Australia Here I come

Yes; I get to add another country to my list of countries I will be riding a motorcycle in AUSTRALIA. How is this you ask? well I will be attending a conference in the Gold Coast and decided to rent a bike and do some touring. Initially I was going to go one way from Gold Coast to Sydney but decided to do the round trip Sydney Gold Coast Sydney riding an estimated 1,840 Km.

I have rented a BMW GS 1200 for this trip since I would be alone, and the GS gives good millage to the tank. I am worried though about riding on the other side of the road, I remember that I did drive once in England but that was year ago.

Also I will be arriving at 6:30 am on the 8th of March from a long flight and picking up the bike at 9:00 am then riding 865 km in one day to the Gold Coast, I have no idea in what shape I will be once I am there? I intend to have the blog updated regularly for all to follow.

Bike Damage

Well traveling that day in the sand storm has done a number on the bike, it looks as if some one took a sand blaster to the front end , there is no luster in the paint upfront where the wind hit it, and I didn't realize how bad it was until afterwards when I was cleaning it and cut my finger on some peeled chrome on the front fork brace.


I also noticed that the fog lights has a different color until a closer inspection revealed that the class was totally sand blasted.


Even the chrome on the highway pegs although not peeled were pitted and the luster of the shine of the chrome has gone.


Next time I think I will wait the sand storm out , it is easier on the bike.

Sand & Dust

Well what do you expect from the desert but sand and dust , and that is exactly what we got except we didn't expect to get so much of it. It was a cold front that was moving into the area with strong winds, we almost postponed our return back to Kuwait but decided to leave at the last minute around 8 am UAE time which was 7 am Kuwait time. the wind gusts were so strong at times I was wrestling with my bike to keep it strait, and didn't want to stop fearing that the winds would knock me and the bike over if I did.

So we were doing mainly 80 to 90 km/hr in the beginning and picking up speed later on. About two hours into the trip I spotted a pothole in the road , and since I was in front I pointed to it with my leg. It was unfortunate that Aziz didn't see the pothole and headed strain for it. I could see things flying off his motorcycle when he went through the hole, and then realized when I returned to him that his mirrors detached, fell on the ground and broke. So the only thing we could do is depend on my mirrors for the trip back which meant being extra careful when passing trucks and cars.

We finally arrived at 11 pm Kuwait time with sand everywhere we had traveled 1,242 km in a sand and dust storm muscles aching and tired. the next day was nice weather and I was thinking what would have happened had we stayed another day.

Excellence and Perseverance

Our journey to Dubai was smooth and enjoyable taking the same road back that we took from Hatta, and then continuing to Dubai. It's funny when you leave the boarders that you pass through a part of Oman without boarders on the way to Dubai.

We left at 8:30 am and arrived at 2:00 riding 464 km, once we got to MiNC apartment hotels at Al-Barsh we were informed that they overbooked and they tried to give us a one bedroom apartment instead of the two bedroom apartment we reserved. Finally they gave us a two bedroom apartment in another building but we waited 45 minutes for it to get cleaned.

When I arrived in Dubai I called the Honda motorcycle service center to see where they were and to get my motorcycle in to get the tire balanced. They told me that they are fully booked and that they will be able to accommodate me in 5 days. I explained that I am traveling in two days which made no difference to them at all. So I made phone calls for a half-hour until I ended up calling Dunlop who referred me to GECKO Motorcycle www.gecko-moto.com were I spoke to Sean who managed to get it done in 20 minutes. The professionalism that these guys show is tremendous including tightening the bolts to the specified torque.

I am not sure when I will be able to post this since we are having trouble getting internet at the apartment. We will be resting tomorrow to get ready for the trip to Kuwait on Friday.