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Australian Road Trip


Watchman

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Prologue: Is it feasible?

Hi All,

Considering the diversity in our members' locations and experience I felt this is a fairly good place to ask this. I have some annual leave to clear by the end of the year, and haven't done any travelling since I started working. I was thinking of taking a budget flight to Australia (somewhere to the east coast) for a 7-10 day holiday... Ideally I thought it would be cool to rent a motorcycle and ride down the coast to another city.

Ideally I land at one city (Sydney or Gold Coast, even Melbourne), and rent a bike, ride to the other city and fly back out from there. If a multiple city bike pickup/drop-off is not possible, ride back to the starting point return the bike and ride out. I'm not picky about fancy hotels or eating fancy; if it's good enough for the locals its good enough for me...Of course money is a factor, but I dont mind loosening the purse stings a bit if its a worthwhile expense. So my questions to those who have attempted something similar or live in these areas:

1: Is travelling around 2500km over a 9 day span, riding about 5-6 hours a day and a couple of rest days feasible? (mathematically its very manageable, but reality might be a different case)

2: Are there places to rent a mid size (400-800cc) bike? What kind of cost am I looking at?

3: It being summer in Australia in December, will the weather be too extreme for riding?

4: Any other tips and advice is also welcome :) If there's someone who's interested in joining me, I'm more than willing to see if our schedules match.

I initially thought of doing this in Vietnam or Philippines, but they drive on the "other" side of the road. So I dont want to be riding alone and subconsciously drift onto the wrong lane..

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I personally wouldn't recommend riding a bike.

1. Safety requirements are very high in Australia for motorbikes. You will need full body gear among many other things.

2. Very hot in the summer. Also very dusty in some areas. There's also a risk of forest fires. So if you ride a bike, u may face safety issues

3. There's a bit of an anti-bikie culture in some parts of Aussie, due to some crimes committed by biker-gangs. You may need to protect yourself from biker-gangs too.

4. Kangaroos, wallabies and other animals tend to hang around in the highways sometimes. When they see you on a bike, they may think you are one of their kind and they may try to hump you :) In northern territory, rent a car companies do not provide insurance against accidents with wild animals.

5. There are places to rent bikes but I don't know if any of them allow you to travel interstate. Renting a bike will cost more than renting a car (I've rented cars from $30 a day, whereas a bike might cost $100+ a day.. not sure about the actual rates)

6. You need an international driver's license to rent a vehicle in Aus. Cops will accept Sri Lanka/Singapore license but rent a car companies don't

On a positive note,

Travelling 2500km on a 9-day span is peanuts. Speed limits are 110km/h in South Australia, 100km/h in Victoria and NSW and 130km/h in NT. HIghways have very little traffic so you can easily keep to that speed. Needless to say, their roads are beyond excellent.

People are wonderful. And I mean it. Especially in villages. They are very friendly and helpful. Don't believe all that shite you hear about racism in Aus. Only bogans (aussie slang for rednecks) in cities are racist.

I've done three road trips (in cars)

Adelaide > Alice Springs > Darwin - 3000+ km

Adelaide > Melbourne > Sydney (via Great Ocean Road) - ~1500km

Around tasmania (can't remember how many kms)

Just a tip... if you want to see heaven on earth, go to Tasmania. If you want to keep it easy, do a Sydney-Adelaide or Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne run. If you feel really adventurous, go from Darwin to Adelaide via Sturt highway or do the west coast (Broome-Perth)

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Dude what a buzz kill!!!!!

Just kidding; it's greatly appreciated. Really! And you're right; after a weekend of researching it's just not worth the time and effort; for starters a decent adventure bike will cost about 130+ a day; plus another few hundred if you dont return the bike to where you picked it up... and that's money just gone. I think i'll save the cash and put it into some christmas gifts for my own bike. Then top it up with the safety concerns and all; just not worth it I guess. Another day/time I guess.

Really appreciate the advice!

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Dili, What about a one way overland riding trip starting from Singapore all the way to Myanmar or Laos or Cambodia and then take a flight back and get your bike shipped over. This way you may be able to cover a greater portion of the far east.

A friend of mine was on a two week bicycle tour from Cambodia to Thailand (he started near the border) and mainly stuck to rural roads (i mean off of highways). He said the experience was insane and so were the pictures.

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Dili, What about a one way overland riding trip starting from Singapore all the way to Myanmar or Laos or Cambodia and then take a flight back and get your bike shipped over. This way you may be able to cover a greater portion of the far east.

A friend of mine was on a two week bicycle tour from Cambodia to Thailand (he started near the border) and mainly stuck to rural roads (i mean off of highways). He said the experience was insane and so were the pictures.

