Greetings from California - can I ride with you?

[Swoop]

...we are in fact a few thousand kilometres from Australia.

Kilometers mean nothing.


Gudday Jim. We are quite a distance from Australia.
If you hop on a 747 here, it will take you 3 hours flying to get anywhere close to Australia...

If you want a holiday riding around in dirt, in a hot climate, Australia is the destination for you. (but we DO have a wide selection of dirt to choose from here...

If you want to ride around a spectacularly beautiful country with your jaw wide open from the scenery and the friendly people (apart from the KB ... of course...) get yourselves over here asap!

[Griffin]

Actually - now that it seesm it has been made perfectly clear that we are in fact a totally different country from Australia (thankyou KB members) it would be a good idea for you to forget about going to Oz for dirt riding experience.... they dont have much... but here in NZ, we have a Desert!!!

[awayatc]

I hope it's OK to join up here and eventually end up riding with a few of you. I'm a long time off roader turned desert racing freak recently. Since dirt is in my blood and I want to visit your wonderful continent, I thought I would see if any of you can help me here.

For a long time my wife and I have talked about visiting Australia and vicinity for what we've always hoped would be a reasonably long vacation. We were thinking two to three weeks. Thankfully work has been good to us but very busy. Coupled with kids growing up, time to disappear for a while hasn't presented itself until now. Since we've been busy spending money on kids and at work, the credit card points have continued to accrue. I was shocked when my wife told me how many we have. Looks like it's time to begin planning for this trip.

Like most of us I couldn't dream of not spending at least a few consecutive days in the dirt while I'm there. So much that I would plan a portion of our travels to coincide with the best off road riding you can tell me about. Of course I will need the services of a tour company who can rent me a nice bike that will haul the mail and show me where to take it. I'm all eyes and ears for where to go, when to go and who to go with. Can anyone help here?

Off the off road, in addition to spending time on the mainland Australia I feel like I'd like to visit Tazmania, Fiji and some other cool places around the area for a few days if it's worth it. Anyone care to enlighten me here? Where might I go to get the "real deal" info on these travels and the good places to stay without having to hear from some travel agent who's "heard about it"?

Thanks in advance for whatever help you can offer me.

Not even a Yank can be this ignorant,
It is the rain.....not enuf riding makes people bored.
Come up with all sorts of stupid stuff.
Good one, you had me and a few people fall for it for a minute....

[cs363]

Not even a Yank can be this ignorant,
It is the rain.....not enuf riding makes people bored.
Come up with all sorts of stupid stuff.
Good one, you had me and a few people fall for it for a minute....

my thoughts exactly

[-easy--rider-]

fiji isnt "in the area" its further away than new zealand from australia. you really are a dumbass

[McJim]

I get comments all the time from those worldly and well educated people that call themselves Kiwis.

The conversation generally goes like this:

Kiwi "Which part of Ireland are you from?"

McJim "The Scottish part - which part of F*ckin' Australia are you from?"

Kiwi "Oh I'm not Australian, I'm a kiwi - I can't understand why people can't tell the difference as are there are only 2 vowel pronunciations in the entire vocabulary that differ very slightly between Australian and New Zealand whereas Scottish and Irish are such TOTALLY different accents that we can't tell them apart and can be excused for making the mistake."

People in glass houses.....

[hospitalfood]

I get comments all the time from those worldly and well educated people that call themselves Kiwis.

The conversation generally goes like this:

Kiwi "Which part of Ireland are you from?"

McJim "The Scottish part - which part of F*ckin' Australia are you from?"

Kiwi "Oh I'm not Australian, I'm a kiwi - I can't understand why people can't tell the difference as are there are only 2 vowel pronunciations in the entire vocabulary that differ very slightly between Australian and New Zealand whereas Scottish and Irish are such TOTALLY different accents that we can't tell them apart and can be excused for making the mistake."

People in glass houses.....

you are Irish though ?
was sure you are Irish..........

[McJim]

you are Irish though ?
was sure you are Irish..........

Ah, I see you would like to eat your KB nickname.....

[Owl]

Technically, our American friend is right! He did say “I want to visit your wonderful continent” and we are after all a part of Oceania, Australasia or even Australia (the continent). Just depends on how you look at things.
He should probably also be forgiven for thinking we’re a bunch of homo’s, when in the States, a kiwi is a fruit!
On an educational note Jim, a kiwi is not a fruit! That would be a kiwifruit! A kiwi is a nocturnal flightless bird found in New Zealand and also used as a word to describe a New Zealander. I hope that helps!

Just my 2 cents!

[MSTRS:Me]

I get comments all the time from those worldly and well educated people that call themselves Kiwis.

The conversation generally goes like this:

Kiwi "Which part of Ireland are you from?"

McJim "The Scottish part - which part of F*ckin' Australia are you from?"

Kiwi "Oh I'm not Australian, I'm a kiwi - I can't understand why people can't tell the difference as are there are only 2 vowel pronunciations in the entire vocabulary that differ very slightly between Australian and New Zealand whereas Scottish and Irish are such TOTALLY different accents that we can't tell them apart and can be excused for making the mistake."

People in glass houses.....

Leave the whiskey alone, laddie. It's nay guid fer ye.

[scumdog]

I get comments all the time from those worldly and well educated people that call themselves Kiwis.

The conversation generally goes like this:

Kiwi "Which part of Ireland are you from?"

McJim "The Scottish part - which part of F*ckin' Australia are you from?"

Kiwi "Oh I'm not Australian, I'm a kiwi - I can't understand why people can't tell the difference as are there are only 2 vowel pronunciations in the entire vocabulary that differ very slightly between Australian and New Zealand whereas Scottish and Irish are such TOTALLY different accents that we can't tell them apart and can be excused for making the mistake."

People in glass houses.....

Frkkn true McJim, kiwis can be plurry precious and insecure at times - and see NZ as the centre of the universe.
(And seem surprised when somebody from another country says "Where's that" when they meet a kiwi on their overseas trip who says 'I'm from New Zealand')

[mark247]

Frkkn true McJim, kiwis can be plurry precious and insecure at times - and see NZ as the centre of the universe.
(And seem surprised when somebody from another country says "Where's that" when they meet a kiwi on their overseas trip who says 'I'm from New Zealand')

I couldnt care less when people dont know where NZ is. It is the same when you ask an American where they are from and they say Iowa for example, or Michigan. I bet the average NZer wouldn't be able to point at those States on a map...

I do find it funny when people are asked to point to Australia tho... or Iraq, even somewhere like Germany and they have no bloody idea.