“A few months later, I flew into Bangkok with my
bike and set off on my first motorcycle trip. The only
thing I knew was how to fix a flat tire, but even that
took me hours “she explained. When Danielle landed in Bangkok, she retrieved her motorcycle from
customs and rode off.
“The bike was a 1999 Suzuki DR 350, a relatively
small dirt bike with a very hard seat. For a single
woman riding alone a lot of the time, it was perfect
size for me to be able to lift up off the ground when
needed, but the main motivation – the 350CC engine is virtually bullet proof and very simple to fix”.
“I had no idea where I was going nor if I would still
have the bike by the end of the day. My backup
plan was to ditch the bike and just go backpacking
if I felt it was all too much for me” she said.
During this period of preparation, she also tried to
build awareness of her adventures with the hope
of encouraging other people to get out there and
follow their own dream. She started her website
and grew her base of online followers.
But after a few days she had settled down into a
routine. Very quickly, she had learnt how to ride on Danielle’s Australia to Africa journey took exactly
dirt roads, dodge around chickens and cautiously four years to complete. She left Brisbane on the 4th
travel through rice paddy fields.
of October, 2010 and surrendered her motorcycle
to the Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe customs on the 4th
Ten months later she found herself in Moscow, and of October, 2014. “When I left, I told everyone I
like most travellers, at some point in their journey, will be gone for two years - I guess all good plans
ended up with a bank account that read zero. “I change!”
didn’t even have enough money to fly home. The
economic crisis had just hit and all my leads for There were quite a few challenges she faced
work quickly dried up” she explained. “My old job along the way. There were the obvious things like
in Australia was still open to me, but first I needed to logistics of travelling with a motorcycle. “The bike
sell my motorcycle to be able to fly home”.
was constantly breaking down forcing me to improvise, and finding ways to get it fixed wherever I
Upon arriving home in Brisbane, Danielle quickly re- was at the time, “she said. “There were times I was
alised she wasn’t finished, in fact she hadn’t even waiting months on end for parts to be shipped in”.
made dent on what she wanted to do. “At least
now I knew I could ride a motorcycle, and my me- Other more personal challenges started to set in,
chanical skills had advanced from puncture repair while travelling through India. “I was alone a lot of
to complete engine rebuilds”.
the time, and no one really spoke English. I found
myself having to struggle with unwanted male atSo, to prepare for her second motorcycle adven- tention.
ture, this time from Australia to Africa she spent
the next two years saving money, with which she “A few times I had to fight to protect myself or
bought a cheap motorcycle, rebuilt it, making even run away while families who were picnicking
pannier frames, tool boxes and anything else she just watched. This was heart breaking as it was the
thought she might need.
moment I realised that not everyone’s morals are
equal around the world”.