Georgia 🇬🇪

by Jeff Gunn | Nov 16, 2025 | Asia

For much of the 20th century Georgia was part of the Soviet Union, but like all its other former component parts, Georgia broke free ( or should I say, “ free again” – it had a short lived period of independence after the Ottomans and before the Soviets ). Since 1991 it’s been ( trying to ) chart its own course but the Russian influence is still evident- lots of Russian business here, Russian tourists and Russian language ( still widely spoken by older Georgians ).

Our entry point was the Black Sea coastal city of Batumi ( scene of much foreign meddling in Georgian affairs ) which has just exploded in size – an almost Las Vegas feel in parts with gambling a very big business here. Beyond that, some other more historic sights, as well as a fascinating old town, great restaurant scene, long coastal boulevard and the most interesting contemporary  sculpture we’ve seen anywhere ( see below ).

Batumi was, of course, our first introduction to Georgian driving, something we had heard much about and been warned of. It’s true, they are absolutely shocking drivers and we would spend much of our time here watching out for our own safety. We were not surprised at all during our stay in Batumi to witness a pedestrian get hit ( and likely killled ) – the sound of the impact was just  nauseating. They drive extraordinarily fast and very recklessly.

From Batumi we headed east towards the capital, Tbilisi, but made several very interesting stops along the way; Kutaisi ( reportedly one of the longest continuously inhabited cities in the world ), Tsukaltubo ( an old Soviet spa town favoured by none other than Stalin himself), Gori ( Stalin’s birthplace and site of the impressive Stalin museum ), and Mshteke, one of the more interesting small towns in Georgia. We enjoyed the wild camping options along the way, bumped into several other overlanders and, most notably, crossed paths again with Andy and Serena ( #rightfoottravel ) who we had camped with in Hachinoe in Japan way back in May, 2024. They had since driven west across Russia and the Stan’s, on to Georgia, while we of course had continued east across the US and Europe. Small world !

Many travellers had talked up Tbilisi as a great spot for a few days and after the visit we’d absolutely agree – really enjoyed the history, the vibe, the contrast of historic and modern and just taking in its very many sights ! Managing to camp right downtown made for great accessibility ( if perhaps a bit more noise at night than was ideal 😳).

Considered briefly visiting Armenia ( just an hour away ) but passed in the end deciding to take in more of Georgia- a route which took us back west towards Turkey, allowing visits to the famous rock monastery of Vardzia and finally the impressive fortress at Akhaltsikhe.

From Akhaltsikhe we’d expected a very smooth crossing back into Turkey – were we in for a shock, one of the most frightening border crossings we’d experienced, anywhere. On leaving Georgia they separated us ( driver with car, passenger through another area, during which time we lost contact with each other ). The Georgians decided they did not like my vehicle registration docs ( in their defence they do look incredibly hokey ) and delayed me while Googling “British Columbia Vehicle Registration image” just to confirm that what I had was actually legit ! Friendly, but nervewracking. Then, the Turk’s followed suit ( the fact that they already had images of my registration on file from our previous visit did not seem to matter ). The Customs lady spoke practically no English and I found myself separated from Lois again, with no Georgian data left to drive my translation app and this remote  border post being well out of range of Turkish cell towers.  Exasperating! Oh, that, and the Customs officer repeating over and over that I had a “Problem……problem…..( stares into my eyes now )…..BIG problem !”. Ultimately she allowed me to speak into her personal phone translation app whereupon I ultimately managed to convince her to Google “British Columbia vehicle registration image” at which point she finally relented and passed me through. Absolute mental torture – all because of the flimsy documents we get in BC ( unlike any of the more official looking European documents these folks are familiar with ). We are beginning to dread crossing borders it has happened now so often. A little more on our ongoing vehicle registration challenges, below in this week’s “In Case You Wondered” segment.

So, while Georgia ( save for the crazy drivers ) was great, the “farewell” experience was no fun at all, taking some of the gloss of what was otherwise a very interesting place. With the exception of the road to Ushguli we did manage to see all the attractions in Georgia that we’d planned to ( the advantage of it being a very small country ) . Sadly, there were landslide risks and heavy snowfall forecast on the Ushguli route and, as appealing as it was to drive that famous road it wasn’t a place we wanted to get stuck. On our list should we return.

