All photos related to this blog entry can be found at Grant & Julie

See you on the other side of the pond Crumpet

Our first week in Adelaide was swallowed up by sourcing a metal crate, assembling it, modifying it, practice packing the bike, delivering to the depot and final packing and shipping arrangements.- Friday afternoon: arrival and oil change
- Saturday morning: sourcing crate from Motorcycle Revolution
- Monday: collection of crate, trial assembly
- Tuesday and Wednesday: valve clearances, air cleaner and spark plugs, remove panniers, clean and wash the bike
- Thursday: take to depot and pack for shipping
- Friday: finalise paperwork and packing, say Au revouir

- Saturday and Sunday: tidying up our camping gear,sorting out how to carry the panniers.

This frenzied activity was mixed in with substantial doses of good times with family, wine, secret surprise lunches with aunties, catch up with cousins, wedding dress viewings, wine, dinners, desserts, pasties.... Did we mention a hell of a lot of eating let alone drinking? Our baggage allowance may turn to excess!

For the curious: new factory motorcycles arrive from Asia to the show room in simple light weight metal framed crates, clad with thick cardboard and plastic. If you need to send a motorcycle overseas securing one of these crates is probably your cheapest option. The showrooms may charge you the scrap metal price or a minimal cost. However, you will need to search through the bins to obtain the correct size frame and required pieces. The crate is a simple bolted together affair and if you have not seen them before, ask to view a new bike being unpacked.

You will need to decided if you are going to remove the front wheel. We chose not to, and therefore we needed to modify the crate slightly to make it a bit longer to afford that additional length. Remember that no part of the motorcycle is allowed to be sticking out of the crate.

Dumpster Diving

We heartily recommend using lots of tie down ratchet straps, despite their cost. We used eight on Crumpet, and fingers crossed all will be ok (Miss Piggy - on the way to Canada in 2005, was dropped and spent some time half lying on her side, there were not enough straps - luckily no damage occurred).

When choosing a shipper or shipping agent get quotes. Your best bet is to receive quotes by cubic meter and not volumetric weight. This could mean the difference between a few hundred dollars and a thousand or more.

Remember that you have to get the crate and bike to the depot. Some warehouses are bonded and do not allow you to pack on site. It makes life so much easier if you can pack at the depot unless you have a ute/truck and forklift at your disposal.

Adelaide has been good to us, weather wise. We were prepared for her usual up and down temperatures and autumn rains but did not have to worry. Yes, it was cool at times but in general we were treated to gorgeous blue skies and warm days.

Checking the crate and modifying for size

When not rushing about we took some lovely rides on 'The Blue Cruiser', on loan from our brother in law, through the Adelaide hills and along the coast.

We went dolphin spotting (and attempted dolphin photography - see photo gallery for "evidence") out at Garden Island.

The Semaphore International Kite Festal was on over the Easter weekend. Unfortunately the wind did not play the game. On the first day the wind was too strong for the bigger exhibition kites and on the second day we attended, the wind was not strong enough. However what we saw was beautiful. There is something lovely and serene about kite flying. We were tempted to buy a kite to take on this trip as they are so much fun, but decided against it, maybe we will get one or two on the road as we did last time.

A total of three and a bit weeks in Adelaide takes us to our next stop, Singapore for a couple of nights and on to London on the 1st May.

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Many people have helped us with our trip preparation and we would like to say a big THANK YOU to them all. I hope we have not left out anyone (this is in no particular order either).

Donna and Ricky: for squeezing the last bits of furniture into the storage unit, we really mean squeeze!

Susanne: for sanity, insanity, wine and wizards... did we mention wine? Hope to see you in Europe!

Wayne: for showing us how drink to excess and then to eat cake.

John: for lending us his house, for his friendship and good times.

Hanka and Erik, Mika and Liam: for opening up their house to use as a base and showing us Brisbane. For laughter, bits and pieces, blah blah blah!

Peter: for sharing his home and cooking for us.

Weston and Colleen: for housing us, feeding us, transporting us, looking after us, spoiling us.

Rebecca and Grant: for sharing their house, lending us vehicles, using their garage and tools. For accepting the charge of looking after our paperwork whilst we swan about the place.

Betty: for good times.

Motorcycle Revolution - (Nigel and Jon): for letting us dig around their scrap bins for crate/s and cardboard and talking bikes especially about the new release Suzuki V-Strom 1000.

Shane, Daniel and Team at AWH Gilman: for giving us warehouse space to pack the bike and send her on her way.