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Foz do Iguacu - The Falls
So as promised I am not gonna gas on in this post, I will let the pictures do the talking, although not National Geographic photo you get the picture.
It is a summary of our big day out on the Brasilian side, for us an outstanding day of stunning beauty by some of the biggest and nicest waterfalls in the world, certainly by grandeur. A Toucan https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3954/...e483c063_b.jpgIMG_2307 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Devils Throat top https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5600/...642a6462_b.jpgIMG_2304 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Devils Throat bottom https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5605/...4d8ce00d_b.jpgIMG_2263 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Drowned by spray ... beautiful at 40 degs https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2950/...acac980c_b.jpgP1200312 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Where we got drowned by spray :clap https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3950/...4bfef3c5_b.jpgIMG_2257 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Looking to the Argentinian side from Brasil https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5605/...9340e9d2_b.jpgIMG_2243 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Where the Argies boat ride leave from https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2947/...a6fcb6de_b.jpgIMG_2229 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Close up and personal to the falls, you can't hear a thing here accept the road of water :clap https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3937/...46256df2_b.jpgP1200290 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A stupid face to convey fresh drowning by spray, noise, powerful water and awe inspiring views on the edge of death :D https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3931/...8d0e6f22_b.jpgP1200277 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Good thing about this bit is you don't get patches for people to larf at you get soaked!!, they do sell plastic jackets for $5 but why woudl you, it is stinking hot and the spray is a god send...not to mention a free shower :rofl I still wore my Hills Hat from New Zealand tho ....stop the wtaer running down my neck :huh https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2946/...ac9b5d6c_b.jpgP1200268 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Ellen with a mob of butterflies https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3945/...aa95db9c_b.jpgIMG_2295 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
Looking great guys, love the photo's, missed out on that part so I guess we'll have to go back.
Great to see you survived the assh*le who side swiped you, onwards and upwards! Gino & Fiona |
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Yeah man the falls are extremely worth while IMO but you can't see everything, gives you guys a great excuse to come back. :thumbup1: Yeap, tough Kiwis and have to be, massive thanks to Brasil Riders tho mate these guys rock. Cheers Andi |
Puerto Iguacu - Argentina
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5605/...f2bea7b5_b.jpgIMG_2414 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr
The falls from the other side, we had to clock out of Brasil having spent just short of 90 days so we had to exit to get another 90 days.:clap Hitting the exit was simple, stamped out and waved goodbye, onto the Argie side was quick and painless and because we were only going to the falls area we did not even need a TVIP, no one even wanted to know about insurance etc (Sorry Sheldon) This became the fastest official border crossing as well, talk about easy compared to Central America. This now become our shortest day of the trip at only 12 km.:evil...what an effort :rofl Hitting Puerto Iguacu which is the sister city for Foz do Iguacu in Brasil we headed to our preferred accommodation that we had looked up only to find it was full, we had another option which lead us to what turned out to be a far better place. We could not get our riding gear off quick enough with temperatures pushing mid 40s, with Maya parked in the bushes cleverly disguised as an orange banana tree we hit the pool to chill off … bliss!:clap A walk into town was in order to get some groceries as we were gonna be there for two nights and we had a kitchen which was cool, my god it was hot, we Kiwis were starting to dissolve but I managed to combat that with 5 bottles of Argie wine and a some rum. The following day was the falls, STINKING hot, we took 5 liters of water with us which was all gone by 3.00, such was the heat the camera played up badly …. more on that later. Given the Argie boat ride was about 1/3 the price of the Brasil side we chose to take the ride from there, it did not disappoint with the boat driver feeding us under the heavy spray which was just magic in the heat, even my good ol Hills Hat could not fend off the blast and intensity of water. With shrieks of surprise from the fresh water and roars of laughter as we were instantly drowned.:rofl They give everyone a wet rollie bag for cameras etc, the first time they approach the falls is for pics, you then stick your valuables you don’t want wet into the rollie bag, the next approach is a full on ram raid through the front door and in, really really cool (in more ways than one) :rofl Finishing the boat trip and continuing our walk we had set out to do the longer part after the boat so we would be wet and more comfortable in the heat, this was a bloody good move, unfortunately massive floods in June wiped out the long platform to the top of the Devils Throat so that was not a happening thing, you can see the remains of some of the walkway that ran aground on the Brasilian side, it is only then you can start to understand the ferocity that took the place apart, it would have been unreal to see the water in the high time. Here is two pics, the first one shows an extremely handsome man accompanied by a Red arrow which indicates the 82 meter height of the falls in high time (October) and an orange arrow which shows the water level in the Biblical Flood picture shown below as a comparo, it is not until you see these together you can understand the river was some 50 METERS higher than the high time :eek1:eek1:eek1:eek1:eek1:eek1 https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3932/...65fbdc5b_b.jpgFoz by twomotokiwis, on Flickr In the middle of this picture to the right hand side of the tree island is where the orange arrow is pointing to, now understand the height difference from when we were there :huh:huh:eek1:eek1 the shelf under the orange arrow is under water! https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3937/...9574a12c_b.jpg920x6801 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr To give you an idea of what they called the“Biblical Deluge”, the falls are 82 meters in height, by my reckoning of our boat ride and photo v the shown picture the river was about 50 meters or 165 feet above when we were there which is high season.....when mum nature gets angry she does it in style here.:eek1 The result, I wonder where the rest is, probably half way to New Zealand :rofl, now logistically it is hard to get steel to float unless in the shape of a boat, so to be upward of 10 meters above the water leave me wondering how the hell????:eek1 https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5615/...770e2907_b.jpgIMG_2419 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Ok, back to comprehendable things now. There are small animals Coatis here and although they look cute there are very aggressive, they are cunning little shits, I watch one open a supermarket bag with a claw then proceed to tear into the box of biscuits. This caused a riot and pub scrap amongst the others as they flocked to get their portion of the unwittingly donated box, blood was drawn, furs was flying and teeth being showed … just as well they were not chocolate biscuits … imagine that reaction!! Dude on the right in the jeans is the ex owner of the biscuits :rofl https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3940/...8579c8b6_b.jpgIMG_2439 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Last up for the day a quick swim at a waterfall ... it was a very nice place :wink: ..as you can cos it was hot, see the dudes t shirt with sweat https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3941/...421634ca_b.jpgP1200457 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr As you can see the water was like water which was good to swim in like water ...so we did I think :evil:rofl https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3944/...afd54f2d_b.jpgP1200434 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr I got quite worried cos no matter how hard I looked I couldn't find Ellen, the pool area is at least 6 - 8 meters across, naturally when I spotted her I was delighted :lol3 https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3941/...970c0d62_b.jpgP1200432 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Looking down from the top https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5598/...be02170d_b.jpgIMG_2482 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Finishing at the park we made it back in time to see the sunset over Paraguay with some guys we met at the hostel, good times and very very hot Now you see it https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5604/...4ff8024f_b.jpgIMG_2402 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Now you don't :D https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5603/...7f70023c_b.jpgIMG_2409 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr This is the three borders Paraguay on the left, Brasil in the top and Argentina where we are. https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3949/...4db02662_b.jpgIMG_2381 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We were there :clap:clap https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5615/...d2ec2952_b.jpgIMG_2365 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Next post will be pics and vid :freaky |
Puerto Iguacu - The Falls
Ok no mumbling from me in this one, just a few pics and a soggy video.
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3934/...fd616ef3_b.jpgIMG_2477 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3950/...ea74814e_b.jpgIMG_2469 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5616/...f441cc26_b.jpgIMG_2454 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3950/...d97167dc_b.jpgIMG_2459 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The vid <iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/aVPlelhOcWQ" allowfullscreen="" width="560" frameborder="0" height="315"></iframe> |
Puerto Iguacu To Cascavel
Leaving Argentina armed with 5 bottles of Red wine and some rum we headed back to Brasil to met Rod for lunch before hitting it back to Cascavel.
Hitting the border was a speed event, any quicker there and we woulda got a speeding ticket. No TVIP for Brasil, new paperwork filled out and 73 days given ....73 days???, due to the change of president that is all we get, anyone coming in shortly be aware that may be the case to the countdown. We only need another 1 -1.5 month so easy as, total time at the border about 10 minutes :eek1 :clap Rod runs Iguassu Bikers Hostel Iguassu Bikers Hostel | Iguassu Falls Overland Base it is easy to find and yes the GPS coords are accurate to the gate S 25.29.557 W 54.33.047. Great setup he has there and you have two coolas Boxers who will love you to death.:clap We went for lunch with Rod having a good chat about HU Meetings and Motos, good times. https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3949/...f3ee7d04_b.jpgP1200459 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Great meeting you Rod, will see you again on the road some day. The race back to Cascavel was easy along the black band of tar, arriving in Cascavel we did an oil change in Maya before meeting up with Sandro, all good.:clap Cascavel, BMW and a presentation....to come |
Cascavel Round 2
Having left our new rubber and camping gear behind at Sandros place made for lite travel to the falls and back and the ability to stock up on important items like wine.:clap
Reunited with our junk back at Sandros it was a quick shower turn into humans and around to Marcos place for a bar b q … what a greeting...these guys are better than a wife!!! :hide :lol3 Wine, Drambui and fud!!......hard work. Marcos our main man https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3956/...a418f65a_b.jpgP1200462 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Sandro cheffing it up, this man knows his stuff :clap https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5601/...905a4ba7_b.jpgP1200463 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Cutting a perfectly cooked rack :eek1 https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3944/...b849c7a4_b.jpgP1200471 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The Friday was for us to be a busy day (sounds like work eh) …well actually it was, just unpaid.:huh :D Loading Maya up with our new E07s we trundled off to Star News BMW to get the old Heidenaus changed out, they wore out prematurely at 22500!!! …hard to get good tires these days. Rear https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5607/...91a8bf97_b.jpgIMG_2489 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Front https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5604/...fac0b05b_b.jpgIMG_2487 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our task for the day was to set up for a presentation on the Saturday morning about our trip, travels, trials and tribulations. We selected some photos from each country and wrote small blurb in Engrish. In here in Cascavel there are two special riders, they are both Kiwis, Dean and William, tellya it is great to hear a Kiwi accent hand have people understand you.:clap William offered to translate as he is fluent in Portuguese and Kiwinglish so that made life very easy for us...onya mate, appreciated. Friday afternoon Maya was taken and put up on the moto lift, front and rear wheels removed, they spooned off the oldies and spooned on the new ones complete with balancing which was great, while we had the front wheel out we replaced the last of the wheel seals having picked some up in Paraguay. She got to chat to a cafe racer while having her pedicure :lol3 https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3933/...19083289_b.jpgIMG_2492 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Nice clean workshop https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3932/...1bac8083_b.jpgIMG_2496 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We left Maya in the shop overnight, she proudly sporting left stage with all the Bemmers, god knows what they got up to that night …kinda like a dodgy sleepover that ya parents don’t know about. :evil:rofl https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5600/...19a907cf_b.jpgIMG_2498 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Friday night was tea out at a local restaurant with the crew and for everyone to meet and chat about a game plan (excuse for a few beers):clap All set up and ready for Saturday https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3941/...85e5e34f_b.jpgIMG_2497 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Saturday morning Maya hadn’t turned into a BMW but she had moved to center stage, social wee girl she is.:wink: https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5597/...da5b584b_b.jpgIMG_2508 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The doors were open and there were many bikes, mostly BMW and the usuals from Japan, only one KTM which was ours. The fello riders were interested in the dirty hussy sitting in the showroom, we had great chats with guys who had done lots of traveling too which was cool and they appreciated our pics and prevention via William. https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3956/...c5415e69_b.jpgIMG_2501 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3949/...9c8cdf7c_b.jpgIMG_2507 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr All in all a successful morning was had, nice food, nice company, nice bikes and nice coffee. Alberto took us out to lunch on conclusion of the presentation very happy with the mix of riders, bikes, good times and the unity and passion of motos and travel right there. William waving in the background :clap https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3936/...2821db83_b.jpgIMG_2510 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The afternoon was concluded at Deans place with the three Kiwis having a chat in the front yard, bikes travel, girls, …normal stuff … and Dean has a great coffee machine. Three Kiwis, Me, left, William middle and Dean on the right https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3944/...73fa5e6b_b.jpgIMG_2511 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr All were invited to a Sunday bar b q at Albertos (shop manage for Star News), we left Sandros and the the thunder was in the distance, black clouds and a few spits, we thought we would eb ok but no, stopping at the bank on the way we hit the rain, didn’t matter cos it was warm, we left the bank and it caved it with a torrential downpour, Ellen and I squidding it in shorts and t shirts we were drowned when we arrived (we are getting used to that now :D) so a quick t shirt change and hang the other out to dry. More beautiful food, good times, laughter and chats, very very nice and extremely welcoming which makes us feel right at home. Finally we had been asked if we would do a TV interview, I think they must be short on proper news!!!!:lol3 It was only a 10 - 15 minute thing so not too bad, the bad bit was it was going to be live, …never done that before …. :eek1 Arriving at the Taroba TV station which is a channel for the state of Panana in Brasil, 200 000 sq km and 15 000 000 people in Parana ( New Zealand 104 000 sq km and 4 000 000 people.) they wanted the bike in the studio so they could do the interview of these two strange Kiwis riding an expensive moto (In Brasil) in the worst places,so a big audience of people who will think we New Zealands are nuttas 8-) Coupla pics and a small vid to to finish https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5614/...22c3ffcc_b.jpgIMG_2541 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3942/...0f25e52f_b.jpgIMG_2530 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Short vid <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ZL18IDuC1iw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> |
Taroba TVs Small Vid
Only about 10 minutes so not the full length of the vid, will help if you understand Portuguese
Atualidades - bloco 3 (2) 20/10/14 - YouTube |
Cascavel To Somewhere Then Back To Francisco Betrão
Saying goodbye to Sandro and family in Cascavel we felt like we were leaving home, so much had happened there and so much warmth and welcoming.
We can’t thank Sandro, Carlos, Dean and William enough for their hospitality and welcoming, was cool talking Kiwi.:clap Then there is Star News BMW, Alberto being the ring leader, passionate about motos, travel, travelers, beer, food …. well… life.:clap:clap If in this region this is the place to do anything to your moto with local knowledge and enthusiasm it made life easy for us.:clap STAR NEWS BMW Av: Brasil, 4986 - Centro - Cascavel - PR (45) 3036-9555 https://www.facebook.com/bmwstarnews Although riding BMW’s competition we were welcomed in with open arms so no matter the brand of machinery you have they will help. So leaving home we decided to take the secondary road, although slightly longer the thought of way less trucks and no tolls was a appealing, this turned out to be a very good decision as we rode through forestry, farmlands and a nice twisty road with very few vehicles let alone masses of trucks. https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3937/...aea1239b_b.jpgP1200490 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3950/...7b9578c1_b.jpgP1200494 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our host had sent directions to his via Faceplant complete with GPS and all so this was to make life easy …. not so, somehow things got completely stuffed up and the map and GPS that was sent was for a city totally different sending us 14 km past our given point. He was also waiting for us at the main road so there was no way we were going to turn up with taking the secondary road …. to a completely different town.:rofl We stopped at the GPS point and Ellen asked around, it was very hot. Some local people realized we were not from there (funny that) and offered to help, Ellen took them up on the offer, the man gave me a seat in the shade while they found our host, the lady who was helping us saying well if you can’t find your friend just stay here …. so Brasilian welcoming.:freaky A girl who could speak a little english managed to ring him and in 15 minutes he came to get us, a larf was had with the instructions to another town. Our fearless leader taking us the correct way :rofl:roflFrancisco Beltão in the distance https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5610/...cb7342fb_b.jpgP1200506 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Soon enough we were at home again, showered and away out to meet some local friends at a bar, lite snacks and a couple drinks with Google translate working overtime … good times. Biazus has a trike and a Varadero ... and a beautiful Boxer dog named Madonna, I have a soft spot for Boxers so when we arrived and were greeted by her I was in a heaven of my own, I really miss cats and dogs of the home life so to have a fluffy cuddle was awesome. Here she is https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3933/...7af57bf9_b.jpgIMG_2605 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Ellen in fine form in the kitchen making some kickarse dumplings with a pot lid which looks more like a riot squad protector https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3932/...56fda01d_b.jpgIMG_2604 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr During our stay we were taken out on the trike for a local tour around town, we talked to these students at a local park with them being very interested in us coming from New Zealand, it was cool. https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3933/...b1b2a811_b.jpgIMG_2600 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Something very wrong with this pic .....Ellen in the box seat!! :huh:eek1:eek1:eek1 https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3947/...c26558d6_b.jpgIMG_2562 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr One night we all went to a service station restaurant and meet many other riders, chats, food good times ...see a patten for in Brasil, although language barriers exist google translate, smiles and the willingness to listen and work it out is all part of the fun :clap https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3956/...eb956a98_b.jpgP1200530 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Maya creating interest from both moto heads and normal people https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3937/...5f098e36_b.jpgP1200533 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The group https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3940/...e7a9ccf7_b.jpgP1200535 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Part of our personal guide tour/walk through centro :clap https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5600/...ef6f4467_b.jpgP1200512 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Jose, Biazus wife works at a local school, on one of our walkabout we dropped in to say and visit the kids she teaches. Cool mob and all wanted a photo so here it is. https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5614/...f011a467_b.jpgP1200515 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr For us an outstanding time in here and yet again made very welcome on the local scene. :clap:clap |
Fransciso Betrâo To Barracäo To Urubici
Saying goodbye to Biazus and Jose we headed to Barracäo to meet with Tailon and Viviane, again we chose a back road slightly longer but way way less busy and at times having the road pretty much to ourselves, big day for us at 360 km but being tarsal cowboys for the day was easy.:clap
Making it in plenty of time we waited for them to return to home so we sat in the shadows and scoffed a big ice-cream each …. in the heat this was bliss.:freaky Again with the assistance of smiles and Mr.Google Translate we chatted about travel, bikes and general life, was a very nice evening and great to meet them.:clap https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3932/...f5b0687b_b.jpgIMG_2611 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Tea time with a home made burger :clap ...one happy face https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3951/...c683fc09_b.jpgIMG_2616 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3933/...5152550e_b.jpgIMG_2615 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Tailons Grandfather bought a Ford Coicel new in 1977, they still have the car which is pretty much in original condition. This is similar to the Ford Escort we used to get in New Zealand, so here you are Hayden, one for you mate, check this ol doll out she is beautiful. https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3941/...59a7da3b_b.jpgIMG_2627 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr So uncomplicated and you can reach all bolts with a standard spanner and not require a screwdriver that bends in six dimensions to get to something odd. The lads, ADV salute !!! https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7556/...2bd69639_b.jpgIMG_2635 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Tailons mum and dad run a Pousada (hostel) here, at the front of the Pousada is a dairy, pub, bar and food in one which they run, pretty much the hubb of the town with people coming in and out all day, they are moto friendly too so if traveling in this part of Brasil it is a quite stopover with everything you need. https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3935/...5eff0bf0_b.jpgP1200556 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Saying goodbye we hit it to Urubici, only 270 km to do, weather was meant to be crap but mum nature cut us a break handing us a nice still day and slightly overcast so the heat was taken out being a nice reprieve, also Urubici sits at 900 meters so we hope the nights are cooler.:clap Blasting the tar easily we took a shortcut through a beautiful valley with the last section being gravel into Urubici, that is when mum nature said you stink, the sky turned back then the rain came, by way of timing we rode just behind the main storm and skirted the rain, the road being wet and greasy but having new shoes on Maya it was not so bad, the storm as it turned out did damage for an almost flash flood in a small area. https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3950/...f23e79e9_b.jpgP1200594 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3939/...fb6a20df_b.jpgP1200603 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The rain https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3951/...d49033f8_b.jpgP1200604 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5606/...dae6c69c_b.jpgP1200606 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We got to our accommodation slightly wet but cooler so it was pleasant. That night was Brasil election night so the air was thick with enthusiasm and hope, by 8 pm all the votes were counted and the same ol lady was back in the seat much to the disappointment of some and the pleasure of others. We had an invite to Jordäos place which we duly accepted, Jordäo has a black F800 GS … we seem to be surrounded by these :rofl Jordão and Martha live in what can only be described as paradise, stunning does not complete the words and for me on arrival I was gobsmacked …not very often I don’t have much to say but this day was one :eek1:eek1:eek1 https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3942/...4b191b48_b.jpgIMG_2879 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7461/...4b3e1f98_b.jpgIMG_2724 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7494/...1ff1888a_b.jpgIMG_2726 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
Urubici - Serra do Corvo Branco And Morro de igreja.
