Bike holiday in Australia

pmatch · 09-20-2008, 10:29 AM

Hi From British Columbia , Canada
I have been thinking of escaping the winter snow and touring for a month in Australia. I am 56 years of age, self employed and ride a 05 repsol cbr1000rr. I have a few questions if anyone can help.
1. What would be the best bike to tour on?
2. Should I buy a bike and then sell it when I'm done?
3. What is the best area to explore?
4. What about insurance and license?
5. When is it too hot to enjoy the ride?
If anyone knows of any links where I can suck up info that would be great.
Thank you in advance for any help.
Cheers
Pmatch

sheepofblue · 09-20-2008, 12:06 PM

How long are you planning on going for? Be SURE to post up the result if you do this. It is on my one day dream list. That said all I can add from my time thinking on this is that New Zealand sounds like a great place to include.

bladeracer · 09-20-2008, 2:35 PM

December to February are the hottest months.
I rode Adelaide to Perth with a Dutch tourist. He landed in Sydney and bought a GS1100GKE. Went clockwise around Oz for about six weeks I think and sold it again back in Sydney.
You can tour on anything - I've done it on the 929.
I think in this case you want something that will sell easily when you finish with it. Maybe an F4 or ZZR600 would be both comfortable and common enough that you shouldn't get stuck anywhere waiting on anything that breaks.
If you wanted something bigger maybe the VFR, ZZR11/12.
If you contact some of the dealers where you plan to land you might even be able to do a deal to buy a bike - new or used - with a guaranteed buy-back when you finish with it.
I don't know how the licencing works but any tourism place should be able to advise you.
Insurance isn't required but I definately recommend you have personal travel insurance anyway and maybe take out a third-party, fire and theft policy on the bike. Any crash damage is unlikely to get repaired quickly under insurance anyway. I'd be inclined to forego paying an insurance premium and instead just take a loss on the re-sale for any crash damage you might have picked up en-route.
I knew a guy who had a car accident in Europe and broke his pelvis. He was stuck there for six months and had to sell his restaurent here in Perth to pay his medical expenses before he was allowed to leave the country.

BENNO05 · 09-24-2008, 5:34 AM

hey mate,

BENNO05 · 09-24-2008, 5:38 AM

hey mate,
hottest months in qld are nov to jan. heaps of places up and down the east coast worth visiting depending on what u like. insurance depends on driving history, pretty sure u can drive here if u have a canadian licence for up to 3 months. type of bike depends on amount of kilometers u want to do in a day. some of the roads here are not so good if u go inland so remember that when u choose what to see.

Bigdaddy75 · 09-24-2008, 6:24 AM

Talk to Dave at aussie biker|motorcycle rental australia|motorrad mieten australien he will hook you up. If your in these parts be sure to send me a PM, I will show you some nice roads, you won't want to go home.

Bigdaddy75 · 09-24-2008, 6:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sheepofblue

How long are you planning on going for? Be SURE to post up the result if you do this. It is on my one day dream list. That said all I can add from my time thinking on this is that New Zealand sounds like a great place to include.

There is no place in NZ for more sheep lovers mate.

pmatch · 09-25-2008, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigdaddy75

There is no place in NZ for more sheep lovers mate.

I guess Sheepofblue should go to the UK as I saw about 50 million of them wooly thing there. Seriously, thanx for all the good info. I am looking at Jan. for about 1 1/2 months. I would prefer to ride a cbr. New or used but I would love to ride a Ten Kate 600rr. Saw one in the UK. We can't get them in Canada. At least I have not seen one. I think I should stick to the south east and up the east coast? My air miles will get me to Singapore or another Asian city. What would be the best way to get to say Sydney? What is the best city to connect with from Asia? Thanks again for the info.
Cheers
Pmatch

dicknose · 09-25-2008, 1:15 AM

I guess you should get an idea of how long you want to be here and where you want to go.
A "tour" of Australia is like a tour of Canada - a bloody big ride!

For example I did a little drive from Sydney to Darwin and back via Cairns. That was 16,000 km.

To be honest - Id suggest for riding to do Sydney to Melbourne. Now before the locals scream "how boring" you can certainly make it quite interesting by going thru places like Bathurst (and a lap of Mount Panorama) and over the Victorian Alps, the road over Mount Hotham is great.
A trip along the Great Ocean Rd (west of Melb) is nice, but a bit dangerous from tourist traffic. Still worth seeing but Id at least do one direction inland - some great roads and not many tourists.

License - your local license should work.
You should get some insurance - the min would be 3rd party (ie pay for damage you might cause to other vehicles)

Generally it could be too hot to enjoy riding in Jan/Feb - it could 40 and at that point you start to want to zip up to keep the hot air out!
Also night riding is not a great idea outside urban areas as there is a risk of hitting kangaroos. Not a pleasant thing in a car, potentially dangerous on the bike.

You can connect from anywhere in Asia. Should be direct flights to Sydney from Singapore, Bangkok or Hong Kong.

