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The Gathering Of The Kiwis
Clint and Rosie Kiwi Bikers from New Zealand (well .. the North Island :evil) finally made it into San Rafael at 8.00pm after a day of setup and organising.
Rosie was pooped so we kicked her off her bike , sat her down with an Argie Malbec wine, some salami and cheese so she could level out, Clint and I taking care of the bikes and putting them out the back with Maya. Great catch up over wines and fud, great to talk Kiwi again and catch up on the local homeward happenings. Day 1 The day was a leisurely start with breaky and coffee, a quick organize, get some cash exchanged and away we go, Clint and Rosie playing follow the leader for the first part through the canyon, Ellen and I had already been prior so we knew the way and the cool parts to see. First stop at the reservoir and damn https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7429/...5e32a53d_b.jpgP1220874 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Up to the lookout https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7311/...01e5a096_b.jpgP1220880 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr 4 x selfie at the lookout :huh:eek1:evil:wink: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7452/...b364408f_b.jpgP1220888 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Donkeys .... always like a pat!! https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8652/...430f5387_b.jpgP1220890 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The two aliens :norton https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8619/...958eb382_b.jpgP1220902 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Rose racing her own Dakar on the NX 400 Falcon https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7290/...8512861d_b.jpgP1220917 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Cool rock formations https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7428/...d9995c64_b.jpgP1220905 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Out of the canyon was a tar blast down the famous 40, into Malargue then south to our camping place at Manque Malal where there are fossils … well…when we turned up anyway. The 40 with new tar Large expanses of not a lot https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7322/...023c9c03_b.jpgP1220922 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A walked around the river and the supposed waterfall we were supposed to pay $50 EACH for we all felt it was a complete letdown and glad we didn’t anything, we got told off for not taking a guide :rofl Some minor adjustments to Clints bike trying to tighten the gear lever by slotting the slot bigger. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7303/...929b2baf_b.jpgP1220924 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr That night was cooking, drinking and good times kicked off by good nights.:clap |
The Gathering Of The Kiwis No 2
Day 2
From the desert Hilton it was a reasonable ride down the 40 with some ripio (gravel) and tar of various conditions with lots of road works. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7313/...e52f9970_b.jpgP1220926 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A nice part of the 40 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7435/...7a8d91d3_b.jpgP1220933 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The three of us at a river stop https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7314/...38bd93d1_b.jpgP1220943 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The river flowing within an old volcanic crevice https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7366/...92b01a1c_b.jpgIMG_5975 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr For you lads back home ... the ADV salute to prove we were thinking of you :D https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7422/...fc8f369e_b.jpgIMG_5978 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr At Chos Malal we tanked up after overshooting the petrol station lineup down the street and having to ride around the block to find more cars were already queuing. :huh We had all but decided to leave and were putting on our gear when a guy on a 1200 GSA pulled up, we exchanged notes and he told us that the route we were looking at was ok as he had just come that way, jobs on so we hit it. Rosie stealing the limelight :clap:clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7377/...39a631fd_b.jpgIMG_5980 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The road was neat, great views, sunny and neat ride, we stopped at a small town and got supplies for dinner before looking for a place to camp for the night, this time proving a little more difficult with everything being fenced off. Stunning views https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7287/...c658a3cb_b.jpgIMG_5995 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7322/...156160bf_b.jpgIMG_5988 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Clint the camera man shooting the race :evil https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8568/...00dd976c_b.jpgIMG_5994 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Rosie found some soft stuff while taking a pic :eek1 https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8627/...c2a68c52_b.jpgP1230019 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Searching for a place to bunk down we finally found a small sand pit after Loncopue with an alcove off it so we were out of sight and out of mind, also aptly positioned away from the wind, good score. :clap:clap Sitting down over a wine or two we chewed the fat and finally brewed up some dinner appreciating a good feed and nice wine. Camp by night https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7449/...09d43b58_b.jpgIMG_6007 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The weather was on our side which was cool and the wind dropped letting us settle in for a good nights sleep. |
The Gathering Of The Kiwis No 3
Day 3
Leaving from the sand pit again we had a great mix of tar and gravel swopping leader and tail end charlies while all having a crack at the photography. Clumps of volcanic tufts reminding us very much of Iceland https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7370/...b8da0a0e_b.jpgP1230043 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We changed our plans part way down choosing to go Chile side through a border, in between we had past Alumine then up the road being beautifully tar sealed before hitting some ripio that proved interesting for our 95 % spent E07 front tire and being loaded heavy witha front and rear up on board the rear …..not a great combo. Cool rock columns lining the road https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8655/...6ef3676a_b.jpgP1230081 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Check out the swirly grain in the rock https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8583/...3a7ce13b_b.jpgP1230076 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The side road we took https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8589/...8324e50d_b.jpgP1230098 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Lunch spot https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7436/...62a49af4_b.jpgIMG_6011 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Lunch :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8633/...a20b6dee_b.jpgIMG_6014 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr On the way to the border Clints headlight mask came loose so it was a quick F1 stop to strap it back in place, that was easy, Rosie's bike on the other hand appeared to get tired and lay down for a siesta :rofl A knight in dirty Klimgear running to the rescue .....sorry Rosie, not prince this time round :eek1 https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8642/...92ba2294_b.jpgP1230142 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Up easily :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7327/...03995b60_b.jpgP1230143 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr More rocks with sticky outy bits https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7330/...a495af77_b.jpgP1230147 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Taking a right to the National park with Volcan Lanin sticking out providing fantastic viewing, it looked much like Volcan Concepion on Ometepe Island in Nicaragua. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7414/...14c2c68d_b.jpgP1230161 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The ugly ripio near the border, being heavy loaded with two tires on board and a 95 % spent front.....yeah :eek1 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7308/...e45af0fc_b.jpgP1230168 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The border was pretty quick and painless and we were greeted by fresh new tar seal followed buy some serious roadworks where they are blowing the rock to widen and improve the road. Part way down the valley we came across a camp ground before Curarrehue that was in a great setting, had a pool and showers etc so we treated to a good clean after ruffing it out for a couple of nights. Camp https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7437/...90673ae2_b.jpgIMG_6036 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A local :D https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7459/...56230f56_b.jpgIMG_6015 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Miniature Torres Del Paine https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7429/...5d33cbb9_b.jpgIMG_6027 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Again some good fud washed down by nice wine in a great setting with great people. :clap |
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The Gathering Of The Kiwis No 4 & Puerto Montt
Day 4
We had mapped out our planned route through the national park, tanking up and on the road we discovered our road did not even exist despite being shown on maps and GPS.:huh A KTM 950 ADV and F8 had passed us earlier when we were packing down camp, while trundling down the road we came across the 950 with no front wheel, forks down on the dirt and the bike sitting on the center stand with two ladies sitting beside it, we turned around and went back to see if they needed help but they had it sorted, seems all the air had gone to the top and the lads had removed the front wheel and taken it to get fixed.:clap Making our way to Villarrica the traffic thickened and got worse slowing down to first gear in places, turning left we thought we would get away from that but there was and air show on as well as some silly slow buggas doodling along like grandmas and no way to pass for quite some time. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8598/...15d945c2_b.jpgP1230178 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Non of us were expecting this so it put a dent in the time but no biggy, arriving at Licon Ray amidst the madness we decided to carry on south to Coñape for a bite to eat. Then the ripio started again but this time laden with cars kicking up dust and just putting along, finally down to Panguipulli we stopped at a small cafe for a coffee….he only had Nescafe so we opted for fresh juice instead.:clap Having wifi we checked to see if Princess Diana had emailed t meet for lunch us but nothing, Clint and Rosie had heard from their friend in Temuco and wanted to meet up with him, Rosie also needed some teflon spray for her luggage zips that were not playing ball. At this point they decided to head north to meet their friend and get the fixits done, we opted to head south into the mountains again. We stopped at a cool we camp ground and met some nice people too, Alexandro rides the Africa twin in the background :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7315/...8864cfc2_b.jpgP1230183 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The next day to Puerto Montt was dreary and cold ... then very wet around the lakes, jump under the hose then stand in the fridge ...that is what it felt like :eek1 https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8653/...0fce106b_b.jpgP1230186 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We did have about half an hour of sun but the suns rays proving to heavy for our spotlight bracket that decided to do its own thing and snapped off :huh https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7374/...a573073c_b.jpgP1230192 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Plan A is to catch up again in Puerto Montt with Clint and Rosie then hit the Carretera Austral together if we time it right, we will have our new rubber on and take all that weight off the top ….awesome!!! :clap |
Carreterra Austral Day 1
Puerto Montt waterfront
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7386/...ec87bf10_b.jpgIMG_6041 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Leaving Puerto Montt was dreary and cold, not to mention wet, with new stilettos on Maya covered in fitting lube and silicone I couldn’t wait to feed them a bit of gravel to knock the slippery shiny edge off them.:clap Our road that helped https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7458/...a85ab9fe_b.jpgP1230224 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Taking the back way, beautiful, no traffic, not toll, little tar on the V 55 then out to the lake around the mountain and onto the V 69 to Cochamo for the night, was like riding in Fiordland in New Zealand. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7293/...08048406_b.jpgP1230222 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The weather was shite and cold, we had one more day of this then a settled forecast should see us on the road with (hopefully epic views). We chose to to wait it out or we would not see anything so no point in hitting it with nothing to see. An uneventful but beautiful ride to Cochamo setting us up for the main course of the Carreterra Austral. Some Flor de Caña to help pass the time by in an awful place :evil My "look what I have dumb and dumber look" :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7306/...ee5833c1_b.jpgP1230243 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Argh the almost view https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7320/...ff359abb_b.jpgP1230242 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Tomorrow, Hornopiren :clap |
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looks like you made a quality life-long friend there mate...bier |
Enjoy the Carratera, our favourite road of our whole trip......
You guys left before we did so I have been watching the blog, we did our year, missed you in Guatemala I think and have been home for a year now working and still your travelling, jealous..... Thanks for the updates, makes work bearable Gino & Fiona |
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Yeap Flore de cańa a great choice. When we leave Santiago I will stock up with 7 year, allowed 3 liters each so will make the most of it, can't get it in NZ. Cheers Andi |
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We concur about the Carretera Austral it was stunning, some updates and reports coming through today, just uploading everything as we speak but the wifi here is kinda slow. We started with 1 year in mind, then decided it would be too tight, we decided to make it 1 and half years. At 1 and half years we only just made it too the equator so logic then said three years ..... that worked :clap::clap: I know what you mean when sitting at the desk watching others travels and we are grateful and lucky to have the time to do it, back to work from May 16th on. :( More updates today so hopefully restore the day for you :clap: Cheers Andi |
Carreterra Austral Day 2 Cochamo To Hornopiren
As we had a big day ahead of us needing to do 124 km we were up in time to make sure the birds had not already gone to bed :rofl … yeah slightly relaxing.
After a mischievous start :evil …. moving right along, we finally left about 11.30 am after scoffing tonnes of berries for breaky from the blackberry bushes. :clap Only five minutes out of town we came to a halt with a semi trailer tanker spread across the road, in Bolivia this would have been an everyday protest however here it was a mechanical failure of a clutch judging by the awful smells coming out. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8650/...50ff8bec_b.jpgP1230251 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr He had all but made it around the corner nearing to top of the steeper part, there were wheel tracks everywhere with scuffing and sliding so you can guess there was some tender moments before it all came to a halt around a corner while going backwards, I think nappies would have been handy for the driver!!!. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7460/...15c76393_b.jpgP1230249 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Establishing there was no way around for cars we had just enough room for Maya and with some assistance from the Police pushing we got around and carried on our merry way. There was a combo of clear then rain, fog then clear and mum natures mind swinging back and forth like a pendulum as to whether to rain or shine, the upshot of the previous days rain giving us a welcomed dust free road. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7432/...1ea5d378_b.jpgP1230285 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Cyclists galore proved to be the biggy of the day and made cornering interesting having to keep an eye out for them as well as avoiding the spending locals who thunder around the blind corners like the Peruvian taxi drivers on BOTH sides of the road, many toots and waves to the cyclists as we made our way south to Hornopiren. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7452/...f26f853a_b.jpgP1230286 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7313/...b3e08350_b.jpgP1230275 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Arriving at the port we needed to get tickets for the ferry, I went to town to find accom while Ellen sorted the tickets. We had been given a card for a local hostal so I went to check it out, got the price and it was a little steep (10000 each) for what it was but the weather was looking more dodgy so I said we would be back, heading out to Maya a boy of 8 - 9 years old on a BMX bike said you wonna hostal? Me, yeah where Boy, three blocks Me, ok, how much Boy 7000 each Me, ok Boy follow me. I followed him down and around and arrive at an equally dodgy place but the lady was nice and the place was cheaper and the industrious young fella deserved something for his work so we said we would stay. Our day then took an interesting turn we I arrived back at the ferry after doing dodgy deals down back alleys.:rofl Juan (Colombian) and Alice (English) are travelling two up on a 250 Vespa, talk about style and grace, we hit it off well with these guys, they were going camping and we thought about it, taking them to the camp sight via GPS cords it was a nice spot but mum nature was giving all the signs of not playing ball weather wise and besides I had already agreed with my dodgy deals to stay in town. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7316/...89ac5e0b_b.jpgP1230290 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7295/...9e826db4_b.jpgP1230296 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Big smiles from two groovy people https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7306/...078e519d_b.jpgP1230297 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr That night the weather caved in with quite a bit of rain so I felt great with my decision, also with a great surprise our hostel actually had wifi, proper hot water, undercover secure parking and a monster wood burner warming the place up.:clap All in all a great day out and meeting Juan and Alice a highlite for us. |
Carreterra Austral Day 3 Hornpiren To Chaiten And The Bridge
Meeting up with Juan and Alice at 9.00am as we were to do (as told by the ferry guys) we all managed to get tickets on the spot, motos always no problem, just cars that have to book in advance.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8572/...86a7f020_b.jpgIMG_6077 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8591/...81b63220_b.jpgIMG_6078 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Loaded and leaving at 10.00am we enjoyed our 3.5 hour ferry ride to the next port, a small 11.00 km ride to the next shorter ferry ride of 45 minutes then onto the main ride down to Chaiten to stock up on fud then onto our campsite under a bridge. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8619/...2f8eb623_b.jpgIMG_6084 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8674/...0093c132_b.jpgGOPR3058 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8648/...c4e12df1_b.jpgIMG_6098 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The ruffians :evil https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8562/...6815fdfc_b.jpgIMG_6111 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Loading onto the next Ferry https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8585/...f1f1ebc6_b.jpgGOPR3089 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our bike, the 250 Advespa and two BMW's https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8643/...d7dbea25_b.jpgIMG_6126 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Disembarking https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8587/...2a37c661_b.jpgP1230312 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr At the end of the ferry crossing we set up for the ride https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8643/...f40bcbea_b.jpgP1230317 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The Carretera Austral providing beautiful backdrops as we made our way south, we rode with the others just cruising and checking the place out, most excellent….slightly unusual combo of a 250 AdVespa and 950 SE but it worked. Check out the size of these plants,Alice is about 6 ft tall :eek1 https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8563/...3fa43bbd_b.jpgP1230325 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Riding past Volcan Chaiten it was steaming and venting clouds, a very cool sight to see. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8678/...e4985176_b.jpgIMG_6137 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Lots of damage done from previous eruptions https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8595/...82bac86d_b.jpgP1230351 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Stocking up in Chaiten was moto central, I could not believe how many motos were sifting around, everything from a 125 yammy roady up to a 1200 GSA massively loaded with one dude on it…..hmmmm.:huh Making our way to camp it turned out to be the big bridge I wanted photos with, the site is on ioverlander which unfortunately I think will be the death of the site with rubbish and human waste from inconsiderate travellers who believe no-one else can see their colier and half a roll of toilet paper :huh. A chilean in a car had his car parked right smack bang in the middle of two good tent camping sites, Juan asked him nicely if we could have one of them….no. We left then returned, Alice went over and asked and explained that they were parked on top of good tent sites, the wife was not happy but the husband agreed to shift their car a bit so everyone could share, in a show of thanks and good faith I went over and gave them some butterscotch lollies which the well fed wife seemed to like .…smooth waters again.:wink: https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8658/...904d0223_b.jpgIMG_6153 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8671/...4637c579_b.jpgIMG_6162 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Although in was New York central as far as campers go with motorhome, cyclists, cars and motos we still had a great night talking travel, motos and general shit about life over a rum or two. The starry night providing some great viewing from our home for the night. :clap:clap |
Carreterra Austral Day 4 Our Bridge to Puyuhuapi
What we had to wake up too
