Around the world: the ultimate adventure ride

[nigele]

All, I am just testing the water for peoples thoughts, views, ambitions and potential buddies to consider the ultimate adventure ride from NZ to the UK

The general thought is to start from Bluff and end the trip in either London or far north of Scotland. The less plane, train and ferry the better, so the aim is to ride as much as possible so the only part on a plane would be from NZ to AUS and then AUS (Darwin) to Singapore??...from there it should be a land grab all the way and maybe as much off the beaten track as time permits.

So anyone done it, thought about it, ready to leave the husband/wife and/or partner to consider this once in a lifetime trip?

And yes I do understand how long this will take but that's the point !

Looking forward to herring from you all! :-)

[young1]

Darwin and then island hop across Indonesia?

Have you seen this site, an Aussie father and son who drove from Melbourne to London (the book is a good read);

www.melbournetolondon.com

Mike

[Monstaman]

...we already gonna be busy :bleh::wings: ... bloody cool trip tho, will watch with interest

[nigele]

Very jealous...sounds like you guys are going on a great trip!

I checked the link of the two driving and another gutsy trip and in a car...IMO sounds boring as 2 wheels would be much more fun :-)

[kevfromcoro]

Go for it..... its something that you will never forget.
I have pondered doing a similar trip.
Not UK though
Was going to ride to Darwin ( iam in QLD at the mo)
Across to Indo. up through Malaysia.. and in to Thailand
Are you taking your own bike from NZ..??
Have heard Singapore it one of the esyiast places to get a bike into Asaia
There are some good web sites on this sort of travell
From Thaialand,, i was heading for Cambodia. then viet-nam.
Go round in circles,, till i got sick of it
And then do a u turn
So much to do.. and little time..
Anyway,, keep us posted
Enjoy
KEVTHEKIWI

[LBD]

We have a couple of spare beds.....

Happy to act as a depot...

[yachtie10]

I could be interested
looking at riding up to thailand anyway

[nigele]

This is how great ideas become reality....

I have just returned from a trip to Cambodia andmkeen to get back over there on the bike...So the idea is to take my own bike the entire way however I could also be tempted to start with leg 1 which starts from Bluff up to Cape Reinga and then exit out of Auckland to Melborne and then north up past Alice Springs and out of Darwin to Singapore. From there towards Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand and then maybe West to Nepal have a look at Everest and then North East to Beijing and then re-evaluate the trip and if keen keep going...

Keen to discuss further with others who want to turn this into a dream lifetime ride and also interested for people to do part of the trip with us as I am sure others will join in and go where they can.

[ajturbo]

THIS would be a cool ride.. would love to be able to do it on the XB. ..just because

when you guys do, do it.. please make some sort of blog thingy so we can watch your progress and offer helpful (:innocent:) comments..

[kiwigazza]

Check out

www.advrider.com and www.horizonsunlimited.com

Difficult/Near impossible to ride through Vietnam/China/Myanmar so will need to Fly/Ship

I'll be riding Korea-Russia-Europe next anyone else planning similar?

[young1]

Unfortunately you can not cross Myanmar by vehicle. The northern borders (at least) are closed to foreigners.

[Red39]

This is how great ideas become reality....

I have just returned from a trip to Cambodia andmkeen to get back over there on the bike...So the idea is to take my own bike the entire way however I could also be tempted to start with leg 1 which starts from Bluff up to Cape Reinga and then exit out of Auckland to Melborne and then north up past Alice Springs and out of Darwin to Singapore. From there towards Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand and then maybe West to Nepal have a look at Everest and then North East to Beijing and then re-evaluate the trip and if keen keep going...

Keen to discuss further with others who want to turn this into a dream lifetime ride and also interested for people to do part of the trip with us as I am sure others will join in and go where they can.

I am madly jealous:crazy: Sounds like a fantastic trip especially Nepal, Everest........wonder if my family would notice if I wasn't around for a year:shifty: Probably not :facepalm:

[Eddieb]

How much do you budget for a trip like this?

[Red39]

How much do you budget for a trip like this?

Every little bean you have in the bank.....if that's not enough - sell any kids you have too:laugh:

[Monstaman]

Every little bean you have in the bank.....if that's not enough - sell any kids you have too:laugh:

Interesting point that, we have our TMK budget based on others trips and separately we have a "We have to get to the start line" budget and a "We have to get home at the end budget" too, with NZ being a long way from everything this has become quite a large cost.

