INFO FOR COSSACK CLUB

Howdy doody Cossack Club members.
We see there is much confusion about the name of our blog (Wogbikes on Tour). Let us explain -
Our email address has been 'wogbikes' for many, many years (because we have Italian motorcycles) and everyone knows us by this name. It was therefor appropriate to name our blog 'Wogbikes-on-Tour'. Hope that answers that one...
We will explain the bikes details once we on our way....big brother stuff...!!!
As for the tail-lights the bike never had any insitu and the 'square' type were put on for registration purposes.

THURSDAY 2nd JULY (KYIV CUSTOMS BROKER)

THURSDAY 2nd JULY 2009



In Paul's words -

I arrived in Kyiv 8.30am, right on time. I made my way to the front of the Station and Alex calls (the Kyiv Customs Broker). It's difficult as his English is limited. Alla calls and says go back to the train and wait beside carriage 5. I go back but the train has gone...!!!

Alex calls and asks can I see McDonalds? All I can see is a church. Alex works out I'm at the rear entrance and after 15 minutes he finds me. We go in his car to the 'Auto Man' for the document.

After 45 minutes we see the 'Auto Man' and he stamped a document. I am sort-of feeling joy but it turns out it's authority to go to the next place...!!!

After 30 minutes driving we arrive at the Polytechnic (Uni) and find a small office with three ladies in it. After Alex shows the honcho the documents they ask does it need spares. I said "Da" (about 90 times). They then deem the black and white photo's to be on too thin a paper and need to be colour...!!! WHAT...!!! We are directed to the Uni's photocopy centre where Alex puts his flashcard in only to discover the format is wrong! I produce two colour A4 copies I have and Alex is wrapt, he was getting VERY concerned. We get them copied on to photo paper, four copies of each...!!!

We return to the office with the three ladies and pick up a stamped document and 'stamped' photo's of the bike (all 8 of them). IS THIS THE DOCUMENT...??? No, it's not! We must now return to the original 'Auto Man' for the next stage. It's now 1300 hours and Alex drops me off in town and says he will be back at 1500 as he needs to go to the Customs Service which I presume is for something else.

I wander up to the 'Auto Mans' office at the agreed time of 1500 hours. My phone rang and Alex was already inside so I decided to go in. The guard had other ideas...!!! Alex came down after five minutes and said the 'Auto Man' requires full copies of everything...AGAIN...??? So we jumped into the car and went 28 kilometers in heavy traffic to Alex's house/apartment. He told me to wait in the car for 10 minutes and half-an-hour later he emerged with all. We drove the 28 kilometers back to town in the same heavy traffic!

We went to the 'Auto Mans' office but were told to wait as it was 'drinking time' (Vodka)...!!! The 'Auto Man' must issue the documents at his discretion...!!! By this time I have worried every bone in my body to bits because it ALL hinges on this! After a while the 'Auto Man' ushered us in to another office away from the grog and proceeded to sort through the reams of papers and associated copies. He was laughing with Alex so is that a good sign? Then he asked in broken English was the bike to go to Australia (I thought 'here it comes') and said "Yes". He asked me "Why this model", and then said "Exotic?" I said, "Da, da, da", then with only minutes to go before knock-off time he signed and stamped all. I FINALLY GOT THE DOCUMENTS. Strangely enough I didn't feel anything! I think I was beyond that...!!!

Alex took me to the train station and booked the ONE and ONLY seat to Odessa leaving at 0023 hours, six hours away.

Oksana and Alla (in Odessa) were informed and fingers crossed the remaining document to obtain will be a mere formality (hhmmm, perhaps I shouldn't say that...!!!)

This process cost heaps, a bit for everyone. No receipts are issued so imagine it doesn't go through the government books. Imagine THAT procedure!

TWO WORKING DAYS TO GO BEFORE WE HAVE TO DEPART UKRAINE...

Alex and the 'Auto Man'. Which one's been drinking the MOST Vodka...???