Serra do Corvo Branco and Serra do Rio do Rastro are words used a lot around here ….as well as many others.
For a small town there is a lot to see and do in this neck of the woods and we had been invited by Brasil Rider Jardão (Jordan) to come stay at his place as above. Our first day out was to visit Serra do Corvo Branco and Morro de igreja. A decision was made to hit Morro de igreja first as that is more weather fussy with fog etc, the road is not far in only some 15 odd km but on arrival at the top it was all clouded in and like standing in a tuppeware container, we waited the fog out but it kept coming and going with still no sign of the holly rock. (Insert vision image here, pick up tupperware container, steer through base and add moisture and cold air = Morro de igreja) :rofl After about 1/2 an hour we decided today was not the day so we would try again another day. Bailing from the top we headed to Serra do Corvo Branco which is a spectacular bit of road, at present it is closed for rebuilding and tar sealing but we convinced the gate keeper to let us go up to take photos and he let us through, not sure if it was because of our smiling faces or the gun pointed at him :eek1 :D The road was interesting just getting there, I hand to keep lifting my feet off the footpegs as they were getting smacked in and up in the ruts making standing impossible :huh https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3941/...94f601f6_b.jpgIMG_2653 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Arriving at the top of the famed gap in the rocks we were not disappointed with the road being in full view. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7547/...9f40986e_b.jpgIMG_2660 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We sneaked down for a few more corners then made our way back up to the top and out. https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3937/...012b12ee_b.jpgIMG_2668 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8399/...9ff9edb6_b.jpgIMG_2673 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3952/...2613a910_b.jpgIMG_2691 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr I went down to this corner, just after there it turns very bad with roadworks :eek1 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7552/...b4303aed_b.jpgIMG_2678 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The famed tilting rock https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3956/...0ab7d5c9_b.jpgIMG_2694 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Close up, this is the true angle of the rock https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7475/...cdd0d603_b.jpgIMG_2695 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Thank you to the chief photographer https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5605/...06b8a7f8_b.jpgIMG_2700 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Thanking the gatekeeper we gave him a couple coffee lollies which he liked ….good trade all round and smiles to match.:clap |
Morro de Igreja - Attempt 2 And Martha's Birthday
The following day we set too, second mission to get a good view of Morro de Igreja as Jordan said now is the time so go for it, being an offshore wind it was blowing the cloud out and away, taking the opportunity we put Maya into second gear to get there quicker, it paid off with a stunning clear day exposing not only the famous holly rock but the entire abrupt change in the crust of the earth.
This is what all the fuss is about ... yes a whole hole :rofl https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3954/...0d8c31b2_b.jpgIMG_2803 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr This is where it sits in the scheme of things https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3946/...f0b62e02_b.jpgIMG_2806 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr This is its neighbouring cliff faces https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3952/...c6f1c207_b.jpgIMG_2845 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3938/...99253709_b.jpgIMG_2847 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Making the most of it we parked Maya beside the edge to get photos of her there to (she gets cranky if she is left out) so the usual “we were here”shots we taken. Photo from one of our three backup helicopters :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7544/...11ffd924_b.jpgIMG_2834 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr I could not stop looking at the grandeur in front of us and how lucky we were given our attempt the day before https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5599/...3aca0d90_b.jpgIMG_2840 - Version 3 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Deciding to walk further down we left Maya parked on the grass, seems that everywhere on the plateau is bedrock except were we parked which appears now to be swamp.:huh On our return Maya had a lie down and was sleeping on the job, hard to get good staff these days. Kinda cool tho cos now you see what the top of the bike looks like :rofl https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3940/...f81db461_b.jpgIMG_2849 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr No damage from the soft landing and no one saw or knows about it so no embarrassment.:evil This is what happiness looks like https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7462/...0d526031_b.jpgIMG_2848 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr This is what gobsmacked looks like https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5606/...e4dbe12a_b.jpgIMG_2841 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Stoked to have seen not only the holly rock but the coastline and all we left and headed for home content, kinda like when you have had your favorite feed at a restaurant, as we were leaving a F800GS adventure came and parked then half way down the hill a Triumph XC 800 was trundling up, both rider receiving and giving big waves .… noice!!!:clap:clap A quick stop for some supplies in town and an ice-cream as it was stink in hot then homeward. Martha’s 60th birthday, we were lucky enough to be here and invited to join in the celebrations, a very nice tea served up along with a few bottles of champagne to assist the night, we then bought out our “supplies” which was a selection of handpicked local chocolate we bought from town as a gift, seems she loves chocolate (that was lucky) so it went down a real treat. :freaky https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5605/...c6317457_b.jpgIMG_2868 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Great day all round and thank you to Jordan, Martha and sisters for having us join in the celebrations. |
Serra do Rio do Rastro
Serra do Rio do Rastro next on the list, the same weather pattern so time to make the most of it, we took a shortcut on the way there, the road a little rougher than we expected but good none the less and providing some neat scenery.
Through Bom Jardin we made it to the top viewing platform, was a good place to stop for lunch given nice day with a grand view, this road is a an engineering marvel as well with extremely tight hairpin bends requiring truck to do 3 point turn for a lot of them, we watched one truck do a wrong approach and hit the concrete wall … which did not move, the side of the truck a little worse for wear, even at our corner he stuffed it up so he was either drunk or just plain useless.:huh https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3953/...38b3f369_b.jpgIMG_2881 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7485/...f3b11166_b.jpgIMG_2886 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr After our bite to eat we rode done part way to take it all in, we may be back past this road again but given the great weather we took the advantage. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7528/...36832b1d_b.jpgIMG_2929 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The view from the top https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7555/...d69142f0_b.jpgIMG_2952 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Again done and dusted we headed back via the road this time enjoying the nice seal couple together with twists to go. Dumplings and Sushi, the order for tea, Ellen setting too and making tea (dinner) for 6 of us in style, the crowd enjoying the Chinese treat and of course approval from Martha being the birthday girl was awesome!!:clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7556/...b14740df_b.jpgSAM_3002 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
Page Shortening Post
Just one
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Page Shortening Post
Ok I lied.:innocent:
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Local Ride Around The Block With Brasil Riders
Our final day in Urubici Jordan took us for a small round the block local tour, three other Brasil riders we saw the day before also joining us on our private tour for 4.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7573/...2673f74e_b.jpgSAM_3008 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5607/...bfc0acc3_b.jpgSAM_3011 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr It was an interesting start, at the meeting place one guy dropped his bike at arrival and another guy dropped his bike when we when to leave …. I thought we were the only ones who did this.:rofl Given yet another great day before the weather change we had great views from up above on the lookout, the three Brasil riders waving goodbye and heading to Ushuaia …. in 10 days.:eek1:eek1 https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3943/...686092b6_b.jpgIMG_2964 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7511/...ec6a25e5_b.jpgIMG_2965 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr They will be in Ushuaia before we have even leave this state in Brasil ….some do quick trips. Our fearless leader Jordan on his F8 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7461/...c452a593_b.jpgIMG_2966 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We continued around cruising through some beautiful rolling country before getting to our lunch spot, tummy time and a nice lunch was had. In between times with Martha's birthdays etc it was Mayas turn as she hit 70 ... she is an old bag now!!:wink: https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3946/...335a8799_b.jpgIMG_2968 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Pointing the motos towards Urubici there we ominous looking clouds so the decision was made to get back as there had been a series of pretty grumpy storms and this was sizing up along similar vain however we made it back unscathed … woulda been nice to have some rain to drop the temperature a little.....and of course that was the problem :cry Conclusion of the trip was coffee and writing my report to catch up a little…before WW3 struck ... the tornado :huh :eek1 :cry ... that next |
Urubici - Tornado 1 In 100 Year Plus Event
The weather was weird all day, the cloud plumes reaching for the skies then settling, one or two fruiting some light rain ....Jordan hit it right on the knocker, later that afternoon the skies turned black, the wind picked up and it was not long before we closed all the windows and shutters, put the bikes in the barn and closed the doors then bang it hit.
The beginning https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7511/...67ebaae3_b.jpgIMG_2982 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The last photo I took before we headed for cover, camera does it no justice. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7519/...fa2e26a1_b.jpgIMG_2985 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr There were branches flying, crashes and bangs, lightning and very heavy rain coming straight down then in sheets, the ferocity and speed was incredible, the lights flickered a few times over 15 - 20 minutes then darkness … followed by more bangs and crashing and more debris flying through the air…. just when we thought we were at its peak and it was not going to get worse it picked up :eek1:eek1:eek1:eek1:eek1 and really hit and I mean REALLY hit. Heavy ceramic clay roof tiles were flying past the windows and breaking all over the ground and deck area, one shutter got sucked open off it mounts and quick thinking from Jordan saved it from certain demolition.:clap If it wasn't bad enough it then got worse, all four of us hiding under the mezzanine floor waiting for the trees to come through the roof, there was water pouring in through the ceiling everywhere and water flowing across the floor, we were shifting furniture and beds to escape the waterfalls now developing, shifting beds and placing buckets while being very mindful of the anger going on outside and staying well clear of the window despite having storm shutter on the outside.:eek1 Several times the house shook with tree branches smashing into the side of the house and some landing on the roof smashing tiles with one penetrating the T&G ceiling splitting the ceiling. Jordan had rung his wife and sister who were in town in the car and said don’t come back but they were already on their way, they fought for space amidst trees and airborne debris. The first pics when we walked out the door https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5601/...fc3a84cd_b.jpgIMG_3031 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3939/...55177851_b.jpgIMG_3011 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3947/...580ed588_b.jpgIMG_3019 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3956/...08303001_b.jpgIMG_2992 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Then this, beautiful finish to an angry evening https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7572/...62c76782_b.jpgIMG_3083 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7517/...4b55835e_b.jpgIMG_3087 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr When the weather had settled back enough down to rain and lighter wind we made a break for it to get to the girls in the car. The last section of the road only .5 km away from the house was now a show stopper, the trees down across the road and one claiming the power line hence darkness, the wind and lightning claiming many victims with tree limbs torn and blown off, some suffering lightning strike, fences were smashed and stuff scattered everywhere. We were armed with chain saws and axes but soon found it to be a far greater task than first thought so the car was left there for the night and we concentrated on getting everyone home under the roof (what was left of it...unknown in the dark). The naked skeleton of the eaves hanging out giving us an un-warming welcome back to the house, branches and debris everywhere as well as a sea of smashed roof tiles lying dead on the ground. https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5614/...1c754b5a_b.jpgIMG_3010 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr After the extremely warm welcoming we had been given by Jordan and Martha I felt like my own house had just been torn up.:cry Ellen had managed to make tea successfully on the gas, we lilt many candles for lighting and had tea, the subject of discussion the storm that just wrecked the place, this as it turned out to be a 1 in 100 plus year or more event and we were here for it.:eek1 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7482/...fd01692f_b.jpgIMG_3006 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Whiskey, Chardonay and various other potions helped calm the nerves as a game plan was hatched for the following days cleanup. We were due to head to Florinopilos the following day so we put that back a day to get the house and yard back in order as best we could, as at writing this report now at 2.00pm (on that day following) we still have no power. https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5602/...70c3ee67_b.jpgIMG_3001 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8420/...7cb2550a_b.jpgIMG_3009 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Power came back on around 4.00pm so computers, torches, phones etc all plugged back in … just in case!!!:evil The day was a cleanup day and to sort the roof out enough so it would not leak, many tile gone so improvising making the eaves shorter, the entire roof had been shuffled and partially misplaced so a job for the professionals. https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3941/...8187ae0f_b.jpgIMG_3014 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3945/...cff4245a_b.jpgIMG_3033 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr It was a game of remove the tiles, make a path, refit the tiles so down they came and up they went with a chain of people. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7513/...ac70870d_b.jpgIMG_0171 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Ellen bringing an empty wheelbarrow back after dumping a lot of roof tiles https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7468/...d0b517d2_b.jpgIMG_0183 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We had another thunderstorm but todays one turned out to be a normal thunderstorm so only heavy rain and a light display … pretty relieved to say the least. Coupla last pics of the surroundings https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5608/...80b505c2_b.jpgIMG_3070 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3940/...b54bfbbb_b.jpgIMG_3058 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7574/...c0c55da1_b.jpgIMG_3051 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7555/...fae279c1_b.jpgIMG_3026 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Tomorrow, Florinopilos at the coast after exciting times in Urubici. Huge thanks to Jordan and Martha for having us and we are grateful to be able to help in your time of need too :clap:clap |
G'day Andi and Ellen
Mates the world has not stopped turning because i go on holiday .( Aussie) wow so pleased you guy's are ok after the accident ( glad you came off better than mum ,who is now walking with a stick ) bastards ,i think i would have settled for a rock through the window of his car and a bar through the radiator .anyhow loving the new collection of photos .wonderful the Brasilian's have been so wonderful to you.what a scary storm you have endured ,in this part of OZ we get a lot of those kinds of storms during the wet season ,so you will not find tiled roofs here ,colourbond only .and screwed down in a cyclone pattern ( much more battens and screws)Anyhow had a great holiday did the snowy's Grampians ,Dandenongs ,great ocean road ,Swan hill then home .also took in HU in Beudesert before leaving .had an awesome meet .Anyhow bye for now YDF Noel.:D:D
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I was at Beaudesert too, Noel! Wish we could have met.
Rob Hall |
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Yes we came off well considering and we managed to stay out of hospital which is even better, there are some real shitheads in the world who take no responsibility for their actions, unfortunately your mum found a real wanker.:thumbdown: Had I known what little action would be taken I would have turned his car into a sieve knowing head couldn't touch us too ....next time I will be wiser. Brasilians have been outstanding eh, really really great people ... a slight change from their neighbours!! Sounds like your break away was a good one too, always good coming back from a good hoon away. Cheers Andi |
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We have done that many times too, found out other travellers were in the same town and in one case next door and we missed them. Cheers Andi |
Urubici - Just Horsing Around
Back track to our first day at Jordans, amidst the excitement of seeing some cool spots and the interruption of the tornado I left this out.:huh
Jordan loves his horses and took the opportunity while we where there to saddle up and go for a ride, Jordan had all the skills while we watched on with the setup. https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3938/...6371de23_b.jpgIMG_2759 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Soon enough we were on our way, galloping across between the lakes at walking pace then down an extremely steep track fording a ragging torrent to meet up with an extremely busy road and around through native rain forest back up to home. Gallopwalking between the lakes https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5610/...9e989a44_b.jpgIMG_2764 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Extremely steep hill https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5599/...5a712362_b.jpgIMG_2768 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The ragging torrent https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3953/...c790d478_b.jpgIMG_2774 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The motorway https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3938/...a846d44c_b.jpgIMG_2791 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Leisurely explains it pretty well, the horses of course knowing the noobs didn’t really know what to do so pretty much they were playing follow the leader with Jordan leading the way and the pace.:clap... Our fearless leader turning around in a split second to ensure the safety of the competitors https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7525/...8e5de9a7_b.jpgIMG_2789 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr After the horse racing we spotted a bird which had caught snake and was busy having a pretty good lunch by the looks of it https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3946/...9c38b6a3_b.jpgIMG_2795 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Great wee side trip from the main trip exchanging steel horses for real horses Thanks Jordan we very much enjoyed the ride around.:clap |
Urubici To Florianopolis
Leaving Urubici and saying goodbye after everything that had happened was hard, unsure if mum nature was going to come along and have another go at wrecking things.:eek1
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7548/...d21aa8d5_b.jpgP1200710 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Exiting the driveway and heading off down the shingle road it was apparent the whole valley had a thrashing with trees down, gates smashed and telltale signs of fury everywhere.:eek1 It was a game of slalom through the branches, mud and water until we got to the paved road, even there was wheel tracks in amongst greenery strewn all over the road. Once on the main drag we were handed twisties to play with until the main drag down to Florianopolis, there are some big long straight sections and we had a windless day which was perfect for my mission.:clap Maya had not felt quite right since Tibagi and the crash, we had not had any clean straights without wind since the crash, today was it, while sitting, straight, relaxed and windless I did a few visual and feel checks. On the dirt roads she had felt stictiony in the fork operation, eyeballing top triple with bottom triple etc I determined things were slightly misaligned. Also our left hand side fork protector had been rubbing on the fork stanchion which was a telltale sign. Having an uneventful trip to Florianopolis was great and we had an invite to Edsons place, a fello Brasil Rider who has covered many many miles on his 12 Tenere. It was a quick drop of gear at his house, change into cooler gear and off to the 16th birthday party of the Floripa Brasil Riders, there was heaps of people there, food and drinks, good times. Ellen dancing with Edson https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7567/...a2f4e571_b.jpgP1200763 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr At the celebration time and cake cutting we were dragged up front to the stage and formally welcomed to Florianopolis before the celebrations of the club birthday took place, they still treasure the doers and made us feel very proud of what we are doing which is living our dream.:clap https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3952/...fbbf2427_b.jpgP1200748 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Some very interesting people there too, many who have done some pretty big miles around South America and beyond. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7497/...05fc943b_b.jpgP1200749 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The cake about 1 meter x 1 meter :eek1 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7497/...ddd8f4db_b.jpgP1200723 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Many people https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3956/...98e054c5_b.jpgP1200721 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Some of the motos https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3944/...624f67c4_b.jpgP1200720 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Maya creating interest https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5610/...48618aa7_b.jpgP1200730 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr One of the trikes https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7543/...88e46888_b.jpgP1200765 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
The Beach And Steering Fix
Taking the opportunity of a flat concrete floor we swung Maya up on the centre stand and undid the triples bolts top and bottom and removed the nut pad from the centre of the bars so I could get an accurate eyeball down the clamps.
