Here, we no longer talk about adventure. A large part of the success of a road trip is based on the vehicle. It must therefore be in perfect condition and have all the necessary papers to circulate without problem: registration card, insurance, licence, assistance … You have to prepare everything.
The licence
This is the simplest document to obtain. As an example, according to the Embassy of France it is enough to attach the International Driving Licence (IDP in English), to be requested on the ANTS website at least two months before leaving.
For longer stays, it is also possible to convert your driving licence. This is much faster than passing the motorcycle license in Australia, because it is then done in several stages, over a period of… 2 years! At least Australian bikers are well trained.
Australians drive on the right, everyone knows that. But that’s not the only difference with our code. It is possible to discover the Australian code on the New South Wales website, or with the Driver ED mobile application.
The motorcycle
For the bike, after thinking about the suitable model, I considered three options.
Rent
Renting is the simplest solution. Papers and vehicle overhaul are included. I found several rental companies that offer road with luggage without mileage limit. The prices per day shown here correspond to long-term rentals:
- Bike Round oz has a well-designed website and agencies in several major cities. They offer useful complementary services, such as the most beautiful itineraries around their rental locations, but also the sale of personalized itineraries. They also offer one-way rentals. And their rates are well placed: $185 per day for an Electra Glide Ultra Classic. Beyond 60 days of rental, there are very competitive special offers where maintenance every 8000km (tires, and maintenance appointment) must be provided by the tenant.
- Orange and Black has taken over the rental business of H-C Travel. They mainly offer BMW and Harley Davidson brand touring motorcycles. An Electra Glide costs around $260 per day as long as you rent for more than three weeks.
- Eagle Rider specializes in Harley Davidson, with a rate of $248 per day for an Electra Gilde. Their motorcycles can also be rented via the rentalmotorbike.com website.
- 2 wheel travel has branches in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane. They have a varied offer, going as far as the BMW K1600, but which differs a lot from one agency to another. Their Electra Glide is $185 in Brisbane. And their cheapest BMW GS1200, in Mebourne, is at $125.
- Installed in Perth, West Coast Motorcycle Hire is a company which rents only in this city Harleys, Ducatis and a Triumph 800 XRX. For $150 per day for 20 days, the latter is a good choice to visite the outback if rental conditions did not require to stay on sealed roads.
- MotorCycleRentalMelbourne is only present in Melbourne. They rent recent bikes like a BMW R1250GS for $240 a day.
- Some Harley Davidson dealers, such as Morgan and Wacker, also rent motorcycles. Their rates are a bit more expensive ($235 per day for more than 7 days)
- In Sydney, sydney88 rents customs, big trails (among which the Honda Africa Twin) but also Goldwings. Those are the latest models but come with high prices : $240 for a BMW R 1250 GS, with 450km max per day.
- Ad Mo does not have a decreasing price on their site. With $245 per day for an Electra Glide Ultra Classic, these are logically the most expensive.
- In New Zealand, motorent would be the cheapest. Motorbiketours and motorcycle-hire are other possibilities.
Buy/resell two wheels on departure site
For a journey of nearly 20,000 km, buying a recent used motorcycle and reselling it at the end of the course could be interesting. Here is a statement at the beginning of October of the number of offers and price ranges for motorcycles of less than 70,000km, within a radius of 100km around the city. It is based on bikesales, one of the main sites for selling used vehicles with gumtree (click on the link to view current sales):
| Sydney | Perth | Cairns | Adelaide | Melbourne | Brisbane | |||||||
| Nb | Price | Nb | Price | Nb | Price | Nb | Price | Nb | Price | Nb | Price | |
| HD Electra-Glide | 1 | $18000 | 1 | $23500 | 0 | ? | 2 | $19-27000 | 5 | $16-26000 | 5 | $16-28000 |
| BMW GS1200 | 1 | $13500 | 0 | ? | 0 | ? | 0 | ? | 0 | ? | 2 | $11-22000 |
| BMW GS800 | 1 | 16500 | 1 | $11000 | 0 | ? | 0 | ? | 0 | ? | 1 | $12000 |
| Honda AfricaTwin | 5 | $15-26500 | 2 | $12-20000 | 0 | ? | 0 | ? | 6 | $15-28000 | 5 | $15-20000 |
| Yamaha SuperT | 2 | $13-20000 | 1 | $12000 | 0 | ? | 1 | $10000 | 2 | $13-25000 | 2 | $11-13000 |
| Honda Goldwing | 0 | ? | 1 | $20000 | 0 | ? | 0 | ? | 2 | $8-9000 | 5 | $19-28000 |
| BMW K1600 | 5 | $22-39000 | 1 | $34000 | 0 | ? | 0 | ? | 1 | $32000 | 2 | $20000 |
The largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, naturally have the widest offer, but not necessarily the cheapest. Question price, they increase a little, as everywhere, during the beautiful seasons. Used motorcycles are also more numerous at this time.
