"When I told my mum what we were planning to do she started buying me all this protective motorbike gear. Yeah, you could say she's freaking out," says middle-east bound rider, Nathan Brown.
Nathan and long-time friend Julian Price will be heading to India in two weeks as they embark on a cross-continent motorbike mission from New Delhi to London.
"Julian had some CMS missionaries from the middle east visit his church some month’s back and they were speaking about some of the hardships faced by taking Christ to this part of the world," says Nathan.
"One of the biggest was feeling alone and isolated from other Aussie Christians " so we thought it would be cool to go and visit missionaries working in some of the more remote parts of the world to encourage them, check out what they are up to and lend a hand if possible."
It sounds simple enough " but Nathan and Julian's plan has developed into a motorised journey of epic proportions.
They will travel to Nepal to pick up locally manufactured Royal Enfield motorbikes, then ride their trusty steeds through India to Pakistan, across Iran to Turkey, then down into Syria.
The journey will involve months of bumping along thousands of miles of back roads in some of the most inaccessible, visually staggering and potentially dangerous countries in the world.
"We took a vote in church on Sunday and it turns out only 40% of people think what we are doing is crazy," laughs Nathan.
The trip is backed by years of practical experimenting and research.
Nathan and Julian have already conducted a two-month around-Australia sortie, visiting Bush Church Aid workers.
"The reception we got in some of those places was incredible," says Julian.
"Their faces just lit up when they saw you. We could really see the value in encouraging churches that are struggling in numbers."
Research trips to Sydney have also involved meeting with Iranian exiles, mission agencies and most importantly " motorbike mechanics.
The Enfields they will be riding are simple, "rugged' vehicles that have remained essentially unchanged since the 1950's.
Nathan and Julian are cramming in as much information about the bikes as they can because work-shops will be few and far between where they are going.
But Julian, who has been riding since he was a boy, says his New Zealand heritage will see them through.
"The New Zealand way is "You can fix anything with number eight fencing wire'," he laughs.
However the enormity of what they are trying to achieve is not lost on the pair.
In sober moments they reflect that local traffic conditions alone mean they "might not make it out of India in one piece.'
"We're not trying to re-inact "Motorcyle Diaries'. Riding for the sake of riding is ultimately a pretty selfish thing," Julian acknowledges.
"But we'll be visiting people who really know what it is to be persecuted. A lot of them live in predominantly Muslim countries and it's a real pressure not to "bow down' under that."
Supporters will be able to follow Nathan and Julian’s efforts to encourage middle eastern Christians through a blog starting soon on Sydneyanglicans.net.
And what does Julian's mother think of this marathon mission-by-motorbike?
"When I told her, she looked at me and said, "I once too felt the call of the open road," Julian says, smiling.
