UK to Oz Route Options
 

Only a whim at the moment, but any suggestions of a rough outline (i.e. countries and not-possibles/hops)? But these things often snowball quickly soon after :D

Probably starting with a fairly direct route as afraid I don't have unlimited time!

Hi Ian, met you back in 2007 in La Paz, Bolivia...seems a very long time ago now!

Did this route in reverse from Oz to UK in 2008 though getting Iran visas maybe looking a bit iffy thanks to our excellent foreign relations policies..have a look at my blog site below for the rough route, think it was around 5 months in total but could/should have taken much longer.

Hi Mike, how you doing? Yes I remember it well, you gave me some tracklogs of what actually turned out to be one of the most exhilarating sections of the whole Trans-Americas trip - certainly the highest altititude!

I'll take a look later. Did you do that one solo? Or with Michelle(?)?

Would you say this trip is similar in time/distance to Prudhoe/Ushuaia?

You´re not saying when, and for about how long?

Getting a visa for Iran with a UK passport could be tough right now. Not advisable to go through Afghanistan either, so it is likely that you´ll run into the dilemma of ´can I go to China´, which is in fact a widely discussed topic on these boards (the short answer seems to be, that you can, but it has to be arranged well in advance, and costs several hundred euros per day – going from the Stans to the Karakoram Highway and Pakistan, however, only necessitates a relatively short stay inside China).

You´ll also need the carnet, if you plan to enter Pakistan or India (or later Indonesia or Oz) with the bike. Burma is also practically a no-go, so once again you pay big time to go through China to Laos (crossing the Himalayas, so it´s not possible 12 months a year) or, like most people do, you ship the bike across the Bay of Bengal by ship or by air. There are no ferries. The most common route here seems to be Kathmandu to Bangkok by plane, where you can avoid the horrible Indian bureaucracy, but you can also ship out of India, if you like – I did that, but I don´t recommend it!!

Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia are also do-able on your own bike, and all very highly recommended, too (warm climate, nice people, great food, beautiful roads and sceneryl!)... but Vietnam unfortunately is a pain to get your own motorcycle into. Easier to leave your bike somewhere, fly in and rent locally.

And how to get the bike from one of the island nations to Australia is yet another slight problem (once again no ferries)... the most widely used option seems to be cargo ships, run by Perkins shipping, that go between Singapore - Dili (East Timor) - Darwin. You could also send by air or by sea from the bigger cities/ports in Indonesia, but it is probably complicated. Some smaller boats from Kupang (West Timor) might also be an option, when the weather permits, but there probably isn´t any solid information about them, you´d need to go there and ask (...and basically the same goes for most ferry boats operating inside Indonesia – do not expect to travel very fast there, unless you fly!)

I did Europe to Oz with my girlfriend about 4 years ago, and we spent 6 months. That was okay, but sometimes I wished we´d had a few more months, mainly to rest a bit in some nice places along the way, so maybe 8-9 months would´ve been sort of ´optimum´ for us. It was some 34.000 road kilometers, though we did some 9.000 out of that in Australia... and actually I would not start off on that route (or I would cut the trip shorter), if I had less time than what we had. If you really wanted, I guess you could do it in just 2-3 months, but that means rushing a lot.

More about our trip here:
MOTO1 - Matkalla

Going same way next summer/autumn
 

Hi

Im intending same route, well going from Perth Scotland to Perth in australia. China was the original plan but others have dropped out so its way too expensive now to go alone, although a few days avoiding Iran into Pakistan sounds not too bad an idea for me.
I'll fly across to BKK then head to Singapore and shipping straight to Darwin. Indonesia will have to wait until year after when I have more time.

Im looking to leave UK in late august so interested in anyone else going same way, your thoughts perhaps.

Cheers
Steven

Hi Steven

If you leave UK in Late August, and avoid Iran, I'm guessing you'll be taking the Karakorum Highway from Kyrgyzstan-China-Pakistan. The border as far as I've read is only open from the 1st May to about 15th November. I wonder how cold it will be by late autumn?

Hello all,

The relatively short stay in China you speak of to get from Kyrgyzstan to the KKH, roughly how many days would that be?

When applying for the China transit/guide permit thingy I assume they ask for an entry date. Is this set in stone, arrive late and you've missed your slot type of thing, or, given the unpredictability of overland travel, do they allow some flexibility.

Is the 'popular' routing Kazakhstan, Krygyzstan, China, Pakistan or do people miss out Kyrgyzstan? Until I get more detailed maps with marked roads/tracks I'm left wondering.

