Anyone long term Cycling Across Australia witha bicycle?

Id love to hear your experience!

I used to do a lot of long distance cycling overseas and a bit in Australia. All I can say is take care, never ride into the sun with traffic at your back and don't ride at night even if it is cooler. Traffic overseas was more hectic but it was also moving alot slower than our country roads in Australia. I got hit in Vietnam head on in the dark by a motor bike. I only got a few bruises and scratches. If it happened here the only thing they could probably do for me is hose my remains off the road. Hope I don't put you off your trip. It's slow way but probably one of the best ways to experience a country.

My Brother with the 1st Bega Venturers rode from Bega to Perth
on Tandem bikes back in the early 1980's.

You ask about long term in this topic but in some of your other posts you say 1 to 3 months? Mate you are dreaming about the amount of territory you can cover and the amount of gold you wish to find. I wish you all the very best for your adventure but I fear that like many others you do not realize the SIZE and vast distances Australia offers. Would you ride cross the USA in 3 months?

LOL, You better decide whether you wanna ride a bike or hunt for gold, you will be too %&$ed to do them both in the same day or even the same week for that matter, And your machine will struggle in the GT (F75), the rest of Australia should be not too bad but there is Hot Soil/ground all over OZ, so if you are going to use that machine you will need plenty of different coils just to get it to work ok.

I think you need to re-evaluate your plans/dreams.

RR.

Agree. I would try to do the two things separately. I think that would increase your chances of success.

Goldfreak said:

I used to do a lot of long distance cycling overseas and a bit in Australia. All I can say is take care, never ride into the sun with traffic at your back and don't ride at night even if it is cooler. Traffic overseas was more hectic but it was also moving alot slower than our country roads in Australia. I got hit in Vietnam head on in the dark by a motor bike. I only got a few bruises and scratches. If it happened here the only thing they could probably do for me is hose my remains off the road. Hope I don't put you off your trip. It's slow way but probably one of the best ways to experience a country.

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Thanks for the info... yeah I havent road in Vietnam... but [video=480,360]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsJVXnBu9xA[/video] The traffic in China is deadly... safety first... I hear you.. motorcycles and other bicycles and even people can be just as dangerous as the cars... YEah I have to be a one man sweatshop on wheels, however... I do look forward to the journey too,.,,

Ramjet said:

You ask about long term in this topic but in some of your other posts you say 1 to 3 months? Mate you are dreaming about the amount of territory you can cover and the amount of gold you wish to find. I wish you all the very best for your adventure but I fear that like many others you do not realize the SIZE and vast distances Australia offers. Would you ride cross the USA in 3 months?

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I was riding from 350-400 km per week commuting to work in China... RIding a bike is the easiest thing in the world... YEah 1-3 months. I am trying to get good research done and set up a list of waypoints for my GPS, and get to know some locals... I want to be very carefull not to piss anyone off on their land/lease...

Dross the US in 3 months? Thats about 4000 km , right? I guess I could do that in 3 months easily. The thing is I need to figure out my targets first, and then go from there...

As for the amount I want to pull as a one man gold detecting sweatshop on wheels... Well I am asking tons of people what their month tallys are to see if anyone has ever seen anything near what I see on Australia Gold hunters (detecting only) to see what my chances are... or if that show is pure propaganda...

Have you not learnt DON'T belive everything you see on tv
it takes up to a year or more to make that type of show and its all a set up

Ridge Runner said:

LOL, You better decide whether you wanna ride a bike or hunt for gold, you will be too %&$ed to do them both in the same day or even the same week for that matter, And your machine will struggle in the GT (F75), the rest of Australia should be not too bad but there is Hot Soil/ground all over OZ, so if you are going to use that machine you will need plenty of different coils just to get it to work ok.

I think you need to re-evaluate your plans/dreams.

RR.

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Yeah I have a lot of practice riding 6080 km per day sleeping 3-4 hours a night , working like a dog here... riding a bike is therapy that kept me sane.

Even those fun weeks where you only sleep 5 or 6 days out of seven. I love that. YEah I am worried the F75 SE wont do that great.. I am trying to get to know it real well, but also trying to raise funds for a gpx5000.

SO, I will absolutely be working 18 hour days there. Im not sure where the tour will lead me, as the primary concern is detecting. Distance is not an issue. Its not an easy task collecting waypoints of where to go, but I am looking into that now. Also, one of my biggest concenrs is trying to survey people to see if anyone has Aussi Gold Hunter like tallys with just a detector.

