Dog Blog

We had conducted extensive research on the options for getting us, our motorbikes and the dogs from Europe to Jordan. Jordan had been on our itinerary since the beginning of our travels, being a very tourist friendly country with so many great ancient sites, varied landscapes and of course the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth at a staggering 430m below sea level. It was a place that fascinated us and begged us to visit.  Financial limitations had prevented us from visiting when we were just next door in Egypt back in 2017, but it was decided that it would become part of our Asia leg. Now in a slightly better financial situation, we assessed our options as follows: Shipping the bikes to Aqaba, Jordan Shipping the bikes to Israel Ride through Iran and Saudi Arabia Ride through Iraq Ferry to Lebanon and transit through the south of Syria The two shipping options were discounted immediately due to cost and practicality, had there been no other options then we would have given the d...

We got more than we bargained for in our travels through Turkey. After a few days on the Gallipoli peninsula visiting the battlefields of the Anzacs (Australian and New Zealand Army Corp) and the city of Troy our plan was to continue riding along the Mediterranean coast to stay in the warmer climates. Not far outside of Çanakale a very young puppy crossed the road in front of Janell on the motorway. It was very unusual even in Turkey to see such a youngster alone and on a busy motorway so we had to stop and check. She was so tiny, a little black fluffy (but quite dirty) ball, and appeared to be no more than 6 weeks old. Somehow she had found herself in the medium strip (wide gutter) between the two flows of traffic. We searched everywhere for her mum knowing that at her age she would still be dependent and could not have ventured far. After an extensive search of the area and seeing that she was very different to any other street dog in the area, or from what we’d seen in Turkey in ...

December weather in Turkey was cold and the majority of the country was covered in snow. Google Maps wanted to direct us inland via the shortest route over the mountains through the thick of it but travelling on motorbikes with our girls, we were happy to take the longer coastal route to keep to the mild climate and low elevations. The Turkish coastline was stunning and really surprised us. The water on our right was a tropical shade of aqua blue and the islands so perfectly spaced with the odd fishing settlement dotted along the way. On our left were rolling hills and we often came across these sceneries from a slight elevation, providing an optimum vantage point to really accentuate the setting. For the most part the quality of the road was up to European standards so we could concentrate on the views and not the road or traffic. All this combined with the better preserved and less visited of the “Ancient Greek” sites, Turkey quickly made its way into our top five countries and a ...

We set off on our adventure to Norway and the Arctic Circle from the UK in mid June with a tight timeframe of 2.5 weeks to go up and back, fitting into work holidays. Round trip the distance was estimated to be 8,000km with some of the most rugged and beautiful coastlines in the world. This journey along the Norwegian coast would take us well into the Arctic Circle where the snow capped mountains were illuminated by sunlight 24 hours a day. The weather however, was far from on our side with heavy rain and strong winds becoming part of our daily struggle. We set off from the UK early afternoon on Wednesday. We’d booked a late train to take us under the English Channel to France and the ride should have been an easy 4 hours. However, the rain had set in and the traffic was building on the M25, we were crawling along and starting to stress about making the train. Our goal for that first day was to reach the Netherlands but it quickly became apparent that we’d set our goals too high. We...

Egypt was our 25th and final country in Africa. We arrived at the Wadi Halfa border to cross from Sudan into Egypt on the 14th November. We arrived with supplies because this time we knew for sure that we could be camping at the border. We had travelled Africa without a Carnet de Passage (basically a passport for your vehicle) and for many countries we either passed through without any documentation required for the motorbikes or we completed a Temporary Import Permit (TIP) at the border. Taking the path of the TIP is a bit more effort and at times risky in Africa but it saved us a lot of money. Stu's research online indicated we would most definitely need to purchase an Egyptian Carnet at the Wadi Halfa border and we had all the contact details and costs to organise it. Our supplies were basic and for a few days in case we couldn't get access to shops. But what we had read online quite consistently said people could leave their vehicles at the border post and take public transport ...

It was by no means a secret to anyone that the thought of entering Sudan both excited Stu and made Janell quite uneasy. And even she would be the first to admit that there was no reasonable explanation for this feeling, other than a link to the war torn country of South Sudan. Stu had deployed for 6 months to South Sudan on a peacekeeping mission during his service in the Royal Australian Navy. As is so often the case on this adventure we were both surprised and delighted by what we saw and who we met. We left Sudan with a genuine fondness for the desert country and a hope to one day return. The border crossing from Ethiopia didn't quite go as planned and resulted in a 2 night camp at the border. We were travelling without a Carnet for the motorbikes but had been advised that we could get an 'in/out' (transit) permit at the Sudan border which would allow us to cross Sudan in 48 hours. You can imagine that 48 hours to cross a country is not ideal, you see very little other than the t...

