Around Australia on fish'n'chips

Former oil driller Paul Carter has completed an historic 18,300km journey around Australia riding the country's only registered biodiesel bike, built by the University of Adelaide.

Riding at a maximum speed of 100kph, Mr Carter took 11 weeks to finish the epic trek, using 630 litres of "fish and chip oil" to fuel the bike.

The 40-year-old author and former offshore oil rigger described the adventure as "an amazing experience" and an opportunity to spread "the good oil" about the benefits of biodiesel over hydrocarbons.

"The bike performed incredibly well," he said. "It got us around Australia, leaving only a very small environmental footprint."

Along the way, Mr Carter spoke to dozens of farmers about the advantages of biodiesel as an alternative fuel source.

The journey also provided him with the opportunity to "give something back to the environment" after working in the oil industry for 20 years.

The award-winning biodiesel bike nicknamed "Black Betty" was built by the University's Mechanical Engineering students in 2007 under the supervision of Dr Colin Kestell.

Prior to this trip the biodiesel bike had already won acclaim for generating minimal greenhouse gas emissions in completing a 3000km trek between Darwin and Adelaide in seven days.

Mr Carter plans to write a book - The Good Oil - about his road trip, accompanied by a DVD filmed by his support crew along the way.

The book will also contain details about his next challenge - attempting to break the world land speed record on a high-performance biodiesel motorbike, currently being built by the University's School of Mechanical Engineering.

"We're planning on doing speed trials in March next year at Lake Gairdner in the north of South Australia, an enormous salt lake which has been the site for several land speed record attempts," he said.

The world record will be attempted in 2011.

For more details about Mr Carter's trip visit: www.thegoodoil.tv