The long way Down-Under
To start with, I can tell you a little about how it all began. Since I have hardly been able to take a holiday in recent years and have devoted a lot of time to the company, I decided after I got my new hip to finally take a proper holiday again. Just like after my further training in 2006 when I went to New Zealand, among other places. Then the time had come. The job was over and I was on the operating table. I definitely wanted to take my time to heal, but of course I could use the time to start planning. The trips through Europe had to be squeezed in between the festivals somehow, and even so there was a bit of planning involved, even though I was pretty much on the road without a plan. In order to keep the costs of the necessary material down a bit, the search for supporters was of course high on the to-do list. At this point I would like to thank Touratech once again for the excellent material. And of course my thanks also go to the tire factory in Heidenau, which provides me with the best tires for such tours at very good conditions.
And my new website also needed to be designed and filled with life. And so I spent a lot of time on the computer when I wasn't busy with physiotherapy. During this time I also increased my forum activities a little and came across an advert looking for a passenger to Iran for August to September. Great, I thought, a tour guide and another two months' holiday. Unfortunately, the departure from the other side had to be brought forward, which then clashed completely with my northern tour, a shame. But that led to contact with a Swiss guy. A few emails later, we arranged to meet at the Hegaublick motorcycle meeting point to discuss further details. It turned out that the Swiss guy's trip was not going to Iran and back, but further. All the way around. Phew! I digested it quickly and said that I would come. However, with the caveat that I would probably run out of money by the time I got to Australia. But this didn't affect further planning and in constant communication, even during my trip to Europe, we clarified what was needed. During my stopover in Italy and the Balkans, I ordered my baby coffin, aka top case, which seemed more practical to me than a roll, but which you can of course still take with you.
Due to their limited validity, we wanted to apply for the necessary visas at the embassies in the previous country, at least those that you need beforehand and cannot get online or at the border. Apply for the Carnet de Passage at the ADAC and then we can slowly get started. Well, almost. Before starting my trip in April, I changed my gearbox. But from the start there was a strange rattling noise, which then got louder and shortly before departure was so unpleasantly loud that the risk of breaking down with gearbox damage was simply too great for me. And so it happened that after around 28,000 km I changed the gearbox again. It's good to always have a spare, I actually wanted to use it for my scrambler project, but now it's going to be used for travel. And then the time had finally come - departure, finally vacation. I haven't had one for a long time. And what I experience, you can then experience live on the following pages as usual.
Have fun and see you next year in Good Old Germany where my new job is already waiting for me.