Ethiopia proved to be unique amongst african nations from the get go. At the border crossing we were invited to have tea with the officials while they worked out how to import our bikes without us having a Carnet. The process was easy in the end, they just completed a customs declaration form, which included all our electronics (phones, laptops etc.) and added the bikes to this. There was no fee, we just had to show the items on the way out in order to get our passport exit stamp. Ethiopians are a proud people, most people would bring up the fact that Ethiopia had not been conquered by a European nation at the start of any conversation. We thought the people smiled naturally instead of having a downcast look that so many African's and other ex-colonials have from the poverty and gross class division forced on them. Ethiopian culture was warm and inviting and their food was an absolute delight. As part of their very unique take on Christianity, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church has over ...

Uganda was the only country in Africa that we had both travelled to before The Pack Track. In February 2013 we spent a few days in Kampala, squeezing in a one day safari, before heading off on a cruise of the Canary Islands. Riding our motorbikes across the border and onto Ugandan territory felt poles apart from this past memory. How easy it is to fly in and out of a place, stay in a resort and then boast of having been there. If any country put our overland travels into perspective, to appreciate just how far away from Australia we were, it was Uganda. We crossed into Uganda at Kyanika. We had to obtain an Exit Confirmation certificate for the motorbikes in Rwanda and then pass through the Police checkpoint where they registered the bikes leaving the country. Uganda had a one-stop border post which is always a sight for sore eyes, everything in one building is so much easier and quicker for us. At the Customs Office we imported the vehicles where we needed to pay 73,000 Uganda Shil...

The Rusumo One Stop Border Post Customs and Immigration (-2.378747,30.778526) as the name suggests, is a one-stop border crossing from Tanzania to Rwanda. This particular border crossing was mostly uneventful, but they did ask for the permit to bring live animals into Rwanda. We weren't aware of such a requirement, this was the first time anything like this had come up since the Southern African Customs Union. The customs official told us that he'd let us through this time but in future we were to visit the Department of Agriculture website and register with e-rabis. It would probably be unlikely that there would be a next time but we took note anyway. That night we stayed at the Urugo Women's Opportunity Centre. We had initially just stopped in for a coffee and to use their WiFi to book accommodation in Kigali, but something about the place just spoke to us and so we asked if it were possible to camp in their grounds. The entire site had a spectacular view of the valley. T...

We crossed from Zimbabwe on the seventh of August and no sooner were we in Zambia and Janells beloved GS was on a truck again, 250km to Lusaka where we could get assistance and parts. It was actually Stu who had broken down this time and after a few hours of tinkering on the roadside he discovered his fuel injector was broken. We decided to swap injectors around on the bikes and see if we could at least get to Lusaka. We probably got another 20km and then Janell's bike stopped (with Stu's faulty injector). Our travel angel sent us Matias. Matias saw that we had broken down and pulled over to see if he could be of assistance. He was returning from dropping off produce to a supermarket near the Zimbabwe border and his truck was empty, he quickly suggested that we load the bike into his truck and he take it to Lusaka where we'd find someone to make the repairs. A group of local guys helped us load the bike. Stu followed behind the truck with the dogs on board and late that night we arr...

We had honestly intended to spend more time in Botswana but looking at the map we noticed that we'd be crossing National Parks if we crossed too late. We thought it would be unlikely we'd be allowed to cross with dogs. We also felt that we weren't going to anything particularly new staying in Botswana and so we after only one night we decided to forfeit our 30 day vehicle tax and head for the border. We knew that there would be difficulties getting fuel in Zimbabwe so we filled all of our tanks, including the Touratech long range tanks which would mean that we'd easily make it to Zambia before needing fuel again. Exiting Botswana went smoothly, cleared immigration and exited the bikes without issue. There was about 2km of road between the two border posts, not completely uncommon and not the furthest we'd travelled between landports but is always indicative of the cooperation between the countries. Naively, we'd thought that because the Zimbabwe economy was failing and that they had...

We'd had issues entering South Africa from Namibia due to the dogs, but it was easy enough to overcome. What was needed was an animal import permit. Once issued this document could be used to import an animal into any of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) countries and was valid for 30 days. Getting the animal import permit in Namibia had been straight forward. We visited the state vet near the South African border and they checked our paperwork and produced the permit on the spot. But our stay in South Africa had extended beyond the 30 days, which meant we'd need a new permit to continue travelling through the customs union. Obtaining the permit in South Africa proved to be a little more bureaucratic than Namibia. We visited a local vet who explained that they would normally conduct a preliminary examination and then send off the documents to Johannesburg for the permit with a turnaround time of up to 3 weeks. The local vet suggested that if we had time we could walk the doc...