Hi all, my husband and I will be heading off on 2 bikes 1 July around Australia. We are considering taking our dog with us - anyone aware of the limitations with this? Also any other input would be appreciated. We have just received the Achievable Dream series and about to start watching them and putting a plan in place. We thought six months might get us a reasonable trip?
We will do the north first to hopefully avoid the wet season, although the weather is rather out of sorts here at the moment.

I would not take the dog, and I am a animal lover in fact I will probably end up with a side car for them. However there are other issues when travelling with pets, I think you spend the entire time pet sitting and worried about them instead of enjoying the trip yourself. On a trip like that you are better off being footloose and fancy free than have a BOWOW chained to your heel. !
Think long and hard about the reasons for doing it (unfortunately the dog is not going to enjoy the experience as much as you want it to)

Cheers
Paul

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Hi all, my husband and I will be heading off on 2 bikes 1 July around Australia. We are considering taking our dog with us - anyone aware of the limitations with this? Also any other input would be appreciated. We have just received the Achievable Dream series and about to start watching them and putting a plan in place. We thought six months might get us a reasonable trip?
We will do the north first to hopefully avoid the wet season, although the weather is rather out of sorts here at the moment.
Hey there,
Good to here about your trip. My name is jesse i am an aussie living in melbourne. I would love to help in any way i can, i have seen abit of oz and have local knowledge in certain areas. I would love australia for touring (by bike ecspecially) if i was from another country. Six months will get you a great trip, you will be able to see a huge amount, some it will be a bit testing depending on where you want to go, given the size, but you can see some amazing things. Our floods in queenland (north east state) and the current cyclone have done some damage but by the time you get here you will be able to ride it all.
You will find that a dog really is "a mans best friend" in australia (even more so in the outabck) however i have to agree with the previous post. This trip with your loved puppy will not be be as nice for either party as hoped.
If you want to know anthing let me know. I could be a bit more helpfull if i knew more about your trip e.g are you camping alot, what you want to see and do, your bike and limitations, where you will start and so on.
Hope your planning goes well.
jesse

Daydreamer,
I think that in Vic it is now illegal to carry a dog on a bike.

Could be wrong, but they changed the law a couple of years ago. Dogs in utes have to be restrained as well.

Cheers from Oz.

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In your location you have Mackay Qld. Where is the dog coming from? ie is it overseas?

If yes then you will have Australian Quarantine for the animal that could last up to 3 months depending on whether the dog has had full battery of tests and is 'chipped' in home country. Australia has very restrictive importation laws for animals and the minimum amount of time an animal is required to stay in Quarantine (at your expense) is 30 days.

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We are living in Mackay Qld and the dog is part of the family. Looks like the dog may have to board for the 6 months, as others mentioned I don't think it is her dream to see the country on the back of a bike. It will more likely restrict our trip.

We are thinking of doing Mackay, Darwin, Broome then head down the coast of WA, head to SA, up the middle then back down through Vic and over to Tasmania before heading back up the East Coast. Any thoughts or places of interest? At the moment the plan is tar roads and six months.

Tasmania is a must, so is the Great Ocean Road from Geelong to Port Augusta. If you're going to WA then all of the South West WA in a triangle from Perth to Albany to Margaret River is fantastic although some of the best roads are dirt. You won't forget the valley of the giants, well worth the visit.

I'm from NSW so the Blue Mountains, is fantastic. There is also a really nice bit of tarmac joining the Hunter Valley with Windsor, it's the old Great North Road. Before there was a ferry or a bridge to cross the Hawkesbury River, this was the main inland route. Scenic and has great bendy bits

I personally love the Snowy mountains in Southern NSW and what is termed brown mountain. Look it up, trust me you won't be disappointed. It has stuning scenery quite similar to Thunderbolts way in Northern NSW.

In Qld, there are many great rides in the sunshine coast hinterland. Malaney comes to mind but a bit further south you also have beautiful rides. Actually the best rides on the east coast are all about 100-200kms inland following the Great Dividing Range.

Once you've got a more detailed itinerary, post it up and we'll help you with some more details.

All in all it should be a fantastic trip dog or no dog.

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TurboCharger + Francois (our BMW R1200gs) '07
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Here's the part of the vic road rules that changed:

• an animal between the rider and the handlebars (working farmers exempt for 500 metres on a road).

So it should be ok, just not on the tank!

This is the link to the rest vic road rules for motorbikes:
Motorbikes : VicRoads

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I don't get it... you live in Queensland. Why don't you phone your local police and ask them?

Probably because McKay is not Queensland and Queensland is not Australia...

IMHO your dog should be able to travel in a sidecar without issue...let's face it, it's a called a sideCAR and the same rules apply as for a car so where's the problem. Trying to explain that logic to a boy in blue might be another issue.

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There's a guy who does FarRides (minimum 1000 km in 24 hours, see FarRiders ™ Iron Butt Association) with his border collie in a plastic kennel which has a hole cut in the roof so the dog can stand with it's head out if it wants to. The kennel is bolted to the rear rack of the bike. I guess the roof must be hinged somehow. The dog wears a harness with a handle on the back so it can be lifted up into the kennel.

When I saw them on a ride 6 months ago the dog was obviously loving it. So it can be done.

If you are interested I think I might be able to track down his identity and email address.

Another point to remember is that having a dog will exclude you from a whole lot of places - depending on the breed (alsatians and others)- I think farmers can still shoot on sight in South Australia.

National Parks are all excluded even if the dog is on a lead - I've read about people with campervans having the dogs confiscated from inside the camper by over zealous park rangers - plus horrible fines. Bear in mind that a lot of QUANGO employees have more authority to enter a vehicle/property than a police officer. You cant even drive through a nat park in QLD with a dog inside the vehicle - probably the same in other States.

About 95% of caravan parks wont allow animals.

If you join the CMCA (weblookup) they have a geowiki of free/paid camping spots Australia wide which include sites that embrace dogs. There is also Camps Australia (version whatever) that has plenty of free overnight spots, well worth the investment in what you save on camp site fees. Downside of the guides is that you tend to travel between "dog friendly" sites rather than travel to see the country.

Thanks all for the input, Deolali - would be interested in finding out about the plastic kennel.

I have found his name and that of his dog (Kipper) and have sent him a personal message through the FarRiders website asking for his contact details. I'll PM them to you when he replies.