“WHY????”
WHY the hell do you wanna go touring on an ex-Australia Post Honda-Postie with 2 big tourers in the garage??
If you’re really serious about that question…. you’re missing the point of what motorcycling is ALL ABOUT!!!
Let’s try a few off-the-cuff replies then:
Because life at 50kmh on a spindly-legged, totally underpowered bike makes you SEE things along the way.
Because slow travel creates a FEEL for the countryside and places travelled, rather than skimming past at warp-factor and being oblivious to all and everything to the right and left of that strip of asphalt or dirt ahead.
Because it’s a challenge in a lot of ways…..and because there’s so much time to really soak things up, think about them and enjoy the warm feeling of actually being part of it…AND LIFE!!
One of the biggest perks though is slipping through the time-continuum… the perception of someone travelling on a tiny bike (and a well-known and loved Postie-bike at that) makes people along the way stop and react and behave like “in the good, old days” of the ‘50’s and ‘60s… where one had a lot more time for each other than in today’s world.
The public interest in enormous…. waves and smiles from truckers… pedestrians old and young… local tradies and fisherman… and just about everyone else.
City or country-hamlet…. everywhere!
There’s no hesitation at all to walk up to the rider and strike up some conversation, tell life-stories and feelings like between old friends…and all that from the first second of contact.:wow:
You NEVER get that when travelling with a “big” bike!!
The locals smile rather than scorn you when the postie chuffs out onto the jetty (“Pedestrians Only!!”)… waves and thumbs-up when chugging through fenced-off areas and local parks where even dogs aren’t allowed…
You just get away with MURDER on a little CT110!!! All you have to do is to show up and smile….they LOVE you for it!!
If all that, and another dozen or 2 reasons, are incomprehensible to you…GREAT!!
Keep chasing the latest model scratcher for that extra poofteenth of a horsepower and this season’s Dainese-Clownsuit for the sake of beating the wind-drag at the 100kmh speedlimit…keep scouring Ebay for some Titanium earplugs to offset the $4000 Yoshi-howl….and leave touring the real, full-of-human-warmth-world out there for the slow traveller on a Postie (or whatever)… we’re THANKING YOU FOR IT!!
I hope, the following story will bring some of those points across.
It’s a tale of deep joy, of desperate situations, of lots of warmth and the best of human interactions.
A tale of making mistakes (and learning from them)…of “impossible” routes and nearly getting beaten by the circumstances.
Of busted engines, T-shirt-riding along 90km beaches and cruising the twisties through the sugar-cane fields and banana-plantations of Northern Queensland.
Of getting bogged… running against incoming tides and ferry-departure-times….of saving the precious camera while sinking rapidly into sandy creeks, arse first.
Of shivering into the sinking sun on the washed-over decks of the barge to Hervey Bay in a half-meter swell…and of meeting lots and lots of wonderful people along the way.
Best-Of-All??
Doing all this as an early celebration of our 30th anniversary with my best mate in life: Goodie !!!
(Yep, the contract has just been renewed )
Enjoy…..
t.b.c. shortly..
WHY the hell do you wanna go touring on an ex-Australia Post Honda-Postie with 2 big tourers in the garage??
If you’re really serious about that question…. you’re missing the point of what motorcycling is ALL ABOUT!!!
Let’s try a few off-the-cuff replies then:
Because life at 50kmh on a spindly-legged, totally underpowered bike makes you SEE things along the way.
Because slow travel creates a FEEL for the countryside and places travelled, rather than skimming past at warp-factor and being oblivious to all and everything to the right and left of that strip of asphalt or dirt ahead.
Because it’s a challenge in a lot of ways…..and because there’s so much time to really soak things up, think about them and enjoy the warm feeling of actually being part of it…AND LIFE!!
One of the biggest perks though is slipping through the time-continuum… the perception of someone travelling on a tiny bike (and a well-known and loved Postie-bike at that) makes people along the way stop and react and behave like “in the good, old days” of the ‘50’s and ‘60s… where one had a lot more time for each other than in today’s world.
The public interest in enormous…. waves and smiles from truckers… pedestrians old and young… local tradies and fisherman… and just about everyone else.
City or country-hamlet…. everywhere!
There’s no hesitation at all to walk up to the rider and strike up some conversation, tell life-stories and feelings like between old friends…and all that from the first second of contact.:wow:
You NEVER get that when travelling with a “big” bike!!
The locals smile rather than scorn you when the postie chuffs out onto the jetty (“Pedestrians Only!!”)… waves and thumbs-up when chugging through fenced-off areas and local parks where even dogs aren’t allowed…
You just get away with MURDER on a little CT110!!! All you have to do is to show up and smile….they LOVE you for it!!
If all that, and another dozen or 2 reasons, are incomprehensible to you…GREAT!!
Keep chasing the latest model scratcher for that extra poofteenth of a horsepower and this season’s Dainese-Clownsuit for the sake of beating the wind-drag at the 100kmh speedlimit…keep scouring Ebay for some Titanium earplugs to offset the $4000 Yoshi-howl….and leave touring the real, full-of-human-warmth-world out there for the slow traveller on a Postie (or whatever)… we’re THANKING YOU FOR IT!!
I hope, the following story will bring some of those points across.
It’s a tale of deep joy, of desperate situations, of lots of warmth and the best of human interactions.
A tale of making mistakes (and learning from them)…of “impossible” routes and nearly getting beaten by the circumstances.
Of busted engines, T-shirt-riding along 90km beaches and cruising the twisties through the sugar-cane fields and banana-plantations of Northern Queensland.
Of getting bogged… running against incoming tides and ferry-departure-times….of saving the precious camera while sinking rapidly into sandy creeks, arse first.
Of shivering into the sinking sun on the washed-over decks of the barge to Hervey Bay in a half-meter swell…and of meeting lots and lots of wonderful people along the way.
Best-Of-All??
Doing all this as an early celebration of our 30th anniversary with my best mate in life: Goodie !!!
(Yep, the contract has just been renewed )
Enjoy…..
t.b.c. shortly..