Henry reaches Malaysia
DEADLINES ARE MY least-favourite thing in the world right now. As soon as I have a deadline or a plan, things go wrong and my stress levels go through the roof. I’ve come to learn that this trip is much like riding a bucking bronco and I just have to let it run its course, clinging on if I can.
When I had a deadline to enter Iran, my clutch broke. When I needed to enter Myanmar, my bearings broke. When I needed to get to Thailand, Myanmar delayed my entry permit. Most recently I have had to meet deadlines for my arrival in Australia. I had no idea that flying a bike into a different country could be such a big issue!
Pretty much every company I contacted either refused to air freight anything over 30kg for a personal shipment or they quoted a ridiculous price in the hope I would leave them alone (it worked). As the deadline for starting my ride in Oz crept closer, I grew more desperate. It turned out that the main issue was shipping in to Perth — most of the freight airlines deliver to Melbourne or Sydney. Shipping the bike by sea to Perth would have been much simpler, as it is a major port but this can take up to two weeks and port fees are pretty hefty, so the cost usually ends up similar to air freight.
Eventually I got a lead through the Ducati team in Malaysia and pulled the trigger on a shipment via Bangkok. I was told the bike would ship on Monday and arrive later than planned but then a spot became available on the Sunday and I seemed to be back on schedule. I flew out to Perth on the Monday after taking my bike through customs in Kuala Lumpur the day before. My bike arrived in Perth on Tuesday and the process of clearing customs and, more importantly, quarantine began.
Customs was the same as it always is: lots of checks; lots of waiting; and finally a stamp in my Carnet. Even though I had cleaned the bike over and over again, I was still nervous about clearing quarantine. It’s the one thing everyone says to you: “Australian quarantine is ridiculously strict”.
On each of the three days leading up to loading the bike I had gone back and found something else to clean. Even when the bike was loading at the airport, I was scrubbing the inside of the fork guards.
My bike had a quarantine inspection booked at 8am Friday morning. I was a day behind and couldn’t afford any delays. Luckily at 9am I got a call saying the bike had passed with flying colours. The inspector had even remarked on how well it had been cleaned (yes, that’s a little toot on my own trumpet).
I collected the bike, posed for some photos with the cargo handlers, who delighted in watching the bike stall when put in gear due to sticky plates and then, after loading up my bags, I was off!
Australia, here I come...