The government provides a site to verify the financial status of the vehicle (outstanding finance).
Import your own vehicle
It’s a long way France – Australia! Transporting a motorcycle is therefore expensive, financially and ecologically. It takes a lot of time and poses a risk that the vehicle will not be available on the desired day. These reasons may mean that demand is too low for carriers to invest time in responding to an individual. I only got a number from James Cargo and Taurus Logistics. For the first it was, from Heathrow to Perth, 1800 € the one way by boat and 5550 € the one way by plane. Both prices are exclusive of insurance and/or protection fund. The website Horizons Unlimited provides other experiences. In addition, a vehicle can only be imported with a ‘Carnet’ in some countries, like Australia.
Registration
The registration card is also called a rego in Australia. It has an annual cost that includes Compulsory Third Party insurance (CTP). It is necessary to add an owner transfer cost at the time of purchase. Here are the registration amounts for each state, provided that the motorcycle is already registered in the same state:
| State | Registration cost | Transfer cost and taxes |
| Queensland | $505.70 | $29.20 + $3 per $100 vehicle value |
| Nsw | $34.00 | $65.00 + $3 per $100 vehicle value |
| Victoria | (>500cc motorcycle) $556.60 to $696.30 | $6.60 + $8.40 per $200 of market value |
| South Australia | (1000cc motorcycle) $365.16 to $439.66 | $31.00 + $60 + $4 per $100 of vehicle value over $3,000 |
| Tasmania | $603.65 | $18,63 + $3 per $100 of vehicle value |
| Western Australia | (per 100kg) $70.92 | $28.70 + 2.75% of vehicle value |
| Northern Territory | $888.65 | $21.00 + 3% of vehicle value |
When buying a used motorcycle, it is often possible to transfer ownership of the amounts already paid. This affects the selling price. Each state offers a service to check the validity of the rego (here is the Queensland site as an example).
The difficulty is that you need a fixed Australian address to get these papers. And post office boxes in the remaining post office are not accepted. Tripadvisor is considering ways around this problem, by making early rental contracts at a campsite. It is still necessary to find a trusted establishment and negotiate a rate well below $ 500.
Insurance
Australia is among those countries where the basic costs are high, which includes medical expenses, and which moreover does not have an agreement with France for the coverage of these costs. Several categories of insurances need to be considered.
Vehicle
This covers the damage that you may generate with, and optionaly to, your bike.
When renting, the lessor often has a mandatory insurance. Warning with the insurance included in the VISA Premier bank cards: it only covers rental contracts, paid with the card, but only during the first 31 days.
When purchased on the spot, the VISA is therefore just as useless for long periods. Your travel insurance covers well the people, but is very limited when it comes to riding motorcycles, especially when they are more than 200 cm3. World Nomads is one of the few to offer this coverage. Not April (limited to 125 cm3), nor Covermore (limited to 200 cm3). Fast cover only covers holders of Australian Medicare coverage. The same goes for Zoom (about $200), which customer service has confirmed me that they only cover permanent Australian residents.
My insurance company (AMV) does not insure vehicles in Australia. The best option is local insurance. They require a postal address in Australia, but a hotel address seems sufficient. AAMI for example offers a serious formula for a little more than $ 140 per month (I was even able to make a quote for $ 107). Swann is cheaper: $70 per month.
Assistance
For vehicule breakdown that you can’t fix yourself, the assitance organizes the repairs. I don’t see it as mandatory. It is only available on the roadside (beware trail explorers) and the mechanics it involves are not always skilled. Some options :
- Allianz – quote requested for a foreigner, no answer
- The RAC would be one of the cheapest. It does not insure engines over 1500ccm
- The Motorcycle Assist Australia is even cheaper. Although it has less client reviews, it is the one I favor
Personal
Since vehicle insurance only covers the vehicle and its driver, other insurance is required to cover illness. Chapka offers one for 218€ for 90 days.
Getting the biker’s visa
The list of possible visas is mind-blowing. I have passed the expiry date for the Working Holiday Visa, so I will leave with an eVisitor visa, free but for trips limited to three months. For longer durations (6 or 12 months), there is the Tourist Visa. It costs $145 and, unusually, it can be established when one has already returned to the country, as an extension of another. Note that a medical examination may be required.
Many young people go on adventures to Australia. Some end up on the verge of begging and/or commit petty theft, to the point of having incited the consul to call them to order. To reduce money problems, Australia may therefore require that the visa applicant can justify at least $5,000 in savings.