WEDNESDAY 1st JULY 2009 (PREPARE to go to KYIV)

WEDNESDAY 1st JULY 2009



Following yesterdays news all we could do is W-A-I-T for Alla's phone call to indicate whether or not we can obtain a 'Historical Value and Cultural Significance' exemption for the bike. Talk about ridiculous ... but it was about to get a whole lot more ridiculous...!!! Beyond belief...!!!



We waited and waited and waited....actually, we wanted the call to come sooner rather than later but we knew deep down that it may not come at all - today anyway! But it DID come.





Paul needed to get down to the Customs Brokers office (Oksana & Alla's) early afternoon. The necessary procedure involves getting a 'warrant' (like a Stat Dec we hope) signed by a 'Notary', then this has to be faxed to Kyiv for someone to take all documents to the Cultural Office for consideration - EASY.

(Alla really IS that tall)

It was more than three hours before Paul returned to Hotel Zirka and he looked like he was in a state of shock...a state of numbness...a state of total disbelief...!!! We thought we were getting on top of 'expecting the unexpected' but the bureaucracy always beats us...hands down! WHAT's HAPPENING NOW...???


Speech eventually returned and Paul announced that he has to catch the 11.19pm train to Kyiv, arriving at 8.30am the following morning. WHAT...!!! As soon as the Notary realised Paul had an 'Australian Passport' (like they didn't know that a month ago...!!!) he explained that it will need to be translated from 'Australian' to Ukrainian and checked off with the entry visa's, etc. which can take up to two weeks. The alternative is catch the train to Kyiv and TRY and get the documents signed, stamped and handed over in person...!!! All this with NO guarantees that the request will be fulfilled...!!! SHIT.

Oksana and Alla were brilliant. Alla even drove Paul to the train station and left him to make the arrangements. After Paul explained the whole deal we both walked back to the train station to book an overnight ticket to Kyiv. Paul unsuccessfully attempted this task after Alla dropped him off - language and 'mental shock' being the barrier! We checked out the platform arrangement so it would be familiar later in the evening.





The train station looks more like a Parliament building on the outside and huge, magnificent halls on the inside - I guess to deal with the thousands of people that pass through its corridors each day.






We walked the long way home and stopped off at our 'local' for a beer, pizza and pasta. Paul is desperate for several large glasses of good red wine (to have some kind of normality) but wine here is VERY expensive and not all that good. Beer on the other hand is VERY cheap and good.


Paul checked all his documents about a hundred times, packed his bags and we walked back to the train and he was off. I stayed in Odessa - easier for everyone and everything.

And now we must wait another day .... time is running out ....

TUESDAY 30th JUNE 2009 (ODESSA CUSTOM BROKERS)

TUESDAY 30th JUNE 2009


We rested a bit in the morning after the disbelief of yesterdays news...the bit about the 'Historical Value and Cultural Significance' of the bike.

We had the address of where to go in order to get all this sorted but that was the simple part....the difficult part is actually finding said office.


We eventually found the Cultural Heritage office at 2.00pm (told you it wasn't easy to find) only to discover that it's the cultural centre for art (paintings and the like). Stop laughing you bastards...!!!
This building is hidden behind other imposing structures and opened up into an interesting courtyard with many sculptures. Felt like we were privy to a private art collection.

At least all this walking about took us past some other city icons to see, namely the Colonnade, part of the Vorontsov Palace, described as having wonderful views of the sea gulf. All we could see was a crappy old ship yard full of not-so-well-maintained ships - yes, wonderful views...!!!















And so the search was on again. We thought we'd find the Customs Brokers and get that process underway. That took another hour of searching. We found ourselves outside the large building but not one sign, one name plaque, or any clue as to where this office was. Turns out, the office we were after was around the back of this dark, imposing building, up a short lane-way, through a heavy old door, up some steps and there is was.....a plain brown door with not one indication of what was on the other side. How on earth we ever found it is a complete miracle.



OUR FATE LIES BEHIND THIS DOOR...!!!