Long Road Home
 

Hi
Just to let you know I will be leaving John O Groats in the last few days of July 2012 heading home to Thailand, meeting up with various riders on the way.
I think it will take me approx 11/12 weeks to get back home, I plan to meet some more riders who plan to enter China 1st or 2nd week in September from Kyrgyzstan to Kashgar then follow route 219 to Lhasa then into Laos, looking approx 35 days in China I will spend approx 7 days in Laos then leave either at Mukdahan or Ubon Rachathani into Thailand.
Neil from the UK is planning Cambodia then Thailand then into Malaysia.
We are still waiting for quotes and the ones we have had, it’s not cheap to do China, but feel it’s worth it as it will be once in this life time for me.

My planned route is;

UK
France
Germany
Austria
Hungary
Romania
Bulgaria
Turkey
Georgia, {may decide to enter Azerbaijan and sail Caspian sea to Turkmenistan then Uzbekistan
Russia
Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan
Kyrgyzstan
China
Laos
Thailand

I estimate;
12000km from the top of Scotland to the China border
6500km in China Kashgar to Mohan
1000km in Laos.

Eric

Revenue,

I hope you have an alternative to China if you are unable to cross it either because of cost or red-tape.

Many have tried (without paying the incredibly exhorbitant prices) to cross China and more specifically Route 219 and abandoned the idea. Maybe you don't know (through ignorance ore otherwise) but unless you have some very special military priviledges I don't know about, the route 219 is a restricted zone and is not open to tourism. The heavy military presence along this route has meant that those who have travelled along any part of it were just as soon stopped and turned around, sent back the way they came. You may have a better chance on a bicycle or a chinese registered motorbike...

But don't trust my word. Look it up for your self.

Let me google that for you

Has somebody (who is not Chinese, and/or on a Chinese-registered bike) actually travelled the whole length of that Hwy 219 before?

Aliens in China
 

Well i guess i must have been talking to two Aliens here in Mukdahan, these people had just arrived from Laos here, they had just taken that same route!! But they sure looked and acted like humans
This is why i very rarely post on forums as there are the Arm Chair experts everywhere.

Sometimes best in life to keep your mouth shut and people think you are a FOOL as to open it and prove you are a FOOL.

cost to hire guide in China
 

Hi Eric

The reason Im not going through china was the hassle of guides and so on. Im not experienced but assumed that this would have to be well organised in advance meaning dates to adhere to, cost & so on. Hence the more southerly although hotter route.

Im looking at set off dates and it looks like you're two weeks in front of me. I did look at doing the KKR Hwy instead of Turkey so its similar to yours up to that point.

I've been sifting through other peoples blogs and so on looking at other possible routes. My preference would be to make it all the way to Singapore by road but as Burma is closed that isn't going to happen too soon.

I was quoted $1000 for a week. How much is it going to cost you for a guide through China? Are you meeting up with others going same way to save money?

Cheers
Steven

Hi Steven
yes we have had quotes but with massive differences, i feel the final figure will be 120000 RMB for 35 days, this includes for the Vehicle Guides and all the paper work involved, then devide that by how many travellers, i was talking to some guys who just came through Mukdahan on their way to Singapore, they had 7 riders, and he said this was to many especially at fuel stops as it could take nearly 90 minutes to fill the bikes with small buckets. So if we worked on 4 riders the cost would be 30000 RMB or 3000 quid plus fuel plus Lodgings, nothing is fixed but would like to think in the next 10 days its all confirmed.

Regards
Eric

Route 219
 

Hi Ian and the rest of the posse trying to plan their trips,

Route 219 is a bloody fantastic ride and a tough one(due to the prolonged high altitude).

Here's the 1200GS I was riding stuck in Bull Dust

http://tiffanystravels.smugmug.com/O...t-got-me-M.jpg

There is a lot of red tape to go through, of which although I was the tour guide for GlobeBusters I wasn't part of the process but had to send off passport details and driving licence stuff three months before we set off- with the other prior planning and preparation with the chinese tour agency starting well before that. Our company always uses Navo and they were excellent- I know there are quite a few companies that offer this type of assistance.

We were told that ours was the ONLY motorcycle group to get permission to travel that route in 2010. In fact we saw no other foreigners for weeks. the situation regarding Tibet and the tourist permits is particularly fluid and volatile (we got chucked out:innocent:) and so it's a tricky one to predict.
And ditto about the fuelling up process - small kettles were used at many garages as bikes are not allowed near the pumps
http://tiffanystravels.smugmug.com/O...P1020281-M.jpg

Although our 13 bikes split up and used separate garages wherever possible to speed up the process.
Have fun and good luck:clap:.

how much road/off road
 

Tiffany

I was going to Singapore with Globebusters through China but due to lack of numbers Kev cancelled it sadly. Hence my alternate route via India etc.

I need to organise bike so knowing how much road / off road is expected will help me decide. Going the way you did, how much off road/ road riding was there?

Eric what bike you taking?

Regards
Steven

Hi
A 2011 Yamaha XT660Z.