Wiggling and wobbling things, lining up then retightening everything it was apparent things were lined up better straight away, the forks didn’t feel sticky so were sliding easier.:clap The Beach Our ride out the following day to a beach was the test of time, on letting the bars go Maya tracked straight and true and the fork action felt great ..welcome back to the land of true and straight, hopefully that is the last of the shit from the hit (apart from the luggage and racks which is a known). Praia dos Naufragados (a beach) at the southern end of the island was our destination, so close to a city of half a million but a moon away being quiet and tranquil, a one hour walk leading us to a beach with 3 surfers, and two other couples in total …awesome (not for the camera tho), Ellen being the usual Asianfish piled in enjoying a coupla swims and we took a good walk as well. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7469/...406f198b_b.jpgIMG_3098 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
The Car Tour Of The Island
Car Tour
While at the 16th birthday party we meet some locals, one who is retired invited us for a local tour of the island well hell yeah. The plan was to moto it but mum nature was not playing into our hands, we ended up in four wheels but for me this was a bonus, as I got to look out the window without having to concentrate on the road. https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5607/...359c1efb_o.jpgphoto1 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We took in various sights with our host and hostess giving us the local knowledge and lowdown, very cool indeed.:clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7462/...def2eaf1_b.jpgIMG_3142 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Some beautiful places https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3947/...6e42bde2_b.jpgIMG_3129 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A relaxing day was had with a beautiful seafood lunch....very exotic day out for us. A local guy trying his hand at fishing https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7579/...0e244d2f_b.jpgIMG_3148 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A seat carved out of one lump of timber, very old. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7469/...8a2d06ba_b.jpgIMG_3115 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Some neat beaches, Florianopolis has 42 beaches to choose from ranging from sit and enjoy family beaches to nudy beaches and surfer only beaches. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7521/...2085f8f5_b.jpgIMG_3141 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
Moto Tour Of The Island Via Different Roads
Also to add to the list of cool things to do we had been invited by a local who had lived in New Zealand which was cool, fortunately the weather cut us a break so our plan A of moto tour was on, Mauricio took us up out and about around a different part of the island taking in beaches and some grande views.
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3945/...08e55801_b.jpgP1200788 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7514/...9278de83_b.jpgP1200790 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A groovy house along the way https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3939/...c7e1f440_b.jpgIMG_3165 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We arrived at a small beach with a restaurant that was label central, nice place https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7538/...01df6777_b.jpgIMG_3171 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The two bikes parked on the beachfront having a constant stream of visitors and photos https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7529/...0bb5b4cf_b.jpgIMG_3177 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Then for what turned out to be an eye opening meeting of a lady who is 102 years old, yes 102 and she was wanting to sing a song for Ellen, Mauricio said we wouldn't understand so she chatted with us all the same, bright as a button and alive with enthusiasm and walking around all by herself, just incredible and heart warming. :clap:clap:clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7529/...17cbce3d_b.jpgIMG_3186 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3941/...975f40f1_b.jpgIMG_3188 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr So all you jokers with a box of excuses....throw that box away and get into it, you too could be welcoming strangers from the other side of the world at 102, I was inspired by her fearless and warm welcoming heart :clap:clap:clap The lads at another stop, the Police came along too as we were illegally parked, a quick word from Mauricio and there interest in us turned to curiosity, all was good with smiles and stay there as long as you want :clap https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3937/...abbfc3df_b.jpgIMG_3227 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A beautiful and old building https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3938/...725b9d7e_b.jpgIMG_3208 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Cool fishing villages along the way, we also met another RTW traveller there who is on a Vee Strom https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5616/...40b3aab6_b.jpgIMG_3232 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Local bird watching on with anticipation that a piece of fish might fall out of the fishermans bucket https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3941/...593bc843_b.jpgIMG_3236 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Continuing our journey we got to the top of the island, after meeting the old lady I felt lifted and the afternoon blew paste me, at 5.00pm I thought it was about 3.00pm and wanted a coffee only to be told the real time on earth where everyone else was.:rofl:rofl We made it to the top again with being different appearance we created some more interest https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7485/...001e5594_b.jpgIMG_3253 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A churasco was planned for the evening with local oysters. We picked them up and headed back to home base for a few drinks and a feed, later on in the evening mum nature unleashed another epic thunderstorm impressing us with large crashes and bangs and a lightning display, no missing roofs this time.:clap Raw oyster for the trying https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7579/...1712607e_b.jpgP1200807 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The local Brasilouts ...good times!!!!!:freaky https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7555/...d6a5f260_b.jpgP1200809 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr On conclusion of a good night to cap a good day we headed back to Edsons making a run for it when the rain had settled down a bit, we still got cleaned on the way home tho.:evil |
Big Trails Day - Moto Ride
Big Trails Day Adventure Day
Requiring an early start similar to getting up for work (sorry for swearing) we headed off to the local Yammy shop where the Curso Big Trails Floripa rides start from, Geracáo Yamaha providing a breakfast for all including the introduction of some new models of motos. Not to blaze on too much today (cos I smacked my finger with a hammer) ((...don't ask)) we will let the pictures do the talking followed by a vid at the end which will inform you of most of the happenings :clap I can say tho we had an awesome day with lots of Brasilouts on all sorts of motos from 250s to 1200s and even a roady :clap:clap Onya guys we really enjoyed ourselves :clap Parked at the shop on the blue carpet! https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7461/...164da5a3_b.jpgP1200834 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8125/...74f9cc8d_b.jpgP1200835 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Edson doing the welcoming speech https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5611/...acda3f24_b.jpgIMG_3273 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Exiting town https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7497/...7c9ff882_b.jpgP1200879 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr On top of the world .... its a beautiful day!!! https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5614/...b3c96b5a_b.jpgP1200855 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Lunch spot https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7558/...a0e32fa9_b.jpgIMG_3369 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Hill top stop https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7487/...a00e88ec_b.jpgIMG_3404 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr An accidentally wrong parked bike https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5604/...9447799a_b.jpgIMG_3382 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A few interesting sections to keep you awake https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7551/...5b18c85a_b.jpgP1210074 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM4H1o_DJx8 |
Florianopolis To Torres
Finally leaving Florianopolis after planning to stay 2 -3 days and staying for an addictive week with full on happenings everyday it felt like a rest to be back on the road, it shows the fun and entertainment we had thoroughly enjoying ourselves.:clap:clap
Watching the last MotoGP race of the year (although the results were almost a given) and having a bite to eat with Edson before we headed for the hills, a quick strap down the 101 then headed towards Serra do Rio do Rasto, we had been there at the top so wanted to come up from the bottom (not sure how to reword that) On the way out we found a guy who needs a new jobs ... or at least he will be when his boss sees this :rofl:rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7513/...8196b684_b.jpgP1210086 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Stopping at a hotel about half way up to the twisty bit it was quiet and good views, we punched our way up a overgrown walking track to a view point to take in the valley bottom. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7508/...545ae8c5_b.jpgIMG_3424 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7550/...70640e37_b.jpgIMG_3432 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr It was a waste of time as you can see :evil https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7483/...8ba216e8_b.jpgIMG_3425 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Staying the night there we were the only ones, Maya tucked up safely inside in the restaurant.:clap Our next day was to Torres via some back roads and we were served up a perfect day for a ride up Rasto and along, 270 km day and 220 km on gravel. Heading up https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5608/...57b5a3ec_b.jpgIMG_3439 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Along the back roads https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7562/...060f8b75_b.jpgIMG_3462 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5605/...140f333e_b.jpgIMG_3492 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The 285 road proving to be very scenic with a gravel road zig zag to go, turning right at Timbré do sul and taking some very back roads through rice growing regions, some had been washed out pretty badly making the job a little harder, no problem of the mighty Mayan tho. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7525/...316d05cf_b.jpgIMG_3536 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7543/...cba9bd7c_b.jpgIMG_3501 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7471/...e7ffe08e_b.jpgIMG_3518 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Eventually we hit tar seal again with only 35 km to go so we managed to avoid the truck infested 101 and have some spectacular views we would not otherwise have seen…..I wonder how many more we have missed?? We had been invited to stay with Dédorah and Humberto at their home by the beach and what cool pace it is.:clap ... more on that later. Humberto is a keen fisherman so the first morning the we took the rods to the beach and had a fishing contest….I lost. :wink: Torres the town is 15 km away by road or 10 km by the beach, taking a moto tour into town we checked out the national park at the beach front. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7480/...6c47856c_b.jpgP1210147 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Déborah, me and Humberto https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7535/...70dd6600_b.jpgP1210165 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr No need to explain this, just "we where here" pics https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8580/...4de19ff5_b.jpgP1210167 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5603/...4ea679d6_b.jpgP1210176 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr While at Humbertos we managed to borrow some cir clip pliers so I could clean and lubricate our handlebars and straighten a bent bolt. That is when it turned to shit for me, I cleverly hit my own finger with the hammer which did hurt ….a bit, they say "do not try this at home" ... so I didn't but yeah.:huh :eek1 https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5614/...fe5ef938_b.jpgP1210187 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr This little event lead to no more work being done other than fitting Maya back together, the only repair made was straightening the rubber bushes bolt that was bent in the crash. Now being in pain with a finger that won’t stop bleeding it will be hard to wear gloves, Humberto and Déborah saying stay some extra days to get it right, that was an easy choice to make. :clap More next I as am nursed back to life after my near death experience life threatening injury :rofl |
Torres
After my near death outer body life threatening injury (commonly called NDOBLTI) requiring a Cinderella sticky plaster and not being able to get a Cinderella plaster life seemed grim, I was not sure if I would pull through.:huh
Also, I apologize for writing slowly as my typing chicken peck finger is now injured so for you fast readers you will get to the end before I have finished writing ... kinda like slow net and you will know how the ride report ends before I do and it is not meant to be that way round.:huh :rofl With determination and will power coupled with the will to live .... and some rum I was nursed back to life.:rofl ..our and some deep fried fresh fish .... YUMMO https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7473/...26c93bbe_b.jpgP1210145 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Déborahs pudding seemed to become my daily focus to see me through and it worked, a close call but it worked. :rofl You can only have a little bit of pudding cos it is fattening so I am only putting up a small pic to watch your weight :D https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7492/...8f0c2bda_o.jpgPudding by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Ok, drama queen, princess of Torres ... time to hard up, people break bones everyday and smack their fingers too nothin special gowin on here. Fishing, one of Humbertos passions and something we had not done in a long time and me nursing my NDOBLTI we set too in order to survive. Action man shot https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7541/...352a6a3f_b.jpgP1210137 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Does this fishing rod make my bum look big? https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7548/...2cfd73ef_b.jpgP1210139 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Although I might not have caught any fish during the next three days I was certainly on the improve which was cool.:freaky Déborah and Humberto, Déborah about to do the big cast, she was good at it too (obviously hungry) https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7480/...fe47d74f_b.jpgP1210133 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5605/...1be61815_b.jpgP1210136 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr One of the days during my NDOBLTI Ellen and I took a 25 km walk to Torres and back, beautiful sunshine, beautiful beach what a great day to relax and unwind, our mission was to try and find more sticky surgical strips to hold my finger together but they were nowhere to be found so we had a coffee instead.:D Torre park at the seaside, awesome place https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5609/...0eb1bf50_b.jpgIMG_3613 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr While on the beach three cruisers came past ...I always wanted a motorbike :rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8140/...1a4071fe_b.jpgIMG_3593 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr More fishing the next day, this was an incredibly successful day getting two tins of fish, the fish were so keen they came pre finished ...awesome.:clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7577/...ab924fdf_b.jpgP1210204 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Given we had time up our sleeve Ellen cooked up some killer Thai fish currys that were well appreciated, also rolled out some sushi for Humberto and Dédorah to try, these also won the day, Humberto impressing us with his bar b q talents. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7528/...594bd9ed_b.jpgIMG_3573 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr For me it is hard to describe the good times that evolved from my Bridget Jones 101 self murder attempt and NDOBLTI so we can only torture you with some pics and a vid we made. Some general pics https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7581/...c6b2ce4d_b.jpgP1210117 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr True love sharing my hat with the doby!! https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5612/...80a07fed_b.jpgP1210104 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Ellen scoffed some peanuts but denied it ...what do you think?:evil https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7484/...8073fe37_b.jpgP1210140 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Do ya think anyone will nic that bone....me neither :rofl https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5606/...e605f44c_b.jpgIMG_3570 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Humble and appreciative when I needed it the most our hosts looked after us like great mates and I don't have the writing ability to express my thanks without crying or ****ing it up. Soooooo thank you Déborah and Humberto, I am now glad I thumped my finger (well sort of) ((you know what I mean)) so we stayed extra days and the extra good times with it, your two are golden :clap:clap So what have we learnt from today's lesson? 1, don't hit your finger with a hammer as it will hurt 2, if you do hit your finger with a hammer do it in Torres 3, NDOBLTI is overated, sex is better 4, Rum still works 5, Humberto and Déborah are superb hosts BTW I am out of ICU from my NDOBLTI in our RTW trip on our KTM FYI.:D Love to all Survivor of Torres, Andi :rofl <iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/jB6cF9rNhU4" allowfullscreen="" width="560" frameborder="0" height="315"></iframe> |
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Torres To Nova Hamburgo
Leaving Torres was hard, such good times despite me wrecking myself.:huh
Came the time to put on the gloves and gingerly I did it with success.:clap We did not have far to go which was going to make life easy, we had planned our place to stayed and headed of through Parque Nacional da Serra Geral then out to our acccom. We were wowed going up the zig zag with epic views and a clear day. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8649/...6b685319_b.jpgIMG_3629 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8618/...087de6ef_b.jpgIMG_3631 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Travelling through Cambara Dol Sul we decided to head to the super market as where we were planning to stay there was no shops or services, Mrs.G kept telling us to turn off but I pulled rank and ignored her heading right into town....ouwh yeah ... such a rebel :freaky That is when our day took a great turn, we knew of Two Kiwis - Thomas and Tina( their blog: tintomkiwi.wordpress.com, YouTube : TinTomKiwi )sifting around on two BMW’s, they couch surfed at Curitiba at the same place as us the day we left, we thought we might see them on the road but we took different roads. Approaching the Petro Brasil minding our own business a guy ran out from between the pumps yelling something, I looked over and saw some motos and thought well we will stop anyway …turned out to be the Kiwis …stamping on our territory :eek1 .. will haf ta sort that out :D OUTSTANDING:clap:clap, we stopped and talked for a 5 minute chat for an hour and a half, they decided to come to our accommodation as it was near the end of day. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7529/...c345c240_b.jpgP1210221 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Stocking up on tucker and with only 12 km to go we took the road out of town and what a sweet road it was, twisting and up and down, riders dream for tar seal. Arriving at the Pousada the owners were not there but soon turned up, lucky we had the Kiwis as the cabins were for the 4 people and the cost per cabin so it worked out economical for all of us, we had a home cook tea and a fire to heat the cabin which was cool, for some unknown reason we dipped out on wine which would have finished the night to the end of a perfect day of fishing in the morning at the beach, some back roads and zig zag travel finished with an easy jaunt to the finish line. Standingaroundtalkingkiwi :rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8611/...3d5fdfd4_b.jpgIMG_3645 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Check it out, a genuine New Zealand number plate, who would have thought our here in Brasil!!! (ouwh and a nice bike) https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7495/...a7b3ac3c_b.jpgIMG_3654 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7522/...88dff839_b.jpgIMG_3659 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Discussions, movie and photos, we had a local travelling on a bicycle join us too, he was camping and did not have access to a shower so we invited him in for a hot shower which he was grateful for, he then joined us for a fire and some chats, good times. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7553/...fe5b7aff_b.jpgP1210224 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7490/...2fe4f61c_b.jpgIMG_3665 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr I am not sure how but we have a photo fail with no more kiwis :cry When the others set off into the distance the following day we headed out to the Canyon, jaw dropping beauty is the only way to describe it with very abrupt rock faces. Seeya Kiwis, rubber side down bro and sis :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7499/...b3a9ce56_b.jpgP1210226 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7466/...4c325029_b.jpgP1210227 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The Canyon https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7507/...fc019d2c_b.jpgIMG_3700 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7503/...1c3af702_b.jpgIMG_3676 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7524/...bcf7d1bc_b.jpgIMG_3670 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A few photos hear and there then back to the Pousada to hit the road to Canela and Gramado but leaving the canyon I noticed our side stand bolt was loosening. Back at camp a quick tighten with some loctite and we were good to go, the world is a workshop and we had a perfect side stand fixing bank right outside our hut.:clap:clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7538/...2b1bd2df_b.jpgIMG_3709 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Arriving at Canela it was apparent we were in the wrong place, the cheapest room we could find was $210 Reals so +/- $100 USD …. I don’t think so.:eek1:eek1 The towns were strewn with christmas decorations and we felt like we had just stepped into the USA, it was a little weird and not really inviting given it is all commercial driven. We took another back road opting to stay off the main road, this lead us to a small place called Santa Maria Do Hervel. We inquired at the Shell gas station if there were any Pousadas (hostels) here, the guys at the gas station saying no, we then asked about camping, they told us of a camping place about 1 km away, at that point the owner chimed in and said just stay here. So, wifi, toilet, shower and undercover place to put the tent we were in, 5 star camping so that was it for the night…too easy. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7514/...dae36372_b.jpgIMG_3713 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7576/...987461ba_b.jpgIMG_3717 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8614/...affe8aa8_b.jpgIMG_3718 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
We inquired at the Shell gas station if there were any Pousadas (hostels) here, the guys at the gas station saying no, we then asked about camping, they told us of a camping place about 1 km away, at that point the owner chimed in and said just stay here.
