Down To The Last Week

Well there's only a few days to go before i start the first leg of my ride. Still working on what  I'm  taking, packing and repacking panniers. Ordered a 1 cup stove top coffee maker which is nice and small but it hasn't arrived yet so i dont know what i,m going to do if it doesn't arrive before Wednesday Sleeping in a tent for 3 weeks I'm  going to want a coffee with in the first 10 minutes of waking .
Might be a slight revision of  the route due to the floods in Bundaburg .I'm either going to leave on the Thursday and go right to Rockhamptom or leave later on the Wednesday and stop in Harvey Bay.
This is the link to my GPS locator share page which will pin point my location anywhere in the world
SPOT Shared Page
The local news paper has done a article on my ride

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/son-fulfils-mums-wish/1804186/

 Looks like the next update will be on the road , dont forget to check it out

Donate at your local Westpac

 

You can donate  to THE RIDE TO REMEMBER via direct deposit using online banking or at your local Wespac branch

                                         Account Name : The ride to remember 

                                                        BSB  : 034168

                                      Account Number :  389019

                Oversea,s Transfer Swift Code : WPACAU2S

As a reference please put " Donate"  if you want donate to Neuroscience Research Australia or "sponsor " if you want to help me complete "The Ride To Remember"

 

Australian Route of the ride 6000km

THE RIDE TO REMEMBER

Proposed Australian route for up and coming Charity ride

Starting on the 3^rd April  2013

Day 1:  Sunshine coast to Bundaberg 

Day 2: Bundaberg to Rockhampton via Gladstone

Day 3: Rockhampton to Emerald

Day4: Emerald to Longreach 

Day 5: Longreach to McKinlay

Day 6: McKinlay to Mt Isa

Day 7: Rest Day

Day 8: Mt Isa to Tennant Creek

Day 9: Tennant Creek to Alice Springs

Day 10: Alice Springs to Kulgera

Day 11: Kelgura to Coober Pedy

Day 12: Coober Pedy to Woomera

Day 13 Woomera to Adelaide

Day 14: Rest Day

Day 15: Adelaide to Mt Gambier

Day 16: Mt Gambier to Melbourne

Day 17: Melbourne to Lake Entrance

Day 18: Lake to Canberra

Day 19: Canberra to Sydney

Day 20: Sydney to Singleton

Day 21: Singleton to Armidale

Day 22: Armidale to Toowoomba

Day 23 Toowomba to Sunshine coast
Then off to Russia some time in June to arrive
 in England mid september

New Bike At Last

After scrimping and saving , selling my dirt bike  and bugging the local Kawasaki dealer  i finally got the bike that will carry me around Australia and across the world .  Big thanks to Team Moto Kawasaki at Maroochydore .
Before picking up the bike   I had them fit a sw motech sump guard and mitas E08 tyres .
I have added Renthol twin wall bars and fat bar riser clamps alone with some  Bark Busters . Didn't like the black paint scheme and  as it's the only colour available here in Australia i painted it 2007 Z750  pearl wildfire orange .  Another thanks go's out to Judy and Ron at Motorcycle adventure products for giving me a bit of a discount on the hepco beaker panniers and mounting brackets.  Fit nice and close to the sides of the bike so its not as wide  as some bikes .Took it out for a spin to Sydney and back 2300km round trip . runs and handles great even with the panniers full . My wife  Christine came for the ride on her bike . we manage to dodge all the rain but did ride into 35 degree heat 400km outside Sydney .

Picking up the new bike with dealer manager Mick Brown

First pit stop

Over night stop at Nambucca Heads.

The beginning

The ride to remember .  It's slowly rolling along and starting to gain pace
the web page is up and running .thanks Stephen
 the bikes are getting sorted and have made a decision on which model to take Just have to sell this one   But hopefully  as funds become available this will happen
will update as as things progress

After much research i have narrowed down my bike choice to the Kawasaki Versys 650  .Looks like it will handle a bit of off road but keep up on the motorways and also be fun on the twisty windy roads. It has a large range of accessories and is a very popular bike in Europe so if the unthinkable happens and one of then brakes down it should be easy to get repaired .

 A massive thanks to the guys at Resolute jeans for hooking us up with a couple of pairs of their top quality Kevlar jeans  .That will give me piece of mind ride through Russia knowing I'm protected from any unforeseen mishap  Click on the banner to visit the Resolute jeans web site

                           Route Change

Looks like i'll be changing the route before we start, Instead of  going straight into Vladivostok it looks like it's going to be easier to go via Korea then catch the car ferry from Donghae .  It take 62 days on the water for containers to get to Vlad as apposed to 30 days to Busan , Korea .  not to mention the paper work required to get the bikes out off the containers and off the  wharfs in Russia . Using the car ferry all the paper work is done before you board the ferry so it should be a straight passport and visa check in vlad and off we go  . England here we come.