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8648/...468eede9_b.jpgIMG_6149 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The sun sneaking through and starting to grace the landscape https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8679/...e26b83f2_b.jpgIMG_6158 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8617/...349697af_b.jpgIMG_6165 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Due to road works further down they were closing the road from 1 - 5 pm daily so they could blast rock etc, we only had 150 km to do but most of it on gravel, the last part very boney rock base with 40 - 80 mm roundish rocks. This meant a not so lazy start and on the road by about 9.30 am. Just as we went to move out so did the dickhead in a large motorhome who was an arrogant wanker the day before and no better today. He jumped in front of us with his motorhome then proceeded to bottom it out through the entry then stop in the middle of the single lane exit and entry to check if he had damaged anything ….WTF…. we waited for a bit only to find he had got our and was looking at his motorhome and happy to hold up everyone else in the process, I spotted enough of some room to scoot along side, brush the bushes then out, the guy was a prize dick all round. F i n a l l y getting out and up onto the bridge we got all of our photos etc while he was still busy blocking the whole camp entry in and out with his epic driving skills. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8561/...4c843659_b.jpgIMG_6164 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8668/...19648fe8_b.jpgIMG_6173 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8641/...e5d0e75c_b.jpgIMG_6179 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We are off https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8592/...a058ab7e_b.jpgGOPR3102 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr On the road and hitting it south was slow for Alice and Juan, the wee Vespa wheels bouncing off the not so small rocks but in cred to Juan he held a steady pace which allowed us to take in our surroundings again of hanging basins, rock tops and spectacular faces while still making good progress, we could only get as far as Puyuhuapi anyway before the road was closed so no rush. Our road took us on new pavement, old road, new gravel, awful rock and all sorts with the Chileans paving it flat out. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8668/...2f355a08_b.jpgP1230381 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Such a beautiful place to be https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8606/...e18af660_b.jpgIMG_6190 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8625/...58630379_b.jpgP1230396 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Arriving at one intersection was a mob from Peru Moto Tours who were slightly surprised at the combo of a 950 SE and 250 Vespa pulling up and riding together, amusement, amazement and good good chats all round before waving goodbye and heading on down. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8662/...4893e55f_b.jpgP1230390 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The last bit of our road was starting to impinge on our timetable, the road works some 10 km short of Puyuhuapi meaning if we didn’t make it we would have to sit and wait for 4 hours in no mans land, being stuck at roadworks prior did not help. As luck would have it the last stretch to the big road works where they close it was tar and Juan making the most of this winding up the Vespa to a healthy clip to make it, the dead soldier for the day being Alices glasses which flew off in front of us hitting the road and disintegrating so we didn’t even bother flagging them down to tell them or to stop for the debris. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8562/...14a78bb2_b.jpgP1230443 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8604/...af9db66f_b.jpgP1230432 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Making it through “the zone” we got into town tanked up and Juan found a neat camping spot on the lake edge, 200 meters from the gas station, a quick ride down a single track and we found nice grassy area with some shelter from the crisp breeze that was teasing us. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8598/...86422d86_b.jpgP1230458 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8590/...f87c4985_b.jpgIMG_6222 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A very pleasant afternoon followed with some maintenance on Juans Vespa needing an oil change and air filter cleaning job, the air filter was leaking some dust through as well which is less than ideal so we dealt to that hopefully fixing the problem. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8669/...30811e53_b.jpgGOPR3166 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A small fire at night and some drinks we had planned to head away the following morning however the RTV we used had not dried overnight with very low temperatures and very very damp, they result was we decided to stay for that day so we could fix the problem properly knowing we had a lot of dusty road ahead. Trying to dry he RTV https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8624/...9ac40d61_b.jpgIMG_6221 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr There was no rush, the weather was plus or minus ok (note not wet) and the long term forecast no worse for further south. Some more supplies and recharging of batteries for cameras and lappy, actually I am writing this report from the Copec gas station beside the lake with the lappy plugged into an external power socket and working on a wheelibin … dedication.:rofl It was that or an over expensive shitty hostal with poor services…not while the weather is ok!!!!.:clap |
Carreterra Austral Day 5 Puyuhuapi To Puerto Cisnes
Heading out of Puyuhuapi we had a good start from camp with a nice day.:clap
The road was completely rippio with road works galore and they were setting up for rock blasting. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8624/...109b8c9d_b.jpgP1230489 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Friendly dudes loving the motos :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8656/...3c52d673_b.jpg[url=https://flic.kr/p/rne2ucP1230486[/url] by twomotokiwis, on Flickr With our stunning day on hand we took a small turnoff to the river for lunch, this turned into a shower and clothes wash as well given the warmth of the sun and the breeze to help dry, just a stunning place. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8681/...9ef5b9f0_b.jpgIMG_6239 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The laundromat :D https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8562/...9fda77e9_b.jpgIMG_6243 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our stunning lunch laundry spot https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8678/...0b5dff89_b.jpgIMG_6255 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr See the depth of the icepack (from above) https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8588/...e5ae08a8_b.jpgIMG_6246 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Turning off the main drag we opted to head to Puerto Cisnes with the view of buying fresh fish and making chips so for all the Kiwi readers a good feed of greezies and for all you “others” fush n chups.:rofl There was a rodeo on this day (Saturday) so pretty much the whole town was closed, Juan and I went from place to place finding all the necessaries to creating the perfect feed. In all the excitement Juan had to make a wee stop :evil https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8587/...3e660138_b.jpgGOPR3211 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The evening was set around making a feed and having some drinks, we got our camp site sorted (free again) right on the waterfront. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8561/...39c7f714_b.jpgIMG_6293 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our feed was a progressive type with chips and fish being made one pot at a time over the camp stove making a rolling dinner. Our camp https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8577/...7320fcde_b.jpgIMG_6274 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The following morning amidst bad weather :evil https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8673/...5768788d_b.jpgIMG_6297 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr This place was awful :lol3 https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8568/...a4f36cd8_b.jpgIMG_6281 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Puerto Cisnes in the background above, very nice place to camp, waterfront and free :clap |
Carreterra Austral Day 6 Puerto Cisnes To Free Camp At High Pass
Heading out of Puerto Cisnes we opted for the loop road around the back and out then back up to the main road.
Hitting the main road set us up for a tar seal section all the way to Coihaque, a pleasant change from hard rock, rolling stones and volcanic sandpits. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8681/...00a5e9d4_b.jpgP1230598 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We were completely spoilt with epic views from the fine day, many hanging basins, abrupt rock tops and valleys. :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8621/...f65d9570_b.jpgP1230601 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Coihaque was our restock place for food, fuel and try to get wifi to check the weather. Sorted and on our way we had 80 km to do to make it to our camp site which is on ioverlander, Juan has the info but no GPS, we have the GPS so we teamed up to make it happen on a daily basis, given accommodation was around $140 for the night in Hostals etc and we had reasonable weather we camped out ever night and always ended up in great locations.:freaky This camp was no different, we found the turnoff pretty easily, once up through the first 100 meters of rolly rocks it opened out to a neat waterfall, being at 1136 meters though it was bitterly cold. Boys looking for the perfect place to take the cave woman back too, the last of the sun changing the landscape colours https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8660/...379d1a08_b.jpgIMG_6314 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We backtracked down amongst the trees, set camp and built another fire which was a god send, by about 9.00pm our tent was frozen and this was with a breeze so it was well below zero, again the last of the sun colouring in the upper parts of the hill, it was freezing in the shadows :eek1. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8653/...a7a603b6_b.jpgIMG_6309 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our campfire was sheltered but a trip over to the boys room 3 meters over to the exposed side of the tree made a toilet stop very quick with extremely cold bitting wind. Camp and the stunning sky unfolding from the late afternoon sun to sunset https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8563/...092949aa_b.jpgIMG_6319 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Sky TV Carretera Austral style turning it on https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8653/...aaff08ba_b.jpgIMG_6321 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our tent at 9.00pm, see the frosting, add to that the wind of 25 km/hr plus. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8615/...8ca51934_b.jpgIMG_6347 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Discussions about life ensued over rum and Maté by the fire. Bliss :clap:clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8647/...0e44b9b4_b.jpgIMG_6332 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Dumplings by fire, never had them baked by fire and they were a total hit, even with Chef Juan who approved with vigor :freaky https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8634/...27d009e6_b.jpgIMG_6340 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Bed time arrived and we were all dressed for very low temperatures but luckily we were all aptly kitted, can never go wrong with good gear.:clap The morning broke with sun which was a blessing, the tent covered in ice and the temperature sharper than a butchers knife we were happy to feel the sun....at least until it clouded over. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8657/...ed73120a_b.jpgIMG_6356 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The waterfall was the invite before we left camp, wasn't far up but was semi difficult with steep terrain and loose rocks https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8585/...09ccd45b_b.jpgIMG_6365 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The climb https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8579/...68121f5c_b.jpgP1230686 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8665/...87c11dba_b.jpgIMG_6380 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr At the top WOH HOH https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8654/...44b74e29_b.jpgP1230690 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Getting back down to the bikes was about 1 - 2 o'clock so the rest of the chinese pies gave their life before hit the road again Awesome awesome places :clap:clap |
Carreterra Austral Day 7 Free Camp At High Pass To Free Camp To Puerto Tranquillo
A great lunch was had with the chinese pies and with the timing of it the rain was trying to start ....tie to hitit!!
Dropping down the zig zag from the pass the temperatures did not improve and in fact got colder as we headed into a snowy laden shower ripping the temperature out of the air.:eek1 heated grips on full with wet and wind and an ugly windchill factor. Part way along the road we met another moto rider heading north we had stopped to put on wet gear so he stopped for a chat which was cool. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8615/...e0fb0a59_b.jpgP1230710 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Yeah...wet https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8664/...b40cebdc_b.jpgP1230719 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Further down the road we also came across a side car DL1000 setup so we stopped and talked with them too, great day out. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8633/...ea718916_b.jpgP1230728 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8678/...bec05e90_b.jpgP1230730 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Juan and Alice had been having some air filter issues with their Vespa, Ellen and I spotted some blue smoke so we stopped to take a look and sort it out, Juan had put a filter clothe in to help and it has disintegrated and we think that is what the smoke was, lets hope. Running late we didn’t make it to Puerto Tranquillo that night, we found a nice grass flat which took us half a km off the main road and a camp with a river front view and sunny…outstanding, we all needed warming up given the day had been so cold. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8589/...98132b7e_b.jpgP1230740 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8666/...08cf427c_b.jpgP1230743 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The sun dropped taking the temperature with it, some snow shower clouds stealing the rest of the temperature as we cooked and huddled around fire. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8609/...42daee9e_b.jpgIMG_6395 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8574/...82553f3a_b.jpgIMG_6392 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our camp in the trees https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8677/...4da248fd_b.jpgIMG_6396 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr More rum, international chats, fire good times. :clap:clap |
Carreterra Austral Day 8 Free Camp At Puerto Tranquillo To Glacier And Back
Well, the morning awoke but we didn’t, looked at the clock when we woke up to find we had missed breakfast and smoko and were lining up for lunch, a great sleep from an epically peaceful location.:clap
Finally everyone outa bed we got the fire going again and enjoyed an extremely late breakfast at near mid day. Such was the pace we decided to have a bite of lunch, Juan and Alice cooking up a pasta while we opted to make small pizza style bread kinda thingies cos our awful dry Chilean bread had dried even more making it suitable for toasting with cheese mustard and ham….good choice to I might add.:clap Concluding lunch we packed up and headed for the road at nearly 3 pm :huh:rofl… funny thing is normally we are looking to get off the road at this time but Puerto Tranquillo was only 44 km away, getting their saw us arrive amidst a sea of backbackers and travellers … it was like main street New York. With the Glacier in mind we gathered some fresh dry stale bread etc and headed AWOL up the valley to find a camp site.:clap It was getting very cold and the evening was pulling a draw string on the light so camp was priority, we rode up the valley and everything was fenced off so it was starting to look pretty grim, we found one spot that was ok but a foot or tire wrong would see the bike 6 feet under water, not wanting the risk we opted to carry on. I again started questioning my merits but yet again perseverance paid off with a tip. We spotted a big Mercerdes Overland truck in a clearing that looked good, Ellen went and asked if we could join their spot and we were welcomed in. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8663/...0e56867e_b.jpgIMG_6399 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Setting up we made a fire and started cooking up a storm again, Christian and Alica (from the truck) came bearing gifts reassembling firewood and beer … never turn that down so they joined us for our fire and chats.:clap Yet another great day on the Carreterra Austral on an international level. The following day was Glacier day, packing up our camp we left to do the 25 km to the Glacier, upon arrival we discovered they wanted to charge $3500 CLP each (about $7 bucks) for a 20 minute walk, we ALL borked at that.:eek1 :eek1 Prior to that in a pleasant conversation with the ranger girl we had given her a lolly (because we are nice) ((and I wanted a lolly)) so it turned out she was softened by our warm approach to her, we said we would pass on seeing the Glacier as we felt it was very expensive given you only see it from a distance. With a smooth smile and a low voice she said we can all go in gratis, her warmth was welcomed with yet another lolly …talk about cool as.:D Given this opportunity we took it leaving all our precious gear in her hands and did the short walk, the weather not 100% so no mountains due to cloud cover but the glacier still serving up and optical gem and grande view. We were here :D https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8656/...3a821c3b_b.jpgIMG_6437 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Such was the relaxed pace of the day we stayed for a about 2 hours seeing many people come and go with selfies and "we were here" posy photos … then they quickly moved on to the next attraction somewhere else.:huh Christian and Alica turned up as well so we enjoyed more chats with them talking travel, trucks and tech tips. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8587/...f2c8b29a_b.jpgGOPR3367 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The glacier https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8641/...7e3ddda8_b.jpgIMG_6435 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Parting our eyes away from the Glacier we decided we would find camp, by this time it was already bordering 3 pm (again), a discussion was had about who was going to go where, given we were 2/3 the way up the valley we decided to head to the top, Juan opting to head back to make camp as the road was torturing the 12 inch wheels of the AdVespa. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8592/...2982c389_b.jpgIMG_6476 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our day turned up a small problem as our 2 liter water bottle jumped over its clip and sat right at the exhaust exit, within seconds the plastic bottle was blown apart and melted from exhaust heat destroying our second and last water bottle (the other one died with the hit and run in Brazil)…it is the little things like that which can turn your day upside-down cos 2 liters while travelling is quite a bit.:cry Our way up https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8659/...f257dc20_b.jpgIMG_6416 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The bridge abutments but no bridge...not built yet https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8621/...c4788a85_b.jpgIMG_6468 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Christian and Alica also decided to head up and camp somewhere up the top, we caught up with them on the way back down wishing them well heading north and us south., great meeting you guys :clap Onwards back to camp we arrived as the sun was disappearing so we started another fire and brewed up another night of chats and discussions over the last of the rum, an earlier start was agreed as we all had to make some ground the following day. Right on queue our alarm woke us up, I was in the middle of chatting up Hallie Berrie again and doing quite well till the alarm went off.:rofl:rofl Our day we woke to welcoming us again https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8668/...77f0f68d_b.jpgIMG_6401 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Up and outa bed, breaky, tent (very wet from dew) packed down and we hit it back to Puerto Tranquillo for fuel and wifi. Juan and Alice opting to go out via Chile Chico and we opted to head down to Tortal and Villa O'Higgins |
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Carreterra Austral Day 9 Free Camp At Glacier To Caleta Tortel
A hook up to the unreal world through wifi in Puerto Traquillo we checked emails and weather, the latter being more important.
As no one had died the email front was quite, lucky cos the wifi was slower than a BMW (runs for cover:rofl), the weather was looking +/- ok with some shit and some good stuff....were off!! :clap Saying goodbye to Juan and Alice on the 250 Advespa they headed to Chile Chico and out to Argie, we opting to challenge the weather gods of the Carretera Austral. Cochrane was well within our grasp and Caleta Tortel reachable without issues or very bad roads. Personalised bridges :D https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8656/...8eaa29c8_b.jpgP1230787 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr As it turned out the road to Cochrane was very good condition allowing us to keep a good pace and making it ahead of time, deciding to get to Caleta Tortel we stocked up on supplies then onwards to the south. Road works galore, won't be long and it will all be tar sealed. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8634/...f825a289_b.jpgP1230804 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The road was an interesting mix of corrugations and loose stuff making riding pretty interesting, then shit happened again, the was a crack, bang and a chunk of black metal flew off into the veges, it turned out to be the other half of the LED light bracket had failed in exactly the same place, this time the front wheel grabbed the light and part bracket posting it into the veges at a great rate. Lucky the Rigid Industries lights are bomb proof as it too a hell of a launch https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8657/...f6ba1e2f_b.jpgP1230825 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr I stopped as quick as I could given the surface was loose, we backtracked and it took about 10 minutes to find the light with the part of the bracket attached, you would think it would be easy to spot eh but no it was quite a mission. With the light back in hand and packed away in the tank bag we were now down to the factory candle....lots more power use and lost less lighting. Continuing on down we followed the Rio Bakar, said to be the most beautiful river on the Carretera Austral but we think in Chile complete….stunning colours. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8565/...2d9ae9ce_b.jpgP1230802 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8570/...b4df9a2d_b.jpgP1230820 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our luck with the weather was running low as we rode into mist, fog then light rain then to steady rain, the last 25 -30 km it was cold and very wet, arriving in Caleta Tortel we decided to try and find a hostal as the tent was still wet, it was raining steadily and it was very cold, lucky enough the cheaper place was not far away so we softed out and had our first hard roof and sheeted bed for 8 days. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8596/...0ebbd6fa_b.jpgP1230888 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Dreary and wet https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8665/...6a90d42f_b.jpgIMG_6499 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We did a heap of washing, had an epic shower and sat on a flush toilet AND had a log fire to warm and dry ourselves too, saweet.:clap Caleta Tortel has an interesting array of timber boardwalks which it is famous for, we an almost slight reprieve in the weather so we took the advantage to look around. One of the main boardwalks down from town to the sea https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8627/...6f87b8cb_b.jpgIMG_6489 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8674/...04ae8c5a_b.jpgIMG_6495 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Beautifully crafted places you can stop out of the rain, really neat place :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8626/...d93ba1db_b.jpgIMG_6496 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The boardwalks go for a couple of km :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8561/...cfb11e88_b.jpgIMG_6497 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The rain continued all night and at various points was quite noisy on the roof bringing that warm cosy feeling of $$$ value.:D Having to catch a ferry at 10 am we needed to head away earlyish so a hot shower before bailing then to the ferry we go, mum nature still being mean with crap weather and very low temperatures. The road up and out of Caleta Tortal ,very nice ride indeed https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8613/...d34836c3_b.jpgP1230882 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Heading up the gorge to the pass https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8633/...9979fe10_b.jpgP1230834 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
Carreterra Austral Day 10 Caleta Tortel To Villa O’Higgins.
