While motor-biking solo around the world, 58-year-old Kathleen Perry rode through giant sand and hailstorms in Morocco, battled altitude sickness in Peru, was under armoured guard in Pakistan and marvelled at natural wonders all over the globe.
But riding up her Christchurch driveway after two years and three months of adventures to see the finish-line flags hung by her family and friends also made for a very memorable moment.
“I was very proud of myself,” she smiles.
“I wouldn’t truly accept that I’d achieved it until I got up my driveway, then it was like, ‘Wow! I really did this.’”
A record-breaking journey
That was August 10, as Kathleen completed what she believes no other Kiwi woman has – a continuous, self-funded, solo ride around the world on one motorbike, clocking up 127,500km across six continents and 63 countries.
For Kathleen, the travel bug first struck four decades earlier, when at 18, she broke up with her then-boyfriend, Kelvin Perry, and flew to Australia to embark on her big OE. But just months after leaving New Zealand, Kelvin convinced her to give him another shot.
Giving love a try
“He’d tracked me down from a postcard and phoned every campsite in Adelaide until he found where I was, saying he wanted to come over,” she recalls.
“I decided if he’d put that much effort in, I’d return to New Zealand.”
They married in 1988, and travelling took a back seat as they spent the next 33 years raising three sons and fulfilling their shared farming dreams. In 2021, Kelvin passed away from kidney cancer and Kathleen found herself contemplating who she was without him. As a teenager, she’d enjoyed motorbikes and it seemed as good a place as any to start.
A new chapter on two wheels
“He died in May and by October, I had a brand-new Triumph Street Triple 765R in my driveway, had joined the Triumph Riders Motorcycle Club and started riding again,” says Kathleen of the passion that brought joy back into her life.
From there, a wild idea was born: to see the world by bike. In May 2023, Kathleen arrived in Alaska, where a custom-made Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro was waiting for her to set off on the adventure of a lifetime.
For the first three months, she rode with fellow Kiwi woman Jo McLellan. In Mexico, they parted ways as Kathleen continued down to South America. Riding through towering mountains, deserts and ancient cities became her daily life, as she rattles off an impressive list of highlights, including the Iguazu Falls in Brazil, soaring hot-air balloons in Cappadocia, Turkey, and getting to the Mt Everest Base Camp from Tibet.
Some experiences pushed Kathleen outside of her comfort zone.
Navigating risky borders
“Going into Balochistan Province of Pakistan from Iran, you get arrested at the border and put in a cell without any facilities, but luckily I had my camping gear with me. “Then when you’re allowed to leave, you’re following armoured guards on your motorbike from one passport control stop to the next through Pakistan,” says Kathleen, explaining it’s intended to protect tourists from kidnapping and terrorism threats.
Incredibly, she shares that not once on the entire trip did she feel unsafe.
“In Pakistan and Iran, the men treated me so well that I even got invited to stay in people’s homes with their wives and children,” she recalls.
“They are such beautiful people.”
Storms, snow, and glacier rivers
Hailstorms in Morocco battered her through her heavy-duty motorbike jacket, snowstorms in Alaska tested her endurance, and a glacier-fed river in Chile swept her off her feet.
“I camped 60 to 70 percent of the time,” she tells.
“Living in a tent is so simple, it made me realise and really appreciate that we don’t need all the day-to-day stuff that surrounds us.”
And through it all, she felt Kelvin close.
A tribute to her husband on the road
“I’m not one for the afterlife, but I definitely had my husband on my shoulder in some places where the riding was difficult, like Death Road in Bolivia,” she reflects.
“After I got through, I would say, ‘See Kelvin, I did well, didn’t I?’”
Her next adventure
Now back home in Canterbury, Kathleen is already planning her next adventures. She will tackle the iconic multisport Coast to Coast event in February for the sixth time and return to Mont Blanc, France, in June for a writer’s retreat where she plans to pen her memoirs.
She enthuses, “I would also love to visit schools and businesses to talk about my ride to inspire others. We can get stuck in a little box and we don’t need to be. “And age is not a barrier – I was 56 when I left. Life is short, but you can do a lot with your life.”
