I had turned on the heater to dry out our clothing over night…unfortunately they did not dry, so we ended up wearing very warm moist clothing…maybe they will dry out as we ride?
We had to get the bikes over to the dealership first thing this morning. It had rained all through the night and just started to clear at dawn…we lucked out. As fun as yesterday was it would be good to be a little dry part of the day?
Experience BMW was pulling their bikes out as we rode up, we had about 30 minutes to clean on the bikes some more before they went to service. They were both due for a full service, and mine needed new tires, the bikes would be ready tomorrow. Dominic with DB Schenker was able to meet with us today, so we caught a taxi out to their offices by the airport to discuss shipping and air details through them.
DB Schenker has it together. All the fees and possible charges were outlined and broken down into Export and Import categories…this is what we wanted to see. We had picked up our carnets from Go Logistics just in case we decided on DB Schenker. Carnets are kind of like a passport for your bikes. We discussed the crating and pick up of the bikes from Experience BMW, and what to expect when we arrive in Melbourne. Kev and I felt much better about the fact that the Melbourne portion of this transaction was not outsourced. It is a very confusing and quite expensive process to ship the bikes from New Zealand…but they are here and we need to get them there… there is no turning back…forever forward my friend!
Feeling more confident with DB Schenker handling our bike transit we caught a taxi back to the BMW dealership to pick up our jackets and helmets and discuss the air pallet verses the ocean crate bike prepping. All you can do is ask a ton of questions and keep asking until you understand, otherwise it is all double dutch! Finally we called it a day and caught a taxi back to Mission Bay. Todays running around in taxis had been quite costly and we've spent $150.00 NZD…Cricky, just light a match and burn a few more $50's hey??? Maybe we can figure out how to make it back to BMW tomorrow on the bus or train?…Yes we need to go back tomorrow!
Daniel at Experience BMW lent us the 2008 Oz BMW Rally dvd to watch tonight…cool, a movie, a great plan for tonight. We watched the dvd an turned to each other and said…"Maybe we should just fork out the extra cash and air the bikes, I don't know if we can handle waiting the 20 days to get them?" If we chose air we could be riding by Friday!…ha ha ha….Man this movie could cost us!!! Kev and I ran through the day to day costs on the dollar difference in the 2 shipping methods and I think that we have decided to ocean freight them. I think????…Ya know we're still a little wishy washy on it all. Thankfully DB Schenker can go either way and will be able to make a solid decision once the final weight is recorded with them and the cost is finalized. Oh yeah, after watching the dvd, we will definitely be in on the 2012 BMW Oz Rally too!! That's a no brainer!