I'm gonna miss my Rockster, but.....

[Wass]

My long term work visa for Australia has been approved and my wife and I are moving down there in 2 weeks. Gonna live in the Sydney area and do work all around the country. My Rockster will go into storage, shipping it down there is cost prohibitive. At least it's all paid for and I was able to not have to sell it. My wife's MG Midget did not escape that fate however, we Ebay'ed it and got lots more than we thought we would.
Gonna lease the house if anybody is interested (Northern Detroit area) and still have the 2 snowmobiles to sell.
This has been quite a process, between jumping through the immigration hoops and getting all the repairs done to the house, but things are all finally falling into place and we are really excited about the move.
My plan is to rent a bike from time to time while I'm down there just to take the edge off. I'll have my helmet, jacket and gloves
I'll continue to keep an eye on this site too because I will still own a R bike, even if its half a planet away.

[machew01]

Have a grand time in Australia. I hear that it is a truly wonderful place. However, I've also heard that they have funny looking food.

mac

[DJ Downunder]

Can't you sneak it through as excess luggage..

You're gunna love Sydney.

Watch out for the white pointers at Bondi beach...The ones on the sand..

DJ

[Shaman]

My wife's MG Midget did not escape that fate however, we Ebay'ed it and got lots more than we thought we would.

There is your shipping money!


Have fun.
Someone around here said it was beautiful down there.

[Wass]

machew - thanks. I like funny looking food

DJ - I already have mucho 'excess baggage'.

Shaman - I did well on the Midget, but not that well. To ship the motorcycle:
10% of the bike value as duty.
about $1,000 to ship.
pay to 'test' the bike just to fail Aussie road laws.
pay to get the bike to Aussie specs
pay to test again.

[Biff's R]

You havve options on bikes in Oz, so why not buy a used one, ride it and sell it before you leave. You could end up breaking even, and definitely better off than trying to ship your R.

[Caroanbill]

Definitely time to buy an R1200R. A mere snip at $20,000 AUD plus options.

As for rentals, try here - http://www.bikescape.com.au/ Their service has been pretty good when friends have used their bikes.

Inner Sydney is no place for a large bike anyway - steep, narrow, greasy, and aggressive traffic. That's why I keep my F650CS. The outer 'burbs are closer to great riding roads (just in case you haven't yet researched these) -
North - Wisemans Ferry to Mangrove Mountain, the Wollumbi Road, the 'old' Pacific Highway (full o' squids), Yarramalong ...
South - Royal National Park, Jamberoo Mountain, Macquarie Pass, Kangaroo Valley ...
East - very damp
West - the Putty Road (ooooh, yessss), Bell's Line of Road, Oberon ....
Plenty of fun roads through the 'burbs too.

... or leave the bike until winter (still great riding), get a sea kayak and really see Sydney!

Welcome!

[Wass]

Caroanbill -
Thanks for the info, very helpful.
I doubt I'll have a spare 20 grand for a while for that 1200R
If I find a super deal on a used japanese bike I might do something like that.
Renting from time to time will probably be the best bet, at least for starters.

OT
Its thanksgiving here, one of my (jealous) workmates here told me "enjoy your last American thanksgiving, next year you will be eating dingo"

You guys dont really eat dingo do ya?

[MikeCam]

When my 10 y.o. daughter returned from Australia this past spring, one of her stories was about eating kangaroo, emu, and alligator (sic). She said they all tasted the same.