International shippment

This is the crate in Townsville after it had been travelling around the world from Tuscany to Australia. More than 22.000 km ocean route.

Actually, the motorbike was shipped on 22nd June 2007 from Grosseto and it arrived in Brisbane around the 28th July.

It had to go through Customs and Quarantine procedures in Brisbane and finally it was shipped to Townsville by road truck and available as shown in the photo on 16th August 2007.

Goodbye

Saying goodbye and ready to fly .... the outback was waiting for us ....

My Australian bandana was for good luck seeing that we planned to ride the motorbike from Townsville to Adelaide in 8 days !!!

Not only Dad was worried about our trip especially knowing the lonely route we had planned to go through.

....the outback is as wonderful as dangerous....

Leaving Townsville

As soon as we finished collecting the documents and approvals to ride the motorbike on the Australian Highways, we didn't waste any time .... we left straighaway the last document was signed by the Transport Department in Townsville.

Form left to Right:
Dad, Antonio, Laura, Sonia, Catherine and Mum

Sonia is our best friend and we will never forget the hard work she did in helping to organise our wedding.

Looking forward to seeing the desert

We are in Richmond only a few hundreds kilometres from Townsville and I already felt we were in the middle of nowhere !!!

This was our second day of the trip as we stopped the night before in Balfes Creek a really lonely roadhouse on the Flinders Highway.

Richmond was our stop for lunch. From Balfes Creek we had already stopped in Torrens Creek and Hughenden.

Our aimed destination for the day was Cloncurry !

First Sunset in the Outback

Finally, we are in Cloncurry. At the end of the second day we had already clocked up more than 900 km. Good avarage to follow our trip master plan !!!

It was our first spectacular sunset in the Outback ! Wonderful experience especially considering that we were on our honeymoon trip !

It seems that I'm wearing a wig, but it's only the three behind me, which seems done on purpose !

Barkly

Sunset a few kilometres before arriving to Barkly at the end of the third day !

The more we went in the Outback the more beautiful the sunset became !

There is nothing more romantic than sharing with your partner views like these !

It was the reason why we chose to go around Australia on our honeymoon instead of somewhere else !

Devil's Marbles

Devil's Marbles is a mystic place that can be easly find along the Stuart Highway !!!

The most beautiful feeling is to look all the nature around you and hear the noise of wind and ravens only !!!

It makes you feel you are on another planet !

It was winter but the temperature was around 28/30°C. Great weather, just for a great trip .....

Ufo's Capital of Australia

A really funny place where UFO are seen every night ....

We are not sure if it happens before or after a few beers but it has been proved that ederly people who live in Wycliffe Well meet UFO quite often !!!

The avarage age of those who live there is 85 years and it seems that they are no more than 15 of them ...

Good luck !

Ayers Rock

Our dream is coming true ! We had only done half of the way to go back into civilization, but it was the longest week of my life !

So many emotions on that week to reach Ayers Rock that when we first saw Uluru while we were riding the motorbike I felt like I was in a dream !!!

It is understandable why Aborigines believe it is a sacred place. It seems a good sleeping giant in the flat Outback Red Centre.

South Australia border

At the second State border. We are on the borderline between Northern Territory and South Australia

Actually, South Australia seemed more like a desert than the Red Centre

Excitement for reaching the next stop which was Coober Pedy.

The Breakaways

Breakaways ! The famous Dog Fence which goes across Australia for more than 5300 km

This is the desert ! To be honest I expected something like this in the Northern Territory which was more bushy than this part of Australia

Luckily our BMW did not have any problem on those kind of unsealed roads and we had lots of fun riding it there !

This is the area where two famous movies have been filmed: Mad Max 3 and Prescilla Queen of the Desert !!!

Back into civilization

We are in Glenelg (Adelaide) after we had stopped the night before in Port Augusta which was our borderline for the civilization !

Lots of Italians in Adelaide but the most useful I found was the barber !!!