Id suggest if you are doing touring that you dont want a sportsbike. A full day in the seat of a 600 is not the most comfortable. You would be better with a sportstourer. Use the tool designed for the job!

Bigdaddy75 · 09-25-2008, 2:27 AM

I would start at Brisbane, do the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast hinterland and then down through Tweed, Northern NSW and maybe all the way down to Sydney. Recently we did the trip in the cage with the kids and from the beach / coastal roads and towns are just amazing. Not as many of those massive red Roos either. In 6 weeks you can cover a lot of ground - Did you check out the bikes at Ausse Biker? He's a got a few to pick from.

Coming into Sydney is bad idea if your trying to navigate out of the place and learning to ride on the "other" side of the street.

eukanuba · 09-30-2008, 9:18 AM

If you want long open straights, you could always try going across the middle... but it's a bloody long ride, with not alot of much in the middle..

If you do get over here ( to the Western Side of nowhere ) drop a post - there's plenty of us over here, and some amasing country that's nothing like the east coast.. I'm sure the locals will be more than helpful to show you around the local sites.. ( it's a bloody big place.. a month will just be scratching the surface )

Treay81 · 10-03-2008, 8:40 AM

You need to decide what kind of trip you want really, Its a lot further between towns out here when you get away from the city, I usually have to ride 300K's minimum to find corners out here, I tour on my '06 Blade, prior to this i toured on a 929 blade.

You could go around Australia, but you'll need some time on your hands if you want to do it right, and i'd advise you didnt do it alone. Some of the places i have found and love are as follows:

Anywhere in Tassie!!
Waterfall way
Putty Road
Mornington Peninsular
Great Ocean Road

To experience a bit of Australia i would head to the country, its very friendly out in the smaller towns, and you see some of the strangest yet very Australian sites.

I have not been to the west side of Aust but my Dad lives over there and he tours on a TDM900, he sez south of perth holds some really nice riding, im yet to experience it though.

I hope you come, feel free to look some one up, we dont Bite.... its more of a nibble

Best time for me to ride is definatley Early September through to December, but i will tour mid winter, i just prefer spring and summer.

Good Luck with it

eukanuba · 10-03-2008, 11:39 PM

Treay81: that's cos the locals keep the good roads hidden.. but there is some stuff over here that even the seasoned boys love.. it's a shame its a couple hours south - but that being said, it's worth the ride.. for sure !

Tony929 · 10-04-2008, 1:56 AM

As i'm lucky enough to live right at the start of the Great Ocean Road i would say come past here.
My last ride i did down to Lavers Hill i met a bloke from Canada doing the same thing as you want to, he said he was having a great time and enjoyed all the different types of riding terain we have to offer here in OZ.

He was riding a BMW of some sort that he had hired from somewhere Sydney if i recall corectly and said it had treated him well...

I would try to stay away from the Great Ocean Road around xmas and new year. WAY to many tourists and nowhere to pass.

Hope that helps a little.

Treay81 · 10-04-2008, 6:43 PM

Yeah i definaltey think the locals will have their nice roads mapped out Eukanuba, I even have a little track I do from Dubbo NSW which takes you through some pretty interesting sections over a 700km day trip, Im moving soon to Newcastle, I can't wait to discover the little local secrets down that way. But in some ways i will miss the Bush! (Maybe)

Pmatch: A guy from Korea recently toured around Australia on a postie bike, I have it in a magazine article, he chose the postie for its reliability and the ease of getting parts, But im guessing you want to experience the actual riding in a good sense?.. LOL.

If your coming over and you want to get in touch with someone over here, Maybe they can find a good bike for cheap and have it ready for your arrival, then when you leave sell it for you and pass on the funds this way you will save probably a fair chunk of change, I'm sure most blokes would do it for not much more then a slab! HAHA (universal Currency)

bladeracer · 10-04-2008, 7:34 PM

There's an older retired fellow here in Perth (Kevin) who has travelled all over Oz many times on his CT110 with panniers.

playwme · 10-05-2008, 10:19 PM

You wouldn't have any hassles touring on a 600RR. If you're going to be here for a month I'd probably reccommend leaving out a lot of the bits in the middle, as the roads are a bit straight and you'll just chew up precious days and put extra KM's on the bike. Stick to the east coast, probably anywhere from Brisbane south. North of Brisbane in January might be a bit hot for a Canuck in full leathers. Theres no need for the highways. There are back roads the whole way down (or up). Tasmania is a must do. The ferry across costs stuff all and you could probably ride around there for a week without getting bored. If you're keen to see any of the stuff in the middle (Ayers Rock etc) you're probably better off wating till the bike is sold at the end of the trip and then doing a coach tour or train journey through the centre and then fly out of Darwin or something.

Both the alpine regions of NSW and Victoria are good places to spend a couple of days. I love day trips through there on my Motard.

Buying a bike is your best bet. A half decent secondhand 600RR might set you back AU$10g but you'll have no worries getting 8K for it when you leave, which makes for pretty cheap transport. You could always buy a rashed up one for a bit cheaper which may not depreciate as much, bu if you're willing to spend the money then you might as well get a good one and do it in style.

