Paul & Jan Dwyer

“We have been in South America for the past five months and are just amazed by the ever-changing scenery. We have never seen so many motorcyclists in all our lives as we have here. And why wouldn’t it be? It is a bikers paradise, the roads are good, there is accommodation everywhere, and you don’t have to plan ahead for food, etc. This is as good as it gets. I suspect Jan and I will take about two years to get through this fantastic continent. On our return to Australia after chapter one of South America, we will have plenty to reflect on.” – Paul Dwyer

For those who haven’t met Paul in person; “Well I’m better known as Henry in Australia, but to the rest of the world I’m Paul Dwyer the traveler, biker, and photographer.” Paul lives by the sea with his wife Jan, in Mackay, Central Queensland right on the doorstep of the Great Barrier Reef. “I started my adult life in the Horse Racing Industry where I trained racehorses for twenty years while also running our graphics company. I met my wife Jan on a Kibbutz in Israel. We were engaged in England, married in Australia and our first child was born in Durban, South Africa.” Being a self-described “wandering bugger,” Paul had already ventured overseas to fifty-two countries by the age of twenty-four. Mainly by hitchhiking which was by his own accord “a welcome freedom and an exciting way of travel for a young Australian.”

It was during these early travels that Paul’s appreciation for the lifestyle of traveling motorcyclists was cemented. “I fell quite ill in a place called Pamukkale, known as the Cotton Castle, in southwestern Turkey. As I was the only customer at the small hotel, I was surprised to hear a motorbike pull up. Being so sick I chose not to investigate, but later that evening a Japanese guy poked his head into my room after hearing me be extremely uncomfortable. Even though our first meeting was a tad awkward, with him not speaking a word of English and my Japanese restricted to Kon’nichiwa. The expressionless Japanese man retreated, only to return with medicine and carefully worded instructions written in English. The next day he came back into my room, without knocking, motioning for my clothes. He took everything I had including my backpack and sleeping bag and washed it all for me! I was very taken aback by this generous gesture. I needed to know more. That night my life changed as he laid out his map of the world with the carefully scripted tale of his travels. I was mesmerized by the fact that this young man, not much older than myself, had been on the road for four years. That night me thinks….yep I’m a biker, and I will return one day traveling the world, repaying the kindness that was showered on me with what I now know is termed as the Biker Brotherhood.”

Paul and Jan’s around the world trip started in Africa as Jan was born in South Africa and Paul had always nurtured a desire to explore the continent. “I thought, well it would be the hardest to do and the rest will be plain sailing. Well, it was, and it wasn’t. We flew our bikes, Jan initially rode a Yamaha XT 250 and I on my BMW F800 GS, into Egypt and traveled down the east coast to South Africa. We met so many other bikers and had such an amazing time. The initial decision to travel by motorcycle was never really a decision as much as it was a natural progression. “We did put traveling on hold while our children were quite young, but when they finished school, we started to plan our escape. We decided we’d travel for five or six months of the year returning home to reconnect. However, our mode of travel had not been selected. Jan tragically lost her only brother to a motorbike accident when she was 17, so I thought motorbikes were going to be a no-go. I offered sailing as an option. However, I knew from experience that she didn’t have an enthusiastic affection for sharks, so she ruled that out pretty swiftly. The second option was public transport, and this was also ruled out as Jan had witnessed many lunatic bus drivers on previous trips. Then she thought why not motorbikes? So it was decided, bar one small problem. Jan couldn’t ride. So off we went to a very patient riding instructor. Fast forward to three weeks after gaining her license, and she arrived in Cairo. I assured her there was no better place on earth to gain experience than the traffic of Cairo!”

