UK to NZ on motorbike, recent info required please?

[will-dakar]

Hi everybody,
A friend and I are leaving from the UK to NZ on our motorbikes (modified BMW F650GS Dakars)in a few months.
We want to ride as much as possible and was wondering if there is any recent info on what courtiers we can and can't go though and what difficulties we might come across? Licences, permits, costs ect bar Carnets as we already have all the info on that.
Were also thinking of going via china even though it is expensive, our knline issue is do we need to also pay for the guide to have a vehicle also?

Here is the list of countries we want to ride via, is it possible?
UK
France
belgium
germany
austria
Italy
Slovenia
Croatia
Bosnia
Montenegro
Kosovo
Albania
Greece
Turkey
Georgia
Azerbaijan
Iran
Turkmenistan
Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan
Tajikstan
Kyrgyzstan
China
Laos
Vietnam
Cambodia
Thailand
Malaysia
Indonesia
Australia
New Zealand

Thanks
Will

P.s here's a little look at my bmw, not much left from stock now

[Keith1954]

Will, as you are leaving from the UK, does this mean that you and your friend are UK citizens and therefore will be travelling under cover of British passports .. or other national passports?

This is a very important aspect of your question.

[will-dakar]

Originally Posted by Keith1954

Will, as you are leaving from the UK, does this mean that you and your friend are UK citizens and therefore will be travelling under cover of British passports .. or other national passports?

This is a very important aspect of your question.

Hi Keith,
Yes we are both uk residents and leaving from the uk and both have uk passports.
Why is it so important?
Will

[Keith1954]

Originally Posted by will-dakar

Hi Keith,
Yes we are both uk residents and leaving from the uk and both have uk passports.
Why is it so important?
Will

Visas mate. As UK citizens:

• For the moment at least, you're not going to be able to travel independently through Iran. You will need to arrange an approved Iranian guide [not cheap] .. and stick to a strict pre-approved itinerary.

• Although I've never been there, a Turkmenistan visa isn't entirely straightforward; i.e. it's either (a) a time-limited transit visa or, (b) guided tourist visa. But no doubt someone else will chime-in with a definitive answer about this.

• China is also going to be difficult - if not impossible - unless you are again accompanied by a [very expensive] guide. And even then you need to start applying many weeks or even months in advance.

• Vietnam is almost certainly a non-starter. Not from a visa point of view, BUT getting over the frontier on a foreign-registered vehicle. This can only happen if you get permission from Hanoi, which is quite rare.

And that's just for starters!

[Keith1954]

You’ll also need carnets (CPDs) – which is a sort of passport for the bike(s) – to get through:

• Iran – definitely
• Cambodia – not officially, but you might still be asked for one
• Malaysia – officially, although you might get away with it by crossing over land border
• Indonesia – definitely
• Australia – definitely
• New Zealand - recommended.

[will-dakar]

Originally Posted by Keith1954

Visas mate. As UK citizens:

• For the moment at least, you're not going to be able to travel independently through Iran. You will need to arrange an approved Iranian guide [not cheap] .. and stick to a strict pre-approved itinerary.

• Although I've never been there, a Turkmenistan visa isn't entirely straightforward; i.e. it's either (a) a time-limited transit visa or, (b) guided tourist visa. But no doubt someone else will chime-in with a definitive answer about this.

• China is also going to be difficult - if not impossible - unless you are again accompanied by a [very expensive] guide. And even then you need to start applying many weeks or even months in advance.

• Vietnam is almost certainly a non-starter. Not from a visa point of view, BUT getting over the frontier on a foreign-registered vehicle. This can only happen if you get permission from Hanoi, which is quite rare.

And that's just for starters!

Ok thanks for input,

1. So Iran is like china then? Any idea of costs? Could we skip it and go across the Black Sea?

2. Any idea how long the time-limited visa is for?

3. Yeah we know it will be expensive but it's the only way to get accross to Asia and as we want to ride as much as possible we'll just have to pay up. Hopefully join another group to keep costs down.