The ferry sailing was extremely quiet, three cars and Maya, Maya having the full 2/3’s of the deck to herself, poor we girl was lonely.
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8654/...f9647c5a_b.jpgIMG_6509 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Tightly packed in to make space for all the others :rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8575/...311d26c2_b.jpgIMG_6511 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr 45 minutes later we were on terra firma again, the road from the Ferry to Villa O’Higgins taking on a new lonely feel, this part of the road is way way less travelled, the up side the road was far better condition.:clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8642/...dd3fd7a9_b.jpgIMG_6520 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The waterfalls were all showing off after the rain and dust was a word of yesterday, finally our new MT21 having something to bite into allowing us to keep a good pace and sure footed.:clap Getting into Villa O’Higgins just after lunch left us plenty of time to explore the roads to the official end of the CA 1237 km from the start.....WOH HOH the end (of the CA) https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8618/...378391d1_b.jpgIMG_6529 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr First up the finish line 7 km south of Villa O'Higgins. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8638/...c32590b9_b.jpgIMG_6534 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Back to town then up to the pass, great scenery and beautiful hanging basins watching down on us the road took us up to almost an altiplano where we accidentally made it to the border of Argentina to Passo Rio Mayer. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8636/...fcb477f3_b.jpgP1230840 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr At the pass with my new found mate who was really happy to see us and have someone to talk to, very nice guy.:clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8578/...6c8f6c54_b.jpgP1230847 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8582/...f7b1becf_b.jpgP1230845 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We realized how close we were to the other side, if we could sneak through there it would save a 500km round trip, unfortunately no way through here or from Villa O'Higgins with a moto. On the way back we met two other border guys on horses so we stopped for chats and they wanted their photos with us, one of their horse dwarfing Maya making her and me look little. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8613/...6d436ef5_b.jpgP1230850 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Cool doods, good times.:clap Stopping down the valley we dawdled our way back take the place in :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8678/...830bf300_b.jpgIMG_6540 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr An old bridge making a nice we point of interest https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8609/...e4ebe998_b.jpgIMG_6547 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Exiting back out of the valley we made it back to town, checking a couple of hostels the price was too high at $40 for a crap room, it was also $20 for a camp site … seriously??? WTF.:huh When we put our tent down we do not pay for it, we opted to head out of town to a small spot we saw earlier (always on good camp alert down here) making a nice fire, having an epic view and a nice quiet spot without party goers and dogs barking, we did however have an orchestra of local Chilean frogs singing to us which was kinda nice. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8678/...9f728ba7_b.jpgP1230855 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Big day to a Glacier is on the agenda for the next morning so bed early for us. |
Carreterra Austral Day 11 Villa O’Higgins To Lagos Pasadas
Having planned to go to the glacier we packed camp down early and we had organised to leave our gear at the tourist office at 10.00am when they opened.
10.00am rolled around, 10.15, 10.25 …no sign of anyone…WTF ….no tourists on this day please !!! Needlessly consuming our time we shot around to the Police station and talked with them, one guy an experienced climber and said to Ellen we had been misinformed about the time, distance and degree of difficulty.:cry Also by this stage of the game the changeable weather making its presence felt with a bitterly cold winds laden with chainsaws cutting straight through our clothing. All in all an epic fail of tourist office people not turning up and Policeman saying don’t go we disappointingly had to can it, as there was no Plan B we had to rethink a new plan of attack. It was decided to make a break and head out so we did, still enjoying our time in Villa O’Higgins and very worthwhile going there. Beautiful road to follow https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8597/...c62239b9_b.jpgP1230858 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The wind was nasty cold and had bits of cold water in it making for a cooler ride. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8610/...d66b64b7_b.jpgP1230867 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr As we progressed to the ferry it started to brighten which was welcoming. The ferry came in right on time and Claire from Australia (who we had met a few days earlier) rolled off the boat so we had a quick chat with her before she headed south and we boarded the boat. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8680/...ca299772_b.jpgP1230874 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Reaching the land again on the other side was dry and a small breeze but still very cold, all rugged up we decided to make the most of our day, back up to Cochrane then over Passo Raballo to Argentina, the southern most pass on the Carreterra Austral. Passo Raballo was beautiful and a neat ride, the border crossings very simple and quick, we had ended up doing way more miles than we thought and the winds was howling, next town 64 km away down a very secondary road that had suffered bad rain damage and was soggy in places. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8661/...f4e20971_b.jpgP1230963 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A nice dry section https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8566/...6464d943_b.jpgP1230970 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We were both tired, cold and hungry now, so leaving the pass we had a quick munch, drink then hits it to Lagos Pasadas. Heading down east into Argentina https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8580/...7213458e_b.jpgP1230984 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The wind giving us a push or two sideways and the soggy sodden ground breaking our traction in between the dusty parts so we had a real mix of everything. The wind whipping the shallow muddy waters from the rain https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8613/...fd1f252f_b.jpgP1230990 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The previous rain had made some fairly big channels across the road around 400 wide x 400 deep kinda thing which kept up on our toes, a couple of them hidden in the diminishing light and almost catching us out. Finally reaching Lagos Pasadas after about 470 km of gravel roads, ferry crossing and border crossing we were spent, the wind by this stage enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey, the only sheltered camp site was a paid place with a proper room not a lot more. Given the ferocity of the wind, cold and lateness we got the cheapest place we could find, good timing too for charging everything back up....and they had a heater :D Next up.....the southward leg towards Ushuaia :clap |
Lago Pasadas To Tres Lagos
Back To Argie
Wind. :huh https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8658/...1cca05e5_b.jpgP1230999 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Highlight of the day was no fuel in Gobernador Gregores, we met about 10 Brasilians who had already been waiting for two hours, we were there about an hour all up then the tanker was due in another two hours so their day was spent, we had filled up everything on the Mayan supertanker prior so had 39 liters on board which enabled us to get to the next fill station at Tress Lagos. Tar... a slight bonus to stop flying off the road in the wind https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8641/...6cea8899_b.jpgP1240031 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The sign on the fuel pump at Tres Lagos said max $300 and the lady filled up the front and rear not expecting to be anywhere near the $300, the pumped blazed past the max so I just kept my mouth shut looking the other way while she was concentrating on filling. Wasn’t till she finished she realized she had just filled up a supertanker over her maximum, the look on her face was “ouwh ****” but too late, I screwed the tops down and we paid her for our overfill which we were stoked to get.:clap:clap Back into Tres Lagos town the wind was howling through hard, my poor old bod saw from pushing hard against the bars despite dropping our speed to reduce the anger. Our payoff for what turned out to be a pretty arduous day was a very nice piece of meat Ellen had bought at the supermarket where there was no fuel, after Pasta and Tuna etc for a few days a nice piece of animal was a win. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8602/...bc9eff4c_b.jpgP1240023 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr While scoffing down our animal we watched out the window as stones rolled past and trees fought the breeze, to bear in mind the wind chill factor was ugly and bitterly cold .... this is summer!!! :huh https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8575/...db5f9f43_b.jpgP1240022 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr This report short and swept ....I mean sweet ...next up, more wind :rofl:rofl |
Tres Lagos To Cerro Sombrero
From Argie To Chile
Wind :huh Highlight of the day was meeting up with Clint and Rosie heading north, they had been waiting two days Esperanza for fuel … seemingly a normal thing to queue for hours or have to wait until the station actually gets fuel in Argentina. Good stories of their travels and some good information swaps before we both headed off on our ways. As it turned out there was a music festival at El Calafate so the road was choca with arseholes trying to get ahead, when we arrived at Esperanza you could see why as they were all waiting in a line for fuel, the line was right around block and out onto the road and down a bit, seriously, and two attendants doing ALL the pumps, filling and money…..these guys really need to get their shit together, 1000’s of man hours wasted sitting waiting for gas on a main route?????!!!! :eek1 Again happy to be on the supertanker we had our pre-organised lunch so we did not have to line up 10 deep to get crap food for a big price, setting off to Rio Gallegos was hard work, very cold and blowing like hell coupled with the racing car drivers racing from fuel station to fuel station. :huh Tanking up in Rio Gallegos we headed to the border with very unfortunate timing of a couple of buses, 20 odd trucks and 30 plus cars in front of us … Although there was many people on deck the usual re-entry in to Chile was long and drawn out, 2.5 hours later we finally made it out, the early evening wind hard and stark. :eek1 Down to the Ferry we jumped to the front of the queue in front of everyone who had pushed in front of us at the border, we where only there 15 minutes when the Ferry arrived and we were loaded on and taken across, finally something working in our favour. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8581/...f76131dc_b.jpgP1240045 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The short crossing was ruff with the wind whipping up the waves and swells. Maya was rocking around too much for comfort so we choked her into place to stop her falling over. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8599/...71705819_b.jpgP1240047 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Heading to Cerro Sombrero was the next point of civilization for us, again we opted for a hostel after some 560 km and yes the furthe south your go the quicker it cools off......and fast. Getting in late we opted to buy our dinner, usually in Chile this is a no-no because of the $$$, tonight was the exception and for $11 we had mashed potatoes, spiced veges and two big chucks of steak, this fed the two of us easily.:clap Hot showers, hot food …..simple things make life so comfy. The morning rolled around (as they usually do) ((unless you die)) (((which we didn’t))) and the hostel owner shouted us breakfast so our choice of places to stay worked out to be a huge win all round and a nice simple place. Todays mission ...Ushuaia :clap |
Cerro Sombrero To …..Ushuaia
Fin de Mundo - End Of The World :clap:clap
Wind, not too bad today, what a great reprieve.:clap Another border crossing, this time back into Argentina which is always so much quicker and easier. Not much to say, only a small day of about 420 km, partly paved partly rippio, all easy going What wind ... trees always grow sideways :rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8609/...f7de38e6_b.jpgP1240050 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr For the last 86000 km our heated grips worked fine, today they decided it was enough :huh …you’re shitting me :huh:huh …..your not :eek1:eek1:eek1….. damn, seems that the last lot of rippio loaded with corrugations had seen the brake line wear through the cable to the heat controller unit …. great day for this to happen with such low temperatures..…and literally on our final day to the bottom of the world. ...good onya Murphy still cadging a ride with unsuspecting moto riders :rofl:rofl Are we there yet? https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8634/...ba84bd96_b.jpgP1240057 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr No ....but not far now https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8603/...18a5ec1b_b.jpgP1240063 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Hauling out my winter gloves I had to suffer cold hands (i have bad circ to my fingers) but the prize was an almost rain free day into Ushuaia finally 2 years and 10 months after leaving on our 1 year trip from Alaska.:clap My mind was going overtime, very joyous having finally arrived but also some sadness realizing our finish line was even closer than I wanted …and my hands were cold.…poor wee princess :evil So, we did the Ushuaia entry photo, arriving at 4.07pm 25th February 2015. Are we there yet?.....YES :clap:clap:clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8643/...c2204b6f_b.jpgP1240089 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Finding our friends at Momos Hostel we finally got to get off the bike and relax, our welcoming committee waving us in the door, outstanding. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8636/...51f17300_b.jpgP1240092 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Ushuaia the update coming up … and the famed park sign. |
Ushuaia
Finally, 122449 km after leaving Alaska 2 years and 10 months ago, three motos later, 85809 km done on Maya from Phoenix Arizona after the less than ideal start there all has been great since.:clap
A huge thanks to everyone along the way who helped, were involved, gave us shit, joined our ride, read our blog and generally participated in this part of our lives, it has been very cool for us. A special mention for special people would be a list as long as a toilet roll but some main names of Bevan and Claire from Phoenix helping with the sale of the 2 DR’s and the MAJOR assistance of helping get Maya sorted out after the dreaded deal with the honest lawyer, many other people along the way could well do a mention but you guys would fall asleep. There are always turning points in your trip but for us this was nearly a turn around and go home point which we did not want. Moving on down, way on down to the end and we are finally here amidst happiness of making it here and sadness knowing that in about 2 months we will be back home in New Zealand and back to work :eek1. To finish off we did the usual celebration at the famed sign at the end of the road, having been mostly proper all the way and done everything by the book for the borders we decided not to do a stuffed muppet photo of “we were here”.:norton Having ridden out to the park with Andrea after 8.00pm so we didn’t have to pay we were rebelling against the system with the wind in our hair (well rain cos it was pissing down). :rofl:rofl Making it almost to the end the sun came through shouting us a cool sunset for a few minutes. Andrea on her DRZ 400 (from Becktastics motoventuring) behind me https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8616/...ea0f6910_b.jpgIMG_6552 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Reaching the famed sign it was time to think of something different and having a mad photographer at hand the ideas started flowing.:evil Naturally not being allowed to roll the bikes through the bollards to take photos we obeyed the rules like everyone does and ignored this being on our rebellious ending. For sure we were not going to take this long to get down and not get to take our photo there!!! :lol3 Tonight was the stuffed muppet on top of the bottom of the world pic https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8578/...7c3db5b3_b.jpgIMG_6568 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The on top of the bottom of the world :evil https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8683/...a8bd1476_b.jpgIMG_6563 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr And the today is so hot despite the last snow shower look, I know I should have worn my helmet for safety ..... :rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8618/...df9467ec_b.jpgIMG_6574 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr After finishing the shoot we headed back 4 km to our home for the night to camp out in the park. 3/4 bottle wine between us we sat on the bank chewing the fat and watching sky TV evolve. The following morning we woke to a stunning warm dry still day … thought we were still dreaming or had been beamed up to another planet but it was nice. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8614/...d22c6a5f_b.jpgIMG_6578 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The buses full of gringosheep had not been past so we took the opportunity to get some more pics in the daylight.:clap Back to the sign we took photos with our Brazilian T shirt give to us by Remi who had been down to Ushuaia and up to Alaska, we said we would take the T shirt down and photograph it with us at the sign. An honour to meet you Remi & Luisa and a pleasure to wear your shirt :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8637/...e290185c_b.jpgIMG_6579 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Given it was so hot we had to take a layer of clothes off, Andrea didn’t notice that we accidentally took everything off…she could told us :rofl So, stuffed muppet naked photo, dangerfreeks with no helmets :rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8680/...5db90e31_b.jpgIMG_6584 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr And Ellen doing her witchypoo maneuver flying past the bike https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8610/...45ff42fc_b.jpgIMG_6588 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Finally, the two bikes with our intrepid photographer with the famed moto sign, clearly we misunderstood thinking you were only not allowed to be there on a red moto, spanish is hard to understand.:wink: https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8589/...a0a5376e_b.jpgIMG_6598 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr That my friends is what 2 years and 10 months travelling on a moto does to your head .....I am so looking forward to the next big one already :rofl:rofl To follow, Ushuaia, NOT just Fin De Mundo turn around and go |
Ushuaia, Time To Relax And Hang Out
Finishing our pics at the sign we rolled the bikes out to ”the legal side” sighting we may have misunderstood the sign. :evil
Breaky was in order so we had coffee with cold meat from the previous nights asado. The bus loads of sheep started arriving soon after and we became the subject of photography from innocent bystanders wandering what they were seeing. Wasn’t long and yogi bear turned up in his hilux, we had a chat and he asked that we park our bikes in the parking area so the buses could get in and out easier and so our bikes would not get knocked over.....no worries :clap Taking in the walk behind the sign out to the sea was cool, we then headed to the big hill climb. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8587/...48980d28_b.jpgIMG_6612 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr It was supposed to be 4 km to the top however at about 2 km in we then started at the 4km mark :huh The walk was neat starting in forest then through swamp and out on the bald zone of the harsh part and up to the top on shingle scree and rock. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8677/...f485e25b_b.jpgIMG_6643 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Up through the weird trees https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8596/...266e8e34_b.jpgIMG_6636 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Out onto the last of the grass plato https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8571/...c9f8d3d2_b.jpgIMG_6616 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Up onto the steeper scree, same lake in the first pic https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8592/...b9be1075_b.jpgIMG_6621 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr This is what my arse looks like with shorts on :rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8639/...cf2ae7a5_b.jpgIMG_6620 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We all blazed it pretty easily being super triathletes … a few puffs and stops along the way but no one walked past us. The view from the top every bit work the grunt of the climb, the weather being kind let us see past Ushuaia and across to Puerto Williams and right up the valleys behind us, epic. Puerto Williams in the background https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8663/...6a211dc5_b.jpgIMG_6625 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Andrea at the final steep to the top https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8564/...ceb92901_b.jpgIMG_6628 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr It was however bitterly cold at this elevation 1 km up so we took shelter just off the ridge to have some lunch. Ushuaia is in between the big and the little hill at the waters edge https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8682/...f9533cb3_b.jpgIMG_6630 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Heading back down was hard for me with my old knees so the first steep section off the top was slow. Making it down to the tree line was welcoming as the wind was over the top of us and the wind chill lowered considerably. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8584/...3a6e567e_b.jpgIMG_6641 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Back to the start line we were all good, finishing the track 2 hours ahead of their posted time….return to the Hostel tonight for a shower etc ….wicked cool day spent in the park playing.:clap The following few days we decided to bunk down in Ushuaia as we had managed to bag a decent head cold each, I think with all the riding, hard winds, long days and finally getting to the southernmost finishline our bodies went OK ….enough.:cry What a great place to be sick ... excellent!!!:clap:clap |
Ushuaia Around And About
Talking it easy saw sleep ins to 10 -11 am and breakfast time interrupting lunch hour, a few short walks around town to take in Ushuaia and the local surroundings.
