Day 4334: Around the world on a motorcycle? The Platypus.

  

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Around the world on a motorcycle, & set a record.

Ollie Gamblin and Lavi Scholl have record for the youngest duo to circumnavigate the globe by motorbike

Lavi Scholl and Ollie Gamblin, now aged 32 and 34, visited 39 different countries, including Morocco, Argentina, and Mongolia, during their record setting 589-day motorbike trip and even found time to squeeze in a quick wedding. “It was quite an endeavor to set out and say, ‘Right, we’re going to do this,’” Gamblin, from the UK, tells CNN Travel. “We didn’t really know how long it was going to take. We didn’t know whether we’d get to the end.” “We realized that we both have a passion for overland (travel),” says Scholl, from Germany. They had to meet certain requirements, which included beginning and starting their trip at the same location, traveling in one direction continuously and traveling through two antipodal points. The couple, known as “Lavi and Ollie” were loaned a Suzuki V-Strom 1050XT by UK dealership Motorcycle World, and Gamblin says he fell over while riding out of the parking lot.

The couple, known as "Lavi and Ollie," hadn't ever traveled by motorbike before they set off in 2022.

“Not all international borders were open at the time,” says Gamblin. “But we figured that, as we were going along, it would sort of open up. And luckily it did. ” When planning their route, they looked into countries that did not require a Carnet De Passage, a passport for a car or motorbike, in order to save on costs. In order to keep costs down, they opted to wild camp as much as they could and avoid eating out.

Scholl particularly enjoyed their time in South America, explaining that she found every country there unique. 

The couple experienced some “difficult moments” during this section of the trip, particularly while riding through the Andes Mountains. “And we were at altitude for more than a month, I think. So there were some really physically tough days, and it took its toll on us.” Scholl and Gamblin rode all the way down to Argentina, before heading back up to Chile, and riding through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.

The couple traveled to 39 countries across five continents on their bike, which they nicknamed "Bumblebee." 

On the final drive home "there were lots and lots of riders that came,” says Gamblin. “We didn’t know any of them. But they all came to support us and we have this massive convoy heading from Dover to London.” The group were greeted by a huge celebration when they arrived back in London on November 19 of last year. Both stress that they have no intention of settling down, and are already planning their next adventure.

“A lot of people find a lot of reasons not to do something,” says Gamblin. “And they think they have to be ultimately prepared in every single way. “We didn’t have everything worked out on the way, but we did manage to work it out as we went along.”T

Read the full story, here.

Do you know a Platypus?

I lived in Australia for four years & have seen & know the Platypus. Australia has some truly astonishing mammals, with incredible, unfamiliar features.

The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, nocturnal, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, is venemous egg-laying mammal and  endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. It uses electroreceptors to locate prey, has eyes with double cones, no stomach, and 10 chromosomes. It is fluorescent and glows under UV light.

 They lay eggs (that hatch into so-called platypups), produce milk without nipples and venom without fangs, and can detect electricity. Platypuses, possums, wombats, echidnas, devils, kangaroos, quolls, dibblers, dunnarts, kowaris: 

Males have two venomous spurs on its hind legs. While not fatal to humans, the venom is quite painful that can persist for months.

Platypus is a mammal based on its ability to:

• Thermoregulate its body temperature
• Lactate- though its mammary glands are undeveloped, and the animal secretes milk through its skin pores
• Hair on their bodies
• Have three middle ear bones characteristic to mammals

The platypus does have reptilian or bird like characteristics. Most striking is their ability to reproduce by laying eggs. When the young hatch, they are quite underdeveloped, similar to marsupials, but not quite as helpless. These animals are semi-aquatic and nocturnal. They get most of their diet from the rivers, lakes, or other fresh waterways where they live. They eat worms, small fish, crustaceans, insects and other small animals. While the platypus has no teeth, they rise to the surface when hunting and crush their prey between their bills and may even hold gravel in their mouth to act as teeth.

 

The video here and below will answer many of your questions and on-line and the library have a wealth of   information.

 

  

 

A 3+ minute video, Platypus,  here

 

 

 

  

 

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