HYOSUNG SUPPLIES BIKES FOR GART
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Before leaving on the trip, the team spent many hours practising stopping at red lights. |
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| "Well, that's today's 237km done. Time to check my Hotmail. Do you like my background picture? How about those green trees? Extraordinary!" |
Three Indians. Two bikes. One van. 19,000km. 80 days. That's not a blend you stumble across regularly, but it's one that is now in full swing as an intrepid bunch of Indian youths join forces with a pair of Hyosung GT650Ss for The Great Australian Road Trip.
That's a gruelling 237km a day, a distance usually covered by Australian motorcyclists before the first cigarette break. Those that aren't purse-carrying pillow-biting nancy boys, anyway. And without a van. And without a pair of Indians, generally, too.
The adventure, which began in Melbourne on November 1, will see the GT650Ss travel around the perimeter of Australia before arriving back in the Victorian capital on January 20 next year.
The Great Australian Road Trip, organised by a massive biking club in India called xBhp (whose website boasts 34,000 members), follows on from The Great Indian Road Trip, which was held in 2006 - and was documented in a 156-page hardback book.
According to Sundeep "Sunny" Gajjar, who's heading up the operation, Australian was selected as the destination for road trip No. 2 on the strength of its vast open spaces, quality roads, unlimited camping opportunities, beautiful parks and reserves, its colourful people and social environment, and moderate climate.
"Both Australia and India also share a strong passion in sports, specially cricket," says Sunny. "And we also liked the fact that we will not only be riding a country by road -- but a whole continent. How is that for a brag factor!
"The purpose of the trip is to let the world know that Indian youth are not simply content in discovering their own backyard. We want young Indians to believe in their dreams and work hard to achieve them."
Sunny is joined on The Great Australian Road Trip by Aditya "Maverick" Pande, Kulpreet Singh and Ashish Divakaran. We're not sure which one's driving the van. We think it's Maverick. Or maybe Ashish. What a great name. We bet he gets searched a lot in nightclubs.
After leaving Melbourne, the team made its to Wangaratta (Vic) on day one after a 350km ride via Warburton, Marysville, Alexandra, 28km of dirt road, Mansfield and Whitfield.
"The ride was fantastic, to say the least," said Sunny. "We did not expect the scenery to change so drastically and so soon after we left Melbourne. The first view of the green countryside was surreal. Everywhere we could see different kinds of trees with incredible shades of green."
It is a little known fact that in India, the countryside and the trees are white, with thin blue stripes.
The Indians will now continue anti-clockwise around Australia.
"Hyosung Australia is proud to be xBhp.com's official motorcycle partner for The Great Australian Road Trip," said Mark Fattore, the marketing manager at Hyosung Australia. "We have great delight in supplying two GT650Ss for the trip, as well as providing free spare parts and servicing support. We believe it will bring positive publicity to the brand, especially with the enthusiasm generated from the team at xBhp.com. We will be documenting the trip on our website, www.hyosung.com.au, and we look forward to sharing all the excitement with our loyal supporters."
People can also keep track of The Great Australian Road Trip by reading Australian Motorcycle News, which is xBhp's official media partner.
It also contains an occasional column by a Serbian gentleman which can be amusing.