I also fixed my heated grips which was a worn/chaffed wire From this https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8668/...ae9c9bec_b.jpgP1240093 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8675/...99369b2a_b.jpgP1240094 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr To this, I thought there was only two wires in there but no there was seven :rofl when then taped everything back together nicely :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8595/...ba7e601c_b.jpgP1240095 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our BDCW bracket had also broken and as luck would have it right across the street from Momos there is an alloy welder, 3 pieces back to one means a one complete smile again https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8566/...18c27973_b.jpgP1240096 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We enjoyed several days of meeting moto riders in and out of the hostel and meeting the famous Noah Horak and his girlfriend Lucy. I also helped Andrea and Becks get their bike sorted for sale, some starter motor and flat tire stuff and some wiring fixes. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8592/...273156de_b.jpgP1240104 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Was cool to meet a fellow traveller that has travellered so far and many places on his moto a KTM690 Enduro, the more capable smaller brother to our SE. His reward for turning up here was to take Lucy out for a ride on Maya, Lucy has never been out on a bike before so it was all new for her, sunset at Ushuaia. Recognize this dodgy dude?, pictured with Lucy his chickie :clap:clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8607/...85ba407f_b.jpgP1240106 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We have thoroughly enjoyed Ushuaia, it is a great place, not just a destination to turn around quickly and hit it north. For us, certainly a box ticked but another box opened up and ticked by way of spending time taking in the parks etc. Ellen loves flying past these signs on her invisible broom :rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8575/...235623d0_b.jpgIMG_6682 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8591/...bce25d06_b.jpgIMG_6675 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr No pirates :evil https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8614/...d3670b7f_b.jpgIMG_6665 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our plan now is to head down Road J to the end and camp out so we will be off grid again for a few days. |
Awesome job kids, Congratulations on making it to Ushuaia!!! - We had a great time there, enjoy!
Hugs from me & Lisa |
great Job
I have been following you guys since you started your journey. What a hell of a accomplishment. Hopefully it/s all downhill till you get back to New Zealand. Hat's off to an amazing ride. Continue to a safe end.bier
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Great hearing from you guys, yeah we finally made it which is totally cool, loved Ushuaia and had a great time there too so for our Fin De Mundo was magic. Back up in Punta Arenas now, then Torres Del Paine etc. Cheers and love to you two. Andi & Ellen |
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Thanks for you kind words, much appreciated. Still got two months (which I am hanging onto) so yes hope for plain sailing to a degree. Cheers Andi |
Ushuaia To Road J
......lets have a look :D
Saying goodbye to Becks, Andrea, Noah and Lucy we headed for Road J. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7288/...2128e3b3_b.jpgP1240113 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Road J heads out 130 km southeast of Ushuaia and takes you to the southern most tip of Argentina. :evil ouwh argh one more box to tick :huh We had great weather considering the beginning of the day was very wet, as the day unfolded so did the clouds allowing us a nice ride. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7608/...650c6241_b.jpgP1240116 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Exiting out of Ushuaia was typical Argentina, first the monster lineup for fuel with two attendants walking around slowly and cars lined up ten deep :huh, it took us about 25 minute to get gas…WTF!! Heading out of town we then sat in a long queue with the police check only to be flagged on by anyway so all in all an hour to get out of town.…hmmm glad we didn’t arrive at siesta time it would take all day.:rofl Finally out on open road we made it to our turn off then out to freedom, traffic was sparse other than a MTB race on. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7593/...b6a11520_b.jpgP1240123 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Estancia Harberton (Harberton Station) out half way to the end was a point of interest, a friend of our asked if we wanted to stay there and offered to put in, even with the put in it was still a little exotic price wise so we opted to camp, couple with that we had a beautiful day with a beautiful camp site.:clap We took a few photos of the place and headed on our merry way out to the end with the road twisting and turning along the waterfront, a stunning but lonely place. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8718/...840aa69e_b.jpgP1240134 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7584/...869b4559_b.jpgP1240135 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Stunning setting https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8653/...2018acb7_b.jpgP1240149 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8568/...7ecb4f0d_b.jpgP1240140 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The station from across the bay https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8660/...1a71577a_b.jpgP1240166 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The road followed along the sea line through open and trees. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7651/...7b2882f4_b.jpgP1240190 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7603/...16769f9b_b.jpgP1240188 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr See the tree, evidence we are in Patablowia but not today :clap:clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7284/...17b0061e_b.jpgP1240192 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Reaching the end we were greeted by a lonely little black dog who pulled a stupid smile after a welcoming hello and click of our fingers so he was curiously keen to see us with a cautious approach paid off with a pat and smile, I think we made each others day. Photos and standing looking out across the southern ocean was in order, smiles of appreciation from Ellen and I feeling lucky to be there and even luckier to be there on an excellent weather day and trust me you see the trees and know it can be extremely savage down there and very inhospitable to warm blooded creatures let along exposed moto riders. Looking back towards Ushuaia in the late afternoon sun. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8729/...0120602d_b.jpgP1240200 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We were here, the end of the road. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8679/...c526f356_b.jpgP1240201 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The road on the way back allowing epics views https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7633/...8702166f_b.jpgP1240212 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Making our way back we hit it to camp, undecided on which place to stay as we had a choice of three great locations with us opting to do km today as we needed to make ground tomorrow. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8651/...9e84f79b_b.jpgIMG_6691 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr New asado grill made from wire we found on the ground https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7604/...dae6855d_b.jpgIMG_6692 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Have meat :clap will cook https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7588/...3926eb06_b.jpgIMG_6693 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Cooked ... now where is that wine!! https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8647/...bb811f9d_b.jpgIMG_6695 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A scoff of bar b q meat, some salad with an Argie Malbec and no one else around ...saweet!!! Our choice as it would turn would be great other than when we went to bed a herd of bulls came through our camp grizzling, roaring and mooing hard out.:eek1 I ended up getting out of bed (from no sleep) and chasing them off and make them moove elsewhere. Luckily they were offended by me and my bright LED in their eyes so they scattered, I didn’t even have to scare them with taking my clothes off however my undie run was proved to be scary enough.:rofl:rofl |
Road J to Punta Arenas
We woke to a bitterly cold breeze and some clouds but mum nature soon removed the blanket and the sun was shining through making our ride north up and over the pass excellent and for a hour of so we enjoyed almost no wind.
On getting to Rio Grande we meet 8 - 9 Brasil Riders and they too were heading to Punta Arenas. We headed outa town prior to them but it was only a few km up the road they all came past us at true Brasilian pace. Pulling up behind them at San Sebastian (the border) we did paperwork and managed to sneak out ahead of them somehow, once hitting the dirt Maya excelled and did what she does best and ti add to todays mix heavy rain, a road that was flowing like a river and some wind. Perfect conditions not to ride we knew we only had 137 km of torture but mum nature was doing her darnedest to make life hard for us. It seems as soon as we said bring it on and give us your worst the weather cleared leaving us just a muddy section of road to navigate, the layer of puffed clay with mud and gravel making about 50 mm plus layer of semi sludgy semi dryish cake mix....which was interesting. The rain cloud behind us where we had come from, we rode out from the storm and to the left so it was nowhere as wet here :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8677/...3e48a9b1_b.jpgIMG_6702 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Where we were going ...nice !! https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7634/...f01653a9_b.jpgIMG_6699 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The sea in contrast with the sky and clouds making a nice mix that was pleasant to the eye https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8657/...50d90a65_b.jpgIMG_6705 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr I was stoked to have the MT 21 on and I know it was making life easier for us however well still slid and wobbled a lot on the greasy paste. One of the 1200 GS's and a Tenere 660 were owned by the mud both biffing there bikes, not too bad damage just a reminder of biting real estate. Arriving at Porvenir we had an hour and a half up our sleeves and were very grateful to see the ferry there and with and open door as the previous days had no sailed due to wind. Maya looking like a dirty girl and the wharf https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8606/...caac1a98_b.jpgIMG_6706 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The Ferry took 2 hours and we arrived in Punta Arenas about 9.30 pm safe and sound. Next is Punta Arenas, town and about, don't just race through you will miss it. |
Horizons Unlimited Calendar Pics
Hey all it is that time of year when we ask for a vote for our hard earned photo for the HU calendar (only one in this year for us), this year the competition is extremely hot with some magnificent photos, so on that note well done to all other entries too.
Just log in and like it ....cheque will be in the mail Here is the link and our is pic is #hu16_16 post No 17 http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...inners-81042-2 Take a look through the other entries guys and feel inspired to take photos from a different perspective. Cheers Andi & Ellen ___________ |
Punta Arenas
We had been given the name of two hostels, the first one Backpackers Paradise, well it was anything but and a shithole, dirty, smelly and noisy bastids till 4 am, we were there with Noah and Lucy and none of us really got any sleep to speak of so we all agreed to bail and get something better.
Independencia was the next one so we moved there and yes it was a nice place and warm, we got the last two beds, Noah and Lucy luckily had sort-of decided to head north and this was the kick they needed to get going, much to see.:clap There were moto riders, cyclists and some backpackers, a pretty cool mob all round. The following day was the big wind day, 130 km / hr …yes very strong, we rode into town to find oil for Maya and were blown all over the place …..unreal. On the way to the cafe with Ellen, I was on a two lane one way street at the traffic lights, Police beside me on my left, the wind blew up and behind from the right hand side standing the bike upright and high and me on tip toes trying to foot/hop the bike and hold it up, I got closer and closer to the Police car, they are both looking at me and I am trying to avoid hitting them (all at less than walking pace :eek1), I brush past their bumper with my left leg footing/hoping it across the RED light in front of the Police :rofl:rofl They didn't know whether to hop out and help or watch so they watched with amusement, either way I went across the intersection and ended up pointing up the other one way the wrong way and finally met the kurb which allowed me better footing amidst some Bridget Jones maneuvers trying desperately to hold Maya upright with arms and legs in all directions :lol3 The Police giving me the “are you ok “ thumbs up and me breathing deeply ok’ed them back with the thumbs up, they carried and I rode the wrong way up the one way..…everyone was happy except my undies. :huh A moto rider arrived that night at the hostel, he biffed his bike after being pushed off the road by the wind hurting himself and his moto, also a road marking truck was blown over, the moto rider and 6 men huddled behind a small building for shelter for 5 hours waiting for the wind to subside. :eek1 We had contacted Salvador, a local ADVer to meet for a coffee in town which was cool, we got a lot of local information that you don’t get on maps, he is true moto head and has a KTM 990 Adventure fruited out too.… as well as a lineup of other lusties. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7284/...b1838934_b.jpgP1240231 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Having planned to go down to the end of road nine and there is a light house out there which would be a 5 km walk each way…perfect, thanks to Salva for good information. :clap Setting off on our merry way a concrete paved road, turning to gravel then narrowing to one lane, potholes, puddles, some smaller river crossings and so beach work. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7646/...de585a37_b.jpgP1240251 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr This one too deep and soft so we went around it on the beach https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7592/...f81df221_b.jpgP1240250 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Making to the end of the road were the old road disappears onto the beach we left Maya and started our hike. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7616/...f2f69a84_b.jpgP1240254 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Observing the tide I had noted earlier the line of the leaves etc on the beach, some soft river crossings too deep for us (note 1 meter plus) meant going down on the beach below the leaf line and back up…..:huh Lunch call saw us stop in a nice and sheltered place so we set a marker in the sand to see which way the tide was going and yes as you guessed it the tide was coming in as our marker got washed away. Our destination that we didn't make on the far left of the pic https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7585/...8321a30d_b.jpgIMG_6735 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7624/...d0002154_b.jpgIMG_6729 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Deciding to turn at that point we hightailed it back on foot to Maya and get back past the last point of no return at which we had to cross the beach or we would be stuck there. The last crossing proved interesting and Maya decided to check out China, 100hp, new Heidenaus, soft beach = dig fast, we made it ok with both of us pushing and we got to back up onto the track …..no sand was hurt, Maya didn’t explode into flames and kill everyone (despite being US plated) and we were at least free. Softening https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7645/...1356ab8d_b.jpgIMG_6741 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Power https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8688/...a258f62b_b.jpgIMG_6744 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr China --> stop :evil https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8650/...664da9b7_b.jpgIMG_6743 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Getting back to a Unimog we saw on the way in we went and said hello, they are Austrian (the home of Maya) and they had a seriously cool setup truck. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8569/...00fe7297_b.jpgIMG_6745 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7590/...91cb0763_b.jpgIMG_6755 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr After a few minutes of chats he advised us of a nice campsite behind the road and river so we checked it out … ouwh perfect, flat, sheltered, grassy, water, a creek crossing to get there and no one else …a perfect adventurers 5 * hotel. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8661/...32d9f373_b.jpgIMG_6753 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr There was some road works being done and a lot of trees over the road, 10 minutes of lifting and flinging saw the entrance almost clear, enough to sneak through. The entry in the back ground https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7616/...66c657b8_b.jpgIMG_6764 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr That night the Unimog guys joined our camp fire giving us some home baking and fish which we duly swapped for fire grilled pork and 7 year Flore de Caña rum…fair trade and good times. The head chef bar b qing the pork :clap:clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7649/...19fe560f_b.jpgIMG_6763 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Surviving the night we headed back to the hostel and after getting good information as to where to buy oil we managed to give Maya a blood transfusion of Motul in the hostel yard, everything accomplished in Punta Arenas now. |
Punta Arenas To Puerto Natales To Torres Del Paine.
Punta Afreezeus To Puerto Nofeeling To Torres Del Pain .. that sums it up :rofl:rofl
Our last night in Punta Arenas we spent at Salvas and uploaded pics and did some ride reports as the wifi at the hostel was not even enough to open gmail.:huh On the way back to the hostel we stopped at a supermarket to get some wasabi, Ellen could not find any so she lovingly bought 1.75 liters of Flor De Caña … onya chica, much more important than wasabi. :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7619/...25324dd4_b.jpgIMG_6770 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Mission accomplished it was time to head to Puerto Natales and onto the famed Torres Del Paine. The day to Puerto Natales started nasty, wet and cold, although the clouds dispersed it left us freezing commanding all our warm and wet gear to fend of the elements. We stopped at a bus stop shelter for some lunch to get out of the bitter wind then hit it to Puerto Natales. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8691/...2b10bdc5_b.jpgP1240284 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr After battling bitter side winds we arrived at Puerto Natales, fueled up, got chased all around town by two black dogs that seemed to want a piece of us and would not give up until I cornered and cut one off booting it in the head and sending it flying which knocked its enthusiasm and left us alone. We found a cafe, got a hot coffee and wifi, checked the weather forecast which for down here is somewhat of a joke then carried on to the park entrance. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8686/...29533e59_b.jpgIMG_6793 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7634/...03bf95ae_b.jpgIMG_6778 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We meet Emily and Adam, Sierra and Colette who are travelling in a VW van, so cool to meet them, we discussed some camping options because hotels and hostels being way over priced due to the famous park. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8667/...f9dd143a_b.jpgP1240328 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our first glimpse of Torres Del Paine, riding loaded with 7 days of food ...and the rum :D https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8699/...f429b325_b.jpgIMG_6798 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We found our sneaky camp site, leaving the road we managed to turn Maya onto Stealth mode and sneak in quietly disappearing into the bush cleverly disguising ourselves as trees…..dodgy....in fact so stealth was our camp we could not even photograph it :rofl:rofl As evening fell the mountain popped out of the cloud and a sunset unfolded ….wow …. Sunset https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7600/...acaa705a_b.jpgIMG_6818 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr That is where we are going :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7625/...bcb8ac6b_b.jpgIMG_6814 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr It is hard to know when to stop taking photos, this majestic set of formations and rock taking our breath away to a silence of serious appreciation. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7641/...cd2aa3ae_b.jpgIMG_6809 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Tomorrow was a promising day regardless of the weather .....cos we were there!!!:clap |
A helmet less kiwi .....
Hi Andy, Ellen, just caught up again & gotta add me congrats, well done you two, :D
Super trip & loved the photo shoot at the end, though seriously doubt that there was no helmet .... mmmmnnnn not even on little :censored: :oops2: Now the last bit, would be interested in your shipping arrangements. In the mean time take care & keep the rubber side down, keep on :scooter: & have a beer on me. ....... Stay safe Vince |
Torres Del Paine Day 1
Hitting the park early from the south entrance first off was to Grey Lake for breakfast then on north around inside the park to come along to our next wow.
