Kiwi XplorOz

[ducatijim]

Well, we are in Brisbane, Julie and I have been here since midday Wednesday and Neil and Niki since midday Monday....and still we have NO bikes, they have been here a week now and customs are being a pack of bastards.
Have had to engage a clearing agent to assist us and 3 days later we are still waiting!
Have done every other thing that we need to and it looks like we will tread water at least all weekend now as we have had no movement from our agent today. Its beyond a joke.
Nice digs and beautiful weather do make up a little! 25` and sunny!
More info as it comes to hand guys, cheers now,
Jamie.

[NordieBoy]

Well, we are in Brisbane, Julie and I have been here since midday Wednesday and Neil and Niki since midday Monday....and still we have NO bikes, they have been here a week now and customs are being a pack of bastards.
Have had to engage a clearing agent to assist us and 3 days later we are still waiting!
Have done every other thing that we need to and it looks like we will tread water at least all weekend now as we have had no movement from our agent today. Its beyond a joke.
Nice digs and beautiful weather do make up a little! 25` and sunny!
More info as it comes to hand guys, cheers now,
Jamie.

Sounds like fun is to be had... eventually.

[Crisis management]

Enjoy the sunshine, it's been pissing down here, I drove past Reporoa today and noted your poodles hard at work rounding up them cows.......no, seriously it looked nice and green for a change!
Those Aussies definately don't want you two to enjoy your holiday do they, what was that advertising slogan "Where the bloody hell are you? Stuck in customs!"

Have a good weekend and sort it out on monday, eventually it will start and you will forget all the crappy bits.



at least until the next crappy bit!

[Bass]

Mrs Bass reporting.
Here is the link to the thread where I will post the boys coordinates as they come in.
We have chosen Advrider because you don't have to be a member to view the photos there and there are a few people who are interested in our travels but have no wish to join a forum site.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...66#post6942866

[Highlander]

Good stuff Mrs Bass.

You guys ride safe and keep us posted when you can give updates.

Looking forward to hearing all about it.

[cooneyr]

So people can easily follow progress the map showing their nightly location is here - http://www.advroutes.org.nz/bass.html

Cheers R

[ducatijim]

Still not much progress; tomorrow is our big hope; have a 900 appointment with customs for Bass and 1000 for me with AQIS, if all goes well we should spend the arvo unpacking and starting the assembly.

Drove out west thru the D'Agular park up to Kilcoy for lunch...great lunch but boy are these fellas lucky to live here: wot a beautiful ride it would be! Saw just heaps of bikers out there doing it!

Cheers guys, Jamie.

[NiggleC]

Hi Jaimee
some of us would be interested when your ride is over if you could do a write up on what the proceedure was for getting the bikes across the "dutch".

Who you used as your local agent, who shipped the bike, insurance, what paper work was required when you landed in Aus. Basically the whole shebang.

Good luck on the trip.

cheers
Nigel

[ducatijim]

Got bikes out of bond at 3 this arvo, taken to our freinds wharehouse and most assy done by 6 this evening. Yay!!

It transpires that our bikes container wasn't unloaded untill last friday arvo so we have done well; we didn't realise that that was the cause of the delays! All our agents and systems have in fact worked very well as it transpires! Retraction of previous comments!!

We will most likely be inclined to share our knowledge of these processes with our freinds.

So....tomorrow we plan to start the finishing stages of the bike prep at 0730 and hope to be headed north about midday...aiming for Childers..............

Bring it on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Highlander]

Good on you mate. Watching these threads with much interest.

[Dave Milligan]

Hi Guys,

In reply to all of the above postings.

Dave Milligan is my name - My wife and I run a dedicated motorcycle shipping business called Get Routed. Until now (since 1997) we have only shipped Aussie bikes to NZ (Chch) and back for Aussies to have holidays in our beaut country. We ship around 300 bikes each Summer between November and May - the last Aussie shipment arrived back in Melbourne today and I've just finished unloading it - sore back and creaky knees. We also ship in and out of Sydney and Brisbane for the Aussies.

We are now at a stage where we will be offering Kiwis a service from Auckland & Chch to Brisbane and back from Melbourne in September. Please bear in mind we don't ship individual bikes in crates. We ship containers full of bikes and our service is designed for the holiday maker wanting a bike shipped there and back. Because we only ship full containers we must advertise dates well in advance - see the previous issue of Bike Rider magazine for a story and our advert.

The first shipment we are offering caters for people who want to come over for the Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island and have a tour of the East Coast of Aussie at the same time. Bikes arrive in Brisbane and will be available on Monday 15 September and will be loaded for the return journey in Melbourne on Tuesday 14 October. That gives you a month in Aussie on your own bike.

Sorry to be so long winded about this, but I have seen so many individuals try to ship their own bikes and have problems. Our service includes Marine insurance and everything except the Carnet de Passages for the bike - you have to get that from the NZAA in Auckland. Basically you ride your bike to our depot in Auckland or Chch and disconnect the battery and we do the rest. You arrive at our Brisbane depot at 9am on 15 Sept, reconnect your battery and ride away. That easy.

YES, you could do it slightly cheaper, but you have to do all the work (and you will have to crate your bike because no freight forwarder will accept it without a crate) and put up with all the hassles and bullshit from shipping companies and agents and Customs & Quarantine, all of whom want as much money for that service as they can get from you. When you add it all up, even if you've got a mate in the industry, there won't be much difference between what we charge and what you can do it for.

In 2009 we doing a shipment which sees the bikes available in Brisbane on Wednesday 17 June 2009 and the bikes are being loaded in Brisbane for the return journey on Tuesday 25 August, 2009. That would give you over 2 months in Aussie. The shipment is already half full and the guys who have booked are doing a trip from Brisbane to Darwin, down to port Hedland to Perth and across the Nullabor to Adelaide and then up the middle to Alice Springs and then back to Brisbane. The Winter (dry season) is an ideal time for such a trip - it will be 20 degrees plus across the top and when they get down to Perth it will still be in the 20s.

Get in touch at dave@getrouted.com.au if you want more info.

Kind regards
Dave Milligan

[ducatijim]

Why don't you hijack my thread Dave and use it for a promotional plug? Go on, feel free!!!

[ducatijim]

Hi Guys,
When you add it all up, even if you've got a mate in the industry, there won't be much difference between what we charge and what you can do it for.
Kind regards
Dave Milligan

And I can state that this is not quite true, thou, it does I suppose depend on you own interpretation of "much". And, I had no help from inside the industry, you would have to be an Aussie to qualify for that!

On a MUCH more interesting note, and also ON thread.....we are underway now and tonight are in the wee metropolise of Gin Gin(...yeah, really!) Headed for Mackay in the morning, an easy day of 550km I think. Aiming for Cairns friday night to get supplies in and new tyres on both bikes as well as a service for Bass's. Then off to Cooktown for the last 'hurrah' with our wives and we go bush Sunday....al going well!

Cheers all, Jamie.

[Highlander]

Couple of gins would be in order tonight then

[denill]

Because we only ship full containers we must advertise dates well in advance
Kind regards
Dave Milligan

Sorry to move away from the thread. But watch this guy.

We intended taking 4 bikes and registered our interest with him a couple of years ago. We had been advised that he only took full containers - and here's the rub.

Just a few months out from our time of departure we were raring to go and just counting down the days and he says that he had no other bikes booked. Great. So we may or may not be going?? More than likely not.

So we were obliged to make other arrangements. (Which BTW worked out perfectly.)

Rang Dave to pay him the courtesy of keeping him informed and copped an ill-mannered earfull!

Good luck guys. You will have a ball.