Endless highway - Nick Sanders | Around the World

Globetrotters equipped by Touratech are on the road around the world, testing the equipment made in Niedereschach under the toughest conditions. We introduce some of them and let these travellers take us to some of the coolest motorbike destinations worldwide.

After a two-year break, Nick Sanders continued his world tour in Australia. Even for an experienced motorcycle traveller, the loneliness and vastness of the Red Continent are both challenging and fascinating.

Surrounded by the world's longest ring road, Australia is the largest island in the world. When you look towards the horizon, it looks so far away you feel you'll never reach it.

Size and vastness are a rider's fundamental experiences in Australia. I like the size because it makes me feel small. I like the space, it separates me from the crowd. And yet, it's really because of the people that I love Australia. In Australia, it's really hard not to like a native as soon as you start talking to them. And there's so much more: I love a country where the food is good and the beer is cold. Where the sun shines through the warm rain and riding a motorcycle is always a challenge. Where there is coffee on every corner and every little street smells of warm baked food. I love Australia, where grumbling, growling, swearing, blaspheming, laughing, beer-drinking men love those of us who ride motorcycles.

After a two-year break, waiting for the Covid pandemic to calm down and international borders to reopen, I resumed my world tour. It was a great feeling to "de-mothball" my Ténéré 700 again in Sydney.

I knew what I was in for. Riding around Australia isn't exactly like a walk in the park. You can ride a few thousand miles without seeing anything worth looking at. And then there are the spiders and snakes that, as everyone knows, are abundant in this rough and rugged land.

In endlessness, impressions blur. Was it the Great Ocean Highway or the Nullarbor Plain where everything was so amazing? What day was it when the dirty sky looked like smeared paper? But I love the wide horizon, the hot, golden midday heat, the merciless blue sky. And then the joy over a gossamer veil of green…

When the sun goes down, when you slow down and end the day in the company of your motorcycle, what you've experienced seems like a mirage. Getting to know a country like this is a challenge and a very special kind of joy.

Equipment

The Compañero World Traveller is the perfect companion in extreme conditions. I've been wearing it for years, all over the world – in the wet, the cold and the heat. And it's always functional. When it's cold, I'm warm; in the heat, I'm cool. And even in continuous rain, it keeps me dry.

Ausrüstung von Nick Sanders

Nick Sanders

Nick Sanders (64) loves the simplicity of life on the road. For the last 40 years, he has spent around six months every year on the road. He has travelled to 160 countries and covered around one million kilometres on his motorcycle.

It's important to Nick to show people how friendly and safe the world is and how easy even long-distance motorcycle trips are. Nick is living proof that planning, packing and riding is actually quite simple – just like life itself.