Philippines November 2005

Initial Planning

March 2005 - Initial Planning

Early in 2005, a couple of friends and I decided on try our hand at touring the Philippines by motorcycle. Internet searches found this tour to be a rare choice, although there is at least one HU member who has succeeded.

Our first step was to look at a map and decide where we want to go and how long we should take. Flights between Australia and the Philippines mainly pass through Manila. This dictated that we would have to enter and leave the Philippines via Manila.

With the Queensland Labour Day long weekend fast approaching, it was time to start planning my ride from Cairns to Winton for the Autumn in Winton weekend.

In 2004 I had undertaken this ride by taking a day off work; riding to Winton on the Friday and returning to Cairns on the Monday. The ride to Winton was via Greenvale (1,160km), while the ride home was via Townsville (920km).

Purchase and Preparation of Bikes.

Purchasing & Preparing the Bikes

Our search for suitable bikes to tour the Philippines mainly involved keeping a close watch on the bikes listed for sale in the Motorcycle Philippines (MP) free classifieds and using the contacts of Martin Gino, our trusted friend in Manila.

Martin is also the HU Community Contact for the Philippines.

Detailed Trip Planning

Detailed Trip Planing

With bike preparation well underway, thanks to Martin (Herc) Gino in Manila, it was time for the more detailed planning of our trip.

Note: Since purchasing our bikes, a motorcycle rental business (Nice Bike) for touring foreigners has opened in Angeles, north of Manila. Their bikes range from scooters up to Suzuki DR750's. Prices are very reasonable at under USD30 per day (August 2005). The only downside is no insurance is available, if you break or loose it, you pay for it.

Being on call for jury service over three weeks has limited my riding somewhat. On Thursday 22 September 2005 at 3:30pm Patrick Peck (of Patrick & Belinda Peck fame) and I left Cairns and headed south along the highway to Kennedy. I was riding my Suzuki DL650 and Patrick was on his Yamaha Super Tenere. Kennedy is about 180km south of Cairns.