Till next week….

In Case You Wondered:

Q: Any unusual surprises that come up which you did not anticipate or plan for while overlanding ?

A: There have been a few little ones but by the far the biggest, and certainly most unanticipated one relates to our vehicle ownership documents – and it’s VERY specific to our province ( British Columbia ) in Canada.

Vehicle registration in BC is indefinite ( once registered a vehicle remains legally registered to that owner until sold, when ownership is transferred – there is no annual ‘renewal’ common in many other jurisdictions). Because BC vehicle registration and insurance details BOTH appear on the same document, when you take your vehicle abroad one allows the insurance component to lapse since in BC the insurance only covers North America. Here’s where it gets tricky – to the uninitiated it can appear that the all important REGISTRATION has lapsed, when in fact it has not. It never does. Customs officials invariably go looking for a registration expiry date, (sometimes pointing to the expired insurance ) – it’s this lack of an “expiry” date has caused consternation in some places and always requires an explanation. Making matters worse, the provincial vehicle registration authority in BC is known as “ICBC”, short for the “Insurance Corporation of British Columbia” (they offer insurance services as well as registration). In many countries, prospective insurers (seeking to confirm firstly that our vehicle is currently registered in our home country ) hand our vehicle documents back saying “This is insurance, I need your registration”. It’s become a standing joke. Only it’s not at all funny. It’s become so ridiculous that, before we left Canada this time, I actually paid over $300 to insure the vehicle ( minimum liability only ) JUST TO GET ( what looks like to foreign customs people ) A “VALID” REGISTRATION DATE !!!! Insurance, which, in Europe, is totally useless. It’s truly the theatre of the absurd. More than once we have wished our provincial government could have just chosen a more logical name like Motor Transport Authority, or Department of Motor Transport, or Department of Motor Vehicles (common elsewhere) and clearly separated registration from insurance ( as the most nations do ) to make our life easier !

These two recurring issues, compounded by the fact that our BC ownership documents do not look particularly “official” compared to many other nations, forced me to ask ICBC for something more “official looking” on their letterhead to back up my claims that I am indeed the rightful owner, it is currently registered, and that in BC registrations really do not expire ( see document below ). It helps, but we still get some wary looks ! Of all the things we planned for when we started overlanding, this was NOT one of them !

Turkey: Week 2

by Jeff Gunn | Nov 10, 2025 | Asia

Leaving  Tuz Golu ( salt lake ) last week, the planned route took us further east – first stop, one of the crown jewels in anyone’s Turkey itinerary – magical Cappadocia, centred on the town of Goreme.

The surreal landscape of Goreme and surrounding area has been captivating visitors for centuries. Throw in perfect weather and it could not have been a better time to visit.  The town itself has become extremely touristy but the quirky landscape one comes to enjoy remains unchanged.  I don’t think we’ve had a more memorable sunrise than the one at Goreme, watching as over 100 hot air balloons slowly lifted into the air. Postcard stuff !

Our route zigged and zagged a little in the next few days – convinced by a French couple about the merits of seeing the famous Whirling Dervish ritual in Konya, we turned southwest to be there for the all important Saturday night performance.  It’s the most original one, given that the Sufi Islamic sect that started it is here, and while there was definitely a spiritual aura to the whole performance, one must understand it is a worship ritual, rather than any form of entertainment. A lot of time where not much happened besides chanting while the dervishes twisted for almost an hour. Konya itself was also a pleasant surprise both for its interesting old town and historic mosque plus the fact that we spent a couple of days with a lovely Swiss couple we met there.

South of Konya lies Mersin, a major port and busy Mediterranean city on Turkey‘s south coast . Its warmth was a nice change from the cooler weather we experienced inland, but our main purpose in visiting was to look into vehicle shipping which was a possibility we had to consider after Turkey. We connected with Mohamed and his assistant who we put to work looking at various options for us. The challenge, he said, was that our vehicle’s height meant that we required a RoRo solution and with fewer route options on such ships he’d need some time to find a “creative” solution. Fingers crossed they can come up with something that works and is affordable.