So, wifi, toilet, shower and undercover place to put the tent we were in, 5 star camping so that was it for the night…too easy. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7514/...dae36372_b.jpgIMG_3713 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7576/...987461ba_b.jpgIMG_3717 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8614/...affe8aa8_b.jpgIMG_3718 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr[/QUOTE] Haha, love it guys keep up the good work Wayne |
You Guys are great
I have been following your adventure since you have left Alaska. I envy all the expierience you have had. I am a biker and have been filling my on bucket list. ie seeing all of the 48 lower states. Being a few years older, I have to pace myself. However, I am enjoying your adventures and wish you all the best in your future travels.
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Thanks man, the goodwill of people to travellers is still very much alive :thumbup1: Cheers Andi |
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Thank you so much for your comments and props it is much appreciated. Good on you for getting out and doing it, you too will realize it is not difficult and there are incredibly good times to be had. Pace yourself is perfect, you will see far more taking is easy and quietly, we too travel slowly, so much to see, also I am pretty broken up and have Titanium holding my neck together and have Ankylosing Spondolitis so I am decaying too :thumbdown: ... but thats ok....I am still out there :thumbup1: When I can't ride then I will hang up my bikers hat remembering the good times. All the best for your travels to mate, rubber side down :clap: Cheers Andi |
5 Star Shell to Novo Hamburgo
That was the plan anyway, we had also planned to meet a guy from Facebook for lunch in Novo Hamburgo on our way through, just for a quick stop.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7510/...dbd132ed_b.jpgP1210250 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We went to a local moto shop who rang Jankiel and he came to the shop to meet us, he then took us to meet Hemi a local rider who has been to Alaska on his XT660R and back. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7581/...32a492c0_b.jpgP1210255 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Welcomed in with a celebrities welcome we found ourselves admits proud travelers and excited people to see us and our bike and these guys had already been there and done that so pretty nice to have that welcome support. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8582/...7c605a76_b.jpgP1210260 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Lunch was had and we were TOLD that we were staying, being Wednesday they have a meeting on the Thursday night so that was that, we contacted our host in Porto Alegre (where we were supposed to go) and said see you in two days, it was no problem as they know Hemi anyway so no one was too worried, we were the only ones thinking we were rude and wanted to make sure everyone was cool with the instant change of plans. We accepted (we had no choice) and unpacked (big day of 23 km) and enjoyed a hot afternoon. The Thursday night gig was cool with about 30 enthusiastic moto heads coming for a feed, drinks and to watch photos and videos, technology helping us with a big screen. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8649/...7547c482_b.jpgIMG_3736 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7573/...5298bd19_b.jpgIMG_3729 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7549/...c9b39455_b.jpgIMG_3734 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Very limited English was spoken so Portugringlish was the winner with photos doing most of the talking. Luisa (Hemis wife) looked after us very well, a beautiful lady both inside and out with a heart of gold. The main lady :clap:clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8575/...3956f810_b.jpgIMG_3731 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Vanessa, niece of Remi works there at the shop, she is an on to chic and knows her stuff, couple with that her warm heart she is a another golden hearted person :clap:clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7461/...28383f83_b.jpgP1210261 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We also seemed to be having our own lunchtime celebrity playoff, a local news paper and TV station both taking great interest in the foreigners that had stopped in their town, this coupled with one of their own Remi who is highly respected. Casal da Nova Zelândia viaja de moto e visita Novo Hamburgo - Casal da Nova Zelândia viaja de moto e visita Novo Hamburgo - Vídeos - Jornal NH <iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/D4cb9DTy2e8" allowfullscreen="" width="560" frameborder="0" height="315"></iframe> Novo Hamburgo was awesome for us, the hospitality, meeting fello travellers and moto heads :clap Next where we were meant to be :rofl |
Novo Hamburgo To Porto Alegre
Finally on our way to Porto Alegre we hit the main drag only to find it blocked, an ambulance trying to get through and police cars lined up on top of the bridge with cars at funny angles so we assume their was an accident, we split and turned off to a dirt road taking us parallel +/- to the main road and returned us some 40 - 50 km further down so we made it safe and sound and took the scenic route.
We managed to sneak through the city just before rush hour hit which was a blessing as it was very hot. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7491/...820cd194_b.jpgP1210264 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr While out in the car to the supermarket we also went up to the lookout not far from their house, nice viewpoint of Porto Alegre. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7515/...28465063_b.jpgIMG_3740 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7475/...8f59b3ce_b.jpgIMG_3738 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Augusto has three push bikes so we took a restful wee ride around and into town and back, very nice indeed. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7576/...489bba2d_b.jpgP1210295 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7526/...cc5bf21f_b.jpgP1210284 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Some interesting things around Alegre, apparently this is meant to represent Maté cups from the sculpture :huh subliminally I think the artist was thinking of boobies as they is what I see :rofl:rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7466/...73298dfa_b.jpgIMG_3753 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A coloured dumpster with nice artwork :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7557/...5683e7b5_b.jpgIMG_3743 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Augusto rides a white Teneré 12 (moto), I took it for a short ride around the block and he on Maya, I begrudgingly gave the Teneré back …. a little more comfy than the KTM but notably heavier at a stop and back ups etc, the big 12 producing a tonne or torque right off the bottom but I am still a fan of smaller skinnier bikes cos I am not big. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7496/...60e8c3f3_b.jpgP1210269 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We also did "pick up the bike" session the Teneré 12 although heavy has a very low C of G so very easy to pick up considering its size. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7557/...bf317b99_b.jpgIMG_3761 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Nice :clap:clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7578/...a5ef8695_b.jpgP1210268 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Maya still easier but only because of the lesser weight even though our tank was full. Somewhere in Porto Alegre we managed to pick up an old split pin with most of it hidden in our tire...I was sure and certain we would have a flat, we have 4 mm tubes so I thought that would be helping mask the hole :eek1 We pulled and pulled and finally it all came out ....:eek1:eek1:eek1:eek1 we were waiting for the hiss that normally follows such a length of steel but nothing.:huh https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7512/...1d910395_b.jpgP1210266 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Taking it down to a local shop to fix it we wrestled the tire off (not to bad) and preceeded to pull the tube dunking it in the water tank to find the hole ... but nothing??:huh More pressure to blow it up higher and recheck ... nothing???? :huh:huh, at this point I realized that I was a lucky guy and the angle of the split pin shallow enough not to hit the tube ....I almost wanted a flatty as I we had everything in our hands ready to go. Putting her all back together I was appreciative of not having a flatty so my lucky stars bucket has not run dry just yet. Breakfast one morning ... we will need a 1200 soon at this rate :rofl:rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7512/...d164cc17_b.jpgIMG_3758 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our Mac Charger had died and given we were at a good place and time to change it we took the opportunity, this is about a 7 - 10 day affair here so we turned around and headed for the hills for more of a look around, first stop back to Torres our favorite beach place in Brasil to see Déborah and Humberto :clap:clap ...some place you like, some place you love and some places you just can't leave....the bastid part of travel :cry |
Porto Alegre To Torres To Cazias Do Sul
Having 7 to 10 days spare waiting for our new charger we made the most of heading off again to explore more ….and a good explore it was, thank you apple for our mini break away :rofl.
Back to Torres to see Déborah and Humberto for a couple of nights before wandering our way inland through the hilly section. Taking a back road we attempted to find a large waterfall, we ended up taking a mountain biking scenic route which was very nice, at one stage of about 5 km turning from gravel road to dirt track to neat wee off road section ordering some extra skills from me.:clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8588/...8f38aba8_b.jpgP1210322 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We had accidentally extended our trip into the mountain and completed a road zig zag down that we were going to do in the following days, talk about efficient.:D https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8668/...de89b3c4_b.jpgP1210329 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8659/...d9a65341_b.jpgP1210331 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Back at Torres was like arriving home, the coolest beach place in Brasil for us and somewhere I reckon I could live easy enough. We had a good catch in the net for fishing so we had another crack at it with the rods, this time was …well …just as well we Chinese dumplings lined up and didn’t need to catch them first.:rofl Good times again with food, drinks, portugringlish, its called living.:clap Final good byes and some small tears we headed off, Rod Do Sul (Road To The Sun) ….and it was, a great day and nice temps as we took on elevation to the inland, a cool breeze just enough to take away the heat and some ominous clouds looming I put my wet jacket on …turns out mum nature was just ****ing with me and it came out hot and still ….arriving in Caixas Do Sul I couldn't wait to get the jacket off and I was getting wet underneath. Not much to photograph on the way except my jacket stop and some flowers https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8597/...9f5b5154_b.jpgP1210343 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We found Dudas and Elles easy enough, amigos of Humbertos, they had offered to put up with us for a coulpa days which was cool, Duda took us out for a small lunch and local tour in the car. The next day a ride was planned in the afternoon, including a boat (barge) ride, taking in some local backroads and view points as well as a small waterfall. Coolas bridge, many in this region https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7480/...fbee3f7d_b.jpgIMG_3788 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The people powered barge https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7561/...b659ac90_b.jpgIMG_3834 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7538/...570eb760_b.jpgIMG_3846 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The waterfall https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7468/...604541c0_b.jpgP1210397 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7567/...7868707d_b.jpgIMG_3823 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr From the mirante (lookout) the waterfall above on the left hand side where you see the rapids and the gravel road in the bush you can see https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7554/...685930d5_b.jpgIMG_3851 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Perfect afternoon cruising around and taking the place in, Duda on his shining red F8 Adventure getting dirt from muddy puddles and Maya looking … we'll normal being a dirty girl. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7479/...6b63a32d_b.jpgP1210391 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7529/...82793550_b.jpgP1210394 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Got a fear of spiders .... don't come here, this one was small and about the size of your hand, although not venomous they do look daunting :eek1 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7520/...cac37159_b.jpgIMG_3849 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Onya Duda really enjoyed the cruise around and exactly what we wanted to do with this part of our trip.:clap The evening arrived as did his amigo Mauricio … and he speaks English which is great. A plan was formulated to go away for their weekend in some places with Maurico and his wife, they too have a F8 … very popular bikes here.:clap Caxia Do Sul ... more to come |
Caixa Do Sul .... The Local Happenings
While staying at Caxias do Sul Duda and Elle in typical Brasilian style did a beautiful churasco, if there was ever a chance from dying of meat overload poisoning you will find me dead in Brasil with a huge smile on my face.:D
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8572/...990e2c26_b.jpgIMG_3762 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr In true Asian form Ellen treated them to dumplings and geauser which were welcomed, with Mauricio coming over there was only two left so he got the short straw but enjoyed them all the same.:clap Duda and family planned a beach trip for the weekend which we were invited however we said for them to enjoy their family time without the third wheel kiwis, Mauricio asked if we would like to stay with them and do rideouts to some of the local places we had on our list, this turned into a great plan.:freaky On arrival at Mauricios https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7563/...f7fc2a58_b.jpgIMG_0141 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Friday night was a dinner out for his work place, we were invited to come along and join in which was so cool (we cover ours) and what great pile of pizza, everything you could imagine including pudding pizzas …WOH HOH …fud! https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7552/...263984d3_b.jpgP1210415 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Mauricio is new to the adventure riding scene having come from a road bike mob, he is no dummy on the tar but learning on the gravel road and offroad and doing it well on an F8 of the military brown colour, well cool in my books.:clap Rides up next |
Caxias Do Sol Boys Day Out
The riding day started right here, get the F8 out of the lounge.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8602/...ff0104dd_b.jpgP1210417 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7560/...3b4eb5ac_b.jpgP1210418 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Much to our surprise we spotted a KTM Adventure, a rear beast in this neck of the woods. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7486/...79d9e6d0_b.jpgP1210421 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr At the first bridge for a quick stop to see the KTM that was coming above (xray vision) and to do some dancing, Mauricio practicing solo tango and I was having a crack at the moon walk :rofl .... just a well we can ride ok :eek1 https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8635/...f315462f_b.jpgG0011679 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Taking in a short ride Mauricio and I headed for the hills on a mix of tar and gravel, the gravel road surface hard under with marbles on top so pretty much the worst but undeterred he took this in his stride bearing in mind he is on the standard factory tires which are way more road orientated than our Mitas E07s. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8680/...d37bd9d4_b.jpgP1210429 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We found a neat bridge in the middle of somewhere, with no traffic on the road it was a nice photo spot, just as we got our shit sorted out a car came along and parked in our photo spot….ya shitting me :eek1 :rofl Once the car had moved it was game on....then a truck appeared from nowhere…serious!!!. :huh :huh :rofl Ok, wait for the truck then make a quick move, no …..lets wait for the newly arrived tractor now...turned out to be the new 1290 KTM....so a road in the boonies, no cars for half an hour either side and the bridge which is the congregation point https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7540/...c0354006_b.jpgIMG_0194 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Yeap a new 1290 :rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8633/...9ba6b349_b.jpgIMG_0198 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Finally it was our turn, I needed to get across the bridge to come back across, turning Maya around I was on an off camber. I lost my footing, Maya stood up as I unloaded the seat trying to reach the reach the ground and she went over center. My next attempt at footing it failed, down she went sending me rolling off in an embarrassing Bridget Jones manouver much the amusement of Mauricio. Watdidyadothatfor :D https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7476/...5431e27a_b.jpgP1210461 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7520/...0cdf6e75_b.jpgP1210460 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Help arrived to pick up miss piggy :lol3 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7541/...7f4d4c3c_b.jpgP1210463 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our photo shoot interrupted by my act of unprofessionalism we managed to snap a few pics before the onslaught of more stray traffic. Two hot lusties on the bridge :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7560/...8470f58f_b.jpgIMG_0163 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7514/...ca83762a_b.jpgP1210467 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7539/...547555bf_b.jpgIMG_0213 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr At the end of the dirt road a wee town, quick stop for a breather and water in the face of evolution, not sure which way it evolves so you will have to decide Left -> Right ... or ... Right -> Left ... at least the panniers where the right colour :rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8623/...ea3c3d4c_b.jpgP1210484 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr It had been organized to meet Laticias her uncle at a rodeo, he is the head chef at the churasco so again we were treated to gob loads of fine beef open grilled and smoked, no poofy forks and knives here, they had about 4 or 5 sharp boning knives which was simply slash off a chunk of meat and pass the knife on to the next caveman, back to the primal days of standing around a central table with the meat for the taking .....bloody awesome, they did however spoil it with a salad and some tomatoes, sum rum and hookers would have finished it off perfectly :evil. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8569/...85bfb997_b.jpgIMG_0227 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7520/...ea9e0f0d_b.jpgIMG_0233 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A man with a grin hidden by good fud, see the churascoria rack behind, 10 minutes prior that was laden with meat :freaky https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7483/...d984953f_b.jpgIMG_0225 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The smoke from the cooking wofting around teasing nostrils and the little rays of light coming from above. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7576/...cd361ec6_b.jpgP1210489 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Two fat bastids then jumped back on the motos and rode home to met up with the girls. :clap What a great part day playing |
Caxias Do Sul Ride With Mauricio And Leticia
Next day, Sunday, two up with the girls on a round the blocker to waterfalls and local places, switching bikes on a road section we took the F8 for a spin which was very smooth but did not feel animal like the KTM, different bikes altogether but both perform well.:clap
First stop a waterfall, only a short distance from town. Selfie :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7540/...5894d6e2_b.jpgIMG_3889 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8672/...4199434d_b.jpgIMG_3897 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Stopping at a local lake we took a breather, nice place too. The back road to it https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8563/...26ea790a_b.jpgP1210506 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8629/...5ac67416_b.jpgIMG_3915 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Some hard core offroading on mowed grass ... doin it :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7538/...f483b6d8_b.jpgIMG_3901 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Nice road out https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8574/...95c44f9f_b.jpgP1210541 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We also went to a local road loaded with twisties to a cafe where the bikers go, at the cafe it was icecreams all round as it was very hot, some local riders taking great interest in us and the bike then inviting us to stay with them when we go back to Porto Alegre. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8669/...0a2b83c7_b.jpgP1210571 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The owner of the cafe as well thought we were a bit interesting and gave me a t shirt.…probably because I smelled bad more than anything but even so the two girls wanted their photos so I can’t have been too bad.:evil Heading back to town was torment, stinking hot and bumper to bumper traffic all he way Mayas radiator fans staying on for most of the way keeping her cool but toasting me, I was dripping wet underneath and clearly in need of more meat.:lol3 Rolling on to Monday it was a relaxing and walk day for us while Mauricio and Letica went to work, Ellen had a crack at making the famous local pudim here in Brasil, first attempt was a real winner, the competition has become very hot. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7576/...4bc8ef09_b.jpgIMG_3930 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Ellen and Leticia lookin pretty happy https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7495/...90f29fbc_b.jpgIMG_3931 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
Hi
Are you planning to cross to Europe after it? |
Rob maybe we did
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G'day Andi and Ellen
Nice to have a day off today to catch up on your journey .so much beautiful country you have traveled through ,Photos up to you usual standard .cheers for now YDF Noel:D
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Hello MotoKiwis
I've been keeping an eye on you two, I'm still enjoying your ride report and travels, but enough with falling off already. ha ha.
My boys still ask about you two and were surprised that you are still on the road. I told them you were living off Ellen as she is rich and didn't need to work, that's how you get to travel for so long. Bye for now. David |
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Not on this round, this is purely the Americas, next one will be back over to Iceland, Scandy, EU, Stans etc but need more money in the pot before going there or somehow need to earn money on the road. Cheers Andi |
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Thanks mate, Brasil has lots to offer you just gotta get out there and find it. Now into Uruguay so will catch up with RRs today after a dry spell of wifi Cheers Andi |
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Great to hear from you mate. Yes it has been a while but still all good good, just confirmed our flights home so on 14th May 2015 it is back to work for us. Say hi to the boys and your good lady too, Ellen being rich ... I wish!! :D Catch up again amigo Cheers Andi |
Bit Of Rain
Tuesday, Ellen and I surfaced about 10 am.....our plan was to see the last of our want list before heading back toward Porto Alegre, we enjoyed a short lunch at the river side and a swim before it turned black, looked like it was going to rain so we decided to pack it in and head for home....then it hit and hit it did, within 5 minutes the road was flowing like a river, branches were flying .....seen this before.:rofl
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7485/...82a6e91c_b.jpgP1210605 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8647/...73bd7b73_b.jpgP1210598 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Hmmm ...wet! :evil ... someone that looks like me left the vents open too :lol3 ..ouwh no! https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8638/...bdf98d5e_b.jpgP1210597 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We ended up riding some 25-30 km in these conditions, normally these are short and sharp and gone but this went on for a long time, the water spraying up off the road up my trousers and into my boots and water filling my sleeves from the front, Maya being waterblasted and all of the days earlier mud wash and gone. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7535/...b2907d82_b.jpgP1210620 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Jet boatin :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7489/...beb049a4_b.jpgP1210621 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7525/...d2254738_b.jpgP1210618 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr With the road flowing like a river it was nice to be a newish rubber which was accepting of the deeper water so no aquaplaning :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7467/...8f41657c_b.jpgP1210634 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Finally nearing town it settled back to normal rain then when nearly home it was spitting/dry, by this time we were soaked through for everything, I had also left my vents open accidentally so….yeah. :deal Our plan was to head off Tuesday but we had not tried the local cheeseburger so were not allowed to leave before trying it, this turned out to be a godsend as our gear was soaked and very dirty, Leticia insisting we finish the washing process started by mum nature which we duly did but it rained during the night and was pouring in the morning so it was nice not to climb into soaking wet gear and ride off in the rain. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8655/...08b62907_b.jpgP1210639 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7551/...ee5b7e53_b.jpgP1210644 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The Burger, chicken hearts for Ellen, normal beef for me!! https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8576/...05874bec_b.jpgP1210647 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A small psycho vid we made of our mum nature prewash of gear, bike and humans :rofl <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/rBw-LLwXm2E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> |
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Don't think there much chance of rain where I am :D Go steady Wayne |
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Yeah it was refreshing mate, when it rains there it does it properly eh :clap: Maya certainly got an epic clean. Cheers Andi |
You Guys are great
Keep it coming. The envy is un contamible. I check in every other day to see what new adventures you are having. i have been to New Zealand once in the 60's but would like to go back and tour the country on a bike.
