This couple set off to travel the world. Ten years and three rescue dogs later ...

Engineers Janell Clarke, 39, and her husband Stuart, 44, set off in early 2014 to motorbike around the world for two years. Ten years, three rescue dogs and one head-on collision later ...

Janell and Stuart Clarke with their three dogs (from left) Azra, Shadow and Weeti.Credit: Danielle Smith

Stuart: I met Janell in 2004 during my third year at ADFA [Australian Defence Force Academy]; she was a first-year Air Force cadet. We were playing soccer and I accidentally kicked the ball in her face, but she kept on playing. Six months later, at a navy cocktail party, we really hit it off. We had the same interests – camping, sport, adventure – but she was also very caring and an animal lover. I knew she was special. I proposed in July 2006 on a camping trip to Cape York, and we got married two years later.

When we got engaged, we adopted Skyla, a staffie cross. I thought dogs should sleep outside; Janell believed that, as family members, they should sleep with us inside. She doesn’t insist on much; when she does, I know it’s important.

I’d always wanted to travel. Janell did, too, but she didn’t want to leave Skyla for longer than six months. One night, I said, “Let’s take her.” With Skyla on board, we needed our own transport – a motorbike each – and we designed a special carrier for her. We planned our departure for December 2013, but then Skyla was diagnosed with lymphoma, which delayed us while she had chemo and a bone marrow transplant. Sadly, her symptoms returned once we finally got under way, and she died in Venezuela in 2014. We were distraught.

‘There were no toilets or showers but we felt so bonded in adversity – one night, we found a deathstalker scorpion in our tent – this lull turned out to be a highlight.’

Stuart Clarke

I’d posted all this stuff on Facebook about losing Skyla, and it was too much for Janell: we had a big fight. I’d been in South Sudan for six months before we left Australia, and now here we were, learning how to live on the road, camping out, covered in mud all the time from riding our bikes on dirt roads and grieving Skyla. Janell packed up her bike and drove off into the night. I thought we were over.

We didn’t have phones, so I sent her an email telling her I didn’t want it to end, and she sent one back saying she didn’t either, then rode back. We decided to concentrate on being each other’s best friend again – and to extend the trip.

On a ferry to Norway, 2019.Credit: Courtesy of Janell Clarke

We adopted Weeti, a street dog who’d given Skyla a blood transfusion, while we were still in Venezuela. Eight months later, in rural Colombia, we picked up a small, black dog by the side of the road that had been hit by a car. We called her Shadow. We found Azra, a young puppy with Parvovirus, three years ago in Turkey.

Crossing the border into Egypt from Sudan in 2017, we had some paperwork issues and had to spend five days at a truck stop. There were no toilets or showers but we felt so bonded in adversity – one night, we found a deathstalker scorpion in our tent – this lull turned out to be a highlight. I’d hold up a tarp so Janell could “shower” with bottled water, and every afternoon, the truck drivers invited us to play football. It was an amazingly positive experience.

Janell is extraordinarily adventurous – so creative and resourceful – I can’t believe I found her. And she understands me like no one ever has. Since coming home, I’ve rejoined the navy and been posted to Perth and Janell and the dogs are now here with me. Whatever challenges await in our new life, I know we’ll work through them together.

In Cambodia, 2023.Credit: Courtesy of Janell Clarke

Janell: ADFA only takes one civil engineer a year for the Air Force, and I was selected, but I wasn’t prepared for the bullying. After a while, I didn’t believe in myself anymore and didn’t know what to do. Stu was the best. He patiently ran through all the options with me – which is him in a nutshell – and, in 2007, I moved to Sydney, where I ultimately finished my degree and got a job at Pittwater Council. When he proposed, I said yes straight away.

Stu and I are best friends. We see the world in a similar way and want the same things out of life: do meaningful things, challenge ourselves. That’s why our trip was, ultimately, successful.

Before we left, we had a list of countries and the order we’d visit them because of Skyla and her paperwork. She’d responded really well to treatment and was in remission when we left Australia; we had every reason to think she’d live to be an old girl, but she started getting sick again just months into the trip.

‘Stuart had ruptured his scrotum and had to have stitches. It wasn’t until the crisis had passed that I burst into tears.’

Janelle Clarke

I was a mess after she died; I just wanted to curl up in a ball and go home. And Stu was posting everything on Facebook. Having my grief out there for everyone to see was too much. We had a big argument, and I rode off and checked into a motel. I didn’t sleep and, the next day, I went back. I knew I loved him; we just had to learn to be together in a new way.

In 2015, we were in Mexico riding through the Baja Peninsula when Stu, who was travelling 50 metres behind me, had a head-on collision with a car. We had a walkie-talkie system inside our helmets, and I suddenly heard him yelling and a lot of noise. I found him lying on the ground, pale and quiet from pain in his groin. There was a lot of blood. I went into action mode. His bike had been pinned to a barrier so was upright and Weeti, incredibly, was fine. Luckily, an ambulance was nearby and took us to hospital while a local animal rescuer took the dogs. Stuart had ruptured his scrotum and had to have stitches. It wasn’t until the crisis had passed that I burst into tears, realising how close we’d come to catastrophe.

Visiting Petra in Jordan, 2022.Credit: Courtesy of Janell Clarke

Stu and I have an incredible connection, and it doesn’t take much to make us happy. I remember riding with him and the girls across the Mongolian steppes in 2022 to see the massive statue of Genghis Khan about 50 kilometres outside the capital city, Ulaanbaatar. It’s incredibly remote, and we were there at the wrong time of year; everyone told us not to go. It took us about a week to get through the snow, but we made it, and it was incredible.

Stu’s such a quiet, thoughtful person; I don’t think I’d really understood how focused he can be until this trip. He goes to extraordinary lengths to make me happy – like taking three dogs on a trip around the world. I’m completely myself when I’m with him.

[e-mail]

To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.