Yeah, that's plan B,C or D. But we all know the joys of crossing borders with a Sri Lankan passport. So that trip would need a lot more planning.

And I agree, nothing like a 2 wheeler. I wouldn't recommend experiencing a new place any other way.

And I have also noticed that people are more welcoming to a stranger on a bike than someone who shows up in a big car/bike.

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How about a Sri Lankan road trip then?

On a motorcycle? I did think of it at one point; but got a very strong objection from my family due to road safety (mainly private buses and lorries).. I even asked ripper, had a route plotted out and even got a place to rent the bikes. Sad thing is, I do understand the safety concerns, so it's hard to object to it.

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Mate great idea but my advice for a bike tour in Aus - do it in a convoy of 2-3 bikes at least and not alone. Not so much due to a security concern but finding yourself alone in the middle of nowhere with a flat tyre or a bike that has given up the ghost is no picnic. Dead of summer (Dec) is also not recommended as temp can go 40c+ sometimes. Sep-Oct or Mar-Apr are the best times for bike rides. And for the kind of long trip you're thinking about, you'll need a proper tourer bike (think BMW R1200GS or similar) which will set you back a lot of $$$ to rent.

If you can't get a couple of mates to join you for a bike ride but wanna expereince Aus hands-on, then I would suggest hiring a small motorhome (most can be driven with car license) and connecting the dots between caravn parks in places you want to visit. That way your take your transport, bed, kitchen and toilet all with you so no hassel in checking in and out of motels, looking for a place to eat and pee and what not. Motorhomes for hire are plenty and you can pick them up at any major city and drop them at almost any other.

and BTW those south east Asian bike rides - mate don't even think of doing one of them alone.

Edited by HardHat
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Yeah, that's plan B,C or D. But we all know the joys of crossing borders with a Sri Lankan passport. So that trip would need a lot more planning.

And I agree, nothing like a 2 wheeler. I wouldn't recommend experiencing a new place any other way.

And I have also noticed that people are more welcoming to a stranger on a bike than someone who shows up in a big car/bike.

You are spot on about the SL passport situation. Did you guys see that article where SL passport is in to top 10 worst list. We are grouped among some of the notoriously lawless countries like Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq etc.

Dili, i say take about a month off and do all 6 countries (Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar). Write a book/blog or make a mini documentary and mention it in your resume.These sudda buggers will dig that sh*t up during job interviews.

If you are looking for a more comfortable trip why not the west coast of good ol US of A. Highway 1 is a mighty fine route to take.

As per my buddy, same guy who was on the bicycle trip, travelling in developing countries are always much more 'adventurous' and will leave you with many many stories to reminisce at the latter stages of your like.

Now that i come to think about it, it'll be a great opportunity for you to imitate your AutoLanka idol (one and only) Sylvi in the future lol....

Edited by xXx
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On a motorcycle? I did think of it at one point; but got a very strong objection from my family due to road safety (mainly private buses and lorries).. I even asked ripper, had a route plotted out and even got a place to rent the bikes. Sad thing is, I do understand the safety concerns, so it's hard to object to it.

No I meant by carl

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6. You need an international driver's license to rent a vehicle in Aus. Cops will accept Sri Lanka/Singapore license but rent a car companies don't

I recently rented a car from Hertz with a very very faded SL license they didn't mind at all. they just asked me two numbers which was not legible that's it

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I recently rented a car from Hertz with a very very faded SL license they didn't mind at all. they just asked me two numbers which was not legible that's it

In Aus?

Few of my friends had real trouble renting cars because of IDL. I had to show my IDL a couple of times even for trips I wasnt part of. However, it was with Thrifty and Avis I think.

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In Aus?

Few of my friends had real trouble renting cars because of IDL. I had to show my IDL a couple of times even for trips I wasnt part of. However, it was with Thrifty and Avis I think.

Hmm.. before I got my Aus (WA) DL I visited Aus a few times and rented cars with my SL licence without any trouble

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Machan this is a cool idea but think it's best not to ride alone wherever you decide to do this.

Actually, a Sri Lankan road trip on a bike isn't a bad idea either. A huge number of people commute on bikes in SL. If you ride sensibly and be extra vigilant about what other drivers are doing around you, you should be fine. And we are lucky to have so many breathtaking locations at close proximity to each other.

I'd love to tag along if the stars line up....This is something I had in the back of my mind, but my imagination was limited to SL and I imagined myself being a little older :D

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On a motorcycle? I did think of it at one point; but got a very strong objection from my family due to road safety (mainly private buses and lorries).. I even asked ripper, had a route plotted out and even got a place to rent the bikes. Sad thing is, I do understand the safety concerns, so it's hard to object to it.

mate dont think too highly about road safety in other asian countries either if you think SL is bad (esp cambodia,vietnam,india etc)

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