The wind was beating us around badly from all angles and the rain wofting in and out as we cruzed. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7591/...88b5e273_b.jpgIMG_6827 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr On getting to Lake Nordenskjold the wind was unbelievable and making riding extremely difficult. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7649/...cd3f47fa_b.jpgIMG_6831 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Taking some photos was testing my ability to hold Maya up as I was getting smacked from all sides from the wind changing its mind in direction every second.:eek1 Stopping at a lay-by we watched in awe at the abrupt rock faces looking down on us and the incredible wind ripping water from the lake making massive mobile sheets ….to say the conditions were ruff was an understatement, although 20 degrees still and sunny would be nice this was simply awesome with the aggressiveness and the anxiousness of knowing mum nature can throw us off the bike at any second.:huh https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7592/...2d00af8c_b.jpgIMG_6854 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Vulnerable, excited, scared and wowed, what a feeling of knowing you are in the thick of it and you have to make it work or suffer, scary but cool. :evil The new bridge to Las Torres, the spires hidden in the background https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8715/...da1cef26_b.jpgIMG_6865 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Making it to Hotel Las Torres we felt like we had cheated death, I have to admit in the heaviest of wind I was a little concerned. We had made great time getting there, so we decided to get to the camp so we could view the three spires. Talking with the hotel guys we could store gear at $2.00 per bag for the night …. we said to the dude well we have a heap of gear, jackets, boots, helmets etc so he gave us a massive plastic bag and said use this … it was huge and no way we could put all the stuff in and lift it or it would tear the arse out of it.:rofl He let us fill it up in the store room so it did not burst … he was good to us so I gave him a coffee toffee lollie …dude was stoked and made his day. :clap After strapping Maya down literally so she would not blow away (there was a small moto laying on its side) we headed for the hills, the weather partly playing with us, spits of rain, wind, sun, wind , still, wind, blowing and wind…could not make its mind up.:eek1 Stringwork 101 "How to stop your moto blowing away", add two straps and one cable and tie to timber work :rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8658/...362c8637_b.jpgIMG_6869 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Undeterred we hiked up to the cafe and Chileano camp site, our free camp was another hour up the valley, the weather caved in temporarily so we took shelter in the cafe where you can have a coffee for $7 if your pockets were too heavy, it then cleared so we headed up to camp. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7587/...12b7086a_b.jpgIMG_6871 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr From the cafe, the weather was playing with us https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8731/...188e81ba_b.jpgIMG_6874 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The spires visible for a while https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7607/...bf7455ef_b.jpgIMG_6875 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Torres the free camp turned out to be much better, more sheltered and right at the bottom of the base summit assault. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8670/...af807a90_b.jpgIMG_6890 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Turns out we were probably twice everyone elses age there which was kinda funny, we set the camp then headed to the top for the view of the spires. The climb up was ok but ominous weather pushed us around a bit with the top part being extremely exposed. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8569/...59840e15_b.jpgIMG_6895 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The rock in the middle of the photo is the size of a house :eek1 https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8728/...75b0be42_b.jpgIMG_6892 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Cresting the ridge at the base of the spires at the lake was breath taking, it was a quick set of show pony “we were here” photos before mum nature pulled the curtain over the display, we decided to sit it out and wait for the spires to reappear but todays show was over and aggressively over. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8723/...4b95a6b7_b.jpgIMG_6897 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7654/...4392cabe_b.jpgIMG_6901 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7647/...fff26291_b.jpgIMG_6903 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr After this it was game over https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7585/...7bb51118_b.jpgIMG_6906 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Mum nature was erratically throwing rain in all directions propelled by winds that were swerving more than a drunk driver and despite us sheltering under an overhanging rock we all started very getting wet.:cry Coupled with a wind chill factor that was ugly enough to bring on hypothermia to the unprepared many others huddled knees to knees with us hoping it would clear, one by one everyone peeled off heading back down at a brisk pace. My final face, I even used my brow wiping clothe to stop the wind chilling my forehead down....time to go https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8633/...41fec6b9_b.jpgIMG_6910 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We waited for a break in the weather, we didn’t get it, another large rock looked appealing but the appeal was short lived, the weather was setting in for keeps and the rain laden air starting to carry snow cloud, the temperature dropped like a stone so we had no choice but to bail and get down. The driving rain and big winds soaked us and all we could do was battle it back to camp, the unfortunate thing is we are NOT allowed a camp fire thanks to an Israeli guy who tried to burn his shitpaper and set the whole ****ing park into flames, now NO fires end of story.:huh The fine for a fire is $16000 USD and 5 years in prison, they are serious about it, however we were soaked and cold so free accommodation in jail seemed like a nice warm option :rofl As we had started at 5 am we had a big day so were in bed by 6 pm cos it was pissing down and cold, we did however meet another Kiwi dude and chatted for a while which was well cool.:clap We had travelled lite up to the camp so made the most of our gear we had which was not much, although enough to get by it was not enough to be comfortable not having a spare set of dry clothes to change into, given the supposed forecast we should have been ok but the forecast here is a bad joke and you simply can not rely on it. |
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Thanks man, yeah there was a helmet .....although small in the :freezing: doh Shipping, yes we are in the process now, finding out the finer details at the mo so when we have all the info we will post it up as current to this point in time anyway. Will take care, we have to in the wind here, a moment lapse of concentration can end in tears quickly :thumbdown: Cheers Andi |
Torres Del Paine Day 2
Day 2 Kinda Relaxing :clap
A semi solid nights sleep saw us wake up and get down the valley at a reasonable hour, on getting back Maya was patiently waiting like a mistress tied up waiting for some action (so I have been told cos I am a virgin) happy to see her standing upright unlike the other small moto that went to ground. Time to dry everything out in the sun while it lasted https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8688/...f2653f65_b.jpgIMG_6914 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Adam had seen the Maya and thought she might get blown over so was gonna tie her down only to find we had already tied her down tight, nice to know other travellers have your back and are on the same page.:clap:clap Emily spotted us drying everything out and came over, they invited us for lunch so we took some tucker over and a feast was had at the van, onya guys real cool to say the least and we were extremely lucky with an uncanny warm afternoon. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8682/...ed0d5d36_b.jpgIMG_6915 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Finally we cruzed off to an unknown possible camp at nearly 5 pm ….usually not a good idea but if no good we could at least return. The spires in the background giving us a hard time appearing as we left :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7627/...6dbd18ee_b.jpgIMG_6919 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr On the way to our new camp we found another creek :D https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8614/...1a6bbef4_b.jpgIMG_6929 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Guanacos everywhere in the park backed by the beauty wherever you look https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7655/...af271669_b.jpgIMG_6931 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The top of the park at Laguna Azul (Blue Lake) is relatively unknown by most so we went there, we were greeted by another nice yogi bear who gave us the rundown of the place and advised the camping was free (the correct wording we understand) Heading down to the lake https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8617/...2c55cd7a_b.jpgIMG_6947 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We had the use of the CONAF building with gas cooking and seating, cold showers and flush toilets, the shelter building had glass to watch the bad weather and our camp site near enough to sheltered…perfect …well almost….could been hot showers. The weather in the distance making its presence felt after the warm afternoon, another vent and dry before putting everything in, we also had to put our food indoors so the foxes didn't break into our food and eat it. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7646/...3b9d6be2_b.jpgIMG_6948 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Setting down for the night we ate indoors in the warmth, rum in hand and life was good and easy, the yogis bears (park rangers) joining us a for a small drink which was neat. We had the place to ourselves, quiet but cold, the tapping of rain on the tent sending us off to sleep..... what a great day :clap:clap |
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It will pay for my flight back to Bangkok in a few days. Great Pic, great RT, keep it up All the best Wayne PS. Don't forget to sign the cheque :rofl:beer |
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I have been trying to pay you but the internet is down, the post shops are closed and my pen ran out of ink :rofl: Bangkok, you lucky man, big trip planned? Cheers Andi |
Torres Del Paine Day 3
Day 3 .... and lovin it.
The ranger said the following day would be nice and we were hoping it would be, true to his word after a very wet rainy night we had a glorious day with Torres Del Paine out on full show, although we were not at the base our view was not to be scoffed at, actually it was world class.:clap:clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8644/...62a340a5_b.jpgIMG_6949 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8732/...3d1c3f6d_b.jpgIMG_6950 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Get you fellas up close and personal to the middle spire https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8696/...cf1f7082_b.jpgIMG_6952 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr This is the crap we have to go through so you guys have something to read :evil https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8715/...eaf4cd0c_b.jpgIMG_6969 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our plan was to climb Sierra Masle a small hill only 999 meters high which would offer us great views and it did, sitting on the top we watched the world go by enjoying peace, quiet and only lite winds from our sheltered lunch spot. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7653/...8b21e31e_b.jpgIMG_7028 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Laguna Azul (from the first photo) beneath us in the background with the spires starting to take cover https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8618/...d5980492_b.jpgIMG_7010 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We had a great feed of Berries too, very nice and quite sweet, these ones in the picture about 6 - 8 mm round https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8647/...985b183f_b.jpgIMG_7019 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr By mid afternoon mum nature again showed her darstally evil intentions with snow cloud gathering over the spires, such was the display it prompted us to shake a leg and get moving off the exposed tops, this turned out to be a very good idea, we snuck in under the cover of sun with a few stray rain drops.:clap It was not too long the wind really picked up again with rain laden clouds shrouding the valley and invading camp with gusto, this time we were behind glass with a hot chocolate in our hand saying "bring it on" .… such a nice feeling….”softy core” to the max. :D The afternoon then spent in the shelter updating all the stupid shit we had been up too while enjoying the comfort of seats and hot chocolate etc. Dinner tonight worth a mention, the Eco Camp people do lunch for people here and today they had a group of 8 who left a considerable pile of food untouched so the yogi bear Paulo who runs this camp gave it to us, beautiful salads, potatoes and a wicked sauce, some grated carrots and beetroot so we swapped some lollies and rum in return of his goodwill towards us.:clap The chef at work preparing what turned out to be our tea in the end :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7597/...5ac9cf65_b.jpgIMG_6982 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr It is now 8.05 pm, Monday March the 16th (as at writing this) and I have just realized that this day in two months time we are home, seems such a world away but so close….not quite sure how to take it but the 1.75 liters of Flor De Caña is helping. This little fella live near the camp, nice we dude but don't leave anything edible outside https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8631/...22b45f64_b.jpgIMG_7030 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr As at writing this I felt pretty much the same way https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7651/...69df5164_b.jpgIMG_7031 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Meeting up with Juan and his girlfriend on our last night was a surprise, we meet them in Ushuaia and they had driven out to the park end to see the spires but to no avail the weather had packed it in completely with snow and rain and of course the signature strong Patablowia winds, unfortunately for them the night remained the same as did the morning so no views whatsoever meaning we escaped Torres Del Paine in bad weather. ...back to Argentina now. |
Torres Del Paine To El Calafate
Having enjoyed Torres Del Paine and hiked the L routes (Losers :D), seen the spires, enjoyed the sun, wind, rain, wind, snow, wind and wind it was time to leave, we had done everything we had wanted too and the weather was bad and had settled in, good timing to go, thank you Torres Del Paine and the yogi bears for your help.:clap
Too much wind for this little car!!...glad we were not riding here when this happened https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7593/...5590bd69_b.jpgP1240367 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7589/...d7cc3571_b.jpgP1240369 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Further up the road was another damage vehicle that has slide out and smacked into harder things too :eek1:eek1 Heading out we say goodbyes and left through the small Cerro Castillo border, very calm and quiet, very easy, the way it should be. As we exited Chile and Torres Del Paine we exited the rain, this was welcome as we had been camping with four night of varying degrees of rain at night and during the day but there was a price to pay… Destination El Calafate, nice for a change but back to siestas and petrol ques or no petrol.:huh Today turned out to be a our epic wind day (our price to pay for no rain), bloody unbelievable and even more unbelievable we did not go to ground, on several occasions we were blown over the centerline, across the road and into the gravel, on a gravel road section we went right across the road and left it, lucky Maya is an Enduro based machine as we did some unplanned off-roading, bush bashing and back out up and onto the road.:rofl 272 km complete, the last 40 odd km I am just hanging on, my helmet cheek cushions making me do fish face impressions and my sunnies digging into my nose due to my helmet trying to corkscrew my head, it was uncomfortable but the end was in sight. So windy here and bitterly cold, no trees to show the force, just me holding onto Maya so she didn't have a rest https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7629/...9b144e7a_b.jpgP1240375 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr For a day of this length of ride I am spent, we are supposed to be meeting Juan and his girlfriend however on their 250 I don’t think we will see them today, we have plans to do the Perito Merino Glacier together which would be cool. :clap |
El Calafate
The famous Glacier, heading outa town we back-roaded it to our campsite some 30km from the park entry, Laga Roca was our destination, not the expensive camp but the free one just along a bit.:clap
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7600/...3006ff9f_b.jpgIMG_7053 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The camp, your ticket to a stunning free camp space https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8572/...5baba42e_b.jpgIMG_7057 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr I can't believe why they won't let red motorcycles in around here ... some weird shit in this place ... just as well ours is orange and brown :rofl:rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7624/...23a0a2fb_b.jpgIMG_7054 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Arriving at the site we picked a camp that had some wood as we had a big mofo piece of beef to do an asado Having time to go for a walk we took the opportunity to look around and take the place in, the weather although meant to be fine was cutting in with snow laden cloud....ouwh yes and the temperature plummeting fast :eek1 Making a fire and getting organised for our cookup I found some more wire so made our asado net smaller in the openings so the sausies wouldn't fall through to an ugly death :rofl For the first time in nearly three years we finally got to use our tarp as the rain set in for keeps, making the most of our new found shelter fud was consumed and rum drunk...quite a bit too of both.:wink: In preparation for loose skywater https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8601/...2198b877_b.jpgIMG_7060 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Check it out bro we even got a picnic table!!! https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7286/...bdc2c418_b.jpgIMG_7063 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Waiting for the fire to burn down a bit https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7286/...8d826cc6_b.jpgIMG_7061 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr For this :clap:clap ... half a mammoth :evil https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8718/...77222446_b.jpgIMG_7062 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Some neighbours moved in and were speaking english so we went over and paid a visit, turns out they were neighbours...Ozzies so chats all round, their firewood supply was skinny so we grabbed the big piece we had and bought it over like good neighbours do...good times in front of a warm fire.:clap Good times again around a campfire.....you can't be good old cavemanism and grog :rofl:rofl |
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Perito Moreno Glacier
Heading to the park early we wanted to get sunrise photos of Perito Moreno but our day started rough with the ****ing yogi bear not letting us in because the ticket people were not there, we said no problem here is our money and give it to them when they arrive but no he was intent on being an arsehole which he did well.:huh
At the park entry waiting https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7284/...93fc1d4a_b.jpgIMG_7067 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7645/...b00d392e_b.jpgIMG_7071 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Finally the ticket people turn up and **** me if they didn't say you will have to ask the yogi bears, re-ask the yogi bears and they said it is up to the ticket people, what a bunch of retards who all need new jobs away from customer service or dealing normally with people. :eek1 Finally on our way we still made it but not quite with sunrise pics, never mind the glacier still well worth seeing up so close. We were riding along quietly enjoying our ride when these other guys came up on our right hand side so I nailed and cut them off before the corner :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7594/...0e885210_b.jpgP1240386 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The first glimpse https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8701/...56d40240_b.jpgIMG_7076 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr As the day progressed we heard very loud cracks and bangs followed by large chunks of ice dropping into the water https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7591/...2ab5e317_b.jpgIMG_7116 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8682/...44a46767_b.jpgIMG_7117 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Enjoying watching and listening for most of the day we felt we got our moneys worth as the park entry fee was very expensive Read the sign on the right hand side about the people killed :eek1 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7615/...380fbdb0_b.jpgP1240396 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The far side of the glacier https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7603/...df96af7e_b.jpgIMG_7133 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A large lump breaking off https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7594/...2a010428_b.jpgScreen Shot 2015-03-21 at 8.56.10 AM by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A stray lump of crystal ice .. beautiful https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7605/...a51a4a32_b.jpgIMG_7106 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A small vid I knocked up last night as this explains for more than the pics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CiPN6Azw7U <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8CiPN6Azw7U" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe> Back to the hostel we stayed at the previous night and get ready for our El Chaiten assault. |
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That's ashame I could have done with that haha No Andi, not this time, just done one, link is in the signature block, I am just going to chill with friends this time. Wayne Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
Hanging on
Hey Guys hanging on to every picture and jealous of every moment you are experiencing. Hopefully everything will continue to be a plus for you. I'm sure when you get back to NZ it is going to be hard to get back in the groove. You will start plotting a course for a new adventure. HANG IN and enjoy.
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Yeah I tried :innocent: Will check out your link, should have wifi for nexxt few das and maybe the appropriate weather :stormy: too Good man, go chill and have a few jeigerjeiger, have fun mate. Cheers Andi |
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Thanks mate appreciate your kind words, yeah not looking forward to going back although I love New Zealand and keen to see mates I am still keener to look around the next corner. So yes time to plot the next one, many plans in the pipeline but time to regroup and save. Cheers Andi |
El Calafate To El Chalten
With a promising weather day we waved goodbye to El Calafate and bolted for El Chalten.