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Merry Christmas All
Good afternoon all
We now have wifi after a dry patch of a week or so, new ride reports coming out tomorrow. We are now in Buenos Aires, Argentina and will have Christmas here before heading across with the Dakar (in part). Merry Christmas to all you guys and girls, thank you so much for your support, friendship and giving us crap :D Hope you and your families have a well deserved break away and remember to make the most of every day :clap ...remember Christmas is about family, friends and holidays (ouwh and motos :evil). Love to all Andi & Ellen Picture with Argentinian riders :rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8597/...ec1d2af9_o.jpg17 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
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We head back to New Zealand 16th May 2015, any time after that our door is open, you would be welcome at our home in Wanaka. Cheers Andi |
Mery Christmas to you too, Andi and Ellen. Did I understand that you are going to the Dakar next year?
I know that you and Ellen a a tight couple, Andi - but competing in the Dakar two-up? Are you mad? And is Ellen? Rob Hall |
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We will be at the Dakar yes BUT we are armchair racing .... I don't want to show them up.:D ...we do have the sticker tho bier Looking forward to seeing the moto and big trucks Rob should be cool. Ouwh and yes we are mad too :thumbup1: Cheers Andi |
Andi , Ellen
Merry Christmas to you both thank you for the gift of your RR and best wishes for the rest of your travels. john |
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Thank you so much for your props and Merry Christmas to you. Travels continue and more reports up today ... finally :D Cheers Andi |
Caxias do Sul To Porto Alegre
Just a boring writing one this time guys.
Caxias do sul, meeting Duda & Elle and Mauricio & Leticia was very cool, our 7 - 10 days away waiting for our new charger turning into good times and great places to see, there is always more and so much you never get to see it all, thank you to Apple for making shitty chargers that allowed us to make new friends and see new places Having planned only a coupla days we headed away 10 days later having seen our wishlist, enjoying local hospitality and having our gear washed accidentally by mum natures little tantrum that we got caught short in....all good tho . Saying farewell to them all was the not so great part but it is part of travelling , at least with the net, FB (in part) etc makes the world much smaller and with an explosion of information available it is much simpler....well...to a point anyway. Mauricio and two other friends are planning a trip about 20 days long through to Atacama Desert etc so they asked many questions to lay some fears to rest so for us it was great giving them real life information for their travels, just do it guys it is easier than you think and the good will far outweigh the bad if any and your memories and stories will last a lifetime unless you have a memory like mine....then in that case for Gods sake take photos My advice, don’t watch the news and don’t listen to scare mongering as is it only designed to keep people at home spending money on stuff, having over 2.5 years being outcasts looking from the outside in it is easier to see. Ciao amigos see you again!! We hit it out of town opting for a back road, I thought it would be gravel but it was sealed the whole way and loaded with twisties, we saw two cars on the entire road…. what a treat. Getting back into Novo Hamburgo we meet up with Luiasa and Remi, it was moto meeting night so Remi jumped on Maya and we rode to the meeting to meet the lads. Churrasco and Guarana …. what more can a man want, good times, difficulty with language overcome with pointing, pictures goggle and smiles, sorry no pics cos some unforgetful bugga forgot the camera. Farewell to Novo Hamburgo for the last time, again was hard, Remi watch out for the famed blue T shirts in Ushuaia mate!!! Thank you guys for an awesome time. |
Porto Alegre ... From The Water
Back into Porto Alegre to meet up with Augusto and Michellé with our flash new charger....thanks guys for your premo effort in helping us:clap, time to meet up again with Francisco again (met him in Florianolopis on the Big Trails ride) and also Dioni and Luana.
Saturday we had organized to meet Rafael, a fell KTM rider too, we contacted him and he said well lets see the city from the lake….good enough I reckon. Meeting him at his shop we left Maya there and headed out to the boat ramp and store.(Insert picture of grubby KTM in special lighting shop here:D) Arriving at the boat store it was clear our view of what we thought we had got ourselves into was not quite what we had thought ... actually not even close :eek1 We thought some kayaks or something or maybe a small boat, instead we were greeted by the HMS Rafael ... :eek1 :eek1 :eek1 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7518/...3fc8992d_b.jpgP1210729 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Hmmmm https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8638/...499e27e8_b.jpgP1210692 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Champagne :eek1 with KTM colour cups :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7544/...7cfeb79f_b.jpgP1210704 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Thinking up ideas on how to get a boat :evil https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8652/...4f4f968b_b.jpgP1210757 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We parked up with a couple of other boats for a swim https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7574/...87e1daef_b.jpgP1210768 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr These poor girls spent all the money on the boat and couldn't afford much clothing :wink: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7560/...34a69605_b.jpgP1210779 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Thanks for an epic day out Rafael, see you in Kiwiland mate :clap |
From One Ride To Another
From one ride to another ... a much needed bout of exercise, Brasilian Churasco slowly mounting up from a man who can't say no ... he looks like me but has next years winter stores already in place :rofl
We were lucky enough to get or on the pushbikes again and ended up doing about a 40 km ride which was great coupled with a lite lunch of Acai ….yummo. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8646/...76132da5_b.jpgP1210808 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Ellen and I are both passionate mountain bikers and this is one aspect of travelling that we both really miss is our mountain biking and fitness. Our day with Fransisco was around the water front with grande views of the lake, Fransisco's mate came too (sorry forgot your name) https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8678/...0f89d58f_b.jpgP1210815 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A pair of happy faces with Acai https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7557/...f0e34037_b.jpgP1210820 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our lunch spot https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7537/...a0c69ab0_b.jpgP1210824 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Like https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7466/...58f5f012_b.jpgP1210805 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The weapon of choice https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7464/...56b76fa8_b.jpgP1210809 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Finishing the day strapping the bike back on the bike https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7537/...f0ed6602_b.jpgP1210828 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Ciao https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7473/...fb573f58_b.jpgP1210832 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Finally sitting around the pool, having a swim and doing it hard, big thanks to Augusto and Michellé for hosting us and helping us get our charger sorted and Fransisco for taking us out. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7475/...b2561860_b.jpgP1210833 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr I will also add now that Fransisco and Augusto had not met prior and through us and our travels two Tenere riders from Porto Alegre are now friends ... how cool is that, their generosity and welcoming towards us opened new friendships for them ....the world IS a great place :clap:clap:clap |
Dioni And Luana - Moto Riders
While in Caxios Do Sul and on a ride with Mauricio and Leticia we met Dioni and Luana, they had invited us to come to their house so we took the opportunity to go see them given they had taken time to come and talk to us and make us feel welcome (very Brasilian thing) :clap
We arrived and it was stinkin hot, sitting on their front porch with mate etc we chewed the fat about travel, motos, work etc so a nice cruzy day. The pool also called our names so what is a man to do... https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8673/...4f9082f3_b.jpgP1210847 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Selfie at lunch, nice food too :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7553/...5d82a771_b.jpgP1210843 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Later on Luana and Ellen went shopping for Sushi goodies, Dioni and I took the two trailies out for a spin, he handed me a nicely set up WR 250 R Yumaha so good times, felt like a mountain bike after Maya :rofl. The WR 250 on the left and Luanas bike on the right https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7543/...ba7c9866_b.jpgP1210848 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Had to cover the Yumaha logo so my KTM friends wouldn't disown me for enjoying another brand :rofl:rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7490/...d3377707_b.jpgP1210851 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Dioni and I spent late avo and part into the evening zipping around the hills to various vantage points of the city, the weather was caving in and turning black without some good lightning strikes shuffling across the horizon. Triumphant at the top WOH HOH ... no broken anything :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8563/...88224990_b.jpgP1210860 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8629/...e4ff24e7_b.jpgP1210855 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Good times and smiles https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7463/...1979a838_b.jpgP1210859 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We B-lined it back to the car and and got the bike tied onto the trailer as it started pissing down, not that is rains in Brasil. :rofl That evening Luana was the student for sushi and for she did an exceptional job for her first time, sorry for the shite pic, I mucked it up with the shadows https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8571/...25815c9f_b.jpgP1210865 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Come bed time it was time to blow up the airbed, like a true moto head there was no pissing around with a foot or hand pump it was out with the compressor and into it :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7578/...2d8db49a_b.jpgP1210868 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our first real haircut in 2.5 years .... Ellen got the treatment https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7541/...7652e037_b.jpgP1210881 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Not sure what he was cutting on mine but I felt better :D https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7506/...6ef5b724_b.jpgP1210875 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Dioni, Ellen, me and Luana, thanks guys we really enjoyed our stay, our doors are open in New Zealand when we return guys, hope to see you there :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7583/...491fee97_b.jpgP1210870 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
Merry christmas
Heeee you guys, still keeping tabs & making sure you behave yerselfs :angel:
Loved the tv thing, you guys clean up real good, :innocent: mmmmnnnn Andi you & Maya gotta stop being so naughty & bashing up those poor wee defenceless cars :oops2: Am really glad you all oke though. This is the risky bit of the journey now, the last stages, we seem to let our guards down & are more susceptible to mishaps, bear this in mind, :smartass: but still enjoy life to the max Andi what is that Ariel or antennae thingy on maya, cockpit, or is she a he & happy to be banging wee cars :oops2: don't remember it being there all the time though. Rally armchairs in the Paris Dakar woooow that gotta get the silly way round boys going, bet Charley & Euwen gotta big sofa thingy with loads of little back up chairs :rofl: Guys just want to wish you both a super big Merry Christmas & a fantastic 2015 ..... stay safe ...... keep yer knees in the breeze & the rubber side down Have fun Vince |
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Merry Christmas mate, yeah the Brasil guys love moto travellers and for us it was cool sharing our experiences with them. The cars, well only one real baddy and yeah we could have done without that, Maya suffered a bit but the Jesses owned the big hit, full cred to them. Yes must keep the guard up till the last day, the moment you don't it will hurt so very wary of that, the Ariel is to catch any kite strings, it is a sport here to lace the string with glass and try and take our motos cyclist, it is now law in Brasil to have a kite string cutter, we never needed ours but for $6 it was worth having it in case. Eh the Dakar, front row seats for us and looking forward to it, will only chase it for two day then let then to it. Have fun man and catch up in the new year. Cheers Andi |
Happy Holidays
Here's wishing you folks Happy Holidays and a safe 2015. Will be looking to read more of your exploits as you continue your travels. Thanks for the invite to stop by your place in New Zealand. I am trying to talk to a couple of my riding buds to plan a trip maybe later in 2015. I currently ride an 2005St1300. Love it but I don't think it can handle the roads like your riding. Thanks again for your photos and description.bierhttp://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/images/smilies/beerchug.gif
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Thanks man, appreciate your thought, have a great break too. No problem bring mate to our place too...doors will be open. NZ has great roads, you can pretty much ride to whole country on tar but some of the cooler is better of a dual purpose bike, nothing big needed either. SA on the other hand....many cool places here demand dual purpose. Cheers Andi |
Porto Alegre To Chuy … Farewell To Brasil
Our final day arrived, nearly 5 months after entering Brasil and planning to stay about 2 weeks.:D
Funny how things change and the good times we had, we still only scratched the surface, so much more we have not seen, we will have to come back and go north from Salvador. Leaving Porto Alegre we headed the back way out to the old 101, many said it is sand, some said it was paved but really shitty and some said just gravel so we decided to find out for ourselves.:clap Turns out it is 100% paved, the first third mint, the middle third average with potholes, the last third mint so very easily doable on pretty much any moto with care in the potholed part, way more scenic and seriously quiet compared to the BR 116 4 lane race track that the trucks take. The potholed part https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7531/...7c1284bb_b.jpgP1210891 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The smooth part ... long lonely highway https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8642/...b5a00946_b.jpgP1210895 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr On getting down to Sâo José do Norte we arrived 20 minutes too late for the Ferry, no biggy, 1 more hour and the next one will be there then we can continue. This gave us a break and relaxing ride across the harbor to Rio Grande before we hit it to Chuy. Farewell to Sâo José do Norte https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8611/...0ffa13e1_b.jpgP1210901 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Maya crammed on the corner being bullied by big trucks https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7481/...4fc53b77_b.jpgP1210904 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7469/...2a9ab25d_b.jpgP1210899 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Was pretty tight on the deck with some sideways slither maneuvers being required https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7500/...51f57a67_b.jpgP1210897 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The last section down this part was hell, we had an ugly side/head wind that was buffeting us around like a puppet on strings, my helmet pushing to the right heavily and hurting my nose because my sunnies were pushing hard … :huh We arrived at Chuy and where stuffed as it was very hard work … good practice for Patablowia I spose.:clap So that my friends concludes an awesome nearly 5 months in Brasil, will wrap that up in a Brasil Sum up post....so much to say, so many to thank. |
Uruguay - Chui To La Paloma
Exiting out of Brasil was hard but we hit the Uruguay border and got on with it, some places you hold well in your heart, Brasil is definitely one, all was easy enough and no problem although one of the Uruguayan border staff guys was very arrogant and could not be bothered with us so we were super friendly back making him feel awkward. :rofl
Getting our TVIP and stamp in we headed south in and out of different beaches and bays, although the weather was fine it was windy and cold so not many beach goers. Playa del Moza, beautiful place :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8648/...501626a8_b.jpgIMG_3961 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Fortaleza de Santa Teresa was one of our stops, very nice place indeed https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8588/...c9d030fa_b.jpgIMG_3935 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7472/...1e9933de_b.jpgIMG_3949 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr This guy was quiet but welcoming all the same, I think he knows the dude from Foz Do Iguassa :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7531/...741b2059_b.jpgIMG_3936 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The old canons lined up https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8581/...8861bd77_b.jpgIMG_3946 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Arriving at our destination was easy with a simple road trip on tar and some short sections of gravel and what turned out to be very Uruguayan and flat. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8658/...3a2aaf9c_b.jpgP1210935 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A humped back bridge https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7576/...e9b5337e_b.jpgP1210934 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our shock had been giving us grief and had spat itself only 3 months after having a rebuild which was disappointing, also to add to the pain there was actually only a little over 1 months actual riding time, we took it to a suspension shop who took it part in front of us, very little gas and very little oil that was extremely black too.:cry The suspension shop said I looked extremely unlikely that the shock had never been apart let alone serviced etc, the main seal looking as old as the hills.:huh I was gutted at this point given it was supposed to have been done however our new mission was to make it as right as we could so it received new seals, orings oil and nitro this time in front of our eyes, the suspension shop also saying the shock was not that greater condition.:eek1:eek1 ....I could see this too. I was feeling pretty shafted given it was literally only one months riding time and we had been fed a bunch of bullshit after we queried it over email. The shop who "rebuilt" it for us then said it was overloaded but also having put it through all the wrong conditions, wet, heat etc (which the shop new about and supposedly rebuilt to suit us!!!), (actually we were in a dry desert at 3000 meters which was cold and dry) at this point I will add the shock we took out prior was knocking only not leaking or anything else but we had to get on with it to get it sorted...frustration plus.:cry Maya was almost due another valve check so we did it as we had access to a workshop where I could do the work so I was very happy about that, we did change some shims opting for larger clearances than spec, a little more clicky but better in my books, we also changed the factory 42 for 45 pilot as she was running slightly lean and a notable change in temperature was had. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8567/...7c5a15d0_b.jpgIMG_4014 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Some usual maintenance, carb balancing, adjustments, cleaning etc and we were all good.:clap:clap I had my final bottle of Guarana too with my rum, not sure how I am going to get on now without Guarana :cry https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8670/...3db22929_b.jpgIMG_4006 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Living here was psychogoat ... he was a bit different eh :D https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7468/...dae86928_b.jpgIMG_3978 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We had our first Uruguayan Asado which was very nice indeed https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8616/...30ab7dea_b.jpgIMG_4048 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The kittens even got to have some of trimmings...dedicated look on his face https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7573/...87c94fa4_b.jpgIMG_3973 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
Montevideo
Our GPS was the next mission, it had stopped working in the center of the screen, Garmin sent us a refurbed unit down to Uruguay, the unit being $167 USD, someone in Garmin very uncleverly wrote an invoice for $486 USD so customs raped us for $220 USD, I was very pissed, the guy at customs was a total wanker and seriously unhelpful so no matter how nice we were to him and much evidence we gave him to show the cost he would not even help so he just saw a loop hole and took it, Uruguayan customs rate right up there with Bolivianos in my book.
