Since January is Dakki now in Sydney and we both are gearing for the next big adventure: heading up to Darwin and back through the Australian Outback via Alice Springs. All up this will be around 8,500km. Dilu will join us in Darwin to ride to Uluru together.

It is called the Long Ride, an event in which bikers from all over Australia will participate and ride their motorbike from wherever they live to Darwin. More than 500 bikes are expected to arrive in Darwin on the 8 May 2010. Check out their website for background info:

http://www.freewebs.com/longride2010/

And it is for a good cause - to rise awareness of prostate cancer and funds for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.

http://www.prostate.org.au/articleLive/

This event will be covered by the media, like newspapers, magazines and possibly even TV, providing great exposure on a national level.

Can wait to get started!

Once on the road I will regularly update my blog and post pictures and stories from the trip.

See you on the road.

(download)

Really exciting - yesterday we went to see Charley Boorman...

Charley who?

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/travel/long-way-back-to-brisbane-for-boorman-20091118-imi5.html

well, its the guy who went with Ewan McGregor (the dude from Trainspotting and Star Wars) around the world on BMW motorbikes.

I always thought that they should do another trip around South America, and apparently they are considering a trip from California to SA, but who knows...

Was nice to see him live. Very down to earth and very funny...

Couldn't help myself, but got Dakki a little upgrade - a sexy Staintune exhaust which replaces the BMW 1-into-2 system with a single can.

Positive side effects: 5hp gain over standard exhaust, and a weight saving of 4.6 kgs.

Oh, and it sounds just amazing!

Just had a great weekend ride with the gang (Danielle, Amy, Daniele, Nicole, Dilu and me) on 3 Suzuki, 2 Beemer and one support vehicle.

Perfect weather, great camp-site, torrential rain, bush walk and plenty of beer and wine.

Sunday ride back to Brisbane knocked off Mt Tambourine.

Here is the map of the ride:

http://www.whereis.com/?id=12C700D186BA7E

Thank to Amy for the great pictures!

Here some shots from a recent big day out with some people we me over Horizons Unlimited...

Three of the bike were Australian Post bikes, which kinda hold cult status around here...

They are totally awesome to ride, even though slow...

 

             

Click here to download:

Postie-Bike-Mania.zip (5077 KB)

My mate Aaron came across this site:

 http://londonbikers.com/articles/11806/adventure-motorcycling-for-dummies-packing-lists-and-equipment

 Very helpful, I reckon, just a wee bit late...

After waiting for more than 6 weeks finally the day had come to pick up the bike at the Port of Brisbane!

The whole mission was made possible by the help of Glen, a fellow motorbike enthusiast and keen traveller, who I met through Horizons Unlimited.

It was a great feeling to dissemble the crate, putting the front wheel back in and re-attaching all the bits and pieces. But we also had to replace the stuffed fuel filter that got clogged up with bad South American fuel and caused fatal end to my trip on the last day. Anyway, with a bit of OZ and NZ ingenuity we replaced the filter and added an additional filter (just in case), and after 3 attempts of cranking she fired up as good as new...

What a feeling to ride her home, sitting in the saddle again after 7 weeks of abstinence... yeah.

And thanks again to Glen! The next round of beers is on me!

Off now for a spin around the block...

Finally, I managed to load the data from my GPS into Google Earth. Unfortunately, some of the data was lost and I had to hand draw some of the tracks, basically all the way from Buenos Aires to Peru, but you will get the general idea.
 
I also attached the .KMZ file, so you can load it straight into Google Earth and play with it. Hours of fun! (just double click on it and if you got GE installed on your computer it should plug it in straight away)
 
By the way, the bike has arrived this week and I now looking forward to pick it up from the port. Will let you know...

These are the last shots taken. Please not the change in landscape from lush green to desert. The HAND is just a few hundred metres away from the road when heading back south to Santiago.
 
I have to admit, in the end I was suffering of "photo taking fatigue" and was totally overwhelmed with all those impressions. Guess that's just what happens after more than 3 month on the road - you just want to go home!