Given the previous weather we had been given we lined up at for new good weather tickets from the weather gods booth and yes we got the winning ticket..…almost no wind at all. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8734/...80843a8e_b.jpgIMG_7199 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr With an easy day we made it later afternoon and headed to the top of the valley, the road from El Chaiten to Lago De Desierto was potholed and boney so it took an hour to do the 36 km. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8711/...8b330cde_b.jpgIMG_7232 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr No biggy as there was a lot to look at along the way as well and gringo cagers everywhere. Getting to the top of the valley was nice but all along the way says no camping, no fires and they wanted 100 Pesos (10 bucks) each just for camping … I don’t think so. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8750/...6577d891_b.jpgIMG_7224 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We headed back to El Chaiten, just as we entered back into town we spotted Tony and Sabana in the Unimog (met them in Punta Arenas) so we swung a right and went to say gidday, we also met Rob who was camping beside them in a Dodge truck. We asked the local constabulary if we could camp with them and they said no problem!!!…..saweet https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7641/...2a1c2d82_b.jpgIMG_7234 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr No camp site is free of Murphy tho :rofl:rofl....never set your tent up from the other end first, always start from the other end :huh :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7645/...5fa05643_b.jpgIMG_7233 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr This then necessitated the purchase of grapes in a bottle to sit there and chat about life. A nice lineup of travel hotrods :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7592/...b5f0cab8_b.jpgIMG_7237 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The following day was the famous Mount FitzRoy which looks similar to Torres Del Paine so bed at a reasonable hour. :clap |
Mount Fitz Roy
A reasonable start saw us with what can only be described as exceptional weather, with 11km each way to do we set a good pace and were graced by the beauty of the giants ahead of us.
Leaving camp, the rock on the right looking like a Lions head at the peak. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8724/...ca97b966_b.jpgIMG_7244 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The first view point https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7598/...209a6467_b.jpgIMG_7250 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The valley all the way up offering stunning picturesque scenery https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7646/...f98a1f81_b.jpgIMG_7254 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr One creek crossing https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7622/...e993ec7d_b.jpgIMG_7259 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Making it to the lake was another WOW, massive hanging basins, glaciers, a lake and massive spires to go…..wicked.:clap Up in the snow https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8693/...7c2d23c3_b.jpgP1240418 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7584/...03a74212_b.jpgIMG_7268 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Lunch was the go at what can be noted as one of the coolest lunch spots we have ever had on the entire trip. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8742/...8c3626d7_b.jpgIMG_7277 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The funny thing was we had riot gear for wind and freezing conditions …..a waste of time carting it up for our one out of the box day, very unusual to have such calm weather here so we made the absolute most of it spending nearly 2 hours taking in the stage of beauty in front of us. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8737/...a7234b19_b.jpgIMG_7287 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The part that I hate, the return down hill section with the first km being a killer drop it was not promising to be good for me so we took it quietly until we hit the more level ground to preserve my poor old knees. All in all an outstanding day of epic rewards in the scenery category and two very happy campers. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7611/...b7a4f4cf_b.jpgIMG_7296 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The monsters in full https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8738/...5afd46e9_b.jpgIMG_7265 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8686/...16168430_b.jpgIMG_7267 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr On our way back down Ellen wanted to cool her feet off :eek1...mine were fine :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8741/...9ecc7667_b.jpgIMG_7309 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The final part of this walk was Lago Capri, a nice spot it was too. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7599/...ccd888f5_b.jpgIMG_7312 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr That night Paul from Holland arrived on a 1990 Tenere 600, he had a stator issue but we could not help unfortunately, we chatted for a while and he ended up camping with us too. More wine, good times.:clap |
Rest Day & Laguna Torres
Organizing to move to a hostel for a shower and sit down toilet was our mission for our rest day, we had all but packed up when some other Police came along and said hey you can’t camp there …. typical left and right hand not knowing what is going on after being told we could camp there :huh
Given it was a relax day we packed up headed to the hostel, got our beds sorted then returned back to camp for an asado with Tony and Sabana, all of us taking turns at throwing half a beast on the fire to treat the taste buds…arrh an afternoon eating meat and drinking red wine …. hard times…all of this backed by a balmy hot day seeing us sit around in shorts and tee shirts. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8752/...b629ce36_b.jpgIMG_7340 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our plan for the next day was Laguna Torres (Lake Torres) so it was not a late night. Laguna Torres is the longest of the big tracks and we managed to get away around 9am. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7610/...d77b5b52_b.jpgIMG_7352 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Again we set a pace but took the time to take in our surroundings as they changed with our elevation. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7587/...b33910a8_b.jpgP1240438 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8698/...6a346a21_b.jpgIMG_7363 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Reaching the lake at the top we had again and extremely nice day with virtually no wind, some locals saying you could not plan it for 20 years to be like this….thank you weather gods. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7601/...b44f1a8d_b.jpgP1240442 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr To make the most of this we sat in the sun….this time shirt off weather (at least for me anyway Trevor:rofl), Talk about glam, ice and heat and a room with a view. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7617/...86e93f57_b.jpgIMG_7371 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8711/...467df7b1_b.jpgIMG_7376 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The peaks providing some epic viewing ...something we can't get sick of :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7654/...f546d12d_b.jpgIMG_7384 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The spire up close https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7612/...d912123d_b.jpgIMG_7378 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The head of the glacier https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7590/...3802de76_b.jpgIMG_7377 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Eventually we hauled our eyes away from the aggressive spires, abrupt ice and soothing sun to head back to our hostel, will note at this point our hostel with a sheeted bed, hot shower, sit down dunny and wifi was the same price as it was to camp in our own tent up the valley …. go figure. :huh Ellens final look to appreciate the last of what is the serious mountain stuff https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7632/...53dce421_b.jpgIMG_7380 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Having completed everything and some it was time to move on, we had been given four days of still warm days in Patagonia … nearly unheard of :clap North to Carreterra Austral to try and see some stuff we missed on the way down. |
This is unbelievable
It is hard to comprehend what you guys are being able to view with the normal weather problems for that location. Your pictures are just extrodinary. I am considering of making a couple as background pictures on my desktop if that is allowed. Will continue to follow your ventures even after you get back to NZ if you continue to post info. Take care and safe journey.
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Mate we still can not believe how still, calm and sunny, not to mention warm :thumbup1: Only three days earlier a girl got blown off the ground and hurt!!! You can use any of them as you wish no problem at all, our photos are for anyone who wishes to enjoy them. Yes we will be posting for sure but will probably start a New Zealand adventure thread as opposed to this one. Cheers Andi |
El Chalten To Lagos Pousadas
Given our want to get a big travel day out of the way to get north on the boring 40 up to Lagos Pousadas we “took the money and ran” so to speak with the promise of light winds from the weatherman :clap.
On our exit we came across the Unimog again, he was pumping his tires up but we stopped just to make sure all was good.:clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7599/...a1a58694_b.jpgP1240461 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Further up the road w pull in for fuel at Tres Lagos (yes they had some) and they drove past in mog again so we were playing leapfrog adventure style :rofl...well they had style :evil. Nearing lunchtime we pull up behind them, thinking of food they also pull over to a nice flat area so we did to, a joke was had about who was stalking who but I guess we pulled in behind them :rofl This time on a quick inspection while airing down we discovered the left hand taillight assembly had lost its nuts and was hanging so we fixed that. Grateful it was an easy fix cos we prolly couldn't tow him :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7585/...26a0c36d_b.jpgP1240463 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr In an uneventful day we managed to belt out 550 km in a virtually still day, a huge reward after the punishing winds we had gone through previously and very welcomed on a day we wanted to make some ground. A funny worthy of a mention, we saw a F800 at El Chalten filling up with gas, they blazed past us going north and waved, we waved back. Further up the road we took a shortcut and popped back out onto the main road cruising along again quietly and they came up behind us again, he looked, waved then realized it was us again :huh …. in front of him :huh :huh, he could not work it out how we managed to pass him without passing him ... some funny shit:lol3.....take that bloody F8 off the main drag bro!!! 8-) :D Our shortcut, we were going to wait for the traffic to clear but we didn't have a coupla days to wait till someone came along :evil https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8691/...76e7983b_b.jpgP1240465 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Getting to Lago Pousadas the steering was heavy and we had a front flat tyre, the MT21 strong enough to stand up nearly by itself, mighta been cos it was bloody cold too.:eek1 Looks like a nail had gone through the top and gone out again ….sneaky :wink:, thankfully with the 4 mm HD tubes it just made a hole and did no other damage and luckily the tube did not pop cos that could have changed the day. The front tyre was due for a rotation as the hard Patagonia winds had really shaved the tyre off quickly due to essentially ploughing along on the road so I took the opportunity to multi task. :eek1 The changing (multi) task was made hard by dropping temperatures making a stiff tyre even stiffer and our repair kit which made itself extremely stealth when we needed it which didn’t help so I swung in our (new) spare tube and we will fix the old tube in the Coyhaique and put it back in when we put on our final front tire of this trip. Patagonia photo of appreciation ....just ta show ya how tuff we are ....thankfully it was a calm day :rofl :clap:evil https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8710/...eb00a3d0_b.jpgIMG_7403 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
Lagos Pousadas To Valle Chacabuco
Yes our tire stayed up so the mid evening fix and not pinching of the tube was great and a success.:clap
Away we went on our merry way, first off to fuel up, round to the YPF petrol station … closed???, hours of operation 8.30 to 12 noon …. being 10am we are in the middle…. no-one….place locked up … WTF??…at least we won’t have to wait in a queue here (ouwh and yes it was Thursday, not Sunday afternoon :huh). We had enough to get to Cochrane so no biggy but this is the whole reason we have been riding heavy using both tanks in Argentina, when we get petrol in Argentina we fill up everything cos they keep running out for up to 5 days or have queues for an hour or more :cry …seriously Argentina wake up (literally) and get with it on a main route in tourist season.…no other country in South America does what you do ...or don't do!!! ..how can a state owned petrol supplier be not held accountable to holding the country to ransom in a time when the locals make their money particularly down here, someone needs their nuts kicked….nuff said :jjen We split to the border and exited Argentina no worries and re-entered Chile with the same border guy, very easy and pleasant.:clap A small lake on the way to the border ... even still!!! :eek1 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7648/...a35df5c9_b.jpgIMG_7417 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Some neat clouds wicked up by the wind above https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7641/...93c478a9_b.jpgIMG_7423 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr In no mans land in the middle, stunning countryside https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8718/...09a1c274_b.jpgIMG_7430 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Lunch spot :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7606/...6091708c_b.jpgIMG_7438 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our destination today is a little unknown, for most it looks like a $700 USD per night place ….that's cos it is but they also have free camping for the upperclass moto riders such as TMK. :rofl Valle Chacabuco has everything (except puncture repair kits), they will accommodate you from $0 to whatever you wish, the free camping is a meca and has hot showers, flush toilets and shelters to set up in, wicked cool place.:clap The reception of Parque Patagonia owned by Tomkins of Patagonia and North Face brands https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8710/...4bd7002d_b.jpgIMG_7445 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Unfortunately we arrived on the final night of the season so could only stay one night which was a shame as we had planned to do the big valley hike….will just haf ta come back.:evil We took a short walk, not sure why but I was feeling second hand with a headache (headaches are not my gig) Look past the good looking guy above and you can see autumn claiming the new seasons colours https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8693/...078294bf_b.jpgIMG_7457 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our camp and the setting ... awesome and thank you to the Tomkins for providing a beautiful place :clap:clap ...may many more follow your footsteps :clap The green part is the camp in the valley, sheltered, secluded, special. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8694/...a58063ff_b.jpgIMG_7455 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our camp https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8747/...a6de60d4_b.jpgIMG_7467 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The setup for the place, pretty cool https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8724/...c7cbbdd2_b.jpgIMG_7478 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Just some normal pics to share now. Some cool shrums https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8728/...7d0b30b1_b.jpgIMG_7479 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Bumblebees https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7603/...09a20f08_b.jpgIMG_7504 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Back to the Carretera Austral now WOH HOH :clap |
Valle Chacabuco To Chile Chico To Puerto Ibanez
Waking to a pearler morning we did the usual camp pack down, muesli and coffee, dropping into reception to say thank you and goodbye.
They (Parque Patagonia) are rebuilding the road and putting calcium chloride on it to bind it (similar to Prudhoe Bay) so we had some road works to sneak through and around, the road works team being very respectful for our slower pace in their work space and giving us big cheers as we went past. Over to the 7 road which is the main drag we turned right up Rio Baker which was half the reason we came back this way, given our stunning day we were rewarded with brilliant blues and views to go so totally worth coming back for ….this of course lined us up directly for the Chile Chico road which we had missed due to heading down to Villa O’Higgins. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8693/...5df9daef_b.jpgIMG_7553 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7628/...70292579_b.jpgIMG_7557 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Many say the road is stunning and many are right, again making the most of the day we gorked out the window loving the tasty views our eyes were feasting on, again so well worth taking the effort to go this way. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8703/...3516e1d0_b.jpgIMG_7561 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8710/...8cbe7297_b.jpgIMG_7565 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8692/...c7c35010_b.jpgIMG_7585 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7286/...e3d142db_b.jpgIMG_7597 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Rather than do another border crossing we opted to take the boat across General Carrera Lake to Puerto Ibanez, getting to Chile Chico at 1.30 and the sailing at 4.00 pm we had plenty of time up our sleeve. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7609/...192d4b6f_b.jpgIMG_7615 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The sailing across was good but 3/4 the way across we hit big winds and the lake chopped up very rough causing the boat/ferry to thump really hard onto the oncoming waves sending sheets of water flying over the top the boat, if you stood on the top deck you got wet in seconds. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8701/...15c9ea08_b.jpgIMG_7627 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The tied Maya down tight, they knew something we didn't :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7635/...a5979e24_b.jpgIMG_7622 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Disembarking we were late due to the big winds slowing the big tub down, this also put us into “look for a hostel” mode as it was spitting to rain and hairy winds, a hot shower was on the list too. Finding a hostel that would let us cook was impossible so we picked the cheapest place then bought a meal between us which was tonnes of food anyway, turns out they had great wifi so we uploaded all the photos we could to make the most of it and their beds and sheeting were excellent, one of the most comfortable down this end of the island. The great thing with wild and woolie weather is it provides with amazing sunsets, the angry skies dragged everyone out of the hostel to check it out and photograph it as the whole area took on the orange reflection, pretty cool finish to a great day :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8715/...da788b13_b.jpgIMG_7637 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
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Puerto Ibanez To Villa Cerro Castillo X Marks The Spot
A huge day….. 48 km. :rofl
The day prior we had met on the boat a french couple and their two daughters who will be cycling for 6 months, 1 month in and lovin it, the older daughter at 8 years old on her own bike, her younger sister at 3 1/2 was on dads trailer.:clap:clap Ever have an excuse why you CAN"T travel ….. harden up and just do it, 4 smiling faces on cycles …. humbling to say the least. Opting to be nosy again we turned off the main drag (as ya do) to the X 723, a little longer but looked more interesting…well shit who did we bump into peddling their way up the gravel road valley but the French family, we stopped to say gidday and asked them why are they taking this way …well it turns out we think alike, why take the boring main road when you can take the scenic back road. :clap ...amen to that https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8739/...a111e741_b.jpgP1240467 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Scenic it is, saying goodbye to them we headed up and over the first small hill to find an epic waterfall ….awesome!!!!! https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7616/...0620fc09_b.jpgIMG_7640 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Stopping to take our photos and take in the place we climbed a bank and waited for them to arrive, was only a few minutes and the family came over the hill and down so we snapped some family riding shots for them which they normally don’t get. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8685/...de2cd0d8_b.jpgIMG_7661 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Check out the wee rock star in the trailer giving us a wave :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7603/...65588494_b.jpgIMG_7663 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr They too stopped at the bridge to admire mum nature nature finest https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8750/...22e547e9_b.jpgIMG_7668 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Saying goodbye again we headed onwards to Villa Cerro Castillo up the X 723 through a myriad of lakes, hills and stone faces, a wicked we road. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8697/...30856654_b.jpgIMG_7643 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Nothing fast about the road as it is curvy and tight, some places down to first gear up steep hairpin zig zags making for interesting riding and just following the river was beautiful. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7626/...fd5d51fa_b.jpgIMG_7669 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Getting into Villa Cerro Castillo we could not find any free camping in this part and the tourism office wanted to sell us the best…yes spendie.:eek1 After sussing things out and looking around we came across a refugio which they didn’t tell us about, same price as the other camp sites but a much nicer location and a big common room to sit in out of the bad weather, the forecast said caving in and rain….this time it was bang on unfortunately. This gave us time to sit down and write up the happenings of the last few days and enjoy a coffee out of the weather with Cerro Costilla (the mountain top) making an appearance about 8 pm just before dark with the weathr clearing a bit. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7589/...c555c616_b.jpgIMG_7769 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Tomorrows mission is to climb Cerro Castillo. |
Cerro Castillo To The Top
Riding Maya from the refugio to the fence stile saved us 7 km walk on a shingle road, from the stile we followed the track up to the back of Cerro Castillo.
