As tired as I was that night I could not sleep, I wanted to go to the police station right away to just check it was the mother ship, surely it was, what condition would it be in, hopefully only a few more scratches on it, this was great news, all this drama of importing my new bike would be solved, finally I could get back on the road.
The alarm clock went off, I felt I only just fell asleep, no breakfast, straight down to the police station, as I pulled in I caught a glimpse from afar of my bike in the compound, the screen looked like it was missing. Into the station I went and one of the officers took me straight out the back, yep it was my bike alright but it had suffered more than a broken rear tyre as explained to me on the phone the night before, what I saw was heart breaking, it was a total write off, I could not believe my eyes, what they had done to it was out of this world, the best way to describe it is as if it had been thrown off the top of a 20 story building and then maybe dragged down the road for awhile!
The pictures don't show the extent but here's some of it-both rims dented and split, bent front forks, cracked and bent frame, front fairings gone, gps gone and mount sheared off, hand guards gone, grips ripped and torn, instrument panel smashed, tank crushed in, ignition been skewed by something like a screw driver, blinkers ripped off and broken wires everywhere, pannier racks gone, rear rack and tools gone, bent exhaust, broken levers, bent stand, bash plate bashed in, actually almost every part on the bike is destroyed, if somebody was riding it when all this happened they would have to be dead or in intensive care, there's an idea, maybe I should check out the hospitals around and go rub some salt in their wounds, quite literally.
Guess this is how they took it!!
Bent rear rim, the front the same.
Sheered off GPS Mount!
Fuel cap lock destroyed, broken dash.
Broken levers!
Engine bars all scrapped and bent, tank dented in.
Blinkers ripped off, front fairings gone, far cry from its former self.
A vast comparison. I actually would rather have never seen it, and wished it was been ridden around at least for somebody to enjoy, not be destroyed like this.
So my saga still continues, no end of phone calls to the departments concerned in Australia has helped in getting permission to bring the new bike in, oh of course Honda Australia said I could if I pay $30 000 for a compliance plate, sure why not after all the bikes worth a whopping 5 grand!! I have lost all faith in Australia, I have flown my countries flag on the back of my pannier in over 40 countries on this trip and kind of feel I have been a reasonable ambassador for Down Under, and again the only country to stop me is my own, crazy! One thing though I have not lost faith in all of you, seems everyone wants to see me get in, thank you, even the people in these government departments understand, one saying "you are stuck between a rock and a hard place aren't you" but no one is ballsy enough to stand up and make a decision and try for once going against the grain, whats become of the Australia government, where's that fighting Aussie spirit?
