Some dates to note if it falls within your time-series:

End of April: Flinders Classic in South Australia. Great get-together for rides around the Flinders ranges. Good company etc.

Early June: Finke desert race in Alice Springs.

The're on your route, but just a question of timing...

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Squily

Thanks for the info Squily. If we're there and it's the right day, as you said
"just a question of timing".

Gooday, it's been a while since I visited this thread. But I see that your plans continue a-pace. As mentioned previously I work at sea, as a marine engineer. But there is a fair chance I will be home around May when you maybe down my way, here on the far south coast of NSW. I would still be pleased to host you guys, just drop me a line at gpdotkldotperkins@gmail.com Obviously substitute the "dot" for . and with a bit of luck I shall be home, just give me as much notice as you can. Oh my ph no is 0422916339.

Cheers

Graeme

Me too. Getting all my ducks in a row. Thanks for the offer Graeme. Will be posting more as deadline approaches. My daughter finally got her graduation from college date confirmed so we're coming a little early since I must be back on May 22. So now we're looking at coming the 3rd week of March. Since we're doing Tasmania first that won't be bad since it's the first place to get cold. Still debating on whether to go clockwise or counter. Plus and minus on both sides.
Chris

PS - As far as I can tell there are 2 possible visas for us; the one that's free for 3 months and is an e-visa and the $135 one that's good for 6 months. If the free is obtained in minimum time without problem that's obviously the one to get though it means waiting to get a plane ticket till almost the last moment. The other one we could apply for next month. Anyone got any ideas or suggestions?

Well I've got my visa, turns out it is only good for 3 months and almost free ($20 of paper work) but the great part is you can get it up to a year ahead of time. You can use it as often as you want for a total of 3 months during that year. So soon as I got it I got a plane ticket. We're coming on March 24th on a one-way so we have lots of options for the trip back including a possible Fiji visit.
After looking at the website it appears that my US license is sufficient for this trip. I don't see any requirement in any of your states for an International Drivers Licence unless your home country one is not in English or has no photo ID. Hopefully someone can confirm this.
After the holidays we'll get going on the bike buying. Looks like there are lots of accessories/options available for the Honda VT400. Fortunately I can buy them in Oz from here but have them delivered to my friend in Melbourne. Shipping costs to here are ridiculous and I would just have to take them in my suitcase. These include windshield, saddlebag standoffs and backrest/backrack combo. One option I've heard of but I can't seem to get any info on is ordering this bike with mag wheels (with tubeless tires) instead of spokes to make flat tires less of an ordeal in the outback. Anyone know of anyone who has mags on their VT400?
Happy holidays to all here.

Hi kuri77,

Been reading the posts and your route, if you pass through adeladie in south Aussie be sure to get in touch, work shop to work on the bike if needed, hot shower, cold available and plenty of stories to swap, i rode london to oz few years back. Anyway more than welcome

cheers
Robbo

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www.hardwayhome.blogspot.com

Hi Robbo,
Sorry I'm replying out of order. Only saw Roger's post at first but just saw yours when checking to see if my new thread started. Anyway thanks for the offer and would like to hear about what must have been an epic trip for you. Always willing to hoist a host country . Most people won't offer up swill, which I know a lot about since we have so much of it here, but try to impress you (and I mean that in the nicest way) with their best which is great for us since we get to try great s we've never tasted or even heard of. We like reciprocating also.

There's an almost 100% chance we'll be riding near your place on the way to Uluru so can you send me your email and phone number to my email please? kurereyo at cox-dot-net
Maybe the mailbots have figured out how to read so I put in two hyphens to hopefully confuse them so just don't type them in. Thanks, Chris

I'd stick with something that has tubes, far easier to fix a flat tyre with a tube and hand tools.


Glad to see that the trip is all coming together for you.

Hi Roger,
Thanks for the reply and advice. Moot now since a dealer responded with "not an option" in Oz.
Trip maybe taking a bad turn for the worse though. See new thread "Revisiting foreigners buying a mc in Australia" I started today.