We met Oksana CERGEEVNA, the lady Customs Broker who was to help us. And then the gorgeous, very tall blonde Alla came to our aid acting as interpreter. Both these ladies were lovely and seemed genuinely interested and helpful. Many phone calls were made and after an hour we were told that they need to contact someone in Kyiv at 10.00am tomorrow to find out more about the procedure involved! They will ring us tomorrow. This is not exactly what we wanted to hear!


Nothing for it than to forget about the whole situation and enjoy the afternoon. A bit hard when we know deep down this could take several days and if we can't get EVERYTHING organised by Monday (when the next ferry leaves) then...it's all not looking good.


We walked a different route home to take in more sights. Getting to know the city quite well now.

















I just love the imposing facades of the buildings with often the only clue as to what's in or behind them is when a gateway is open and you can see more of the private dwellings in the central courtyard that must be behind nearly every wall in the city. Met two cheeky young lads wandering about with their miniature horses demanding money for photo's of their horses. I wasn't about to give them anything - that's why the photo of the horses bums...!!!

MONDAY 29th JUNE 2009 (FERRY TICKETS & OTEL ZIRCA)

MONDAY 29th JUNE 2009

Big day today. We needed to get all documentation together in order to catch the ferry to Istanbul tonight. The ferry only sails once a week.

We had been given a sheet of information (in English) that told us the ferry office was in YELISAVETYNSKA Street which is on the northern end of the city fringe. YELISAVETYNSKA Street, by the way, is written in English for your benefit. The street signs themselves are written in Russian which posses another difficulty for us. I can read Russian but I am no quicker at it even after a months practice, but it does help in these situations! When we finally found the office (we did start early) we were told to go to the Port. That's funny, the Port gave us this address. And so, back to the Port it was... We did get to see many more street scenes as a result. The buildings are so old and often in decay. Grape vines grow up the walls and with the tree-lined streets and cobble-stoned roads it was all a picture.

Once there Paul lined up where ferry tickets are purchased but there were many people in front of him. Meanwhile I'd found an 'info buro' and discovered the customs offices were 2 floors down. We decided to investigate our motorcycle paperwork BEFORE purchasing ferry tickets.

We gave the customs officers all our relevant documentation and after much umm-ing and arrhh-ing, phone calls and looking puzzled we were told to wait. This was NOT unexpected...!!!

By now its lunch-time and I had to go back to our hotel and pack our bags as we were meant to be out of our room by midday. I was able to negotiate with the receptionist (via the computers translation program) to wait in our room till Paul returned, otherwise I'm sitting out on the street with the bike in the heat - something I wasn't looking forward to.

Paul stayed with customs and was eventually told that we DON'T have the correct paperwork to export the bike! First off, we need a 'Declaration to Export' (we knew that) and secondly, and more importantly we need some Government Department to advise as to the 'Historical Value and Cultural Significance' of the bike. WHAT...!!! You can all guess what Paul had to say about THAT...!!! But....we had to be nice...we don't have these documents - YET. And then we learn that it's a PUBLIC HOLIDAY and the relevant offices are closed. We are not sailing on tonight's boat! Bugger - it only sails once a week!

Paul returned at 2.30pm, a big frown on his face, we packed and left the hotel and then the search began for another place to stay. Where we had stayed was too expensive, the receptionist spoke no English (zilch) and we didn't like the feel of the place - it was absolutely beautiful, full of antiquities but sterile and without a human element. It would have been perfect for an old staid couple with no personality...!!! That's not us.

We were told of a hotel called ZIRCA and went in search. We were given the area but as usual, after parking up and Paul searching on foot, he eventually found it in a different location! I stayed with the bike while Paul went in to check it out. It looked okay on the outside and it was close to many things of interest. He came out laughing and said "we're in" but the next problem was finding a secure place for the bike. We've been advised not to leave it on the street but everyone here says "leave it on the street, it will be okay, this is Odessa". We'd rather the safer option, judging by the fact that EVERYONE lives behind tall fences and gates and everything is locked or security coded.