Read some of the post on here from blokes that have been doing this for years and they know the country and most times where to go and yhey only get grams at a time over weeks of detecting
If you go onto a lease or private property and take gold then you might end up with free room and board for a while
All i can say is read the posts on this forum and you will see i dont lie

Goldfreak said:

Agree. I would try to do the two things separately. I think that would increase your chances of success.

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The bike and trailer are my tool. Its a tough call between Where to go, Victoria, vs Western Australia, both, etc.. I dont have the funds to get a vehicle, and honestly I think Im capable with bike and trailer.

I try to keep mobile. Biggest issue for me is water, how much I can carry, and setting the right waypoints and distributing my availiable time per each section. Also I am trying to leave a margin for the poeple I meet who will offer insight on places to go off gred that I didnt plan on before arriving.

7.62marksman said:

Read some of the post on here from blokes that have been doing this for years and they know the country and most times where to go and yhey only get grams at a time over weeks of detecting
If you go onto a lease or private property and take gold then you might end up with free room and board for a while
All i can say is read the posts on this forum and you will see i dont lie

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Thanks. Your posts and others are a treasure of knowledge. I am but a sponge. Thanks for any info.

7.62marksman said:

Have you not learnt DON'T belive everything you see on tv
it takes up to a year or more to make that type of show and its all a set up

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Yeah thats what I am trying to do... see through the smog... I have had several people respond telling me to expect something like 2oz a month... or one even......

So Im deffinately taking into account your feedback, and the polls are still coming in. Ill update the forum on the results and feedback I recieve from everyone. I must have written to 50-100 people asking about their tallys...

Those folks in the TV show work hard for what they do find but some of them try to take the easy way out, and spend most of their time moaning, It's not easy work and you have to keep on top of it or you come out with nothing. Swinging a detector 14 hours a day for up to a month at a time without a day off does take it's toll.

You should just spend the money buying bitcoin on the next dip, ie under 3k, and sitting on it for 5 years.

Not financial advice so make your own decisions but Im sure your kids would miss you if you underestimated the Australian outback.

If I spent 5k on bitcoin now it might be worth 20k in a few years. It might be worth 3k....it could be worth 150k and I 'reckon' that there is a better chance of that happening than finding 80 oz of gold on a bicycle in 90 days.

Ridge Runner said:

Those folks in the TV show work hard for what they do find but some of them try to take the easy way out, and spend most of their time moaning, It's not easy work and you have to keep on top of it or you come out with nothing. Swinging a detector 14 hours a day for up to a month at a time without a day off does take it's toll.

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Yeah, I see them moaning... I cant blame anyone but myself for my life... but seeing them complain and act tired, and run around out of shape sleeping like kings in their first world version of their is a pea under my matress and Im uncomforatable, I fugre I can push it about 3-4000times harder than they can before I break/die.

Im actually having a hard time finding anyone that has gone all out and gave everything and I dont mean talking about the heat or something... I mean long hard days all month...

NOw I realize there are a lot of variables... but is anyone hitting targets like that on tv detecting only?

diggit said:

You should just spend the money buying bitcoin on the next dip, ie under 3k, and sitting on it for 5 years.

Not financial advice so make your own decisions but Im sure your kids would miss you if you underestimated the Australian outback.

If I spent 5k on bitcoin now it might be worth 20k in a few years. It might be worth 3k....it could be worth 150k and I 'reckon' that there is a better chance of that happening than finding 80 oz of gold on a bicycle in 90 days.

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MAn you have been reading my mind.... I have thought about doing that....

YEah I dont want to underestimate the outback. That is for sure. Safety first no doubt.

Here the SEason 2 episode 7 or so of Aussie Gold hunters talking about criminal gangs rolling around at night on other people leases carrying guns everywhere..
All set up for tv its all shite its only to make the show have good ratings nothing more
Mate i am being honest
you have no idea what you are getting yourself into
Read the forum and listen to the locals
Once you hit the central desert if you are not prepared for the heat and snakes you will die as simple as that
I have born here and i hate going into that area in summer i would rather walk across hot coles
Some history when i was in the forces we walked over 300k in the central australia we started with over 60 men water resupply every day by chopper
6lt per man plus food
End of story 46 men got on the trucks at the end the rest went down with the heat and snake bite and had to be choppered out
And belive it or not we thought we knew what we were up against mate we had NO idea at all

I'm not sure you realise the scale of your goal. I wish you luck if you decide to go ahead with It, maybe the above map might put things into perspective a bit.