Like some other advriders, I too would like to take my bike with me to Australia and bring it home when I'm through with my trip. In a nutshell, is it worth it? To me the thought of having to buy and sell a bike when I make the trip sounds like way too much trouble. I cannot justify having an adventure bike and not being able to have an adventure on it. Has anyone had a GOOD experiences? Thank you in advance Anthony
Mate, check out Get Routed Tours at www.getrouted.com.au. Dave Milligan should be able to give you the heads up on cost and details of shipping bikes to Aus. cheers JB
I live in Thailand, but took my bike to Australia about 6 years ago. I shipped it by boat from Singapore to Darwin. I did not have a carnet, while my brother did for his bike. He was able to get his bike out of customs pretty quickly. As my bike did not have a carnet, I had to put up a bond on my credit card. I also had to wait in a hotel for a week for the vehicle department ( RTA ) in Canberra to send a letter to the Darwin customs department. The letter showed that my block stock Goldwing 1500 would not be a danger to Aussies on the road.......... Also if they find so much as one speck of dirt on your bike, customs will hit you up for a 150 dollar cleaning fee... Overall a pretty disappointing experience. However once you get past the lunatic bureaucrats, I had a good time.
Tony, ride to LAX, go to QANTAS freight service, fill out the Dangerous goods paper work, stick it on a pallet after draining most of the fuel and disconnecting the battery cables and taping them up away you go.
Maybe too late for the original poster, but we took our bikes NZ-Oz-NZ a couple months ago, we crated them ourselves & used http://www.gologistics.co.nz who were good, I know they do freight out of the US too so give them a call. As far as I could tell, at present, the only way to temporarily get a foreign vehicle into Aus is by using a Carnet document. Cheers Clint
Still in the planning stages for this trip. Seems when the wife found out about my going to Oz, she assumed she was going too. And don't forget my daughter wants to go as well. At this point, I will go ahead of them by six weeks or so and then meet them on or about the final leg of the ride. Will be traveling in the Oz summer months, haven't penciled in a date as of yet.
Yes, clint is right about a carnet being the only way to bring in a temporary import. The alternative, which is getting your bike ADR certified is a horror story (see the relatively easy time Beemer Boy had with this process) I've posted a whole lot of information on my Ride Aus thread about the nuances of the landing and insurance requirements, and it's not difficult to bring a bike here (leaving aside the issue of cost). syaufu freighted a bike from the US and go a really good deal. Why don't you PM him. See you're thinking of coming her in the summer. It was 36c (100f) today, on the coast and we are hardly into summer. Depending where you're thinking of going you could be real toasty warm. Outback rides are better done in the winter season.
If your bike is pre 1989 you can import it (permanently) into Australia without it having to comply with the Aus. Design Rules (a set of very strict standards that vehicles manufactured here and imported have to meet. that's why you don't see all those "funnies" like mobile armchairs on the roads. If you don't get a carnet (bond) to bring in a bike temporarily, then you are subject to ADR compliance requirements and it's a very bad road to go down. I'll try and find that post but it was quite a while ago. It was another ADV er talking about BB's experience. Give me a couple of days.
Check out the Australian Section of the Regional Threads. Your best bet might be to buy a bike off one of the inmates there or off someone already touring. Usually plenty going around. Just sell it when you leave. Be wary of Quarantine and AQIS when you come over, everyone is very protective of pests entering the country.