Given that nothing was immediately available, and Mohamed said there was no rush, we decided there was now time to explore further into eastern Turkey – with Georgia so close and highly recommended by several other travellers, we decided to take a fairly direct route from Mersin on Turkey’s Mediterranean side up to Trabzon on the Black Sea coast over the next few days. The added bonus of going to Georgia was that we could then swing back into Turkey in its south east corner and explore Turkey’s more traditional region in the following weeks. If we needed to rush back to Mersin, we still could. It was just fairly consistent driving, some nice wild camping, but interesting changes in season and landscape on the eastward run. In a few days we were on the eastern of the Black Sea, and at this point, almost in Georgia – more details on that in the upcoming blog.

Till next week…

In Case You Wondered:

Q: What does a bad day on the road look like ?

A: I can assure our readers we have them ! The ABS brake disconnection fiasco in sub-zero temperatures well north of the Arctic Circle in Norway was probably the scariest so far. That said, we have periodic minor crises on a more regular basis. One such occurred as we were leaving Greece. I don’t mean to spoil the ending but this one really stinks ( you’ve been warned ).

Camped by a beach I’d noticed a fellow camper had found a sewer drain opening near the toilet block and emptied his cassette toilet into it. Perfect, I thought, we needed to empty ours as well so I waited till he finished and took ours over to empty it. I first moved the rather heavy concrete cover just far enough to allow for the cassette spout to fit in ( and minimize the obvious odor that emanated from the sewage, visible about 6 feet below the cover ). For reasons I cannot explain, on this occasion I “spun” the cap off our cassette spout, rather than carefully holding it and twisting it off as I normally would. The cap is a CRITICAL apart of the toilet system – it keeps all the waste ( and what would otherwise be odor ) sealed inside the toilet tank; no cap, no functioning toilet.

Murphy’s Law then kicked in. The cap I had spun off the toilet spout next popped off the spout, bounced on the ground, rolled over to the resting concrete cover and then……dropped into the narrowest of openings and INTO the cesspit of sewage below ! 

Two things immediately struck me – how I would possibly be able to recover it, and how I would explain to Lois exactly how I had managed to do it. I won’t say exactly how she responded but let’s just say it was predictable. Abuse over, we now had to figure out a solution, our cap  sitting 6-7 feet ( 2 metres ) below the surface, literally in a tank of toilet waste. 

I had to almost completely remove the concrete cover to get visibility and to have any hope of recovering it, but managed to do that. By some miraculous stroke of good fortune the cap had landed on its top side and its shape meant that it was actually floating on top of the sewage, not submerged in it. Since finding a replacement cap anywhere nearby would have been impossible, every means possible had to be applied to recovering it. What was needed was a long, stiff item to which some kind of cup could be attached so that I could lower it down, get it underneath the floating toilet cap and scoop up our cap – all without disturbing the cap and sinking it, without taking on too much ( heavy ) waste in the process and having the cup separate from the recovery item as I pulled it up…..and without me tumbling in to an open sewer chamber. Some creative thinking would be needed.

Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. Scouring the trees behind the beach I came upon a tree limb long enough to do the job. It appeared strong enough as well and with branches removed I could get it in the sewer tank. Now for some type of “collecting” cup. Fortunately, just a week before we’d purchased two plastic kitchen bowls and the smaller of the two seemed like it might just be big enough to catch the toilet cap. It was obviously now going to be a very “disposable” bowl.  While my tool kit is not large, I always carry duct tape and had enough left on the roll to securely tape said plastic bowl to the end of the tree limb. While the toilet cap was light, the process of scooping it up ( if by some miracle it actually worked ) would fill the bowl with sewage – this might be trickier than I thought.

While this was a MacGyver solution if ever there was one, I’d gone from absolute despair to a quiet confidence that I could actually recover our precious toilet spout cap. Now, regular readers will note that anything toilet related is a “Jeff” job and since this little mishap had been all my fault, Lois literally washed her hands of any part in the planned recovery process – what I did not know was that while I was floundering around trying to “build” a recovery tool, estimate distance to the cap, guess at the strength of the duct tape-mounted bowl, and adjust a head lamp so I could see what I was doing, she was actually taking a few pics. Below are those shots.

