A New Language, A New Adventure: Biking Across Australia with Ryosuke

Ryosuke Aoki, 21 years old, Japan studied at our Kaplan Adelaide Australia, completing the Intensive English course to graduate as a Higher Intermediate. Ryosuke is taking full advantage of his Kaplan education and using his newfound English skills to travel across Australia with nothing more than a bike, a bag, a working holiday visa, and a bit of ambition.

If Ryosuke looks familiar, it might be because he made his debut on screen being featured in our Kaplan Adelaide video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwgCB5uJEhA&feature=youtu.be

Learning English gives you both the confidence and the actual language abilities to take on new experiences and feel comfortable traveling in foreign countries.

Now that Ryosuke has finished with his English studies with Kaplan, he is putting his new language skills to the ultimate test: for the past few months, he has stayed in Australia to make the most of his visa, by riding his bike from city to city all over the continent. Yes you read that right, by a bicycle. Australia is a big place! The journey will take him up through the length of his visa.

Ryosuke left for Renmark from Adelaide, working on farms such as citrus farms for a while to make extra cash and keep his working holiday visa valid. He then cycled down south to Victoria (which, keep in mind is about 645km). In Victoria he saw beautiful places such as Campbell, Port Fairy, and Melbourne, the stylish, artistic, and vibrant city that's home to the Australian Open.

After Victoria, Ryosuke carried on cycling through the East Coast where he saw Jugiong and Canberra and proceeded to cycle across and down the West Coast stopping in Sydney and Macksville. You may not have heard of some of these small Australian cities, and there's a reason for that - not a lot of foreigners make it out that far! Ryosuke's English lessons came in handy, letting him ask for directions, say hello to locals, chat with fellow farm workers, and just generally feel comfortable in such a different environment.

In total, this ambitious adventure will take around 18 months. Currently, Ryosuke is relaxing around the Gold Coast before he heads off again to reach Brisbane.

The map below gives you a bit of an idea of Ryosuke's journey (do your legs get sore just looking at that?). The yellow dots marked on the map show where Ryosuke has stopped, and the white line shows his current journey.

It is incredible what experiences you can create for yourself once you make the first step to studying a new language in a different country. Have you ever fancied creating an adventure for yourself but were too nervous about language barriers? If you are interested in learning English (and maybe breaking a world record while you're in Australia), take a look at our school locations.  Maybe you'll find a unique journey of your own!

If you are interested to follow Ryosuke's journey he is writing a blog (in Japanese).

Good luck Ryosuke! We're all cheering for you and will be following your adventure!