Paul went off in search and again I stayed with the bike and luggage. It seemed like hours before he returned, maybe because I was so tired I could hardly stay awake. The longer he was gone the more concerned I was that he was having a difficult time finding somewhere. He eventually returned and sat down beside me and didn't say a word. I never said anything either...!!!

After a good 10 minutes he eventually said..."I can't speak yet"! We sat longer and eventually he started to yak again. This is all a result of the humidity, tiredness, problems in finding anything, the language difficulties and the bureaucracy crap we have to deal with. Paul had something to eat and drink and soon felt on top of it all again and said he'd found a secure underground car-park. Good, that means we can now move our stuff into the room. We didn't want to pay and then discover there was no-where for the bike!

Paul had been up to check out the rooms and laughed when he said he had a choice of two - one very small and one bigger. He checked out the small room and when he tried to open the door it would only open half way as it hit the bed - and that was the room, a bed between four walls. He then checked the 'bigger room' and found that to be okay. It was small but we had room for our gear, it had the all important fridge, it had air-conditioning and a bathroom. We didn't need any more than that. We were lucky, it also had a window. Most of the rooms are internal but after seeing some of them they had better 'views' than us because of the large palm-tree-beach scenes plastered on the walls!

We both immediately fell asleep and slept for about 2 hours. We then shifted the bike to the underground car-park which woke us up because we did what the locals do - we never wore our helmets. We only had to ride three blocks and then wander back - we didn't want to be carrying our bike gear. Paul was instructed NOT to go over one-mile-an-hour...!!! It is now dark, after 10pm and we wandered back in the warm evening breeze. We stopped in at an Italian Restaurant (of which there are hundreds) and enjoyed some pasta and salad. BUT, the evening was about to get a whole lot better when we found a little supermarket that sold MUESLI. Cereal seems to be non-existent here and we were missing our morning muesli immensely. The milk comes in little bags - for the life of me I can't work out the reasoning behind that. Once opened it is very hard to store. Everything else comes in plastic bottles or cartons - why doesn't milk?

Back to our room to work out the plan of attack for the coming days. We know documentation will take forever and we only have so many days left on our visa's - what would they do in the movies...???

UKRAINE loves us .... they don't want us to leave...!!!

SUNDAY 28th JUNE 2009 (IZMAIIL to ODESSA)

SUNDAY 28th JUNE 2009

We were on the road by 7.00am as had a l-o-n-g way to travel today (250 kilometers). Leaving Izmaiil we were amazed at the number of dogs roaming the streets, every street. We watched dog gangs running amuck last night but never expected to see lots more dogs at every corner.

'The HORS' has nearly done 1,300 kilometers now.

An hour up the road we just knew it was going to bucket rain - the clouds have a way of turning mid-morning into mid-night...!!! There was much lightning and thunder and the rain pelted down. An email from Bron (who's looking after our Wesley) reminded us of how much 'fun' we were having. I just kept repeating those words. We are having fun, we are having fun, we are having fun...!!!

We got drenched, even me who was hiding behind the torneau cover. Paul even considered pulling over as the lightning seemed to be coming down just in front off us. We soldiered on and eventually came out the other end and after some time even dried off.

Saw another stork nest, this time with three storks standing tall. Absolutely fascinated by them.

Paul stopped at a cafe-bar come auto-stop. We topped ourselves up and were finally able to check the tyre pressures. Tyre pressure hoses seem few and far between.






The interesting thing about our return journey is we had to ride through 7.5 kilometers of Moldova to get to Odessa. Funny (not) how they let us through this border crossing and not the far one. We learned that this section of Moldovian border is controlled by the Ukrainians and the Reni border is controlled by the Moldovans.

Further up the road Paul pulled into his favourite fuel station - WOG. He's been wanting to stop at one but we were always on the wrong side of the highway or not needing fuel when we saw one. Today was the day.