We have all the facts and figures for US, Central America and South America, although not directly the same it relates to this and gives some ideas.

The other HUGE thing to consider is your gear and the bike, we have bought two new bikes as we will be doing 70000 km plus over 18 months plus so preferred to start new as we had to get at least one new bike.

A lot of our gear is half worn now from being used in anger and we will be starting in the colder end of things so we have had opted to spend a bit more upgrading now rather than freezing our arses with inadequate/holey/thin gear.

nigele, let me know if you want some of the good info we have gathered from other on ADV and Horizons as I would be happy to present it to help get your dream off the ground, to all other KBers .... if you have the means or can make it happen ....just do it... it will never get any easier.

TMK Hobbit and Chiwi ... counting the days down :Punk:

[Rosie]

How much do you budget for a trip like this?

If it helps any... 5 weeks in Australia cost us around $3500 each, over and above what we'd normally be spending on groceries, fuel etc at home. Around $2.5k of that was getting myself and the bike over, the rest was mostly petrol and beer :facepalm:
Petrol, and parts for the bikes (tyres, chain and sprox) were our big expenses, so having an idea of relative prices of those in other countries might help to estimate costs.
We camped, and cooked our own food, so food and accommodation costs were pretty minimal, by developed world standards.

[young1]

Interesting point that, we have our TMK budget based on others trips and separately we have a "We have to get to the start line" budget and a "We have to get home at the end budget" too, with NZ being a long way from everything this has become quite a large cost.

..........

nigele, let me know if you want some of the good info we have gathered from other on ADV and Horizons as I would be happy to present it to help get your dream off the ground, to all other KBers .... if you have the means or can make it happen ....just do it... it will never get any easier.

TMK Hobbit and Chiwi ... counting the days down :Punk:

This good information, we would be keen to see some of it, how do we do that?

[Monstaman]

Heya joung 1, OK this is one, this is from Naomi and Albertos site Taking The Road South, as I said this is slightly more applicable to our trip but there stats are very cool and valid.

The Trip in Numbers

Total Kilometers 39,396
Total Countries Visited 12
Total Days 194
Total Rest Days 56



North America (km) 11,300
Central America (km) 4,724
South America (km) 23,372



Average (km/day) 203
Riding Days Only (km/day) 285
Longest Riding Day (km) 895 *Peru: Lima to Lima (for 1000km Service)
Shortest Riding Day (km) 20 *Costa Rica: Cahuita to Peurto Viejo



Nights Camped (%) 40.4%
Coldest Temperature recorded (oC) -6.5
Warmest Temperature recorded (oC) 42
Number of times the bike was dropped lost count
Total time spent at borders (min) 1485



Total Flat Tires 3
Tire Life (Heidenau) (km) ~20,000
Tire Life (Metzeler) (km) ~10,000
Number of new rear tires 4
Number of new front tires 2
Total Gas Cost ($) $3,975.61 *note: Most expensive gas was Chile, and the cheapest gas was Ecuador



Total Trip cost ($) $17,970.16
Accommodation (%) 13.39%
Food (%) 19.25%
Gas (%) 22.12%
Services/Maintenance (%) 6.84%
Trip cost ($/km) $0.46 *trip costs include costs from Day 1 to Day 194 including shipping the bikes home
Operating Cost ($) $11,774.98 *day-to-day operating costs
Operating Cost ($/day) $60.70 *does not include shipping costs and major services
Budget ($/day) $60.00



Cost for Darien Gap Crossing ($/bike) $901
Cost for Darien Gap Crossing ($/person) $408.81

I will post up more stuff on individual posts so they don't get mixed up.