First up at an intersection the directions to the camp called Neozelandés ….was funny with the name although not quite New Zealand. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8739/...8f40882e_b.jpgIMG_7717 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr At that point there was small camp which we headed through on the way to the top. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8723/...924fdce2_b.jpgIMG_7718 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr At camp Neozelandés the colours of autumn we making a full display of season changes, the wind was bitterly bitterly cold and with no chance of shelter other than the trees so it was lunch in pretty much the open. This is what cold looks like :eek1 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7612/...44829115_b.jpgIMG_7737 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7647/...73972387_b.jpgIMG_7725 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7649/...24eb2809_b.jpgIMG_7726 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Although we were on the edge of the rain band the sun was in and out allowing us to swing the camera around to remember our day, again autumn making its presence seen with the trees all turning red https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7625/...5e06cbb0_b.jpgIMG_7728 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr. At the summit we could see the wind hammered rocks that had been beaten badly and stripped back to the hardest rock, some very spindly from years of battering. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7654/...1726d280_b.jpgIMG_7733 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Heading back down my feet and hands were freezing, I think it was one of the coldest times on this trip so I was trying to get circulation going ASAP, Ellen too was suffering from the cold so we hightailed it down out of the exposed zone. Part way down we met a couple coming up that we met on the ferry crossing and they were doing the three day around. A rainbow was also hanging and had been for most of the day with the rain trying to move down the valley but the mixed back of wind keeping it at bay. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8719/...88d3722b_b.jpgIMG_7749 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Back to the refugio we lit the fire and started heating and drying again, as the evening drew in the sunset provided a beautiful backdrop on Cerro Castillo and an extremely vibrant sunset. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8748/...19e68774_b.jpgIMG_7763 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7601/...9c77fbea_b.jpgIMG_7799 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Some cyclists rolled in and stayed the night too so we chattered travel etc, we also gave them a map which we did not need anymore. Another successful day :clap |
Cerro Castillo To Coyhaique To Rio Simpson
Accomplishing our walk and seeing Cerro Castillo in full glory (we missed it on the way down due to the weather being closed in) we headed north.
First up back over the highest pass on the Carreterra Austral, this time with Autumn colours in full swing https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7617/...b270a8b1_b.jpgP1240488 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8749/...4d652b88_b.jpgP1240480 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our MT 21 was dieing prematurely because of the hard winds so we needed rubber sooner than we thought andcaused the bulldozing or ploughing effect taking its toll. Our options were extremely limited as it turned out, we had three choices for shops, but two of them bought their tires from the 3rd shop so yeap 1 option.... my favourite shop anyway :rofl They had dunlop road tires or Chinese Duro 3.00 x 21 … hmmmm. The only tire that was of any use to us was the Chinese Duro, the tread patten looked ok and the casing seemed thick enough and it was cheaper ….take a punt on that, it only needs to do 3000 - 4000 km to see us to the finish …will be interesting. Finally getting sorted we left Coyhaique, was a town that neither Ellen or I liked so we decided not to stay, some places gel and some don't. The cyclists we met in Cerro Castillo told us of a place about 40 km north, although it was raining we pretty much knew we could camp under cover so we made a break for it. Arriving at the camp it was very wet and cold, we cooked up some hot soup and got sorted, the owner of the camp Nacho lit a fire which we all (4 cyclists, 2 Brasilians and a yank) sat around having a chat. Maya parked outside the door (with no door) but she was undercover :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7616/...ccc2cbe7_b.jpgIMG_7852 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr During the afternoon our stay included Mate lesson of drinking and handling, very informative https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7594/...e250038e_b.jpgIMG_7853 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We also had an organic garden vege tour tour on how to grow stuff properly, not much new for here though, still nice to see how the other side does it. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7626/...e8a2f9a3_b.jpgIMG_7862 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Nacho the owner on the guitar ... he was good too. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8755/...a738dd91_b.jpgIMG_7858 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The Brasilians asked if anyone was a vegetarian and said he had a big pile of meat and he would be happy to share it, a Brasilian charrasco ….in Chile WOH HOH. Wine and charrasco was had along with discussions of travel etc …just the usual. :D Our intent from here was to get to Chaiten to see the volcano so the next morning was to be a good ride north again. |
Rio Simpson To La Tapera To Rio Cisnes Free Camp
Leaving the refugio it was raining steadily, the forecast less than ideal for the day, we opted to head east and go to La Tapera….there was not a lot there but the ride up the valley was nice.
Some other hardened soles (silly buggas ) https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8710/...8b40abcb_b.jpgP1240521 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Heading up the valley, stopped for a pee stop and stretch, welcomed sun too https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8723/...1d49a84f_b.jpgP1240493 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Beautiful clear water rivers much like New Zealand https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8694/...4db5a062_b.jpgP1240510 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The only hostel open there wouldn’t let us bring Maya in off the street and we did not want to leave Maya out there so we opted to head off and find a camp site. As we rode back down the valley the weather started caving in, sometimes windy and sometimes wet but we looked at a number of sites that were either exposed to the wind or too close to the road. Finally we found a place that I had seen on the way up, it seemed pretty good and there was plenty of wood for a fire for our asado and warmth. Setting up our tarp and tent quickly as snow laden cloud was hovering above us we got our fire going and tea cooking. I decided to swing on the new Chinese rubber while waiting for our tea to cook, spooning off the MT 21 and changing the tube back to the heavy duty we were on it. The new Chinese tire went on ok but was tough on the last bit, the temperature at this stage had plummeted too so I was weary about getting it done quickly. Pumping it up was a mission, something weird was going on with the valve, also our pump was squeaking so we decided to lube it. Being very cold now and only having 17 PSI in the tire was not ideal then the worst happened, the plastic part on our pump shaft broke off, I think a combo of cold, use and being brittle it just snapped off….****!!! At this point we were up a side road with little to no traffic camping in the rain and wind with a broken pump and half flat tire … wasn’t totally how we wanted it to be. To finish off with this nights winning streak I felt an itch/biting on my right leg just above my boot, on pulling my pants up there was a worm half buried into my leg and digging himself quite the tunnel … Ellen quickly grabbed it and carefully pulled it out. As I gave birth to this alien out of my leg it felt really weird and it left a sizable hole which then bleed so we let it bleed and bleed to flush anything out, I was worried I would get pregnant and have alien babies blow outa my guts in the middle of the night …. that wouldn’t be good https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7594/...68252e25_b.jpgALIEN by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The saving grace was our asado meat grill so not all was lost. Finishing tea we packed our tarp down as it was almost dry because the wind had picked up and the rain temporarily stopped, finally we hit the sack early cos it was dark and the rain was starting again. No sooner we closed the tent and bunked down the clouds opened and stayed open all night, it blew like a bastid and pissed down, our jackets and helmets in our waterproof bike cover outside. This was our greeting on the morning ... more to come. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8753/...12594492_b.jpgIMG_7864 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
What the Hell. You are two tough hombre's. Pictures are great. Keep up the optimism enthralled by all your reports.:clap:
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Actually we are soft core ... just caught out :rofl::rofl: Cheers Andi |
Rio Cisnes Free Camp To Puyuhuapi
Surviving the night, not giving birth to an alien …..things were looking up.:D
As the morning arrived the rain had given us a short reprieve…..but it would seem that the wind blew back part of the cover allowing a lot of rain in our waterproof cover and kept it in …well everything got completely soaked, boots, pants, jackets, helmets … water pouring out of them. :cry:cry The day was cold, very cold, new snow had fallen and the snow line was not far above us so it was a grim look with everything wet.:eek1 Putting all our gear on was unpleasant to say the least, our half pumped tire still playing on my mind and we were cold with more rain coming in again. We headed north to Puyuhuapi to get air in our tire, fuel and have some hot soup. Our day then took another unplanned event, leaving the gas station we rode 14 km up the road to find a ute and some guys standing on the road, it would seem that only 2 minutes before we arrived a massive land slide came down blocking the road.:eek1 They originally said 20 minutes to clear it, then they said it would be 5 pm (it was now 1pm) then they said the next day, the slip was still coming down adding to already 100 meter long blockage. :huh We had no option other than to return to Puyuhuapi and find a hostel or camp with all our wet stuff, find a hostel was the choice ….which we did. Ellen found a place with a big wood stove and we hung our gear out, the hostel owner was great and had no problem with us turning her room into a laundry drying area. We had some sun break through for a short while so I dried the tent and sleeping bags and aired everything out as best we could, even in the sun the breeze was still very cold but plus or minus everything got dried ok. Some rum was bought for the comfort of the night in front of the fire with chats had amongst other travellers and some locals caught out by the landslide, although rearranged our destination and kind-of plans we still had good fun and made it all work. Sorry we have no photos to show our cold misery other than this but both our cameras fogged, to get the feeling, 1.soak your clothes...2.put em on, 3.jump in the freezer, 4.run outside in the wind ....similar :rofl:rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7639/...b47146c6_b.jpgP1240550 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr We discussed climate change again too….yeah. |
Like I said Tough Hombre's. Hat's off.
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Mate your kinds words are very well appreciated, for us these are the hard days in the office but we still have no room to complain ....well much anyway :rofl: Cheers Andi |
Puyuhuapi to Puerto Raul Marin Balmaceda
Waking to steady rain with the weather having packed a sad it had rained pretty much all night.
“Take Two” to go north, the word on the ground was the road was open and the major landslide cleared. I squeezed out one ride report while we had wifi, Ellen packed our food case etc then we packed down completely, rugged up with almost dry wet gear and set off. It was very wet with steady rain, the road a boggy wash and Maya doing a moon dance across the road at times ....kinda like this guy but without the style :rilla, I was very grateful to have a new tire on the front given the sloppy conditions. Making it back up to the slip area as we approached we watched more rocks bowling down onto the road, I slowed down, let a few go rolling past (noting around 200 - 300 mm diameter) then we made a break for it, I looked up the slip when we were mid way across and it certainly was no place to sit and park, as we made it through the zone more rocks and mud tumbled down behind us......:eek1 another change of nappies needed. With the constant steady rain it looked like it was lining up to come down again so we were pleased to be on the north side and on our way with fingers crossed we did not get caught in more land slides cos this time we would be in the middle with no towns. For the next 20 odd km it was apparent there were many slips reducing the road to one skinny lane making it difficult for buses and of course these sections of the road were just a bog and a slurry of runny concrete like stone, binder and water, our rear disk pads wearing out WITHOUT even touching the pedal :huh, you could audibly hear the shit grinding around. We had rinsed this off only one km before at a creek, then had to wait for road works so I took the pic https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8714/...b9a1b202_b.jpgP1240568 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A lot of the new road building was turning into road rebuild and repairs as the rain water washed away the road base in many places. We had no reprieve from the rain at all, reaching La Junta we turned out towards the sea, the forecast said clearing …..nup, heavy rain all the way out to Puerto Raul Marin Balmaceda seeing us very wet again from water induction around collars and sleeves, does not matter how waterproof your gear is you can not stop water coming in through openings when drenched for hours on end.:cry This was the only photo that came out, the rest were as good as looking through a tupperware container from fogging, to be honest the wet starting to get to us. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7636/...ea7cdb7f_b.jpgP1240544 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Finding a local restaurant with a room we turned their lounge/restaurant into a drying room with their log fire being the dynamite for drying things again. No more words needed https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7624/...3fb3081d_b.jpgP1240529 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr And yes that IS sun coming across the fire place for about 10 minutes :lol3 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7637/...b2971e03_b.jpgIMG_7869 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Wouldn’t mind some fine weather again, getting wet day in day out makes the work a lot more for riding and drying out and no camping so less fun. We have now made a decision to opt out of the Carreterra Austral and head out east through Futaleufa heading up in Argentina which looks to be drier. Not many photos unfortunately as our camera was fogged up with the damp environment. |
Puerto Raul Marin Balmaceda To Trevelin
Well it was still pissing down when we woke affirming our decision to go east as hopefully correct.
We caught the ferry back across the river and headed off playing jetboat on the road. Same dude, no dog, don't think the dog liked the rain https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8725/...326fee0c_b.jpgP1240538 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr While the weather was grotty we still got to see some nice stuff https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8734/...e592800a_b.jpgP1240570 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Back to the main Austral route the weather had improved from heavy rain to lite rain so things were getting better , heading up north for another 80 km we still got very wet and it was extremely cold.…no surprise for this time of year, most normal travellers with red blood in them are at home in front of the fire. Turning off towards Futaleufu it was still pissing down so we decided to way lay lunchtime and soldier on. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7591/...66ae8cee_b.jpgP1240579 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The further we got the more it improved however it was still wet to the Futaleufu township, by this time I was cold, even through my puffy jacket and with the grips turned 100% I still felt cold and Eleln was the same as everything from the last few days had gone from drenched through to at least very damp and seemed to be keeping the cold. Arriving in town it was Easter weekend, yes the place was busy but no the local restaurant /cafe did NOT have anyone else on to help. We ordered a coffee, after nearly half an hour of pissing cold water all over their floor from wet clothing we asked them approx how long for the coffee?, their answer … don’t know…..serious!!! Cancel coffee and hit the border, again with rain beating down on us we made it to the border, an easy exit as usual. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8720/...c2f05839_b.jpgP1240583 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our first stop we thought we would look at turned out to be a small ghost town, wanting warming, drying, wifi and fuel kinda counted this option out so we bailed some 15 km up the road to Trevelin. Spendie….FARK, we went to a few places before settling on one that seemed ok, wifi +/- but we could cook and it had to big gas heaters and hot water !!!!! hell yes. Wash, dry, clean, sort, drain, repack, inspect etc was the goal, if no doable nicely within one day we would stay another. Being extremely efficient and working into the night we got sorted with the bottle of Malbec our saving grace and reward.:clap |
Trevelin To Villa Futalaufquen
With a short trip to the lake we were hanging for some fine weather, a good frost on the ground and low cloud we were a little miffed but our miffing was short lived.:clap
Although the previous days had been very wet as well in Argentina the forecast was good and on the Argentine side seems more reliable and today was one, finally the sun broke through making it presence extremely welcome.....seems it did it on the Carreterra Austral too, never mind. Riding to the lake was stunning and dry but freezing, no worries when the gear is dry WOH HOH.:clap:clap As we approached the lake we could see some funny resemblance of fog or something half way up the hill, turns out the week prior they had an epic fire which burnt from El Bolson To Villa Futalaufquen so around 240 km.:eek1:eek1 https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8805/...902dd34f_b.jpgIMG_7876 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr There were monsoon helicopters flying up and back with fire retardant all afternoon into early evening. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8744/...2f9b1afb_b.jpgIMG_7879 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Two choppers working together https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7677/...09a869df_b.jpgIMG_7926 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Monsoon spraying https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7701/...091b6d29_b.jpgIMG_7927 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The afternoon turned into an autumn treat and was warm recharging our near flat batteries and just in the nic of time. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8758/...5fca0284_b.jpgIMG_7908 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Blue sky without one cloud tainting it https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7644/...0b0ddf25_b.jpgIMG_7920 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The cold and wet had taken its toll on both of us, we had both been snitchy at each other from being miserable and wet, just reinforces my thoughts on the extremely narrow temperature band we live in, exist in and only marginally more survive in.:eek1 Without the use of significant clothing this band could be halved or more…..be careful out there and be prepared.:clap Having some stern words, a stiff fight and an insult throwing match it was a fairly quiet night and following morning. We did however manage to have an asado ... as ya do :evil https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8693/...58eeda55_b.jpgIMG_7937 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr At least we when got outa beed the sun did too making for a pleasant ride around the lake to El Bolson although this was our greeting... a frozen bike cover, bearing in mind we are under the tree canopy too :eek1:eek1 https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8722/...1b287fdd_b.jpgP1240600 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Frozen frosted grass with fog and the lake .... pretty neat to wake up too. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8731/...e47fd970_b.jpgIMG_7938 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
Villa Futalaufquen To El Bolson
A stunning morning allowing us nice ride around the lake, very nice indeed.
