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New Zealand Encompassed 2023 tour blog – Part 1
Kia Ora. Approaching the half way point of our inaugural Compass Expeditions, New Zealand Encompassed tour, we have been blessed with some beautiful weather allowing us to fully enjoy the motorcycle roads New Zealand is famous for. A group of 15 we have riders and pillions joining the tour from Australia, Canada, USA, Germany and …
Ultimate South America 2023, a riders perspective…
Ultimate South America 2023, from the riders perspective… live vicariously through our guests Rex & Sally from Beyond Tassie on the Ultimate South America tour…
Africa – The Final Week
We can’t quite believe it’s here, the final week, after 4 months researching the Balkans & Africa, it’s simply too immense to put into words so a lousy blog will have to do!!!! Crossing into Zimbabwe we overnighted on the shores of the immense Lake Kariba, one of the largest man-made lakes on earth, and …
Africa – Week 8
Crossing the equator, we eventually made it into downtown Kampala, with possibly the worst traffic, outside of the Western Ring Road, in Melbourne, that I have ever seen, the joint was utter chaos. We scrambled up a dirt track, wondering where we would end up, until we reached the gates of the superb Latitude 0 …
Africa – Week 7
Leaving Mbala we drove north through the Tongwe Forest Reserve, this was the Central Africa from my distant memories of 30 years ago, a thin red dirt track that wound its way through a verdant green forest, we eventually reached the spectacularly located Hilltop Resort in Kigoma. Before retiring to the Hilltop, we couldn’t miss …
Africa – Week 5 & 6
Our research trip has been so action-packed time got away from us, add this to the fact that we are travelling in a VERY remote part of Africa with limited WIFI and we suddenly found ourselves two weeks since our last post, so here is two weeks roiled into one. Our last days in Zimbabwe …
Africa – Week 4
As I sit here, writing the next blog, overlooking the Okavongo River in Namibia where children are playing on the bank on the other side of the river, in Angola, I can’t help but be in awe at the immensity of Africa, the adventure and ever-changing experiences this epic continent provides. What feels like a …
Africa – Week 3
Winding our way south we reached the southernmost tip of the African continent and the meeting point of the Indian & Atlantic oceans at Cape L’argulhas. The seas were pounding with a huge swell, you could see a shelf, a remnant, of the Africa continent disappearing under that mighty swell, the remainder of the day …
Africa – Week 2
Whales in the morning – Elephants in the afternoon St Lucia is renowned for having hippos wander its streets, something I thought to be a bit like the myth that kangaroos bounce down the main streets in any city in Australia, but it is indeed true with the locals being surprised at my cynicism. We …
Africa – Week 1
We hit the tarmac with a thud that awoke me from my partial slumber, after an overnight flight from London to Johannesburg. It was off the plane into a taxi and over to collect the Compass Expeditions owned Toyota Landcruiser support vehicle that will be our home for the next 3 months. We are currently …
Spain, Portugal & Morocco 2022 Tour Blog – week 2
Leaving Marrakesh we were over half way through the tour but with plenty of highlights and wonderful riding ahead. Soon after leaving Marrakesh, we were riding into the Atlas Mountains again and we had lunch at the beautiful Ouzzound waterfalls, some 10 kms off the main road. Today we were celebrating a birthday of one …
Med to the Balkans research trip – week 3
Our 3rd and final week saw us entering the storybook world of Dubrovnik, a fabled walled city on the Adriatic coastline. This UNESCO listed city left us in no doubt why Warner Bros chose this location for the renowned Game of Thrones series. Walking the 2-kilometre-long city walls offered stupendous views of the old city …
Med to the Balkans research trip – week 2
We kicked off week two leaving our 5-star hotel at Livorno with a drive down through the stunning region of Tuscany, a superb landscape of centuries old wineries and cypress lined driveways at the end of which lay grandiose villas, the scene was magnificent and followed the path of the ancient Romans known as the …
Spain, Portugal & Morocco 2022 Tour Blog
Felix and I led the inaugural Spain, Portugal and Morocco tour in 2019 and it was also one of the last Compass Expeditions tours to run before the onset of the dreaded Covid. Three years later it was time to run this magical tour again and knowing what was ahead, we were very excited. With …
Med to the Balkans research trip – week 1
Endless delays, baggage issues, a good dose of jet lag and being bitten by an overexcited hotel dog couldn’t dampen our spirits as the plane touched down at the Franjo Tudman Airport on the outskirts of the Croatian capital, Zagreb. It had been three years since we had completed our last research trip and since …
On The Road – True North Alaska (Pt. 4)
As we head south towards Chena Hot Springs crossing the mighty Yukon again and tackling the Atigun pass, this time through an Arctic storm, we gradually feel the Alaskan summer sun on our backs as it provides a much welcome relief to the harsher Arctic conditions we just experienced. In Chena we have the opportunity …
On The Road – True North Alaska (Pt. 3)
Now we head north to fulfil a bucket list achievement of many who go on this tour. We are heading as far north as you can go in the USA. The destination is Prudhoe Bay Dead Horse Alaska; high above the Arctic Circle, a place very few are ever likely to visit due to its …
On The Road – True North Alaska (Pt. 2)
After departing Anchorage with anticipation and excitement we headed south to a small shipping village called Homer where we stayed a couple of nights. The scenery along the way was spectacular with the shoreline of the Cook Inlet on one side and the 3,000 ft mountains of the Chugach State Park on the other. …
On The Road – True North Alaska (Pt. 1)
Not one, not two, but THREE of the core team from Compass HQ here in Melbourne Australia are currently out on the highways and byways of Alaska in the USA – and they’re having the absolute time of their lives. Ben (Compass Director) had this to report from the first few days: It’s been a …
Like a Phoenix from the ashes….
Finally – The news you have all been waiting for. On the 11th March 2020 the WHO declared Covid-19 a global pandemic and by June 23rd, we announced the closure of Compass Expeditions after 13 of the most incredible years. Compass Expeditions took the very early decision to fully refund all deposits for all future tours, …
The Ross McKeand Memorial ride and reunion event – Jindabyne – March 2020
By Duncan Bennett. Rydges Resort, scene of the 2020 Compass Expeditions Reunion. After an unpack, it was off to the bar to greet old mates and meet other Compass ride veterans. This event attracts people from far and wide so there are about as many boring moments as toilet paper rolls in the local Woollies. A …
Compass Expeditions – COVID-19 Update.
Dear Valued Customers, Whoever said it would be problematic to run an international tour company was spot on but who would have ever planned for something like COVID 19? These are clearly testing times for the global community, and especially so for small businesses with the travel industry being particularly hard hit. It was around …
Asian Overland 2020 Road Report – Week #5 – Back into Thailand
By Jerry Cook I don’t think anyone in the group really was ready to leave Myanmar. We were enjoying this country immensely. After 11 days, with the last few having been some of the best riding of the trip so far, it was time to cross the Mai Sai border and enter the infamous Golden Triangle region …
Asian Overland 2020 Road Report – Week #4 – More Myanmar
By Jerry Cook Prior to the expedition, nobody in the group really knew what to expect of Myanmar. It was a bit of an unknown. Tourism has only been encouraged by their government since 1992 and really hadn’t opened up to travellers until the general elections in 2010 when a civilian government was installed. It’s not a …