The good news is that the toilet cap had remained upright and floating while more waste flowed in ( the nearby toilet was actively being used 😷). Lowering my tree limb down carefully I was able to dip the attached plastic bowl in sewage water beside the toilet cap in such a way that the cap spilled into the bowl. Perfect ! Now I had to tip it so that the liquid waste spilled out thus ensuring the overladen bowl would not break away from the branch. Very slowly I managed to do it without losing the toilet cap in the process – in just a few minutes I had the toilet cap recovered, and a feeling of  such absolute delight I simple cannot explain here.

Toilet cap then throughly cleaned ( soaked, bleached, and washed repeatedly ! ), recovery items trashed and myself showered off, we had a functional toilet again.

 While that’s an example of a bad day ( or at least bad situation ) on the road, it was great to have a happy ending 😊.

Turkey : Week 1

by Jeff Gunn | Nov 2, 2025 | Asia

As for Greece there was definitely a travel plan we had for Turkey and it boiled down to the same strategy – spend most of our time exploring new ( to us ) areas, predominantly in Turkey’s exotic but generally less explored eastern region, but also revisit a few old favourites from our last time here ( way back in 1990 ).
First up ( coming overland from Greece ) were two old “faves” – the Gelibolu (Gallipoli) peninsula, and that most enchanting, exotic, and historic of all Turkish cities – Istanbul.

To all Australians and New Zealanders the name “Gallipoli” ( Gelibolu in Turkish ) is etched in the public consciousness- while the two countries were ultimately among the victors in WW1, this campaign, fought against all odds in impossible conditions was unsuccessful. It was, however, our baptism of fire as a new nation and the gallantry of our young Aussie and Kiwi troops is remembered faithfully on Anzac Day ( April 25 ) every year ( just as Armistice Day is elsewhere on November 11). To Aussies and Kiwis it’s very sacred ground and (somewhat like Muslims to Mecca),  those who can certainly try to make the pilgrimage to visit it. It’s now a quiet, peaceful place but it was not hard to imagine the bloody battles that took place here 110 years ago.

From Gallipoli, Istanbul was an easy drive along the Dardanelles, a narrow sea lane that splits Istanbul in two and happens to separate the the European continent from Asia. It’s where the Black Sea narrows and pours into the Aegean and has been the scene of many conquests over the millennia – empires have fought to control its strategic location( indeed, it’s what Gallipoli was all about ). Unsurprising then perhaps that Istanbul today still remains a real crossroads of people’s, cultures, and religions. Just standing on the Golden Horn one can look around and soak it all in – it truly offers an assault on the senses like few other cities. It’s the city that was for centuries known as Constantinople ( a little trivia for you 😊).

After leaving Istanbul ( and technically crossing into Asia ) it was a couple of long driving days out to Central Anatolia.  Much of it rather dull and not particularly scenic but an unexpected bonus was a delightful stop at Tuz Golu, Turkey’s famous salt lake. While it does not hold a candle to the Salar de Uyuni in  Bolivia (certainly not in size ) it’s nonetheless an impressive sight, easily accessible from the highway on the way to Cappadocia ( our next destination ). Enjoyed our time there with a French couple we had met. Bonus – the very friendly folks managing the site allowed us all to camp there overnight – a great place to watch a beautiful Anatolian sunset and sunrise !

Till next week….

In Case You Wondered:

Q:

Exactly who does what while you are on the road ?

A:

Lois: navigates, does route planning, photography and videos ( especially while driving ), scanning the iOverlander and/or Park4Night apps for nightly park-ups, dinner prep. Reviews blog/photos before publishing each week.

Jeff: drives, writes and edits the blog/IG posts, makes Lois coffee in bed EVERY morning ( 😉 ), does vehicle related work, empties cassette toilet ( always, always considered a “man” job ! ), does logistical work on routes ( shipping/visa needs ), liases with other Overlanders for tips/research etc.

While there is the odd debate on who gets the better deal this split seems to work best for us 😊.