Try to bring your own riding gear. It costs a fair bit over here compared to the states. Better off having expensive riding gear in your luggage and then buying the cheaper clothes when you get here.

Treay81 · 10-06-2008, 1:54 AM

I recently took a trip with some mates to a Opal Mining Village called White Cliffs, its about 1000kms West of Sydney!
We were shown through a locals house (underground Home) and then the pub put on a great feed and we sat up drinking and chatting with some locals, next day we got taken out into the "old timer" mine fields and taught how to "Noodle" for opal, i actually found a few and brought home!.
one of the locals showed us one of his prided Opal finds worth around half a mill, called a "pineapple". the cost of this trip was just fuel, food and beer, we were shown round the place free of charge by locals!. You just wont get that in the city.

Here are a couple of pics

Fuelling up at Wilcannia's Finest servo:
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...1/P7260039.jpg
Arriving at White Cliffs straight to the pub (Beer Oclock)
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...81/theguys.jpg
Budget Accommodation (White Cliffs bed n Breakfast):
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...fsBudgetBB.jpg
The Tour bus or the Bike?... I'll go by bike!:
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...cliffshaha.jpg
A locals underground House:
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...roundhouse.jpg
Their little underground shop of opal jewelry etc:
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...groundmine.jpg

It depends what you want to see but once you meet a couple of riders etc over here you won't have a worry getting shown some of the sites,

If you only want to experience the riding then do i'd do what playwme has suggested, but if you want some aussie culture you won't find much in the city, you get a better experience heading inland.

Although one month is not a great chunk of time to see a place as big and spread out as Australia, But you should be able to have a bloody great time!

macca9540 · 10-06-2008, 4:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bladeracer

There's an older retired fellow here in Perth (Kevin) who has travelled all over Oz many times on his CT110 with panniers.

When I just started riding bikes a bloke I met rode a CB100, 2up from Lismore to Cairns and back twice. Round trip is 4000 klms give or take.

dicknose · 10-06-2008, 8:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony929

I would try to stay away from the Great Ocean Road around xmas and new year. WAY to many tourists and nowhere to pass.

Unless you do it xmas morning!
Not many people on the road.

Yes I did that a few years ago.

Treay81 · 10-07-2008, 4:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dicknose

Unless you do it xmas morning!
Not many people on the road.

Yes I did that a few years ago.

HAHA, you get definate Rep Points from me for that one, I think you should post that up in the "You Know Your A Biker When" Thread!. Big kid New Toy, I love it...

Cheers

pmatch · 10-08-2008, 10:38 PM

Wow
Thanks for all the great info. It's obvious the sport bike scene is alive and well in Australia.You definitly produce some great riders for a country with such a small population. If I had posted such a message in Canada I would have maybe 1 response. I now know what a "postie" is. After receiving some pics of Ayres Rock and King's Canyon, from a relative now living in Alice Srings, I don't think it is on the top of my list. Like Canada, your country is a big place so I think I would concentrate most of a visit to the New South Wales area. I have been on motowhere.com and motorcycleparadise and they seem to be a good source of info for roads. I would bring my own gear and think it would be best to buy a 600. I would probably B&B it. At home I ride in the early mornings to beat the heat and the traffic. Hopefully Australia would be the same.
Are there any local sportbike websites that I could go to for info on the NSW area? Does "on road" mean pavement? A local website from British Columbia is bcsportbikes.com/ if you want to take a look.
It will take a lot of planning and it may not happen this winter but I will make the trip over.
Thanks, EH!

dicknose · 10-09-2008, 5:05 AM

Riding in the morning is not a bad idea - not too early or you again get the risk of roos. But with big distances you need to decide if you are going to do "half day ride, half day tourist/relax" or ride all day to get somewhere.
Out of the cities the traffic wont be a huge issue, certainly not like it will get busy if you are off the main roads.
"on road" generally means just that - on a proper road. In many cases this could refer to a sealed/paved road, but we do have plenty of dirt roads that some might consider "on road". The opposite "off road" tends to mean tracks or dirt roads that are minor roads. Something you might need a 4wd for!

Treay81 · 10-09-2008, 8:29 AM

I would at least try to make it down to Victoria and Tasmania if i could, they truly are great places to ride in the summer time,

The further west or North you get the less difference morning riding matters as it will be hot early in the morning anyways.

Where i live we can be at 30 degrees by 8:30am in summer. Just make sure you have water packed.

There is a Motorcyclists Atlas for Australia, i will try to get the publisher etc so you can order it, it has riding and traveling tips etc in it.

Cheers

playwme · 10-10-2008, 10:44 PM

A lot of the country pubs are good spots to stay in too. You can get a bed and breakfast for $30 and they usually do counter meals for dinner. Often you can get areally good one where its worth staying for a couple of days and doing some exploring without luggage. The Snowy Mountains would probably be a good spot to do that.