We had to shovel out all the money we had just drawn out of the bank, they do not accept USD (like the rest of the country), credit card (like the rest of the country), debit card (like the rest of the country) or anything just Uruguayan Pesos, they have no wifi so we could do things easily and no access to phones or anything, talk about bloody helpful!!! Being up in Montevideo we were lucky enough to have met Miguel from ADV rider and his wife Silvia and their three children, very very nice people and he rides Jawas, totally cool machinery. Miguel and Siliva https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7580/...c96cdff1_b.jpgIMG_4097 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Miguel and I having to ride 3 km away to find wifi so we could show customs our bank statement etc, twice this happened. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7530/...47d28c3c_b.jpgP1210941 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Miguel did his best to help us too and was astounded at the lack of help from customs and their attitude so we were not the only ones.:huh We did a moto tour with Miguel around the city which was cool and we spent some time chatting about life and things, very nice indeed. The famous MONTEVIDEO sign https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7466/...81420242_b.jpgIMG_4069 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7572/...e1a7b2d4_b.jpgIMG_4059 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Miguels Jawa https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7473/...a0d9b4dc_b.jpgIMG_4060 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr At one of the local churches, this one was a monster and sat on the skyline and visible from Miguels https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8628/...bb498bff_b.jpgIMG_4053 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Miguel also organised an asado with some local moto friends, nice food again :clap:clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8578/...2c281011_b.jpgIMG_4092 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7552/...21bee989_b.jpgIMG_4095 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Their pet hamster it played hide and seek with the kittens, was cool to watch them play...in Peru they would have it for lunch tho :eek1 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7534/...53876f0a_b.jpgIMG_4078 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Beautiful private courtyard ....nice place to sit, relax and enjoy mate https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7479/...8d0a56e3_b.jpgIMG_4087 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Big thanks to Miguel, Silvia family and friends for making us welcome, even more so in a BIG city this is golden :clap:clap |
I did the same thing to my then fiancee after the postal service returned the first box to me in a barrel shape .
just insured it full value so when she recieved she had to pay more on duty then I did originally for the ladies slacks. |
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Assuming then she is now your ex :clap: Classic, yeah the postal stuff can get you right hard in the pocket, we snt an email to Garmin so will see what they have to say. Cheers Andi |
Colonia
Uruguay seemed to be a fixit stop, for us but thankfully this was the last of it.
The next step was to pick up our Jesse Luggage mounting that Norbert and Greti Adventure South America had bought down from the States for us, these were in Colonia so we hightailed it up, Colonia is a beautiful town but extremely spendie (toursity). https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7509/...d15237e2_b.jpgIMG_4113 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr These old dolls now sitting in the street as potplant holders, the car in front a dining area for the restaurant https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7490/...c92096d5_b.jpgIMG_4139 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7537/...92d0db9f_b.jpgIMG_4140 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The famous cafe shot https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7465/...a218d676_b.jpgIMG_4134 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr After our site seeing of Colonia we picked up our parts we made our way to a camp ground only a few km out of town by Rio de la Plata....not a wee creek either I will add. :eek1 The weather was still and calm so we headed for the river, the water was soothingly warm and nice to swim in, no pics this time as I had no togs and you fellas don't wonna picture of my white fluffy cleavage or Andiconda :rofl:rofl |
Camping At Brisas del Plata
Setting up camp we made a small fire to cook our sausages, we had only just finished tea and was photographing the storm over on the Argentinian side when the camp owner came over and said pack everything up and bring it under cover as it was about to get nasty.
Camp was at the top of the bank, this is the Rio de la Plata https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7488/...69e116f5_b.jpgIMG_4158 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7517/...0e0b697f_b.jpgIMG_4183 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8599/...319943ff_b.jpgIMG_4144 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr I had removed my case and had it in pieces spread all over our picnic table and chair … I mean work bench :D, I had almost executed the necessary repairs so it was a hell quick put back together and clean up which I did. :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8674/...b9f7d14e_b.jpgIMG_4142 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7549/...c41147c0_b.jpgIMG_4143 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr This is what was treating us across the other side ..until it came to our side :rofl Ouwh it is beautiful https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8680/...e2d3f6c6_b.jpgIMG_4163 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Ouwh it is getting closer https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8632/...abc4d7ab_b.jpgIMG_4168 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Ouwh it is looking a bit black https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8676/...4fde0e95_b.jpgIMG_4217 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Enter camp owner now :D We heeded the camp owners good advice and with no time to spare took our gear, Maya the tent with everything in it in under cover in the main covered area, just as we bought the tent in down it came (thought we left Brasil).:rofl Big winds, lightening, thunder, heavy rain, branches flying and all sorts, we were very appreciative of our good host letting us know and letting us come under cover, then we had to resort everything out as we bought it in in handfuls of unorganized bunches…. a small price to pay to have everything dry and clean.:clap A peaceful night was had once the weather blew through leaving everything outside flowing and wet with the added bonus for us the temperature had dropped the good part of 10 - 15 degrees making it nice and cool to sleep. The morning after :evil https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8593/...0fb3d07f_b.jpgIMG_4221 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The following day was a clean and clear ride back down the coast having got everything we needed to make the best of the damage repairs, our intention to take in a bit more of Uruguay before departing south. |
La Paloma
Having got all our needed stuff sorted and done it was time to relax a little.
Heading for the coast we made our way back down to La Paloma where we had been offered a beach house to stay, by way of timing we decided to stop for 3 nights, the owner doing some maintenance work we offered to help given his generosity of helping us.:clap There was two outside walls needing water blasting and painting, both of which he had. We set up the water blaster and set too blowing the old paint away and ripping all the loose stuff off ready for painting, given it was mid 30’s it dried real quick allowing us to colour it in and make it look nice again:clap, stoked to be able to help him as he had a lot to do in a shortish time frame and I am pretty sure he appreciated an extra couple of hands to bring it up smart. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7555/...676c88c8_b.jpgIMG_4248 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We took a tour along the beach road north and took in some sights, there are huge sand dunes which is a tourist attraction, the beach was covered in these small balloon like things https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7574/...41f5561c_b.jpgIMG_4274 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7483/...80781f65_b.jpgIMG_4279 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A nice casual walk around the town at night led to a lighthouse at the point. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7552/...e5383a50_b.jpgIMG_4235 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8562/...112bea62_b.jpgIMG_4240 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr In the town center there is a whale skeleton which is pretty cool, when you get to stand beside it you get to feel the size of these things :clap:clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7505/...db3e3822_b.jpgIMG_4281 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
G'day Andi and Ellen
Great to catch up on your travels ,love the storm and light house shots .fantastic .Seams you have met some wonderful folk in Brazil .Anyhow great you are still having (mostly )a good time .pity about the bloody shock .until next time YDF Noel
P.s also now on ADVrider under the name breezealong :D:D:D Oh forgot wishing you a fantastic new year ,lets hope we meet up some place this year |
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Yes the weather played into our hand for pics but not ideal for camping :nono: Sad leaving Brasil, good times man that place is amazing to say the least. Spotted ya on ADV :D .. .welcome to the loopy side. Cheers Andi |
Punta De Este To Frey Bentos
Finishing at the beach we headed to Punta Del Este to Casa Pueblo the famous artists house, our winning streak of good weather over with strong winds and heavy rain … and this time cold with it.
This is what it was like when we past through a week earlier https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8599/...81446c8a_b.jpgIMG_4224 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Getting to Casa Pueblo we were wet and cold so a welcomed break inside was great, we contemplated a coffee but the prices meant we had to sell Maya and we needed her afterwards so that didn’t happen. :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7474/...d5390988_b.jpgP1220074 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7512/...e511f691_b.jpgIMG_4291 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7528/...83dc88b2_b.jpgIMG_4295 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Better post an artyfarty picture or I will get told off :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7555/...5dd82c9e_b.jpgIMG_4284 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr As we left is was caving in again ... not a pleasant moto day. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7470/...60bea1dd_b.jpgP1220078 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Turning inland we had the wind following us which was a nice reprieve, the grim weather still following us like a bad fart though :evil, finally arriving in Durazno we thought about a hotel, again cold and a little damp we looked at a couple of places finding them fairly spendie, we pissed around and went to an ATM machine and supermarket then decided what we were going to do. Mum nature deciding we needed a break popped through with sunshine and slowly but surely it came clearer so camping was on again….just in the nic of time.:clap:clap Thank you to Life Remotely we had PDFed the information and the GPS coords taking us right to the door to a monster camp ground which was all but empty, it gets better cos it was gratis. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7582/...d38d615e_b.jpgIMG_4306 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7500/...afb289af_b.jpgIMG_4299 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr It had been very wet so the ground was sodden but drying, hot shower and toilet complete and a small fire place… what else could we want. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7509/...0888960e_b.jpgIMG_4303 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Again we lit a fire, cooked our food and smoked out the mosquitos, apart from the odd hoon ripping around in the mud the place was quiet. Setting off the following morning we managed to dry almost everything, the border was our mission and as far as we could get before stopping when tired or a nice spot was found. Our road which was totally asphalt …but apparently not causing some extra time due to a puffy wet road slowing us down and when we got to the asphalt section there were bomb sized potholes to go around.…one of which owned us. A dry section :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8613/...58462a3c_b.jpgP1220094 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We had scooted around about 10 potholes before reaching the daddy of potholes with no way around, Ellen saw it coming so she stood up on the pegs, quick shit myself, a very quick squeeze of brakes and a quick yank of the throttle to lighten the front wheel at least, we still hit with a thump, the tire, forks and flex bars all working hard to absorb the impact, if I had laid on the brakes and stayed on them we would have creased a rim without a doubt and likely have been thrown off Maya….the pothole nearly big enough to make a POI ….Canyon De Uruguay 8-) This was a typical section of good road, this pothole a mere dimple by comparison to the daddy, we should have parked in it to show the size :eek1 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7464/...78754bf8_b.jpgP1220095 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Counting our lucky stars assessing that everything was still round we continued to the border for a painless exit and entry in Argentina At Frey Bentos there is a huge mofo bridge that take you high (for a flat place) to give you a great view (of the flat place) :lol3 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7491/...7ffed9e0_b.jpgP1220099 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Welcome back to Argentina!!! :clap:clap |
Frey Bentos To Buenos Aires (Good Air)
Buenos Aires (Good Air)
Having escaped Uruguay in one piece we set camp at Rio Paranacito, again we had the place to ourselves. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7500/...146ac2c9_b.jpgIMG_4312 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8666/...db4b210e_b.jpgIMG_4318 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr With plenty of firewood around the caveman and cavemaness made a camp fire which was big enough to warm us with the cooling night slowly draping itself over us. As it turned out we had gone through another timeline without taking any notice so it got dark earlier. :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7508/...67cef0aa_b.jpgIMG_4336 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A good nights sleep followed by a stunning day with sun warming us as we downed some breakfast and coffee setting us up for the 140 km easy ride but daunting traffic of Buenos Aires.:eek1 ...big cities ...and Christmas time!!! An overhead train, they seem to like putting stuff up high when it is flat :huh https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8561/...7917ff1d_b.jpgP1220119 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Sure enough getting there was easy, getting through was manic, all six lanes (each way) choca block commanding extra skills again of jamming Maya and house through the skinny arterials coupled with some stunt riding thrown in, I reckon this made the Dakar look easy :rofl. Back track to Mexico over 2 years ago, Ellen’s crash and the small window of opportunity meeting Norbert who was looking for us and found us making an absolute game changer and helping us out, well two years on we f i n a l l y get to cross paths again and meet wonder woman otherwise known as Greti his wife. Old pic, Ellen and I with Norbert :clap http://i1263.photobucket.com/albums/...os/file-33.jpg Norbert at this time was solo on his V Strom. http://i1263.photobucket.com/albums/...os/file-30.jpg We were meeting at Norberts brothers place and had been invited to spend Christmas with them so for us a chance to spend some quality time with a man we seriously look up to was outstanding.:clap:clap ...and to meet the woman who puts up with him :evil Unfortunately the GPS coords didn’t work well but the street address did, turns out we had beaten Norbert to the finish line with them making their way into Buenos Aires from the south after being in Ushuaia. We followed Norberts SPOT seeing exactly where they were, Manfred (Norberts bro) astounded at our ability to stalk them to within 10 minutes so a wee treat for them to see how us disfunctional travelers do it.:wink: Norbert and Greti soldiered on with a huge day in the seat (I think 900km) arriving later evening in good spirits, a great reunion was had with enthusiastic but watery eyes. Having been out camping and no wifi etc it was time to unravel all the gear, air and dry accordingly and to catch up on ride reports overdue. More on Buenos Aires next, too much for this post :clap |
Buenos Aires
On the way into Buenos Aires we stopped in to meet the famous Javier and Sandra from Dakar Motos, seriously nice people and we had a great chat and coffee, I can't believe we did not even get a photo together WTF happened there is anyones guess.:huh .. .anyway you guys have seen all of our mugs before :evil
Manfred looking on as we stalk Norbert and Greti, Manfred quite taken by the cool side of technology https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8665/...71045e30_b.jpgIMG_4340 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Ellena (Manfred’s wife) cooked up some Argentinian Christmas cakes …..and yes they were well and truly as good as they look. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7490/...bd10b9aa_b.jpgIMG_4351 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Christmas eve arrived which was the big celebration and a piglet was on the bar b q, talk about outstanding food, we were off the hook for cooking duties but on duty for the wines and soft drinks…good times.:clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8612/...9d21f2a4_b.jpgIMG_4353 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Christmas day was relaxing affair around the corner at one of the brothers houses, they have a swimming pool …..yeah heeeer :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7580/...fbc35c10_b.jpgIMG_4375 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Again more food, drinks and good times. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7546/...24625ca3_b.jpgIMG_4383 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Being Norberts old stamping ground we had a local tour then with Manfred as our main man we hit it to centro, walk -> bus -> train-> subway -> Centro, we would not have made it without local knowledge. Our plan was to meet a couch surfer Marcela who we hosted in New Zealand 3 years ago, plans were made and we all met up, talk about cool having reuniting sessions.:clap:clap Four trouble makers Me, Marcela, Ellen and Manfred https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8606/...f751be28_b.jpgIMG_4406 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A sailing boat down at the harbour, could not believe how much rope is on this thing https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7538/...42182a80_b.jpgIMG_4413 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The full crew Don Norbert, Ellen, me Marcela and Manfred, downtown BA just hangin out and being hoods :rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8599/...7cdd10ec_b.jpgIMG_4427 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The Dakar ramp being assembled outside the parliament building for the "fake" start for the public https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8573/...5836cf76_b.jpgIMG_4448 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr After seeing a lot of sights in centro we all headed to a local restaurant for a late lunch, again great food and good times. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7500/...ece10a9f_b.jpgIMG_4460 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Two chics :wink::wink: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7571/...5ea0620e_b.jpgIMG_4461 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The afternoon finished off with Maya having a photoshoot with Marcela, Greti, Norbert and all…and some back rubs. Marcela riding it hard :D https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7489/...7e63443e_b.jpgIMG_4479 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Suits you Greti, orange is your colour :D https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7465/...9e6313d8_b.jpgIMG_4481 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Greti in the box seat with Norbert in tow :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7469/...e647e9b1_b.jpgIMG_4487 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr And the back rubs, I had to quickly snap this pic then try and get in line but I missed out :eek1 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7535/...bf75c5df_b.jpgIMG_4489 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The inevitable goodbyes, the bit we can never seem to enjoy :huh A huge thank you to Ellena and Manfred for having us stay and the warmth and welcoming with it. Norbert and Greti, see you in New Zealand guys, it will be our pleasure to have you stay with us and really cool catching up finally after two plus years and especially meeting Greti. Marcela, really cool catching up after three years :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7553/...1e57b5d9_b.jpgIMG_4494 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
Brasil Sum Up And The Heart Speaks, The Best, The Dirt And The Hurt
Brasil Sum Up And The Heart Speaks
Time to reflect over the happenings in Brasil, easy peasy cos we were only there for two weeks give or take 5 months. What started as less than ideal got better quickly, with the warm hearts of Brasilians helping us at Ponto Pora amidst 6 degrees and rain to get our stator etc out of Paraguay. Also Wagners workshop after buying an oil cooler for Maya and meeting lots of new faces there. The only two motor fails we have had and both were in Brasil where KTM is literally non existent, that being our stator and waterpump. The stator made worse by the introduction of lying Bolivianos and the water pump, no worries we had a spare on board so were prepared, was a 50000 km shaft with 60000 kms on it :clap. 60000 km, never left standing on the side of the road, one water pump, one stator I consider than to be pretty good given where we have been. It soon got even better, the weather picked up and we soon fell into the groove, every new country there is always the butterflies and not knowing WTF you are getting in for and after Bolivia we were ready for some sanity. Where the hell to start, I am honestly struggling to write this up as my heart wants to go back and I am having to write about saying goodbye. When things go wrong you need to make the best of it, in most countries you will get by and get things sorted by one way or another, in Brasil it will be sorted, in style, with a bar b q, with Guarana, with more help that you ever imagined, with wide open arms from everyone who gets involved.:clap For me, Kiwis are open and friendly but Brasilians step that up a notch, after coming from Bolivia it was almost opposite overload with people going to unreal lengths to help knowing you are a foreigner and needing that little extra help, language barriers and all, it did not matter, the funny thing is that in some cases the less we spoke the more the help was stepped up.:eek1:clap For me, Rio De Janeiro was spectacular for a city, abrupt rock formations were outstanding, meeting Paulo was a God send and having access to Moto Buis workshop unbelievable. It just became easier and better and we soon learnt that Brasilians are extremely warm hearted people that love meat and motos ….I like the way these guys think.:rofl Bahia in the mid of Brasil was very nice, Chapada Diamontina still the nicest place and for me the best photo I took/have/seen etc. My favourite picture of a place I cannot describe so you will just have to go there :clap https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3908/...e0cab8c1_b.jpgIMG_1401 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Lencois a beautiful wee town, slightly touristy but far enough away from the big smokes to be quiet and very nice and one I say is a must do. Making our way back down we really hit top gear meeting the Brasil Riders, each one very interested in motos and travel and we very interested in being on the ground level with locals which changed our experience, also Brasil is wealthier in the south so to be fair our comfort level was up as well. Every time we were moving along they would ask where we were going, if they had amigos in that town a phone call was made, directions given and we were welcomed in and accommodated, as travellers on a budget Brasil is VERY expensive so to be set up with like minded people and hosted is a double plus and bonus, this allowed us to spend money on booze and other essential items.:lol3 We reciprocated with (Ellen) making sushi, dumplings, Chinese pies and me helping out, fixing, adjusting etc to be helpful and appreciative for our hosts. The Brasilians love to drink, eat and talk travel, motos etc and love foreigners so I was as happy as a sandboy. A highlight for us was Cascavel meeting Sandro, Marcos and crew, also Star News BMW welcoming us in knowing full well we were not buying a bike but let me take a R Nine T for a ride, sorry for slobbering over it Berto.:rofl https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2948/...91a9cd53_b.jpgIMG_2171 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Non Brasil riders (normal humans) came up to us on a daily basis curious and inquisitive ALWAYS with a huge welcoming and friendliness enough to drag any resistant hermit out of his shell, we of course didn’t need any training to open up to them straight away and they thought this was well cool. They also love stickers as I do to so Maya has a few more now, lots of places we bought stickers now we have moto clube stickers with all the destinations on them so that is cool (traded for TMK stickers:wink:), they also covered up a lot of accident damage, unfortunately the don’t make structural stickers to straighten the hit and run accident. The Heart Speaks While we try to keep things in a positive light sometimes shit IS worth writing about, why? ... because I am a ****en Kiwi and we tell it how it ACTUALLY is with no sugar coatings and shinning white teeth pretending everything is perfect, too much for you to read about the truth then stop here and read something else, no apologies. While we had superb times we also hit the bottom literally, we found damage done to our bike from a previous service at a reputable KTM Stealership which really pisses me off as we paid real money for bad work, from this point on I have trusted no one to do any work to Maya and I do everything, never again will I let someone else **** it up ESPECIALLY after we have paid hard earned readies for it. The hit and run was a bastid, luckily we both stayed out of hospital, Maya not so good and the Jesses needing BIG work, their build quality being their saving grace.:clap Only in Colonia, Uruguay we got the last of the parts to fix damage however our racks are still tortured and twisted, the grinder and welder will do well when we are home. I spent a lot of time fixing, adjusting, straightening the damage, at first I did not realize how hard we had gone down until the following days when my body hurt quite badly, also when riding noting things not lining up so it was a case of one thing at a time to realign and fix .... Torres was the final straw.:cry So after the mop up of the luggage, then straightening our steering, then fixing our bent bolts on the handlebars and finally hurting my finger badly trying to fix it I have decided to put this to print. Although the finger is not directly his fault it would not have happened if we did not need to fix the damage he did. The wanker left us on the road, this would have been the same for any of you who were there so to me I view this dimly, for all Brasil Riders who have treated us extremely well I post this as it could have been any of you and that steps it into fighting territory…he who would hurt my friends hurts me. The driver has left us with about $3500 worth of damage in total and thanks to the Brasilian “system” will not likely get charged for hit and run, his excuse, ......he has no money so that is that.:huh He said he is sorry (to the Poice NOT to our face), but he is not sorry enough to make good the damage or leave the keys to his car to pay for the damage…****en shallow arsehole. To be positive about it so you guys can be aware of him and not to drag it out, the lowest for of life has been found and he is The arseholes name: Fabio Junior Barbosa The arsehole address: Rua Telemcao, Borba 409, Tibagi PR The arseholes FB Page https://www.facebook.com/fabio.barbo...4%3A1415230892 The arseholes photo. