Highlights
- Four Indian men travelled from India to Indonesia on scooters on their way to Australia in 1996.
- They travelled through seven countries to cover around 8000 km on two Bajaj Chetak scooters.
- From Indonesia, they used air travel to land at Darwin in Australia.
- The scooters were transported from Indonesia to the Brisbane port via ship.
This is the story of four enthusiastic men who travelled through seven countries to cover over 8000 km on the "most inappropriate mode of transport one could think of" - two Bajaj Chetak scooters.
Dubai-based Onkar Singh Sidhu spoke to SBS Punjabi about this fascinating story of the memorable journey undertaken by him and his three friends in 1996.
“It was an amazing trip. We took around 100 days to reach Australia. We had started this journey on 4 June 1996 from Punjab, India and reached here in Darwin, NT on 18 September 1996,” he recalls.
“The initial plan was to do the world tour on these two scooters. But it couldn’t be achieved due to some health issues and other personal reasons.”
Mr Sidhu says they were endorsed by the Rotary Club in Punjab because of their intention to spread the message of world peace.
“We were also on this mission to find similarities between different people from different places and eventually ended up collecting so many different views and stories of the world that we live in,” he adds.
“We had an amazing experience with the local people who offered us love, food and shelter. Most of our stays were at the Gurdwaras [Sikh Temples] and at the local police stations due to safety reasons.”
Mr Sidhu says that he, along with his three other friends Baljit Singh, [late] Parminder Singh and Davinder Singh planned it for years before making it final.
“It took us at least 3-4 years to finally commit to this huge journey.
“The good thing was that I already had the experience of travelling from one end of India [Punjab] to the other [Kanyakumari] on a scooter prior to this effort,” he says.
Navigating through other countries had to be dealt with complex visa issues, language barriers, and so many other day-to-day challenges. Given the circumstances, Mr Sidhu and his friends had to be ready to ‘expect the unexpected’.
We are talking here about 1990s when there were no smartphones or GPS systems available.
“In those days everything you knew was based on books, newspapers, and designer maps. We didn’t know what was happening on the other side of the world especially when some countries had some political unrest and border conflicts. But we were passionate enough to conquer these challenges.”
Mr Sidhu and his friends travelled through over seven countries to cover around 8000 km on scooters.
“We started our journey from Ludhiana in Punjab to travel through various countries including Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, and then we used air travel to land at Darwin in Australia,” says Mr Sidhu.
We transported our scooters from Indonesia to the Brisbane port via ship.
Mr Sidhu says they took a bus from Darwin to reach Brisbane to get their scooters released from the Excise and Customs department.
“Our initial attempts to get our vehicles back were utterly unsuccessful. Although we were keen to have them back, we had to leave that idea later, given the legal costs associated with their release.”
Based on these experiences, Mr Sidhu, with inputs from his friend Baljit Singh (now living in Canada) has come up with the book ‘Scooteran Vale Sardar’ (Sikhs on Scooters) which also explains why it took them so long to reach the land down under.
“It took us around 100 days to reach Australia. Although we had letters from Indian authorities approving our expedition, but we would often struggle to get visa approvals while crossing the country borders," says Mr Sidhu.
For the total journey of around 8,000 km, we spent just over 15,000 INR on petrol.
"We didn't face any major mechanical issues and not even had the need to change scooter tyres - such was the reliability of 'Hamara Bajaj'."
After reaching Australia they stayed in the cities of Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Griffith and then returned to India and other countries after residing here for a couple of years.
Melbourne-based restaurant owner and a well-known weightlifter Prem Bajaj told SBS Punjabi that he knew this group of men who once lived at the country town of Griffith, NSW.
“Yes, I know this story. They often use to share experiences of their travel by scooters,” he says.
Mr Bajaj who has been living in Australia for the past 36 years says he remembers this group as a source of inspiration who was of ‘full of energy and high spirits’.
Mr Sidhu now aims to write another book – this time about their stay in Australia, before they embarked on their journey to the other destinations in the world.
“We learnt great lessons on this incredible journey. It always reminds us that willpower and high spirits matter far more than money,” he says.
Listen to Mr Sidhu's real-life experiences by clicking on the audio button in the picture at the top of the page.
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