Meet Nathan Millward.
And meet his trusty steed, Dot Cotton.
Together they are conquering the world, touring country after country on their quest to return home to the UK from Australia.
Riding a humble 2004 Honda CT110 ‘Postie’ , 29 year old Nathan started his journey in Sydney, Australia on Sunday 11th January 2009.
Since then, he steadily scooted over to Darwin, and from there had a stressful ferry ride to East Timor where he remained stranded without Dot (who lost her way at the docks) for a fortnight.
He eventually made an escape to the border into West Timor and grabbed a ferry to Flores. We follow his story from here on in…
Come on guys, where’s the update?
Oh okay, I’ll do it. it seems a long time since I was in Flores even though it was only 3 weeks. Since then I rumbled across the pot-holed roads of the next island, Sumbawa, then done the same over Lombok. From there bali where I put my feet up for a few days and got robbed by the police who wanted to stop and fine me at every opportunity. Swines.
After that corruption it was over to Java, the most torturous, clogged and crowded island I’ve ever been on. Danger on the roads, danger in the streets, it was hell, so no wonder i got sandwiched at 60km/h between a bus and SUV. Me and Dot won though. After tha I got chased by th polic for running a red light, then I fell of three times and got stranded in a ditch after camping out one night. Dot wouldn’t start, I had a paddy and finally we sprung out the other side and landed in Sumatra; a great bulging island more than 2000kms long and with roads that resemble the face of the moon. Against the visa clock I had only a week to make it to Medan on the other side, so I rode like wind, 14 hours a day at a dizzying top speed of 65km/h. Hell but this time with better scenery and locals less likley to con you out of every dollar.
Or so I thought. making it just in time to Mdan I tried to board a ferry to Malaysia. One man who insisted I buy him coffee and lunch said he could get the bike on the ferry. After stripping dot of her panniers and petrol it turned out he couldn’t. Instead she would have to to go on a cargo boat and mean that I would overstay my visa while I sorted that out. Asking at th port I finally found a mysterious man who said he could get me bike to Malaysia for 60 quid, which is a lot this side of the world. I handed Dot and the money and caught the ferry a few days later.
In Malaysia I went to collect Dot. Easy I thought. But no. Turns out that 60 quid was just to grease a plam, now I had to pay again for the real cost of the freight. So another 60 quid. Well I was livid but they have the bike and I need it back so what else can you do but pay it. That was yesterday and i’m reunited with Dot.
Dot though is sick, valves or something so she’s been to the doctor’s this morning and had her bolts tightened. All good now so after my Thailand visa comes through tomorrow that’s where we’re heading.
See you on th road