4. I guess we'll apply and just cross out fingers, if not then we'll sadly have to skip it then

[Selous]

Keith, China did stop needeing guides however later last year? All over HU some er idiots, decided to ignore the china goverment and did there own thing, needless yo say China where not happy teddys.
Aftrr that they tighened up there act.
Yes Iran also now have to have guides although Lois Pryce got in twice with out requiring guides then they changed it.
Nam my understanding was no allowing Any non nam vehicles, and bikes no bigger than 125 unless nam elite.
Remainder answered elswhere

Sent from my GT-P5220 using Tapatalk

[will-dakar]

Been looking into the routes more, there's two choices I see.
1.via china, our quote for china is £3200 per person based in 4 sharing. This includes everything and from a company called RideChina (China Motorcycle Tours,Rentals and self drive tours-Ride China). Which is £1000 more than my bike

2.via Burma, 10 days £1380 entering from India, exiting into Thailand. I know this is more expensive per day but it's also overall cheaper.

As Turky and Iran are now very difficult to enter is there a route from the stans and into India where we don't need a guide?

[Keith1954]

It's good to see your persistence Will. There's always a way through, or around the problem .. always.

[will-dakar]

Ha thanks Keith,
I'm now thinking to go thought the stanz (sadly avoiding Iran due to it being difficult and not 100%) and down the KKH (5days with Chinese guide) trough Pakistan and onto India. Then Burma and Thailand.
This way it keeps guided yours down and in so keeps the coat of the trip down. Plus it takes in more countries I really want to visit.

[Keith1954]

Will, that's it .. perfect!

Get your timing right though, as the KKH isn't open all year 'round.

Think too about other high passes - for instance, around the Himalayas - that are great to ride, but are snowed-in during the winter months. Also be mindful of attempting to cross remote Asian terrain during the rainy seasons.

But you're definitely heading in the right direction. Go for it.

[Baggsy]

Is there a ferry across the Caspian sea at all? Maybe Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan?

[Keith1954]

Originally Posted by Baggsy

Is there a ferry across the Caspian sea at all? Maybe Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan?

Yes. A good source of Caspian Sea ferry info can be found HERE.

In fact, caravanistan.com provides very useful information covering loads of aspects of the Stans.

[will-dakar]

Thanks for the ferry link, I was just about to research it so you've saved me some time there

Now our next issues;
1- Getting from Thailand all the way down to South Indonesia, I have been reading it is very difficult if not impossible, any advise?

2- Anyone have any info on how to get from Indo to Australia, I have read there's no boat servise so how much will air cargo be? Any links to air cargo companies?

Thank again

[Keith1954]

Originally Posted by will-dakar

Now our next issues;
1- Getting from Thailand all the way down to South Indonesia, I have been reading it is very difficult if not impossible, any advise?

It can be difficult for time-to-time, but right now it's a fairly straightforward['ish], so I understand, on an 'onion boat' coaster passage across the Malacca Strait from Penang (Butterworth Docks), Malaysia -to- Medan (Belawan), northern Sumatra, Indonesia.

Contact Mr Lim in Penang at cakrashipping@gmail.com or by calling his handphone (mobile) on: +60 124709717

Office is at: Cakra Enterprise, 2nd Floor, 187 Lebuh Pantai, Georgetown, Penang. Phone: +60 42625879

There might be another option, but Mr Lim's service is by far the most respected .. when it's working. He's an honest bloke too.

Originally Posted by will-dakar

2- Anyone have any info on how to get from Indo to Australia, I have read there's no boat servise so how much will air cargo be? Any links to air cargo companies?

Indonesia to Aussie?

Consider riding all the way across Indonesia to Dili, Timor Leste (East Timor) .. and then organising a sea freight passage with ANL Shipping Co -to- Darwin NT, Aus.

Alternatively you might be able to ship (air or sea) from Bali to Oz, but that would mean you'd miss out on riding through Nusa Tenggara, which is a fab-u-lous section of the Indo archipelago.

EDIT:

@ Will - consider carrying out thread searches on various forums of this site for the answers you seek. All the info you could ever possibly want is, without doubt, readily available in the HUBB's archives, somewhere.


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