The great Indian adventure
Hyosung pair head off for a lapFrom the Hyosung bunker: Three Indians. Two bikes. One van. 19,000km. 80 days. That's not a blend you stumble across regularly, but it's one that is now in full swing as an intrepid bunch of Indian youths join forces with a pair of Hyosung GT650Ss for the Great Australian Road Trip.
The marathon adventure, which began in Melbourne on 2 November, will see the GT650Ss travel around the perimeter of Australia before arriving back in the Victorian capital on January 20 next year.
Organised by a massive biking club in India called xBhp (which currently has 34,000 members), follows on from the Great Indian Road Trip, which was successfully held in 2006 - and spawned a sensational 156-page hardback book.
According to Sundeep "Sunny" Gajjar, who's heading up the whole operation, Australia was selected as the destination for road trip No. 2 on the strength of its vast open spaces, quality roads, unlimited camping opportunities, beautiful parks and reserves, its 'colourful' denizens and moderate climate.
"Both Australia and India also share a strong passion in sports, specially cricket," says Sunny. "And we also liked the fact that we will not only be riding a country by road -- but a whole continent. How is that for a brag factor!
"The purpose of the trip is to let the world know that Indian youth are not simply content in discovering their own backyard. We want young Indians to believe in their dreams and work hard to achieve them."
Sunny will be joined on by Aditya "Maverick" Pande, Kulpreet Singh and Ashish Divakaran. After leaving Melbourne, the team made it to Wangaratta (Vic) on day one after a 350km ride via Warburton, Marysville, Alexandra, 28km of dirt road, Mansfield and Whitfield.
"The ride was fantastic, to say the least," said Sunny. "We did not expect the scenery to change so drastically and so soon after we left Melbourne. The first view of the green countryside was surreal. Everywhere we could see different kinds of trees with incredible shades of green."
The Indians will now continue anti-clockwise around Australia.
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