Ulls: We were late leaving Ballina today, about 10.30am. With roadworks, wide loads being transported a wait at a raising bridge, we were slow to get in to gear. What followed was a fairly uneventful ride down over boring highway to Coffs Harbour. As we trundled through the Banana capital of Australia, a sign on

Ulls: After ditching some weight, we were finally ready to hit the road. 12 noon, exactly 24 hours behind schedule, we left home with more tears. First stop was the local servo, where we topped up with fuel and air. Just as we were about to kick off, my mobile rang and was greated by the lovely

Ulls: Well, what a start to this adventure. With Jim over the BBQ, all the staff looking their best and Irene and her family on the go, Aztec Coffee Co. was a hive of activity. Brooke and I rocked up at about 4.30am, half an hour after Jim and Irene, ready to set up. Between them,

Torsten: The mounting system is almost complete. All the parts are made up but just need to be cleaned up and attached. We managed to get one completed today. The rest will have to wait ’til the paint dries.The bags have metal channels bolted to them which hang over both the top and bottom of the

Torsten: The racks are done! Made of solid 11mm mild steel bar and 5mm plate, they should do the trick. I was initially concerned about the weight of solid bar vs tube, but Paul Keys assured me they would not be as heavy as I imagined, and he was right. The total weight for the rack

Torsten: Work with Paul on the luggage racks is coming along. The biggest problem we have is the sheer size of the bags.The rear support plate & cross braceEarlier in the year we were trying to work out what hard luggage we could use. Aluminium panniers are too expensive, and in the end we decided to

Torsten: I’ve been reading a book ‘Peking to Paris – The Great Expedition’ ( http://www.pekingparis2005.com/ ) which chronicles the journey to recreate the original 1907 Peking to Paris ‘raid’. The book follows the the drivers and their five vehicles of the same make as the original journey from China through Mongolia, Russia, Lithuania, Germany and on to France.

Torsten: One of the problems Ulick & I had to face when starting this project was that of self promotion. Not exactly a strong point for either of us, being the sort of people who like to keep our heads down and get the job done. But self promotion is a big part of any fundraising

Torsten: We went out to test some knobbies for the areas that will be short on tarmac this weekend. One concern we have though is that the profile of the tyres are so much lower than standard 3.50 rubber which makes for a pretty hard ride. They did perform OK, in fact while sliding around with