Book excerpt: The witty tale of a real life mid-life crisis which took an ordinary Kiwi bloke around Australia on a motorbike, to fulfil his life-long Easy Rider inspired dreams of his long-lost youth. the result is a very dry look at the Big Dry Country told with self-deprecating wit by a first time author. A large market has been established for blokes on bikes doing things to recapture their long lost youth, following the exploits of multi-millionaire Gareth Morgan and his friends, who go to exotic places on luxury bikes. Mike's endearing and funny tale is at the other end of the scale - the ordinary bloke doing it on the modest bike and smell of an oily rag - with some wonderfully seat of the pants escapades along the way.A naturally funny man, Mike pokes fun at himself and Aussies in an equally merciless way, providing a travel book with a real heart and a real difference. Definitely a book for every middle-aged man you know - and their wives! Since his trip Mike has been speaking to a large number of bike clubs in the South Island and will be using these contacts to help promote the book.