Go west: 2017 BMW Safari hits WA

By the time Wayne Sheridan arrives home from the 2017 BMW Safari he will have covered over 14,000km – but only 10 per cent of that made up by the Safari itself.

The 74-year-old left his Port Douglas home and rode 6167km to Perth to join this year’s Safari which was being held in Western Australia for the first time in its 23-year history.

He met his Sydney-based daughter at the event, who had her bike shipped over, and the pair is going to ride the 4000km across the country to Sydney, before Wayne will again saddle up and head north for the 2500km ride home – to who one can only assume to be an enormously understanding wife.

“Nah,” he laughs. “We’ve been married for 50 years, she’s just given up!”

Combo deal
The South West Safari also marked the first time in 14 years that both the TS (on-road) and GS (off-road) Safaris were combined into a single four-day event, which saw two separate routes braid and loop their way some 1400km, starting from the state’s capital of Perth and finishing at picturesque Albany in the South West region.

“Because it was the first time in Western Australia and we weren’t expecting the numbers the Safaris attract in the eastern states, we saw it as a great opportunity to combine the two,” explained Off-Track Events’ Sophia Evans. But for her and her husband Grant who plan, organise and run the entire event on BMW’s behalf, it’s a logistical feat.

Regardless of which Safari you attend, your entry fee is money well spent. Sophia and Grant take the term fully supported quite seriously and participants are spoilt with everything from a clearly marked route which riders can tackle in their own time and at their own pace, through to motorcycle-mounted medics as well as bike-mounted technical support mingling their way through the course and its at-ease riders.

The package deal
The 2017 event was the second Safari I’ve attended and I’ve come to understand they’re so much more than the sum of the well-planned and fully supported kilometres the participants cover. More than anything, they’re about the people who attend them, and the knowledge, the experience and the camaraderie they offer one another.

For people like Wayne, it’s a chance to see a new part of the world and give him a beaut excuse for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, but a show of hands on the opening night’s welcome function which revealed that well over half the attendees were in fact locals, it proved to me that an event like the TS or GS Safari, is as much about the time spent off the bike as it about the kilometres covered on it.

Whether it be Dave who took up off-road riding for the very first time aged 64 and who now, aged well into his 70s, stood knee-deep in water for a good part of the third day to help others through a difficult water crossing which claimed almost 10 bikes. Or 25-year-old Douglas Brown, the Melbourne-based youngster who was alone on his G 650 GS Sertão, and whose eyes lit up when I asked him what his motivation was for joining his first ever Safari so far from home.

“Ever since I watched Long Way Down, I’ve wanted a BMW,” he beamed. “And I realised that a GS Safari was as close to their adventure that I could reasonably get.”

Ian Anderson, who at 76 is the only bloke who attended every single TS Safari since its launch in 1994, was awarded the Safari Hall of Fame gong for doing so, despite gladly missing out on the oldest participant award.

The youngest participant award went to 21-year-old South African Joffre, who now lives with his R 1200 GS-riding brother Bertus in South Australia. And so after their South African-based father booked into the 2017 event after hearing of Bertus’ Safari intentions, Joffre too acquired an R 1200 GS and the trio was reacquainted for the first time in 12 years.

Two events in one
The South West region of WA played the perfect host to two events which require vastly different conditions. For the TS participants, well maintained asphalt picked its way through abundant forests, open plains and stunning coastline, while the GS riders relished in the area’s challenging terrain of red dirt, sand and what the locals refer to as pea gravel.

I followed the TS route and the fast sweeping corners sections ideal for bikesales.com.au's exclusive first Aussie ride on BMW’s new-for-2018 K 1600 B Bagger. With a longest day of 419km between destinations and a shortest one of just 285km, Safari-goers are given an excellent opportunity to explore the region at their own pace – a welcomed freedom given 45 per cent of people had never ridden in the area before.

From concept to execution, a BMW Safari takes two people a full 12 months to pull together. For Melbourne-based Grant and Sophia, it meant no less than three separate reccies to the other side of the country: the first one to scout possible routes in a car, a second one performed on a motorcycle to confirm what was deemed appropriate in a passenger vehicle lives up to expectation on two wheels, and a third trip to ensure the lead riders and support staff are familiar with the course, its highlights and its hazards, in order to provide the best experience to the attendees.

And according to every Safari-goer I spoke to during the event, ‘best experience’ summed up their four-day adventure.

Nuts and bolts
The Safari concept is a simple one. Each evening participants gather to discuss the following day’s route. Here, they’re given a full-colour glossy route sheet which has a clearly marked map on one side, and a list of kilometre-by-kilometre instructions on the other, and where they need to be by when to get the following day’s route sheet.

Each morning, lead riders leave at sparrow’s and mark the route using small but fluro-coloured arrows which participants need to follow. While the arrows take a bit of getting used to spot early, it’s a clever way to ensure riders stay alert and eyes peeled, and one which ensured each and every participant made it to the 2017 farewell function in one piece.

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Depending on the package depends on your accommodation, ranging from a so-called best available room to yourself to one shared by up to three people you may or may not know. Price includes a luggage truck, technical support, medics, tyre changing facilities and a phone number for grant and Sophia who can more or less find a solution to any situation you may or may not deem a problem.

Leading up to Safari events, the marque hosts rider training days for both road and off-road riders, too. It truly is one of the best planned events I’ve been a part of, and it means all participants need to do is turn up and ride.

The 2018 BMW GS Safari will be held in the picturesque High Country which straddles New South Wales and Victoria in March next year. Bookings and more information can be found at bmwsafari.com.