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7559/...95a8c1b3_b.jpgScreen Shot 2014-11-14 at 1.17.52 PM by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The arseholes car and rego and photo. MVB-8041 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7502/...20d2fea9_b.jpgP1200222 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The arseholes address https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8653/...95f2fe2a_b.jpgScreen Shot 2014-11-14 at 1.09.41 PM by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The arsholes house https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7498/...86065c2e_b.jpgScreen Shot 2014-11-14 at 1.00.44 PM by twomotokiwis, on Flickr If in the neighbourhood drop in and say hi or kill him or anything really painful will do.:D The other trial we had was extreme heat of 45 plus degrees for days on end, we had learnt from previous experience to keep hydrated so we don’t needlessly chew each others head off and for the most of the time it worked, this still created daily stresses and our 1 and only flat tire was on one of these days, not even a shadow was cool :eek1 For me now I am enjoying Argentina after Uruguay was a bit of not a lot and my heart is still looking north to Brasil, the hard part of travelling when you fall in love with a place. Finishing on a good note, there is SO much to see in Brasil, the distances are bigger due to the size of the place, Brasil IMO is a must do, given we were going to be there two weeks and 5 months later we left that is a fairly good indication, don’t just blow through the place, do it some justice and get into it…you will not regret it. :clap:clap To all the normal humans who were extremely, good, nice, helpful etc thank you so much for making Brasil a great place to be, to all the Brasil Riders (abnormal aliens we can relate to), I am not sure how to put into words our gratitude for making Brasil simply OUTSTANDING, when we looked up information on the net about Brasil and moto travel it was fairly skinny, I hope now after ADVers, Hubbers, TMKers and FBers have read our ride reports that it has shed some more light into a cool country with cool people (bar 1 :evil) For me, a picture is worth 1000 words, for me, my prize possession is my Brasil Riders good luck charm watching us as we ride from the top of our tank bag, Tailon, thanks man we ride with pride. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7466/...2f71cf38_b.jpgP1220319 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr I am not got to name everyone cos I simply can’t but a huge thanks to all, you guys rock, finally we have booked our flights home so after 3 years and two weeks travelling the Americas top to bottom we will be home on May 16th 2015, give us an hour to buy some meat, bear, wine ....our doors are open.:clap Ouwh ... and bring some Guarana :rofl:rofl |
Buenos Aires to La Falda ... New Years Included
Finally our time to split as we had organized to be in La Falda on the 29th, so Maya was wheeled out through the alley only as wide as the bars, cases and house fitted back on and a series of kisses, hugs, watery eyes (again ..sand in the air) and cheers goodbye.:clap
With the 790 km ride being broken into two easier days we stopped at Juarez, it was a ghost town when we arrived with the typical Argie siesta making the place silent. Our daily ritual now being check the fuel and clean 20 or more dragonflies out of our radiator:rofl, next leg no different with thousands of dragonflies pasting themselves wall over Maya and our visors.…now I know where superglue is made.:huh Finally through Cordoba we had hills in sight, I had to retrain myself on what to do with a corner and how to go up a hill :D Arriving at La Falda was like going home, a beautiful place we had been 8 months earlier, we became friends with the people and they wanted some house sitters to look after their home and look after the four dogs while they are away for about 2 weeks. For us a welcome break, a chance to catch the Dakar and do some local rides before heading off into the deep south ibis of Ushuaia. We had organized our stay to coincide with the 2015 Dakar so for us, Walter and Dagmar the timing could not have been better for both of us. Maya was also due so fluid changes, so engine oil, fork oil, front and rear brakes all with new blood, easy when time and space are available.:clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7496/...39063f11_b.jpgP1220318 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Bit of a mission finding DOT5.1 but I got it and Maya is all fresh again. Walter and Dagmar who own the place run Alma Guacho tours and had two lots of German clients in nicely set up overlanders, Walter is a landcruiser nut as well and had a disk brake conversion he wanted done so I offered to do as much as I could as I luv 4x4’s as well. New Years was in the middle of all the action, we had an excellent asasdo and good times. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7468/...d53d7d5a_b.jpgIMG_4516 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7560/...3b9fdde3_b.jpgIMG_4523 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7494/...5f0cd6ee_b.jpgIMG_4524 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr La Falda by night. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7565/...645da3e1_b.jpgIMG_4535 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Helping getting Walters truck prepared, any excuse for a petrol head to pile into a pot of grease is good fun. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8647/...78923f0d_b.jpgIMG_4576 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The crews Ready To Race :freaky https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7509/...7bd0b45b_b.jpgIMG_4587 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr With 4 dogs it is like feeding time at the zoo, the zookeeper standing watch to make sure everyone gets their fair share and does not nic the other dogs tucker :lol3 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7530/...5ee6cb37_b.jpgIMG_4503 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Next up, Dakar, 04 th January first day at Villa Carlos Paz :clap |
Dakar - Buenos Aires to Villa Carlos Paz
Dakar, first day Jan 04th, Buenos Aires to Villa Carlos Paz, we watched and saw the support crews come in followed by competitors, mottos, quads, cars, utes, cars and the big boys…trucks ….high powered hooligan trucks running 1000 hp plus …on my!!!:eek1
Weapons …that is all I can say. Just a few pics as they will explain more that I can say. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8598/...d5f48fe9_b.jpgIMG_4692 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr First motos in https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8676/...8de62eea_b.jpgIMG_4681 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Followed by cars https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7583/...fa4cee28_b.jpgIMG_4664 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Lineup of traveller bikes :clap ... even with all the excitement of the incoming vehicle the TV interviewed us. :huh https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7564/...3e128257_b.jpgIMG_4649 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The highlight for me was a fiver from a rider, even after nearly 800 km they still take the time for the crowd ... pretty cool :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7496/...1f83842f_b.jpgIMG_4635 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Tomorrow, a seriously early start, we were supposed to be having a bar b q tea with some locals however I managed to pick up a crook guts so toilet paper was my mate, off to bed early :evil |
Dakar - Villa Carlos Paz To San Juan
Jan 05th 2015, 3.00 am start :eek1, 4.00am on the road to Las Palmas, we arrived with about 15 minutes up our sleeve before the first Red Bull KTM moto rolled through, 15 minutes ahead of the next lads.:clap
In the go slow town zone https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8590/...bf88ef13_b.jpgIMG_4700 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Just out of the go slow zone :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7499/...0fece341_b.jpgIMG_4705 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The motos providing some excellent riding, beautiful two wheel, stand up drifts at warp factor two…..and at one stage we were only one meter away from the riders…awesome.:clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8635/...2f0c8d00_b.jpgIMG_4731 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr It was not long and the quads were firing through with a battle or two creating some great entertainment as they battled for clean non dust laden air. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7538/...a3d36fe6_b.jpgIMG_4816 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr No sooner they had started to thin out the cars and utes appeared with V8’s singing out loud to the needy petrol heads …me included.:evil https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7496/...59d9f77b_b.jpgIMG_4822 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We were at the end of the town “go slow” section so when their beepers went off the throttle was hit shifting the hillside behind them at an astounding rate. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7485/...810ed65e_b.jpgIMG_4849 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The acceleration, sound, gravel and dust making for full on Dakar happenings.:D https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8582/...862386e7_b.jpgIMG_4854 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The treat continued as the various forms of utes, cars, single seaters etc ripped through creating great spectating and the crowds lapping it up, the custom cars with the big V8’s roaring throughout the entire valley....pure music :ear:rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7489/...011e734e_b.jpgIMG_4858 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr For me I was keen to see the motos and the big trucks and soon enough the big trucks came through thundering their way past.:eek1 This guy was cheating cutting the corners :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7514/...e39cd915_b.jpgIMG_4869 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We watched in awe as the Red Bull truck was first up, the engine over boosting all the way through town in the go slow section so when they hit the exit and fuel all 1050 hp was ready and waiting.....and it was :lol3 To see 4 large knobbly wheels spinning spitting gravel and stones rearward like a roaster tail and the hearing the monster exhausts screaming with the whine from the turbos all with the base guitar of an 18 liter V8 engine was utterly impressive, stand up close to it and WOW.:wink: :evil:rofl :D :D :D Trucks at the first corner, https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7521/...08b31171_b.jpgIMG_4890 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Check out the bend on the tire :eek1:eek1 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7530/...93cbd216_b.jpgIMG_5062 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The entertainment from the big boys left me with a grin that could not be measured, the 6 wheelers also putting on an impressive display enough to take your hat off to the drivers of these super trucks at a super pace. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7513/...3630209f_b.jpgIMG_5089 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7537/...be851cac_b.jpgIMG_5216 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7535/...0b815b89_b.jpgIMG_5134 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr In the full spirit of the event the co-drivers taking time to wave at the crowd in acknowledgment for their effort to be watching them, seriously cool atmosphere on a seriously hot day with some seriously great riding and driving. Ciao dude :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8614/...056aeac4_b.jpgIMG_5142 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr On completion of the last truck at about 4 pm there was virtually no crowds left, most had bailed and gone so it was Larry Lonely and his Chinese sidekick left otherwise known as Andi & Ellen, the bonus is the huge long string of traffic had all but dissipated so we had a clean run out. :clap Our bonus was to then ride the Dakar road back towards Villa Carlos Paz before turning off onto a remote road with stunning valley views, river crossings, rock faces and moon like landscapes. The road powdered by big HP https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7526/...073c53c6_b.jpgP1220271 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Looks like Central Otago, New Zealand :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8646/...34d96d9e_b.jpgP1220266 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8683/...2cbf4dc0_b.jpgP1220252 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Tired, hungry and happy we rolled back in the door at about 7.30pm in the evening, wicked day out of full on petrolheadism to say the least.:clap Thanks Dakar racers, great display of great driving and riding :clap A video of our view of the day :D <iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/zxFhsqlDCQY" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe> |
La Falda To San Augustin
We had done what we could do and the owners had arrived back from their expedition to a nice clean and tidy house with mowed lawns and plus we did some extra fixits stuff so they were very happy.
A tooth had been giving me some little indications of needing a look so it was a quick blast to the dentist…..how much fun can you have in one afternoon :rofl Making our way west again we headed for San Juan with the vision of lining up the national parks and some passes, our first point of interest was the road we were not on due to last years epic floods that claimed the lives of Argentinians and Uruguayans. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7488/...ea8b210a_b.jpgP1220402 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7541/...f8166f16_b.jpgP1220389 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Opting for the usual back road approach lead us through some neat territory and head on into another thunderstorm. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7553/...943eab9b_b.jpgP1220356 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr This time with one road through one gully there was no way out for us but our timing saw us ride through it and reach tarseal before the shit hit the fan completely. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7581/...74d28f77_b.jpgP1220379 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr That U shape in the middle is where the road goes and where we met the storm ....nutha wash :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7527/...e7361c6a_b.jpgP1220365 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Finishing with that storm another one approached from the left, as luck would have it we skirted our way around it with only a few drops on the window, 5 minutes late woulda been a different story. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7514/...a3c1fc28_b.jpgP1220372 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Passing all the sky fury it came out into blazing sunshine and a sauna and our road back in one piece. An easy ride out today. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7527/...69241ff6_b.jpgP1220335 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
San Augustin To Rodeo
Plan was to hit the National Park but they wanted $57 dollars EACH for a tour, having seen the pictures in the tour office on where they take you we thought there were better things to spend the money on and far nicer scenery for free, this was tailored around the unadventurous city sheep who drive out and want entertaining.:wink:
Passing on the National Park we backtracked slightly and rode into Valle De Luna, expecting some wonderland it was pretty ho hum as well, there was two overland landrovers parked so we rode over and chatted to them. They said you can view it from the dirt bank 100 meters away, again we took a quick look and it was ... oh, is that it .... more unadventurous sheep tours :huh Walking back to the overlandies we said "is that it", yeap, "oh", yeap :huh, they didn't go in either. Now we are into a different part of our trip where we are getting fussy about what we see, to be fair we have been spoilt where Maya has taken us so now some things are becoming ho hum...or are they, time to go home?, time to seek out cooler stuff?, time to be more appreciative of where we are?. I don't know but for some reason we have found some National Parks just well sold to the masses whose idea of the great outdoors is having their latte on the outside table at the cafe. Saying goodbye to the overlandies we headed west again, the road was neat, y junctions with a big mofo rock in the middle, note to oneself do NOT be indecisive :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7538/...b9fc9ce7_b.jpgP1220535 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Tunnels https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7523/...715cddfa_b.jpgP1220495 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7535/...17b9d3b2_b.jpgP1220451 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr With insides :evil https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7535/...978ec5d9_b.jpgP1220438 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Cool creek beds https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7537/...0bc64452_b.jpgIMG_5276 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7489/...79e4255d_b.jpgIMG_5294 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Back out onto the main road we took a small valley road in the middle of nowhere, this time we had rock formations and colour to burn, just incredible the variance in landscape in only a few km https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7527/...788bdfd0_b.jpgP1220487 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The colours, the minerals and the pressure from mum nature pushing this rock around like butter https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7553/...008665a3_b.jpgIMG_5305 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr See the grain in the rock https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7527/...608abe65_b.jpgIMG_5302 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr So after much discussion over a fresh salami, cheese and mayo sandwich we decided yet again the best stuff is for free, you just need to stop and look around as it it all in front of you, so tomorrow, go pick a weird lunch spot and take it in.:clap:clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7475/...c6f8ed53_b.jpgIMG_5301 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr This day was one of those when you say "yeap we are alive", after being served a main course of colours and rocks our dessert came, stopping in Rodeo we decided to call it quits, there was a lake, it was sunny ...what the hell.:clap The road on the way ... n o i c e https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8575/...2bb3d4d6_b.jpgP1220442 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Taking a walk to the lake to just look around it was apparent we were in the right place, over the couple of hours in the afternoon we watched as different rock colours came into play as others slinked away into the shadows. Ellen trying to take the cheap way to China :rofl:rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8634/...ce6e7b84_b.jpgIMG_5314 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Just before dusk we rode back down, sunsets and sunrises are when the face of this planet change the most in colours and shapes, this was one such place rich in minerals and differing colours. You think I woulda learnt seeing Ellen go half way to China :evil , just beneath the dry crazy paving was pug, I was thankful for instant 100 HP :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7512/...b845ed63_b.jpgIMG_5395 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Innocent looking :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7483/...afec9083_b.jpgIMG_5316 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The different bands and layers https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7538/...4ac70b4e_b.jpgIMG_5359 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Crazing paving everywhere, it was difficult to ride as it was roly poly sending the wheels either way front and rear. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7567/...203eb408_b.jpgIMG_5419 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The place is a huge expanse ...you just can't go too close to the edge ... unless China is on you itinerary :evil https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7545/...8ff9f345_b.jpgIMG_5402 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr All in all a great day out, at first we started to question our own morals and judgements (twice) but as quick as a flash we proved ourselves right (twice) being rewarded by beauty that was simply laid out in front of us ready for us to take in:clap:clap. |
Dear Moto Kiwi's,
For months I am secretly travelling with you, sitting behind you on the bike and enjoying myself very much.....while I am reading your updates and stare at the pictures!!!! But something keeps me awake at night; why do you call your bike Maya? Have a great time and keep swallowing dust, Maya. |
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Thank you so much for following along.... and you are welcome.:thumbup1: We are still enjoying writing and more so photography, in New Zealand when we are earning money again will step up our gear for better photos.:D Ok, so you can sleep well (cos I have the same problem when wondering about something I don't sleep) All our vehicles have names, our first two Suzukis were CHIWI and HOBBIT, CHIWI = Chinese Kiwi, HOBBIT = from Lord Of The Rings ....cos I am short. The Super Enduro is called MAYA because we were in Mayan territory in Mexico when Ellen crashed on CHIWI and we decided to carry on two up, so we chose to give the bike a local name where we purchased her so she is the big strong Mayan lady talking us south. This sleep remedy comes with a money back guarantee ....I hope it works :thumbup1: Cheers and may there be many more pictures of dust swallowing moments. Cheers Andi |
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I have seen their bike and there isn’t space for a 3rd passenger, you are bad accustomed from the hack. I don’t even understand how the two kiwis fit there. What the old rufty tufty biker have to says about your secretly travels??? Hehe I think they will be back with John & Annette soon Cheers |
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If "she" was good looking we would have plenty of space :innocent: The joys of being two up and house, without camping gear we had two cases and top box with room to spare, camping stuff takes up a lot of room....just as well we are hobbits :D Off to John and Annettes either Saturday or Sunday and 6 bottles of Agie red waiting to help talk shite again with them ... good times, great people. Then ..... Ushuaia .... f i n a l l y nearly 3 years after we started on our 1.5 year trip. :thumbup1: Cheers Andi |
" Passing on the National Park we backtracked slightly and rode into Valle De Luna, expecting some wonderland it was pretty ho hum as well, there was two overland landrovers parked so we rode over and chatted to them.