Eric

iran or not
 

hi Fern

I dont think Iran is a problem for me as I have two passports (Aussie & UK) so I might continue going that way, then again China is tempting if I can either join up with other people or find a cheap guide & so on might be worth heading across to Thailand this way.

I've asked Myanmar consulate in Australia if it is possible to go via Burma but expect rejection of this idea.

I have just about mental overload now with all the options, bike options, route and so on. I need to formulate some final decisions either way otherwise I'll end up in loony bin by new year!

What to do ?

Steven.

Just to contribute my experience of doing the Oz - London route.

I started in Sydney and rode to Darwin. From Darwin I used Perkins to take the bike to Dili in East Timor. It took a week and cost around $300. I had to fly, using Air North I seem to remember, costing $200 one way.

I believe it's common to ship straight from Darwin to Singapore, though I can't understand the reason as Indonesia is quite possibly the best country on the route. And to cut it out, is to my mind, a little like cheating.

I used local ferries to cross the Indonesian islands. These cost a few dollars and vary in time. They're an interesting experience, that's for sure.

When I entered Indonesia (West Timor) it was insisted that I exit through the port of Medan at the top of Sumatra. Getting a ferry from here to Penang in Malaysia was dificult. There is a passenger ferry but it doesn't take motorcycles. Eventually I found an agent who took the bike on a local boat and I had to take the ferry. It cost aroun $150, which I had to pay twice having been kinda scammed. The agent's name in Penang is a Mr Lim. He seems legit. It's his counterparts in Medan who are the crooks. Can dig out contact details if needed. But he has an office in Penang Town.

From Malaysia to Thailand with no bother. Just remember you have one month permit for vehicle in Thailand which you can extend at a border post or customs.

Burma was, and I believe, still blocked. I took a plane from Bangkok to Kathmandu. Price for my flight around $200. Price for bike around $600. Bear in mind bike weighed 95kg and was packed down, so with price going on volume weight could be a lot more if on 'proper' bike.

In to India no problem. Going any further was tough. Luckily I got Pakistan visa at Bangkok embassy but don't count on it. They insisted for a long time that I go 'home' (England) to get it and come back. It was only because they thought it was funny that I was on a 105cc bike that they granted me one.

The Irananians however wouldn't.

I tried for a long time with Iranianvisa.com but in the end gave up and went through China. I used an agency called Stan Tours, run by a guy named David. There are cheaper agents but the service here was good. For a one week passage through the corner of China, from the top of the KKH to Krygyzstan cost $2000. That included hotel and guide. Not cheap, but the only option in order to keep wheels on the ground.

KKH was spectacular. Krygyzstan (if I'll spelt it right) is also stunning and well worth exploring if you have the time. It is difficult however with having to nominate a date for your crossing in to China. Doesn't allow for much flexibility.

Visas for the Stans I found were complicated so just got one for Kazakhstan, rode across there, a transit visa for Russia and from Ukraine it was all EU.

My feedback is not to miss Indonesia, or Pakistan, or East Timor. And if you have to detour north through the Stans it's not the end of the world.

Hope that helps. Msg me if I can offer any more assistance.

Nathan

+1 for using David at stantours, great service and nice guy - h eeven cooked me dinner when I turned up in Almaty

After my post about routage I had a pmsg about costing of my trip and having responded they suggested I should post it up here as it might be useful.

The question asked was if £10,000 is enough to do Sydney to London. My answer is below. I think perhaps I did it as cheap as you can do it. So I wouldn't say it's wholly prepresentative of the funds of most people on here. But anyway...

Hiya Ted,

Glad the post was of use. But tough question regarding cost. I've never really sat down and worked it out, mainly because there were so many bits here and there - some on credit cards, others on overdraft, some borrowed - that I'm not entirely sure how much it cost. But when I set off I figured it would cost me AU$8,000. But in reality cost me about 12. So in theory, ten thousand English is enough.

I'll tot up some figures....

Carnet - $950 (not sure what yours would cost)
Health Insurance - $500
Shipping Oz to East Timor - $500 (inc me)
Shipping over Burma - About $1000
Passage through China - $2200
Visas - East Timor ($30), Indonesia ($45), Malaysia (free), Thailand ($20), Nepal ($30), India ($80), Pakistan ($200), Krygyzstan ($80), Kazakhstan ($60), Russia ($100).... these are all rough estimates based on vague memory. Total: $645
Depending on where you get them (pref from a visa agent) could be a bit less.
Living expense (inc fuel, food, accomm) = $15 a day. Sometimes this was less, sometimes more.
$15 x 9 months = $4050.
I guess this depends on how you choose to do it. Guesthouse/hostel in India is circa $4 a night. So affordable. In Oz, Russia, Europe etc less so. I wild camped in these places. Bear in mind it took me this long as I had to sort visas out as I went, so lots of sitting around. If you were well prepared you could do it 4-5 months if you so wished.

