Once Upon a Distant Journey

What would it be like if your bike didn’t need a number plate and you didn’t need a licence? Why not vote toll roads into extinction? Should we ban random breath testing and use simulators instead? Hendrik answers all these questions.

These yarns take you on journeys across Australia from the outback to the sea. We feel for ourselves the relationship between man and motorbike, between humanity and nature, between people who love each other - and those met only fleetingly.

Hendrik takes us down roads packed with beauty and delight and others with obstacles and surprises. His quirky sense of humour and intimate knowledge of this Wide Brown Land offers fresh ways of identifying with the country, its history, its people, geography, and uniquely Australian culture.

This is a travel book with wisdom which captures the essence of Australia. Voices of ordinary and extraordinary Australians speak to us directly with honesty and candour.

Hendrik shares experiences that could be had only on a motorbike. An enormously satisfying read: the thrills, spills and joys that exist for all of us between road and sky - whether we ride or not.

No finer traveller’s tale has ere been told. - Homer
Makes The Motorcycle Dairies read like a fairy story. - Che Guevara
I wish I’d seen as much of Australia as Hendrik has. - Matthew Flinders
The best motorcycling stories ever written. - Hunter S. Thompson
His writings sparkle with good humour. - Harpo Marx
Had Hendrik written about my journey to Cathay, I may well have become famous. - Marco Polo
Hendrik understands the natural world better than any person. - Charles Darwin
If he’d been caught doing half the things he confesses to in these yarns, it should be off to Devil’s Island for him! - Papillon