Welcome to Three-Days of Motorcycle Travel NirvanaHorizons Unlimited Motorcycle Travellers Meeting Queensland (2 – 5 May 2025)

By Heather Ellis

Last month, I offered up some motor­cycle travel inspiration to read (The Moment Collectors Asia). Now, let’s take it to the next level and be immersed into three days of motorcycle travel stories, tips and meeting some RTW travellers (round the world) in person.
Welcome to the Horizons Unlimited Motorcycle Travellers Meeting in Thornton near Brisbane, Queensland from 2-5 May 2025 over the Labour Day long weekend. Organiser Shane Kuhl has booked a diverse line up of speakers, tech sessions and workshops including yours truly. You will come away with your mind buzzing with new ideas – as well as making a whole bunch of like-minded friends. A Horizons Unlimited Motorcycle Travellers Meeting is three days of motorcycle travel nirvana. I’ve only been to one HU event, in Perth back in 2018. HU events were once held annually in Australia, but HU Qld will be the first for several years now to get things going again after COVID. This one also marks 25 years of HU events. A lot goes into organising an HU event by nearly 200 riders and pulling together an experienced line-up of motorcycle travellers. But the number of Horizons Unlimited events held internationally every year and for this 25th anniversary there are HU events in the US, Canada, Ecuador, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Romania.
If you’ve never heard of Horizons Unlimited, then you need to check out the website at www.horizonsunlimited.com. But it’s not just filled with motorcycle travel info, it’s a community of overlanders (as motorcycle travellers are often called), who are there to share everything you want to know: paperwork, shipping your bike, border crossings, riding other motorcycles and gear, what to take, what not to take, how to stay safe, women’s topics and more. If you’ve got a question, someone will answer it in the forum or there is a wealth of discussion on the topics that concerns you. There’s also a blog page and a ‘Travellers Seeking Travellers’ page if you don’t want to go alone or would like to meet up with others while on the road. When I travelled across Europe and Central Asia, back in the mid 1990s there was nothing like Horizons Unlimited. But thankfully, two veteran motorcycle travellers, Grant and Susan Johnson from Canada, wanted to share their experience. They travelled around the world two-up on a 1986 BMW R80 GS for more than 11 years starting in 1987 and since then have travelled through over 50 countries. They started Horizons Unlimited to help others live their own dream… and not the boss’s dream.
Embarking on an overland motor­cycle adventure can be scary for the uninitiated but an HU meeting at the HU Meeting in the Thornton, Queensland this year to rub your well journeyed mojo with the stories of more people who have made adventure travel a part of it by motorcycle and meet others like you who are thinking about it. Plus there’ll be riders who are riding around OZ and Thornton is a stop on a journey that may have just taken them through the Middle East and South East Asia or elsewhere. But there’s plenty of interest as well as fun meetings being brought together riders from all Australia. They pack their bikes on Friday, hop on and meet up on the Friday for three full days of motorcycle travel nirvana. Some have known each other for years; some may be from one or same distant country who someone re-connect and others met at a HU event. You can imagine what the atmosphere is like over these three days and nights with a campsite filled with riders, their bikes and tents. There is conversation, the stories shared. And this is all before the presentations, tech sessions and workshops begin on the Friday after­noon and run till Sunday evening.
As well as a diverse line-up of speakers you’ll find tips on preparing for your next journey, how to set up your bike; the latest in navigation wizardry, photography and filming, and travel writing if there’s a book in you and you’d like to share your adventure in magazines like Adventure Rider.
There’s also the new Adventure Travel Zone where you can check out offerings from equipment specialists, motorcycle tour operators, authors and authors of HU. The story-makers and the storytellers are the heart of the motorcycle travellers. HU events are open forum sharing all your questions on transporting bikes, visas and what to expect any place discussed will be offered by those who have done it.
Shane says since there’s not been a HU meet in Australia for several years and this is the big 25th Anniversary, this one will be BIG. It’s a long weekend of talking motorcycle travel, checking bikes, swapping stories, learning some good motorcycle travel tips about world travel and be excited for your next destination.

For event details and to register go to:
www.horizonsunlimited.com/events/queensland-2025
Horizons Unlimited Qld is held at Camp Kokoda, Thornton, Queensland from Friday, 2 May (registration opens at 1 pm) to Monday morning, 5 May.