[Monstaman]

Gear list from 2 ride the world, could not make the format right so I will give you the link.

http://www.2ridetheworld.com/kit_list_Page.htm

[Monstaman]

This from Argentina to Alaska

Bike Equipment

Description Manufacturer Cost

Bike Equipment:
Radiator grill Ebay £23.00
Plastic Headlight guard Ebay £18.00
Centre stand skid plate Ebay £20.75
Long wire chain with 'eye' ends to use with disc lock £8.00
Disc lock
Side stand enlarger Touratech £16.95
Rear Shock Ohlins £500.00
Map holder Touratech £35.00

Comfort:
Tobinators Ebay £47.00
Seat Wunderlich Ergo £168.90

Luggage:
Panniers Al Jesse Odyssey £435.00
Waterproof roll bags x 2 (49L & 22L) Ortilieb £55.00
Rear luggage rack Ebay £27.04
Adjustable straps Rok straps x 2 pair £24.00

Electrical:
12v pump + puncture repair kit Ebay £33.00
Car plug to BMW plug convertor Touratech £5.00
Garmin Quest GPS Garmin- Ebay £272.00
GPS Bracket & cable Touratech £113.89
Bike Alarm Cyclone £25.00

Bike Spares:
BMW toolkit plus various others (including oil filter removal tool, vice grips, pliers, tire levers, additional spanners, sockets etc)
Duct tape
Liquid metal repair
WD40
Fuses
Spark plugs x 2
Cable ties
Seals for oil changes
Spare QD Fuel connector and o-rings
Oil filters x 1 plus seals for oil changes
Note- The plan is to flog the majority of the above on my return
Bike Equipment Total £1,827.53

Camping & Personal

Description Manufacturer Cost

Camping Equipment:
Camping stove- multi fuel MSR Dragonfly £79.00
Expresso pot- essential!
Head torch £25.00
Mozzy net £25.00
1st Aid kit £15.00
New Sleepng bag Nanok Comfort -5c £70.00
Sleeping bag liner £10.00
Sleeping mat Thermarest Prolite 4 Regular £48.00
Tent Tadpole 23 £138.98
Cooking pots
Thermal mug
Knife/Fork/spoon
Water carrier

Personal Equipment:
Camera Canon IX-US 50
Camera car charger & spare battery Ebay £7.48
Mini Computer PDA & folding keyboard Palm Tungsten T5 £98.00
Iriver mp3 player I-river HP-120
Custon moulded earphones £149.00
Swiss Army knife
Money belt
Binoculars

Clothing:
Bike jacket and trousers HG Cruise suit £400.00
Boots HG Tuareg £149.00
Helmet Arai Tour X £250.00
Winter/summer gloves HG Tourareg summer gloves + Pathon winter gloves
Walking boots North Face
Sandals
5 sets underwear/socks
Long underwear (top & bottom) Coolmax £40.00
T shirts - 2 long sleeved, 2 short sleeved
Fleece top
Swimming trunks
Shirts x 2 long sleaved
1 pair cargo trousers
1 pair convertible trousers Columbia
Fleece hat
Sunglasses
Waterproof top
Ear plugs

Paperwork:
Passport
Current driving licence
International Driving Licence £7.50
Bike Insurance
V5 Registration document
Personal & Health Insurance Budget policy £118.00
Vaccinations Travel Clinic- Estimate £250.00
Scanned PDF copies of above plus hard copies
Bike manual

Camping & Personal Total £1,879.96


General Expenditure: Estimated Cost
Flights/boats (including crossing the Darien Gap) £1,000.00
Estimated shipping costs £1,500.00
Food - £10 /day @ 215 days £2,150.00
Fuel- estimate £1,000.00
Camping, Hostels, Hotels @ £7.50 /day @ 215 days £1,615.00
Tyres- say 2 sets @ £100 each set £200.00

Estimated General Expenditure Total £7,465.00

[Monstaman]

This is our list, it needs updating which we will do shortly, we will update our page and give the full monty on there.

Honesty there is so much more I could put up but being a different trip the shipping, flying aspect and cost on Asia will be different but use the info to create your own budget, at least these will give the wider selection to chose what would be applicable then you are less likely to leave something out. We also are having jabs etc so plenty to think about ..... so cool.

The trip will be great but the planning, tactics, gearing up etc is really neat too.

