fees and quarantine clearance fees.....not cheap....we took a taxi to the warehouse where our bikes were.....This is it, the ride begins......ish!!

The staff at the Freight warehouse were super helpful, paperwork was minimal and simple.
......
Whereabouts in Sydney were the bikes/freight office located, where you needed to collect them from etc?

Thanks.

Andy
I can’t remember the name of the company, ANL containers maybe.
It was all arranged by MotoFreight in the UK. We then used Bikes Abroad (trading partner of MotoFreight) to sort Carnet, Quarantine and all of the other paperwork.
We just turned up at the warehouse once we had the word that everything was done.

Why? Are you thinking of sending your bike out here?
We have been planning a trip to Australia/NZ similar to yourselves. I was asking about the location of the Sydney collection point (It's a big city) to try and p!an accommodation the correct side of the city. I've made tentative enquiries already with MotoFreight and BikesAbroad. Just trying to establish first hand information from someone who has recently used the service.
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