A rough route we will be taken

We will fly the bike to Kuala Lumper from Brisbane ,where we will fly ourselves and pick the bike up.

We will then travel around Malaysia for the rest of January .

February will see us traveling through Thailand into Cambodia to visit Ankor Wat for the second time,this time we will visit some of the lesser frequented temples which are just as impressive ,but off the beaten tourist track.

March we will be Laos.We love Laos,the budda park in Vientiane,up to chilling out in Luang Prabang.

April we will be back in Thailand to meet up with Simon,Kayla,Ryan and Jesse.So plenty of times having fun at the beach.

May we will be flying into Katmandu Nepal with the bike as Myanmar[Burma],wont let foreigners vehicles through.This is where we hope to do some light trekking around the foothills of the Himalayas and a bit of hanglideing for Clive.

June will see us take on India,we are determined to come out the other side with positive thoughts,the scenery will be spectacular but will are stomachs and patience be up for it,we will see!!

July we will take on the KKH highway that runs up through northern Pakistan into China,then entering Kyrgyzstan,Uzbekistan,Turkmenistan and then a ferry trip across the black sea into Azerbaijan,Georgia and then entering Turkey,where we will see some old roman ruins and having a hot air balloon ride over Cappadocia.

August we should be entering Europe into Bulgaria then onto Greece,following up the coast through Albania,Montenegro,Croatia,Slovenia,Austria,Switzerland down the east coast of Italy then up the west coast into France,Spain and if we have time into Morocco before heading back up through Portugal,Spain,France and then catching the ferry across the English channel to Blighty,docking at Weymouth harbour where we used take our kids for summer day trips and then finally officially ending the Brisbane to Bristol trip on the Clifton suspension bridge in Bristol.

This is only a rough route we will take ,no doubt on a whim we might change direction a bit ,it will depend on the weather,how volatile political situations are in certain countries and how far we get behind with the rough schedule we have,we aim to be in the uk at the beginning of November.

Our life in a box

                                                                                         

Well we have finally sold our house in preparation for our trip and all of our possessions are now in a 3mx6m lock up! It is floor to ceiling with no room at all. I have managed to squeeze my other two motorbike in there as well and will be spraying them with a good soaking of wd40 or similar to keep everything nice and shiny while we are away.

We are now living between our kids,two week at Rachels our daughter and two week at Simons our son on a rotation basis. We get to spend some real quality time with the grand kids which is great because the hardest part of this trip is not going to be riding for days in the mud,rain or cold its going to be so far away from our kids and the grand kids. But still, we will have video Skype which we will be using a lot when will have a connection.

With the lock up, paying for a year in advance we can get a decent discount,we have put some moth balls and cockroach traps in and the kids will do monthly check ups on are stuff to make sure everything is ok.

We have still got are block of land which we plan to build on when we come back,it seems silly to build on it now  and then leave it for a year unattended. At least while we are away we can design a house to our liking and no doubt will have a Asian influence !

I have decided that my old motorbike jacket and helmet wont last a year trip so i have updated them, plus i got a new pair of bike/hiking boots as well,the jacket is supposed to be waterproof without putting a liner in like my old jacket ,which was a pain in the ass and the helmet has a peak on it ,seeing that we are heading west all the way ,that way the sun wont get in my eyes to bad in the late afternoon.

Chris is busy sorting duel passports out and checking visa’s,we have decided to renew are British passport and leave with them.With are Australian passports left here with the Pakistan visa forms ready ,with Rachel sending them to get processed a couple of months after we leave and then when she gets them back we will get them couriered to us in Thailand,or better still Simon and Kayla and the boys can bring them when they come for a short holiday with us in Thailand. That way we will reach Pakistan in time without the visa running out before we get there.