Total so far; $1030.

That's bear minimum. No doubt I had other expenses, repairs, stuff, that I can't account for. But at worst lets say another $3000 for contingencies. Heck, say $5000 for contingencies, which means that, I would say at least, that 10k (english) is enough. It just depends how you wish to do it. And how frugal you can be.

And remember, that includes China. If you got a visa for Iran and could cut that $2k cost out then that's a huge saving.

Looking at these figures now I'd be confident setting off to Oz with six grand English (apologies, no pounds sign on keyboard) and if I could do it on that I'd think there was something wrong.

One difference obviously is fuel consumption. On a 105cc I was getting 330 kilometres out of 13 litres. A litre in India etc is around 50p. So maybe it cost me 5 or 6 quid to do 330 kilometres. I covered 35,000 kays total, so doing the calculations I spent somewhere in the region of 650 pounds on fuel. Not sure what your economy's like but it gives you something to work on. But bear in mind fuel has already been included in the $15 a day budget.

I guess in summary, you have enough. In theory, too much. So it would be possible. You'd just have to make it possible. And perhaps have a reserve stashed away somewhere just in case. And if you do do it, hide a stash of American dollars somewhere in case your cash card fails. Caught me out a few times. And places like Western Union are a god send.

Right, hope that helps. Let me know how you go.

I would not use stantours, we used them for Turkmenistan and David was very unresponsive to problems we had with the people he subcontracted too.

You're better off finding a local guide and paying a 1/3 of the price!

"from the top of the KKH to Krygyzstan cost $2000."

we paid about $600........ not using stan tours

I know, to be fair I was robbed. But time was against me so I went with the one I felt I could rely on. David did do a good job, but yep, it was a bit steep. Live and learn and all that.

Nathan
 

Nathan not trying to steal this thread but how is the old girl.Is she stilllooking good in her original regalia or have you given her a face lift.Any plans to take her wandering again or at least up to the Ripley meet in 2012.

Regards

Ted

Yeah, wouldn't want to derail the thread. But in short she's doing alright. To say she really struggled the last 7k kilometres from Kazakhstan, and that I've done nothing to her since, she still runs, starts, ticks over like a dream. No doubt you can tell she's done the kays, but the mechanic down the road believes a change of valves should bring her back up to scratch. Amazing really. Though just a never-ending conundrum as to what to do with her next. While she might have another trip in her, I'm not sure I have. But if I'm in vicinity I'd like to come along to Ripley again. It was a good weekend.

budget and other stuff
 

Thanks guys,

After reading through all responses Im confident about costs. Now it moves to getting right bike and stuff. So I'll look through the bike sections. Think I'll stick to my original plan and avoid China, I have Australian and UK passport so Australian might be better for Iran & Pakistan. Only problem may be bike registration if I use UK bike ... more to ponder.

Cheers
Steven

Steven, if it's of any help, I was English on an Australian registered bike and it didn't seem to pose me any problems

We done things differently again -

We went from london to morocco then caught a ferry for £200 to Italy (i had done alot of spain and france before so decided to skip the return journey) we loved morocco it was great. Then we played chase the countires in europe until heading south into Turkey, Georgia (great place) Turkey again then Iran, we got our visa'a through iranian visa.com.

We had found out in Turkey we could not get a visa for pakistan as all visa's have to be granted in you home country and then you only have 3 months to start it an as we where in no rush we decided it wasn't for us.

So we decided to go to Bandar abbass and get the ferry to Dubai, very easy to do and cheap - $200 for the bike and $80 for the person. But my sister lives there so then i had free accomdation food etc so for us it was a very cheap option.

We then flew from Dubai to Kathmandu $1000 for the bike about $250 for us then we have toured Nepal and we did 1 month in India ( india you will either love or hate) and we where also looking at doing the Tibet/China thing but its really really expensive so we have decided to fly down to bangkok and continue to indonesia.

there is a full report on the bandar abbass ferry, if you had more time you could do a little tour of that area or if syria wasn't a "no go" then you could come in from turkey and explore some of those countries.

Also we wrote a letter to the burmese authorities to ask if we could ride through there country, much to our suprise we got a reply. wishing us luck and saying that it wasn't possible at the moment but they where hoping it would be in the near future maybe as soon as 2012. That would be excellent if they open that border up then all you would need is for iran and pakistan to relax a bit and you would finally be able to draw the magic line!!

good luck mate, its been good fun for us so far.

something i missed, i noticed one of the guys saying fuel in India is 50p, well its just under £1 now its actually about 90p but that could make a big difference, we are 2up on a thirsty ktm so needles to say its cost us more.

Blimey! Now that really would be something to talk about .. :clap:


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