We arrived on the outskirts of Odessa at 1.00pm and at 1.05pm we were once again pulled over by the police - this time, with our new found knowledge, we were happy to stop (beats getting shot!) We just knew we'd be up for lots of money for one reason or another as there is still much confusion over the registration documents. And sure enough, the coppa reckons the bike is registered but not Paul. We do not understand the system here at all. It's been explained to us in many ways and each way makes things more confusing.

As luck would have it we got let off, with the second coppa sighing to the first (because we didn't understand what they wanted) and indicated to let us go. Who are we to argue? We had the bike fired up and we were out of there.

The bike ran okay today because most miles were done either in the wet or in cooler air. We know now that we can't ride the bike through Jordan and Egypt as it will melt the engine...!!!
We parked up in town and I was left to mind the gear while Paul went off in search of a place to stay. We needed to stay in the city centre as tomorrow we have urgent business trying to arrange tickets to Istanbul by ferry, sort registration and customs declaration to export the bike.

I soon became the subject of a photographer as I sat like an over-heated rag-doll in the side-car. My hair was everywhere, my face was red (travel weary) and I guess looked gorgeous as always. The specs were sitting down my nose as I continued reading my book. When the photographer got real close I gave him a big grin and he was wrapt. Probably the best photo of me ever taken and I'll never get to see it...!!!

We got a lovely apartment to stay in (thought we deserved it for one night), unpacked, Paul slept and I blogged. Late in the evening we wandered up the street to get something to eat and were amazed at the thousands of people wandering about. Odessa really is a fabulous city, stunning buildings, atmosphere plus, plus, plus and so much action. It's a full-on fashion parade 24/7. We even saw five stretched limo's cruising about town, each full of young women parading their goods through the sun-rooves. Then you would see the horse and carriage clip-clopping up the cobble-stoned roads reflecting a bygone era against a backdrop of ancient buildings. And all this at a constant temperature of high twenties. It was great to be back in Odessa and experience the city at night.

SATURDAY 27th JUNE 2009 (IZMAIIL to RENI and BACK)

SATURDAY 27th JUNE 2009

We left the truckies 'take-your-life-into-your-own-hands' overnight stop and were happy to be on our way early. The bike was running okay (meaning we weren't stranded 500 metres from the starting point) and life actually seemed good. We were leaving Ukraine today and were looking forward to the next set of challenges (a lie!). It was only 65 kilometers to the border yet that took us nearly three hours. Yes, the bike is still slow but the next problem to face seemed to be the road conditions. It was ROUGH which slowed us down even further. It seemed this whole section of land was the drainage pond for all the mountains in Moldova and Romania - mile after mile of wetlands. The road looked liked it was probably submerged a lot of the time. Today, though, it was dry - just terribly bumpy. Paul was fighting the side-car as he had to man-handle every corner. 'The HORS' struggled on regardless. We were aiming for RENI and once in the township followed the signs to the border. Sometimes these were only very small arrows nailed to a tree, sometimes there was nothing. Why this was a problem for us was because the road deteriorated to something like a goat track (complete with goats!). It was only the occasional large transport truck coming in the opposite direction that we guessed we were on the right track. Good to see the local council has our safety in mind though.....we were traveling at about 10 kph on the good sections because it was SO rough and then we'd find 'SPEED HUMPS'. Bloody hell - wonder what they were there for...??? And to think this was the main 'ring-road' around Reni! Very hard to photograph the huge holes as impossible to take photos and hang-on at the same time...!!! Have only managed to photograph the 'smooth' sections...!!!

And there it was....our ticket to the OTHER SIDE...the border. We had to purchase a green card (for insurance purposes) and with that done we decided to have something to eat before continuing on in to Romania. Who knows what lurks on THAT side...???

As we were allowed through one gate and head towards the other a 'REPUBLICA MOLDOVA' sign appeared. What's that doing at the Romanian border...???

