NORM'S TRIP AROUND AUSTRALIA

In April 2011, Norm set out to complete a trip he had first begun 50 years previously; to ride around Australia. And this time he made it: the trip was successful. So successful was it, that he is now planning to do it again. Here he tells the story of the trip he did in 2011. But before we get to the story of the ride, here is the background to it.

“Almost 50 years ago to the day a friend and I decided to ride my 500cc Aerial motor cycle with sidecar around Australia.

“We didn’t even get out of South Australia before abandoning our trip because of a broken back axle. Hard to believe but that’s what happened.

“Years later, after a spinal fusion, along with a triple bypass and later 8 stents and fast approaching old age, I decided to relive that journey, (a) because I love riding my R1150RT and may not be able to do that for many more years, and (b) to prove to myself that I still “had it in me”.

“So one day I mentioned to Helena that for my 70th I was thinking of doing a solo trip around Australia. She said good, go for it, and didn’t need to say that twice, so the planning started.

“We have, over the years, done a lot of travelling, so this was not going to be a holiday, I just wanted to join the dots so to speak, to test my endurance by doing this quick trip, solo, around Australia at my own pace with no-one else to please or disagree with.

“After a few months of planning what time of the year etc. to travel, taking the past months of bad weather on the east coast into account, I decided on April, before the tourist season started up north but with the tropics wet season finished.

“So that’s the reasoning behind my very pleasing journey.” 

Norm is the web-master and official photographer for the BMW Owners Club of South Australia. There's lots of interesting stories and information there, so check it out too.

Click here for the story of the ride. (The story is in PDF format, so you need a PDF-reader such as Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, but I think everyone has that, don't they?).

Click here to go to the front page. Click your BACK button to return to the previous page.