Paul went through a rather interesting progression selecting the right steed for the trip at hand. “My first thought was that I would take my Triumph Bonneville, but it failed the heavy sand test along with its rider. Next up was our Suzuki V-Strom, but I felt for two up and fully loaded it might be a little cumbersome. It did, however, pass the sandpit jaunt. I looked at a BMW R 1200 GS but altho fantastic to ride it limits you to where you can go. If you want to stay on tar or just gravel roads, the 1200 GS would have been my first choice. After much research, I nailed it down to the F 800 GS as it is weighted right. We collected the bike from the dealer and rode about 100km before my bum was so sore that I turned around and bought an Air Hawk cushion. Six weeks later a new Corbin seat was fitted, and it’s still on the bike today. Being two up at the time I installed an upgraded Hyperpro suspension so that it could carry extra weight, and it has been incredible. The Hepco & Becker engine guards and the Barkbusters handguards have thankfully not been overworked. The panniers were built by MTD here in Australia and are the best thing we have on the bike.

Paul is a fan of Heidenau K60’s for rubber but reports that “they are very loud although you get incredible mileage compared to a lot of the others out there. I think all the top tire brands out there are all good and 95% of the bikes out there don’t need such aggressive tires. But hey that’s what you call clever marketing, and if you ride an adventure bike, whatever that is, you must look the part.” Thus keeping it simple seems to be a theme with the Dwyer’s. “I just shelved our GPS in South America, and I think that smartphones will render them obsolete soon with apps like Maps.me and iOverlander.” As for traveling to new places, “I don’t try and over think it as instinct does kick in. We work on the theory that there are more good people in the world than bad. I find just winging it you get along just fine. We research what we would like to see in each country but as for routes and places to stay, well once you start that you are just re-enacting someone else’s journey. Fellow travelers that you meet along the way will also often tell you if something is worth seeing or not.” Using the advice of travelers should at times though be taken with the proverbial pinch of salt. “The thing I refuse to ask fellow bikers is road conditions. In Africa, we asked about a road and was told it was horrible, the worst road and barely rideable. Well, we set off gingerly on the said road only to find at the completion of it that it was nowhere near that bad. Then on another occasion, we asked about a supposedly terrible road, and the guy said ‘Nah all good mate, you’ll be right.’ Next thing you find is you’re riding a highway to hell!”

The worst experience, however, was when Paul and Jan were held up by four thugs in Nigeria. “It spiraled out of control. They had put a bar thru my front wheel and was armed with batons. Jan was yelling out for someone to help us, but everybody just bolted. As it escalated one was trying to pull my tank bag off, and another guy had raised his club. So I thought I have to get off the bike to get them away from Jan. I told the club guy I was going to knock his head off his shoulders. This threw him a bit as he couldn’t see that I wasn’t armed. As I was telling him I was bending down to tighten the strap that was holding my tank bag. I think they thought I was reaching for a gun, as club man said something to the front guy. He pulled the bar from my front wheel, and all four guys just stepped back without saying a word, so we took off!”

Having now been to over 100 countries, it wasn’t until Paul and Jan swapped out their mode of transport for two wheels that the world really opened up for them. “We have been to India and Nepal, thirty-eight countries in Africa and four in South America along with Antarctica. We laugh when we think of how far we still have to go. But we also want to return to Africa and ride the countries we never went to.” Solo travel can be enriching at times for the self, but traveling two up means that all the experiences of the road are shared with the one person you want those experiences shared with. “I think when you get to travel with your wife of thirty years there are many special moments as a couple. Whether it’s the times interacting with other riders or with locals, but when asked to narrow down magical experiences it’s tough to single out one. We have very lasting memories of camping in the Simien Mountains amongst the Gelada baboons and visiting the tribes of the Omo Valley in Ethiopia. Watching the Whirling Dervishes’ in Sudan, Batwa Pygmies & the Gorillas in Uganda, the wildebeest migration in the Masai Mara of Kenya, swimming with Whale sharks in Mozambique or visiting the Great Mosque of Djenne in Mali. We also had a couple of special moments, if you can differentiate between magical & terrifying when Lions were sleeping outside our tent. We find something special in virtually every country. If you’re open to it and look for it,… well you’ll find it.”

Find out more about Paul and Jan’s adventures on Instagram and Facebook.

All images copyright Paul Dwyer.