With our passports and technical documents duly presented we were told to wait outside. Luckily for us there were seats and shelter from the sun. Even the bike was parked in the shade and thought the rest would do 'The HORS' good. We waited and waited. Then the customs bloke went to the quarantine bloke. This has to be a good sign. Then the words you don't want to hear echoed out LOUD and CLEAR....."There is a problem".

It turns out we weren't heading into Romania at all...!!! We were entering MOLDOVA. WHAT...!!! We had two maps and both showed this road leaving Ukraine and entering Romania. We took this route deliberately to avoid Moldova and here we are - right where we didn't want to be...!!! And it took two days to get here.

We figured we'd be able to get around it somehow. Romania was 9 kilometers up the road. A nine kilometer stretch of road was between us and the rest of our trip/misadventure...!!! We waited and waited, tried more smiling, tried bluffing our way through....."come on mate, it's only 9 kays..." But to no avail. It seems the customs people weren't happy as we didn't have the correct 'Customs Declaration to Export' and neither did we have an entry Visa. That's because we weren't going to Moldova. SHIT. We waited and waited to no avail. We ended up chatting with a uniformed fellow from Portugal who was there on some kind of 'mission'. He spoke reasonable English and explained if we were from any other country, then probably no worries, something could be arranged. Because we were from Australia there were no reciprocal arrangements between the two countries to help numbskulls from Sandfly in such situations!

We didn't believe him (well we did but didn't want to) and continued to 'harass' the customs officer. Then we heard an American accent and gravitated to it like bees to honey. It was great to speak even one sentence to someone who understood EVERYTHING we said and vice-versa. He suggested we try bribing the officer - he reckons it usually works. It'll either work or we'll rot in a dirty Moldovan gaol for the next 20 years! For the sake of nine kilometers we decided to try it. We saw the officers face soften and thought this just might work, but then he shook his head and it was a definite 'NO'. There was no misinterpreting the message.

When my camera was brought out the guards got agitated and were right on to me to put it away. No photographs allowed. I only wanted to photograph a farmer tossing his hay on to a cart in the field behind Passport Control. I then managed to get the photo through the toilet window. THIS IS MOLDOVA...
There are many horse and carts in this area and much farm and crop work is manually done. We often saw many people in the fields with their hoes taking care of the weeds between the crop.


There was nothing for it than to head back to Izmaiil. Shit, it's only 60 kilometers but it may as well have been 600...!!! The customs bloke reckoned we had to go back to Odessa to get correct papers. The next thing we had to face was we were in 'no-mans land' between Ukraine and Moldova. We only had ONE entry visa to Ukraine and used that flying in to Kyiv. Will they let us back in...??? Turns out - no problem.

We trudged the rough road back to Izmaiil stopping half-way along to rest the bike - and ourselves. This is where it's lucky I don't have to write a chapter on 'how the side-car broke off the bike and speared off into the wheat field coming to rest against an abandoned cart left in the paddock...!!!' Paul did his regular nut-and-bolt check and found the sidecar bolts quite loose - the split pins hadn't been put back in. That was duly attended too...!!! We sat on our little stools and enjoyed the surrounds and worked through what our choices were. One plan that came to mind was to sneak across the Romanian border illegally on the fishing boats and continue our trip but after making enquiries it seems this practice has stopped. Maybe just as well - with our luck to date any number of things could've gone wrong. Would've been good to stick it up the border guards though!

Once back in Izmaiil we rode into the city centre and was pleasantly surprised with what we found. Quite a nice city with churches, statues, gardens, fountains, a large port area and huge entertainment-community areas. I found another stork nest with three young storks sitting atop. Not as spectacular as others I've seen with adult birds standing tall in massively huge nests balanced beautifully on top of power poles.

We found some accommodation with the all-important out-of-sight parking for the bike. After the truckies stop last night this was like heaven. We walked up the road to get a pizza for tea. Pizza shops are everywhere over here but that suits us okay. We ate then back to our lodging. We need to get away early tomorrow (back to Odessa) to beat the heat - or prevent the fuel from boiling too early in the trip...!!!