Two Moto Kiwis American Epic


Bikes
Suzuki - DR650 x 2
Garmin 660 GPS
Touratech GPS locking mount
30 Litre safari tank, colour to match bikes x 2
Oxford or similar heated grips x 2
Sargent Seats
Kincrome Pannier Cases x 4
Kincrome Top Cases x 2
Hard pannier mounts and rear tray assembly x 2.
Bark Buster Storm x 2
Fork Intiminators x 2 sets
Uprated rear shock for Andi
Ortlieb waterproof back 35 litre x 1
Ortlieb waterproof back 30 litre x 1
Pac safe wire nets x 2
50 mm straps & loops for luggage
GP Custom Bashplates x 2
Highway peg ex happy trails x 2
Inline water separating fuel filters x 2
14 t front sprockets x 2
44 t rear sprockets x 2
Washable Oil filters

Spares
Spare chain links x 2
21 inch front tube x 1
17 inch rear tube x 1
Rear wheel bearings x 1 set
14 t front sprocket x 1
RTV tube small x 1
Cable ties x 1
Brake Lever
Clutch lever

Tools
Tyre levers x 2 –own
Selection of spanners etc – own
Lock and 4 m cable - own

Gear
Shoei Hornet Helmets 1 x small, 1 x medium
Dririder jacket and Revit Sand pants, Mans large
Revit jacket and pants set, Womans small
Gloves warm x 2
Gloves summer x 2
Forma ADV boots
Female Adv boots x 1
Wet weather gear womans x 1
Wet weather gear mans x 1
Octane 8 Backpack waterpacks x 2

Cooking
Coleman 508 multifuel
Trangia cookset
Sea to summit plate set x 2
Coffee maker
Primus Ti Fork Spoon and Knife

Camping
Exped 600 Sleeping bag Andi-own
Exped 600 Sleeping bag Andi-own
Tent Hilliberg GT 4
8 mm pegs x 2
Sleeping mattress – Exped 9
Thermalite Extreme thermal liners x 2
6x4 tarp x 1
Poles x 2
Pegs x 6
Exped inflatable Pillows x 2

Personal
Waterproof camera - Panasonic DMC FT3,
Big Canon SX40 HS
GoPro camera
Sonim phone XP3.2 Quest Pro
ABR Chargers
Laptops x 1 small
ipad 2 x 1

Andi Clothing
Icebreaker 320 mans x 3
Icebreaker T top no collar x 3
Icebreaker T shirt x 3
Icebreaker gruds x 3
Icebreaker leggings x 3
Icebreaker x socks 2
Alp socks x 4
Standard gruds x 1
Mac pack puffy
Hard yakka pants
Katmandu Shorts
Red boots
Keen shoes
beanie
Marmot wet jacket

Ellen Clothing
Icebreaker 320 womans x 3
Icebreaker T top no collar x 3
Icebreaker T shirt x 3
Icebreaker gruds x 3
Icebreaker leggings x 3
Icebreaker x socks 2
Alp socks x 4
Standard gruds x 1
Mac pack puffy
Hard yakka pants
Katmandu Shorts
Red boots
Keen shoes
beanie
Marmot wet jacket

Trip Misc
Wallet
Passports
Ellen
Flights NZl - AK

[Shewolf]

mmmm RTW porn here :sunny:

I have a loose plan to abandon my home and travel...

[nigele]

This is great information and good to hear from like minded people. I have started researching the route and agreed I am hitting potholes with accessing certain regions and areas that are closed off. The kit list is fantastic and very helpful and yes the budget is going to be huge!....the main thing I keep asking myself is what is the one thing other than your children you want to remember for the rest and at the end of your life?...Sounds a bit deep but not meaning it that way. :-)

As the budget goes, well no doubt you will have to quit your job...unless you have an amazing employer and/or are very smart and have an online business that you can generate a revenue whilst you travel...I have provisionally accounted an expected requirement of at least $65-80k to fund you and your bike all the way round. For me this trip is about tasting the cultures and although not blasting through everywhere I certainly dont want to lay around for weeks on end...just to be on my bike and ride.

Now this trip is not going to happen in the next 3-6 months...this will be planned for a long time and would expect a late 2012 early 2013 kick off. If keen to talk more then feel free to email me : nigel@uknz.com (This will also be the website for the trip - ok point noted it should be NZUK)

Anyone know who else has done or attempted this trip from NZ to UK? :-)

[Monstaman]

Anyone know who else has done or attempted this trip from NZ to UK? :-)

...only in a plane!!

You are welcome with the info, we have all sorts of other info as well but more related to Darien Gap crossing, Amazon Ferrys etc but any info we can help with to get your trip off the ground just fire away.

If we weren't already heading the opposite way we would have been a starter.