They said you can view it from the dirt bank 100 meters away, again we took a quick look and it was ... oh, is that it .... more unadventurous sheep tours :huh Walking back to the overlandies we said "is that it", yeap, "oh", yeap :huh, they didn't go in either." I had a similar experience last year when I took HarleyBoy down Skipper's Canyon, near Queenstown. (NZ) When I came back up, there were 4WD "adventure tour" people standing about who filmed me coming up. They thought it was a big adventure. But the nice part came when one of the tour drivers said "I've driving here for 30 years and I never thought that the day would come when I would see a Harley come up that hill!" Rob Hall |
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Yes some things are talked up a lot and mostly for the masses, I wrote about this being careful trying not to sound unappreciative but it is interesting what you start to value after travelling for nearly three years. A Harley in there, yeap definitely something different :thumbup1: Cheers Andi |
Rodeo To Hualilan
Starting our normal day the mission was to see Paso Agua Negra, getting to the gas station was our first surprise of the day, no gas!! :huh
We were directed to another station that had some so we were lucky enough to fill up, we also learnt the next town did not have it either so we were going so we had to do about 530 km without refilling,...ok we filled the supertanker full with 39 liters. :clap Grateful for getting gas and Maya with a full belly we hit it to Las Flores then on and up to Aqua Negra for the day. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7470/...19d3e43f_b.jpgP1220589 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Beautiful is the only way to describe this place again with mineral poring out of the ground making an array of colors. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7557/...1e3e0fdd_b.jpgIMG_5443 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr At the top, 4780 meters is was a little cold and our lunch spot, I even resorted to putting on my beanie cos my ears got cold. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7531/...25c92a9d_b.jpgP1220586 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Heading back down we took in the sights, a well earned reward for the trip up. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7535/...1092f792_b.jpgIMG_5457 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The ice formations at the top are called Penitentes and you can read about em here Penitentes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7548/...867bea8d_b.jpgIMG_5423 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7520/...5472c3b9_b.jpgIMG_5425 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Wicked cool clean colours :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7509/...d1fb3420_b.jpgP1220570 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Arriving back down at Las Flores we checked out some accommodation as the weather was looking ominous, again it would mean selling Maya as they were wanting Chilean prices so we opted to travel on given we had time up our sleeve and search for a more economical place to stay away from the border town. We found a camp ground, the owner was nice as were the 6 - 7 dogs running around, I was keen on a good nights sleep and didn’t see this happening there as there were asados and parties going on as well as chickens and 6 - 7 dogs. I didn’t have a fluffy feeling about the place so I pulled rank and we continued on our merry way, only a few km up the road the weather was darkening again, that's ok cos it was bloody hot, only a few more km along the temperature dropped, I started feeling cold and it was an airy feeling coming across. The temperature dropped from close to forty then down to below 20, then it felt even colder, I thought I was having an attack or something bad, the clouds were black, it started to rain, slowing down from poor visibility we slowly climbed from 1900 - 2600 meters and into the abyss. :eek1 By this time I was starting to shiver, closing all vents etc, cresting a rise it then became apparent we had just ridden into the edge of a hailstorm with the hills and road white from hailstones. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7571/...f271aa2e_b.jpgP1220599 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7501/...9644b9db_b.jpgP1220597 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our temp gauge reading about 4 degrees, 10 minutes earlier nearly 40 degrees … no wonder I felt weird.:evil By this time I am starting to doubt my judgement of where we should have stopped for the night, the next town a long way off so we were both looking for a camping place to stay. With the weather still swirling around and looking like having another crack at us we rode on, in my mind I thought at least we could carry on into the evening if we needed to and we were on tarseal so could hightail it if needed. Cresting the pass and making our way back down to about 2000 meters we were on the edge of the crap so it was looking better, our moto gods deciding we needed some help came to the party.:clap We arrived at Hualilan, you won’t find it on the map as it is an abandoned old mine. We pulled in and rode the 400 odd meters to the ruins, 4 - 5 creek crossings I was weary of on entry, although dry showed signs of scaring from rain. There was one building, a single room with a door opening but no door, a window opening but no window…..and a roof!! WOH HOH Check out the new digs bro :D https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7469/...4c621353_b.jpgIMG_5462 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Checking the place out we decided we had been handed the winning lotto ticket for the night and set camp inside to escape the weather. Come on in to the lounge, bedroom, kitchen, laundry and en-suite :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7580/...dda946f4_b.jpgIMG_5474 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The view from the kitchen window to the non undercover parking :evil https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7473/...fbfb7ee8_b.jpgIMG_5471 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr As soon as we set up and got organized the sun came out as if the weather makers said “ok you win”, what a feeling with a jet signing off on the clear sky https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7566/...471bfb59_b.jpgIMG_5561 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our chosen stop then handed us some rewards, a few photos and a neat place to explore. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8671/...6e2bc54f_b.jpgIMG_5534 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7550/...e1aaf505_b.jpgHualilan - Maya by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Mayas parking spot for the night, outa sight outa mind ...don't look down :eek1:eek1 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7517/...15a6e9a2_b.jpgIMG_5520 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Even a small cactus flower was out making it feel good https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7564/...5b467b1a_b.jpgIMG_5685 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Venturing out the back I discovered the rabbits had a series of underground tunnels which were trying to swallow Maya :evil https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8592/...d6f432bf_b.jpgIMG_5480 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Upon night fall it was clear we had chosen wisely, all around us the sky was alive with lightening and rain, the weather starting to encroach on our piece of paradise, camping by candle light :freaky https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7465/...fba09047_b.jpgIMG_5582 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Bed time was an appreciative dry space to store gear and have our tent, water was in short supply by this time so we put our pots out to collect some rain water, that turned out to be a big enough deterrent to stop the rain….:cry ... can't win sometimes :rofl As we lay in bed the angry sky lights lighting up our room like a floodlight it was a little hard to get to sleep, coupled of course with the occasional LOUD bang and claps from close lightening strikes. Finally the morning arrived, safe and dry our pots had been blown away by the wind and we were void of any water, it was 120 km to the next town so no biggy, we had a mouth full of water each. While packing up Maya the park rangers turned up with “what are you doing here faces”, a bit of spinglish, smiles and chats and they were soon on our side realizing we were there as friends and not doing any harm, I explained we took shelter from the storms and the discussion ensued as to the angryness of the storms. We must have looked poor and hungry as the head lady told the young girl to go to the car, she did and came back with some Churros kinda thingies and gave them to us for breakfast, some more chats, hand shakes etc they were on their way and us again being grateful for being handed breakfast from out of the blue.:huh :D Interesting how one event leads to another and good comes from it all. |
Hualilan To Barreal
Having set the good mood by the rangers we headed to San Juan to pick up some stuff left there by our travel buddy Gail, onya mate really appreciated the delivery.
Not wanting to stay in the big city we took a shortcut road, only 10 km into it we discovered the road was closed for reconstruction so no go, we then attempted to take another road which was boney as hell, we let the tires down to help but it was loose and deep then boney and rocky, Mrs.G then said turn right. Hmmmm, looking up the turn right it was apparent nothing had been up there for quite some time and the rain had destroyed the road turning into a rock climbing fest for a suitable rock crawler 4x4, not two up on an adventure bike, admitting defeat we turned around and took another back road, although it had also been hammered by the rains it was passable so we were on a win.:clap Backing tracking a bit up the main drag we turned off into a sweet wee valley and stinking hot again again with the temp gauge bumping 45 degrees. :eek1 Occasionally we would get a smooth section in the middle of nowhere :huh https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7532/...ff3dd6a3_b.jpgP1220699 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr More different layers changing colour with the sun https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8606/...c8fe854f_b.jpgIMG_5763 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr This time the road was in less than ideal shape but was still a road and mostly tar sealed, an uneventful ride saw us get into Barreal so we decided to stop there, finding accommodation with a shower was preferable. :wink: It was proving to be difficult with all the pousadas closed for siesta (seriously) then we met a young couple in the tourist center, they heard us wanting to find somewhere to stay and told us where they were staying….wifi, parking, quiet, price +/- ok ….and a swimming pool, sold to the Kiwis!!! Getting set up we through the togs on and B lined it to the pool …. with no camera … ya shitting me, the scenery was quite good. :evil Guys you will just have to imagine nice bulbous boobies, sorry for not taking the camera although Ellen did have the tab and managed to snipe off one shot of some hot product, yes a KTM coloured chair.:freaky https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7485/...26943c99_b.jpgpool by twomotokiwis, on Flickr It was so nice a place so we decided to stay one more night, wine, views as asado, boobies … life was good. A slight contrast from the night before :D https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8611/...57d2b8ab_b.jpgIMG_5706 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The groovy hostel https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8616/...bed680c0_b.jpgIMG_5707 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Great view :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8654/...c66e5a85_b.jpgIMG_5769 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Monica our local asado chef extraordinaire :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8622/...2ef33670_b.jpgIMG_5783 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Maya had undercover parking this time, bit tight but we managed to wedge her in :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7537/...4b305395_b.jpgIMG_5767 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Awful place :eek1 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7481/...6c33115d_b.jpgIMG_5771 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We did do some exploring again which was cool, gravity was lite on the moon :evil https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7559/...7f8bdfc5_b.jpgIMG_5757 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7570/...9373a932_b.jpgIMG_5729 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7509/...dbdb0de5_b.jpgIMG_5758 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Next, up to the observatory at the national park |
The El Leoncito National Park
Finally leaving the nice place we carried on to the national park for star gazing, interestingly they have great facilities there including a sheltered camping ground, toilets, hot showers, wifi, table and chairs and a large asado cooking area ….. all free!!??.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8628/...0a72a7bd_b.jpgIMG_5836 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr They have observatories there which you can pay to see the stars so the money from that helps fund the project. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8573/...7254776a_b.jpgIMG_5860 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We didn’t go to the telescopes as the weather packed it in and was blowing like hell with lightning again, they normally boast 300 + nights still and calm but not this year. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7474/...f845817a_b.jpgIMG_5841 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Talking a walk up to the massive cascade (not piss take) was relaxing, the water was freezing cold. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7562/...080bf3bc_b.jpgIMG_5811 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Some more old ruins https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8581/...75d2bf32_b.jpgIMG_5824 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The following morning we woke in Antarctica, WTF …. it was COLD, the previous day shirt off at 35 plus degrees. With fickled weather we continued to pull the tent and get organised, no sooner we got it nearly all packed down the rain came and swiftly in the desert … again. Our mision for the day was get to Santiago, 360 km plus one border crossing, easy. Nup, arriving at the gas station the woman was saying we have no gas, the guy at the pump asked us “just the bike”? … yes, he said quick come in, so he filled us up which was cool so there was a little left, the cones went up behind us and the station forecourt closed. |
Stunning photos as always.
I saw Grant and Susan at the Vancouver M/C show last weekend, they say hello to you two. Even though it feels like your trip is coming to an end enjoy your last few months, that is about as long as most people have for a very long trip so I hope you are still appreciating what you have done for yourselves. Cheers, David |
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Two great people who have helped our travels with the Hubb and info. We also owe great thanks to a crazy Kiwi there who helped us when our motos shat themselves......so ...thanks bier Yes we seriously appreciate the time we have taken albeit twice as long as planned, we still have so much to see down here but as money draws to a close so must this trip, need to save for the next one. We know a lot of travellers don't have long thus hit it so for us to take teh time and really experience ground level, some good, some not so good has been more than we could ever have planned or hoped for.:thumbup1: Now we just need to fit back into society .......hmmmm :innocent: Cheers Andi |
Closed Forecourt To Santiago To San Rafael
Closed Forecourt behind us and enough gas to go to a new country we felt lucky.
With heading into Chile we wanted to take 3 - 4 bottles of red wine with us however we met some other moto riders and completely forgot what we were doing…. age is a bastid when mixed with excitement. Up and over the pass in Santiago, should be easy enough …..no, we arrived amidst a line of traffic 2 km long to the border, it took us four hours , 3 hours was just waiting on the road, ridiculous. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8642/...b215f5b9_b.jpgP1220765 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The lineup moved s l o w e l y lucky we where on a dowhill so I did not need to start Maya up every time the line moved 10 meters, pictured here I rapidly and dangerously accelerated to about 3 km/hr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8586/...bf8a6a5e_b.jpgP1220763 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Finally through the border we had developed an “issue”, Maya had started to clatter and it did not sound nice, we continued on to Santiago with my diagnostic head trying to work it out, all symptoms pointing to a dead hydraulic cam tensioner. The Zig Zag down on the Chilean side https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8591/...4a91dae5_b.jpgP1220770 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Santiago was our fixit place as we were heading to the KTM dealer so as luck would have it we were in the right place to sort it, how often does stuff shit itself on the way to the dealer …. WOH HOH New Front and rear tires to take, new hydraulic cam tensioner for the rear cylinder, new inner cables made for the throttle and we are as flash as Michael Jackson. So yes, in 80000km our unreliable KTM has now had 1 new stator, 1 new water pump and now one new hydraulic tensioner ….not bad at all I say.:clap:clap We also had the pleasure of meeting Radim and Lauren, travellers out of the US and Kiwis Charlie and Janet. A great meeting and catchup with Radim and Lauren and a coffee shop in a supermarket we ended up staying for dinner then they kicked us out at closing time then we gas bagged in the carpark for another hour … travel and KTMs … good times. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8675/...3f9c6817_b.jpgP1220825 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Next was Charlie and Janet who fluently understood everything we said cos they are Kiwis, it was a nice feeling. The afternoon started with a coffee (patten forming here) and we decided to go out for a local pizza, they said one big one was good enough for 5 people, we didn’t believe them but decided to ordr on only to star .. just as well we did, it was about 600 mm round!!!!! holey moley…good times. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8639/...d66565d1_b.jpgP1220837 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our stay (thanks to Jaime) was excellent and became full on, we tried to catch up with the local lads too and simply ran outa time ….CHECOSO when we come back mate we can have a “kick TMK outa the country” party, our final place before heading back to reality.:cry The view from Jaimes apartment https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7436/...847a2c50_b.jpgIMG_5910 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr And at night https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8613/...e4948504_b.jpgIMG_5923 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The fixits were sorted with new throttle inner cables being made, I installed our new tensioner, cleaned our prefilters and reoiled them and got some new tires, this time a Heidenau rear and Pirelli MT 21 front for the rippio and mud south, Maya now as sorted as she can be for the assault south. In a form of good luck with leaving the wine behind I found some Flore de Caná rum which was a real surprise, coupled with that we got some Ginger Ale so yet again the stars aligned for some nice grog drinking.:evil While at the KTM dealership I also spotted the new 690 Enduro, Mayas little brother .... although the little brother is tall....I like :wink: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7523/...0701ffbf_b.jpgP1220775 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Anyone going in there be careful cos there is a patch of kiwislobber underneath the 690 :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7492/...558f4548_b.jpgP1220778 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Erick the store manager and I, very nice guy and helped us get everything sorted, Erick also speaks very good engilsh so that took the difficulty out or getting stuff sorted. Thanks Erick, we appreciate the help you gave us in getting sorted :clap, for any travellers this shop is pretty well stocked with all sorts so for getting something KTM done and bought this is the place to be. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7522/...60334e38_b.jpgP1220773 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Getting everything sorted out we hit it back to our friends in Argentina to Finca Rita in San Rafael, a few days to do some volunteer work while Clint and Rosie come from New Zealand beginning of February.:clap A chance to help John and Annette and me to work hard at my next years winter stores gained in Brasil, nothing like good hard work to strengthen that inner core which is seriously needed and reduce those handles.:evil One one thing when you are on the road for a while is keeping an eye on your bod and making sure you do exercise or it starts to bulge in the wrong places, not good when the verandah covers the tool shed.:huh Plum harvest has just started so putting them out on the drying rack was the beginning.....San Rafael up next :clap:clap |
Good to catch up on your trip .a couple of the shots would be worthy of entering this years contest on HUBB ,think it closes in a few hours so be quick .Anyhow till next time ,YDF Noel:D
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Thanks for the props, we did enter a coupe of photos for this years calendar again, having got two in last year we must have done something right and the cheque didn't bounce :innocent: Cheers Andi |
San Rafael - Happy And Not So Happy
We got to San Rafael with smiling familiar faces as we arrived at John and Annettes.
Again we were doing the work in exchange for food and accom but more to help them out as we had some space to fill before Clint and Rosie arrived from New Zealand and it is a huge help for them on the finca getting ready for harvest. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7444/...295b474d_b.jpgIMG_5938 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr With their plum harvest about to hit full swing there was line trimming to be done along the rows and between the trees as they lay the sheeting down on the ground and drop the fruit from the tree. This needs the weed and stalks knocked flat on the ground and using and industrial grade Stihl line trimmer made very easy work of it making the row extremely tidy in no time. There are of coarse heavy stalk as well which was too thick for the line trimmer so we took care of with the grubber. We worked hard, for me it was good exercise and a chance to strengthen the core before hitting the deep south. The kittens proving lots of entertainment with boundless energy The second before it hurts :rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8657/...f3d39e00_b.jpgIMG_5950 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We did go out on a Friday afternoon for a relax and lunch with some of John and Annettes friends which was nice. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8578/...e8f518b9_b.jpgIMG_5965 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Although we made great in-ways as days progressed so did the tension. The tension did come to a head because of differing ideas on what order things should be done, John wanting to get the line trimming done for the main harvest and Annette wanting to pick up some wind fall. We sat down and made a new game plan which was stuck to for a day when another storm hit bringing down some more fruit, another game plan was then made that the fruit would be picked up on the rows that the line trimming needed to be done on but somewhere in the middle things changed again. I had set up for line trimming gearing up, getting dressed and sorted for a good clean assault to kick the arse of the weeds only to find the rows were not ready and they were doing their own thing then I was yelled and talked down too. For me it was time out, while I have no problem working my arse off I got sick things being re-disorganized then being talked down to was the last straw for me, we were there to help them not get talked down to and pushed around like a little kids, at our stage of the game this will not happen if someone is wanting help. Ellen was blamed for starting in the wrong place despite where she was told to start then there was back tracking about what was and wasn’t said. We had one day up our sleeves before Clint and Rosie were going to arrive then we could hit it south which I was hanging out for, we made a decision to leave the finca from the stress. Next up, meeting up with Clint and Rosie and the start of the big migration south. |
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