We have tried all the Indian restaurants in Aldelaide ! It was a quite relaxing time we spent three days thare to service the bike a take a little break after 4500km of desert !!!

Funny refilling

This photos was taken at the petrol station in Mt Gambier the night we arrived there after we left Adelaide

We were going to the ride the bike on the Great Ocean Road and from Adelaide we decided to stop half way

I was doing funny gestures while Laura was paying and I made her laughing so hard that she couldn't talk to the cashier !

He was almost calling the police as he thought we were drunk

Port Fairy

When we arrived in Port Fairy we had time to enjoy the wonderful sea view !

This morning we were directed to Melbourne through the Great Ocena Road and we left Mt. Gambier eraly in the morning just to have time to stop at the famous 12 Apostles !!!


Our next stop was Port Campbell to have a sandwich and go to the 12 Apostles, but unfortunately things did not go as planned ......

Mission Impossible

We were so late and excited that riding on the Great Ocead Road we missed the look out for the 12 Apostles.

We realised that only when we had already arrived in Apollo Bay. We couldn't go back to Italy without seeing the 12 Apostles and we had to sleep in Melbourne that night.

Recovery plan !!! We took a scenic flight from Apollo Bay, but it was quite difficult to convince the pilot to take off due to the strong wind and the poor light of the late afternoon ! We did it .....

False alarm

At the beginning of the Great Ocean Road we took this picture and we thought they were part of the 12 Apostles. We were a little bit after Port Fairy and it didn't sound the right position on the map !!!

We were so exctited to find the real look out that we rode the bike for onother 150 km skipping the 12 Apostle look out till we realised we had missed them. Laura's famous words:

.... with three GPS, twenty-five maps and 15 kg of rechargers .... how is it possible ? ....

Captain Cook's house

After all troubles we found to see the 12 Apostles, finally we arrived in Melbourne. We spent 4 days there going around with the buses, taxi and motorbike as well.

I felt like I was in a big European city and it was nice to walk in the down town !

Phillip Island

In Phillip Island we had a good time visiting all the island including the penguin parade.

We saw the Moto GP but we didn't ride the bike in the circuit.

Relaxing time with lots of natural places we found on the island !!!

Brisbane

Three days later we left Melbourne we arrived in Brisbane. Along the way we stopped in Temora and Narrabri.



While in Brisbane we had time to enjoy the Gold Coast and Brisbane surroundings.



We met some friends of brisbanebikers

Gold Coast

After three days we left Melbourne we arrived in Brisbane. Along the way we stopped in Temora and Narrabri.

We had time to enjoy the Gold Coast as well as north Brisbane.

We met some friends from brisbanebikers who were so kind to bring us around for a day tour with the motorbikes.

Bribie Island tour

Our trip was almost finished, although Australia didn't stop surprising us ! Wonderful place for Australian pensioners, lots of dedicated services and facilities !!! Nothing to compare to....

The picture was taken in Bribie Island where due to my ...."Italian ingenuousness"..... we didn't pay for the permission at risk of a fine !!!

While the bike was parked on the shore a huge wave was taking it away ... I had to run to keep it avoinding it to fall down ... Although my feet remained wet all day .... I saved it !!!

Goodbye my lover

This was the saddest day in our trip ... we had to say goodbye to our "baby BMW" which was so faithful to us. The Brisbane BMW dealer kindly provided to crate the bike and contact the shipping company.

It was shipped back to Italy and in two months delivered to us in Tuscany. At the present it is continuining to perform its preciuos job.

The original plan was to leave it in Australia, but unfortunately under the Australian Laws, .....I wasn't allowed.....

Strange coincidence

This is John a man from South Africa. We met him in Camooweal 4 weeks before we met him again in Rockhampton.

While we had almost close the circle from Townsville to Townsville, John who was riding his bike from Newman WA had collected up more than 3000 km in Queensland.

It was a strange coincidence and the last exciting experince before we went back to Townsville the day after. We spent another two weeks in Townsville than we flew out to go back to Italy !!!

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