Approaching El Bolson a complete ****wit (only way to put him into a human category) tailgated us then swooped passed clipping our left bar, it is a miracle we did not crash and the ****wit just tookoff … great. Thinking I had the shit sandwich and El Bolson was going to be the relaxing place we pulled up to stop at the curb, engine rattling and oil everywhere … ya shitting me.:eek1:eek1 The oil light had not come on so I hoped it was not too bad. Finding the first hostel we could we bunked down so I could sort Maya out, turns out our oil feed line had been holed by a small rock quirting high pressure oil everywhere waterproofing my left boot and undersealing everything south from there on Maya. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8771/...56692ab5_b.jpgP1240617 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The offender https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7645/...479ab914_b.jpgP1240615 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Fixing the offending hose with spares and wanting to burn the rock alive at least we were mobile….I started her up ….not so mobile as I would want with some pretty bad clanking. ****.:cry:cry Enough for today, a good nights sleep should conquer that.:clap By 1.00am after hopping up three times to ask some ****ing selfish noisy Israelis to quieten down and them laughing at me I got the boss outa bed, this coupled with wonderful ****ing dog that barked EVERY time the Israelis talked I had enough.:kboom:kboom:kboom The Israelis we extremely rude to the hostel owner feeling begrudged that they were not allowed to keep everyone else awake and finally went to bed, the boss and I went next door and knocked on the ladies door to tell her to take her dog away from our window, if she had not done something I would have and she would not be happy I wouldn’t think. As we had prepaid two nights we said to the boss in the morning, today we go, refund one night please which he did, no question of leaving time given the late and unruly night…thank you Israelis :cry The only thing that made my day was this, lucky we didn't have a ute :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7657/...af0d7d48_b.jpgP1240620 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Things did take a strange turn tho so we were not outa the woods yet :rofl:roflvery spookie .... you can buys Noahs here :eek1:eek1 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7700/...b22d4df9_b.jpgP1240621 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
Page Shortening Post
Prolly a couple
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Nutha 1
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El Bolson
Free trade they call it, fair and reasonable pricing for goods and services, we soon discovered that means extremely fair for the vendor and a rook for the people.:huh
Some prices exceeding Europe pricing like a simple icecream, I don’t know how long they can hide behind that charade before someone says ” WTF how much”? Determined to see the better side of El Bolson we applied for a couchsurf and he replied promptly with a yes … perfect.:clap .... the local zone ALWAYS much better. Carlos had a small yard so we could look at Maya, turns out he was a little over 200 meters away so we pushed everything around there. Getting sorted first we then attacking Maya to try and sort the dreaded and unwanted noise. We removed the tank, checked a few items and discovered the rear hydraulic cam tensioner had died, a coincidence or not, I do not know? Replacing that (cos I had a spare) we sealed everything back up, the noise was better but still there, as it warmed up it got worse.:huh https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7605/...29942c7b_b.jpgP1240618 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr It can stay like that until I do some more research, by this time I was very deflated, going home on my mind, will Maya get us there?, will she blow up?, will the end of our trip be boredom waiting for the organized finish line, will an arsehole Argie smack us off the road? My head hurt, to be fair I was upset and angry, I wanted to kill someone or something cos everything had turned to shit.:cry I had a cement pill and got on with it and told myself of the beautiful place we were in with great company, although part of the family Maya is a machine and like humans all get sick at some stage so at the age of 90 (000) she clicked over on the way I had to cut her some slack, not her fault the rogue rock did its thing. Given she has never left us on the side of the road or in a bad place and had waited until El Bolson to get a in cavity her teeth wasn’t too bad to be fair so one would have to say we are lucky to have it happen there.:clap On some positive notes I forgot to mention a cool guy we met at the hostel (non Israeli) who rocked in on XT660R. We talked about stickers and we give him a TMK sticker which he has said he had seen so was happy to meet us, we gave him one for his bike, gratefully received :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7705/...0246e5bd_b.jpgIMG_7945 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr He saw our blog with our windy tree picture and showed us a sticker he had bought, I was gutted now knowing you can get the sticker cos I think it is cool even tho there are no palm trees in Patagonia.:rofl:rofl A n y w a y long story short he had a spare and gave it to us, he took the honours and put it on our case, the tree even blowing the correct way :clap:clap Onya dude, really made my day and being at a bit of a low this was the travel spirit I needed, little things mean a lot. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7691/...e3c2261c_b.jpgIMG_7943 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr |
El Bolson - Piltriquitrón … And Around, Part 1
.....sounds like a trańsfòrmercöñ or something cool :rofl:rofl
Be warned this report contains titi and pussy .. right on the side of the road :huh https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8737/...76fd89ff_b.jpgIMG_7992 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The planned climbed, 12 km up a gravel road, big motos on the short list for theft we opted to hitch a ride to the carpark then hike the rest. Walking along the road to the turnoff we then thumbed a ride, first car came along, she said I can take you about 1 km ….no worries good start.:clap After she left the sum total of one car went past :eek1 and didn’t stop :eek1:eek1 so we ended up walking the entire distance other than 1 km ….not quite what we planned, good chance to sweet out the bad doodoos that had been plaguing us. On the way up there is a place called El Bosque, Tallado which has caving in trees that have fallen, neat work. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7665/...c6c9454e_b.jpgIMG_8114 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7638/...1ecb17ea_b.jpgIMG_8113 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Arriving at the Refugio Piltriquitrón we had great views of El Bolson and the valley. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7616/...a612600c_b.jpgIMG_8109 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Organising to stay the night there we got sorted and enjoyed our food which we had carried up (knowing the refugio food was extremely expensive), the weather although ok has some bad looking intentions https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7600/...46c9e339_b.jpgIMG_7998 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our dinner, yes an asado with wine, worth every bit of weight :rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8781/...20119d41_b.jpgIMG_8013 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8805/...e5ab341b_b.jpgIMG_8008 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The bad weather intentions were realized, El Bolson by night through a wet window, nice to be inside :clap https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8757/...ef295288_b.jpgIMG_8018 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A good night was had with chats with Italians and Argies all of them astounded that we had ridden from Alaska for the last three years, we told them there were a lot of riders doing similar trips (maybe not so long on only two islands tho :D)...I also had a wee mate who was happy to trade warmth https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7686/...504b9b4f_b.jpgIMG_8017 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Next morning the assault to the top :clap |
Hang in there
Hang in there Andi and Ellen. At least you have shaken off the rain. You can be wet, and you can be cold, but cold and wet where you are must be the limit. I am sure you will nut out the mechanical issue and roll on again. If all else fails 2 x DR650s could get you over the line! I reckon Maya wants to be there though.
Thanks for 3 years of inspiration and entertainment. Your can-do and positive attitudes and love for each other got you to this place and will see you home. you always find the positive and I get that it not easy at times. I totally appreciate that you do not seem to hold much back, if it is happening, we will hear about it. Best of all there is no delay. If there is, it is because I don't read every day. This blog is a great resource for those who follow and I am one. thankyou. All power to you both Ross |
Mount Piltrquitrón To The Top
The next morning we woke to a chilly start, no surprise at 2500 meters in autumn at this latitude, the ground was frosted and the air clear so looking good.:clap
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8807/...84849de4_b.jpgIMG_8027 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The day was fine so we were in with a grin, setting off shortly after nine they said 2.5 hours to the summit. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7714/...b2b8f539_b.jpgIMG_8039 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The fog and wind started to pick up which wasn't in the game plan :eek1 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7599/...a828dd88_b.jpgIMG_8048 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr 1.5 hours we reached what we thought was the top, we were not sure though cost the fog was racing over at 40 - 50 km with a wind chill bite beyond belief....yeap winter is upon us. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8756/...9a7dfe35_b.jpgIMG_8047 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The fog was coming over and sticking/freezing to the plants and rocks ….. wind chill a killer. Frozen fog sticking to the rocks https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8802/...fb778e3d_b.jpgIMG_8049 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr From our lunch rock we could watch the freezing fog growing on this wee plant :eek1:eek1 https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8771/...7d4bf71f_b.jpgIMG_8071 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Rugging up with everything we had some lunch behind a lone rock when the cloud suddenly cleared, we left the pack etc and gunned it the last 100 meters, by the time we reached it the bloody fog had nearly come back in but it allowed us some view for short time. Our victory we were here pics, check out the closeup of the blockwork, it is not paint but fog freezing so that gives you a feel for it. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7642/...3a3dcb82_b.jpgIMG_8053 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8738/...dbc20327_b.jpgIMG_8055 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7617/...9a07dcc0_b.jpgIMG_8055 - Version 2 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr With our victorious shots, were we here pics and snotty noises we scampered back down to the safety of our half rock....last view from the top https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8696/...bd7ba279_b.jpgIMG_8074 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A quick exit along the top and down the first steep section saw us drop maybe another 100 meters vertical into a totally different climate which was not trying to kill us. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8796/...59e05e60_b.jpgIMG_8088 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr From here we enjoyed a leisurely walk back to the refugio for lunch before setting off for the decent to the car park this time hopeful for a ride down. Back into the tree line it felt like summer :rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8701/...c9a7633b_b.jpgIMG_8103 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr For me with my weak knees I would rather go up and be brought back down, today was my lucky day, a couple behind us had come up in their car, we politely asked if we could get a ride down which they were more than happy to do WOH HOH I couldn’t believe my luck as a 12 km slog down the road would have very slow and the end would have been swollen knees so yes yet again we were lucky for when we REALLY needed it. Of course arriving back early to our hosts place he was surprised to see us thinking we had not been to the top so we filled him in on the finer points, great day.:clap |
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Yes with winter chasing us hard we are on the edge of it so just have to be mindful for sure. Funny thanks is with Maya is she has outreliabled the DRs 3 -1 and had a much harder life, she will see us through I am sure. Yeap 3 year and 2 week done and dusted, seems so fast too, trials and tribulations, goods and bads it has been epic. Bein Kiwis we speak our minds, no sugar coatings, one thing we see on some reports is everything is perfect, the bike never fails, they never crash, have perfectly white teeth and everyday is awesome ....when you break through that crust you find half of it to be ill reported and fake which I find plastic and cheap. I think RRs should be as it is, cold ,hot, frustrating, great, heartbreaking, heartwarming etc....just my view. Thanks for coming along with us. Cheers Andi |
El Bolson To Completion
While staying with our couchsurf we took turns at various cuisine, another lady from Spain arrived too, she cooked a neat spanish meal, Ellen did a night of Chinese pies, interesting our host is a vegetarian, such was the smell of Ellens pies tickling his senses he tried a pie with meat (noting Ellen made vegetarian and meat), he was so impressed he actually had 2 pies admitting he preferred them to the vege pies (which I will add were bloody good).
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8805/...1c968737_b.jpgIMG_8118 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The great thing with couchsurfing both hosting as we did in NZ and being hosted on our travel is the ground level great people and cultural exchanges you get, far nicer than hostels etc. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7678/...7f3ac81b_b.jpgIMG_8125 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The only bumma of our stay is Rachel (from Spain) and Ellen left their hiking boots outside and some miserable ****a stole them, Ellens not so bad as 3 years on they were fit for the bin in 5 weeks but Rachels were virtually new. Our host is a talented man too making lights with LED strip and cut bottles, pretty neat stuff. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7665/...e9515f6d_b.jpgIMG_7989 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr While in town the local hotrod club made an appearance too :lol3 https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7661/...a76e6b34_b.jpgIMG_8126 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Our final day was a walk up Rio Lindo but nothing that froze our arses off, in fact Ellen went skinny dipping. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8765/...cc1c5ef6_b.jpgIMG_8134 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A nice spot we had all to ourselves https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8813/...c433f32b_b.jpgIMG_8140 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The small walking bridge which lead us over and up :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7653/...024a8635_b.jpgIMG_8130 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr With everything done and dusted, Maya running but noisy and ligther by one pair of boots we headed north to Bariloche. |
Tougher than nails
You guys are tougher than nails lol. Every little adventure seems to give you new challenges. I am checking constantly to see what the next challenge is.
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Mate we are getting soft as the grey hairs sneak in :rofl: We seem to have had a few challenges of late but the season, weather etc all put their 50 cents worth in so ya never know what you are gonna get Cheers Andi |
El Bolson To Bariloche To Meliquina
Tarseal at least for the most of it.
The road through to Bariloche was stunning, autumn colours coming out in full swing so something to take my mind off Maya for a while. Knowing that Bariloche has become pretty the No 1 hotspot for big moto theft we were not that keen on staying there, coupled with that the over touristy spot was not our gig and be fair to say not No 1 on our list. Approaching Bariloche a van pulled straight out across the road from the left hand side in front of us, we having to hit the brakes hard to avoid an impact …FFS are we invisible or what?:huh It wasn’t two minutes later another car came ripping out of a side street on the right hand side and nearly cleaned us up:huh:huh, too close for comfort, like for Bariloche dissipating fast. Our saving grace, we had met some rider at the Bolivian border a year ago, swapped stories, swapped stickers shook hands and carried on our ways. Well turns out he has been following our SPOT and watched us getting closer, he invited us to stay with him and his family in Nuequen which was looking like an option, we get another email back saying they have a railway wagon in Lake Meliquina which is in the seven lakes district so right on our path and we would be welcome to join them and stay longer if we wished. Perfect, out of tinsel town full of arseholes without eyes and into a quiet place to enjoy the real Argentina. Food up, tank up, take off. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8694/...95ef9da5_b.jpgP1240654 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8772/...a15061d0_b.jpgP1240646 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The GPS coords a little suspect but the place is only a few hundred meters long. Turning off the main drag the scenery changed in an instant and we were back into what we love. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7673/...b5e1c848_b.jpgP1240668 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr La Ventana in the distance, hole in the rock https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8825/...f27c2c0e_b.jpgP1240687 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The entry the the wagon proving interesting with all the volcanic sand and dust making for a slidey ride in https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8712/...fcbdcb83_b.jpgP1240688 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Arriving easily at the carriage we were greeted and welcomed in, an asado on the go, our red wine quickly removed and set out on the table ti help pass what can only be described as a beautiful sunny day …. shorts and t weather. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7717/...9e784b25_b.jpgIMG_8153 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr An absolute feed was had couple by discussion of motos, travel and this time family, work, their kids etc so a really neat afternoon. Check out the asado, you would need resource content and have to advise NASA in New Zealand :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7707/...8f487c51_b.jpgIMG_8156 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7695/...766ef10f_b.jpgIMG_8168 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr No photos of the meat for some reason, I think it was hoovered faster than the shutter speed on our camera :rofl |
Meliquina .... The Lunch
That next morning was yet another fine day, all the bad weather vibes etc behind us, today lunchtime was a special feed prepared by dad at daughters request …. we like the way the daughter thinks :D
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7588/...6c99996b_b.jpgIMG_8162 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Prepping https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8780/...f00e5041_b.jpgIMG_8165 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Finished and ready to scoff :clap https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7661/...9989abe0_b.jpgIMG_8172 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr They would not have a bar of us putting in for it as they had everything needed, given they were heading to Chile for business we made an agreement to help them get away that after the lunch they could hop up and leave us to, clean, sort, stack ….they thought that was a bloody good idea….win win While the asado was on the neighbours came over and joined in with the cooking and chats, extremely nice people to say the least. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7634/...94690428_b.jpgIMG_8169 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr With lunch done and dusted, bellies hanging out they relaxed for a short while until the exit button was pushed allowing them a timely getaway. The boss and his lovely lady relaxing before the big takeoff https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8790/...27cc41c8_b.jpgIMG_8154 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr I had started feeling off shade in the morning, achy, stiff neck, headache etc …. argh not again. :huh Victor said no problem to extra days and make ourselves at home so at least we could probably sit it out for a couple of days. :clap |
Melquina, Plans, Illness, Natural Disasters
No more room in the title and that is only the start of it :huh :clap :eek1 :cry
We had plans to ride the seven lakes ride and hike around the valley taking the place in, a neat part La Ventana which means window in spanish, that is a huge hole in the rock near the summit so that was on the cards too :clap My health got worse, this time no snot, no cold, no cough ….hmmm, bed for me was it plain and simple nothing else was even on my list.:cry Me being me I hate missing out so determination saw the key put in the ignition, as it would turn out this was the only thing I would do is the seven lakes ride, 2 hours and I was just spent after the first hour. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8693/...8a821743_b.jpgIMG_8193 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7678/...32c30855_b.jpgIMG_8194 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr It would turn out that this clean water photo is diamond https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7694/...0a97dd1d_b.jpgIMG_8198 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Maya seemed to take control of everything she should and quite a bit of what I should….kinda weird feeling sorta floating alone along a road enjoying the view and feeling almost like in the passengers seat, not sure it was entirely safe of course but we are still alive. Passo Cordoba providing some nice views on the way home https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7586/...c861d810_b.jpgIMG_8215 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr As time went by (a couple of days) nothing improved, no sleep, sweating in the bed then shivering my arse off (normally do that at the top of the mountains).:clap We had limited meds and were out in the sticks, we had a log fire which I had a love hate relationship with cuddle / open the doors / cuddle / open the doors …..I could not win. :cry 5 days on no improvement so time to look at things more seriously, the good ol Kiwis sit it out and harden the **** up did not work..I needed some serious shit… This was the only fun I had. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7679/...af319852_b.jpgIMG_8314 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr I put all my symptoms into a search, narrowed it down again and again, ruled out some and kept others, from my best knowledge it looks like I have viral meningitis. :eek1 Nothing else fits the bill, I wasn’t dead so that ruled out a seriously case of bacterial meningitis but still I feel very bad, to be ill here is relaxing. We are very lucky to have been handed such a cool place to stay and the timing of being very crook right here, in a noisy hostel or tent would have made it far worse and as you guys well know (at you olda fellas with grey hair like me) home comforts % must go up when one is down and crook. My highlight was the saving grace called Andrea, neighbour and Doctor, she could see right through me. Pneumonia .....:cry ... no wonder I was not feelin the best https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5468/...39da2775_b.jpgIMG_8323 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr More to follow, Ellen will write what happened cos I wasn't really there :rofl |
Hope you get yourself sorted fella, take it easy
Wayne |
Take care of yourself, old boy, you have to stay alive to keep telling us the story (oh wait: Ellen could do that!).
Your photo of the freezing fog on the plant brought back a memory of freezing fog at (wait for it) Wanaka. On a SPIDERWEB! A long time before I was a competent photographer. Rob Hall |
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Thanks man, think I am on the mend now with some hard drugs, hoping they will kick in today bier Cheers Andi |
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I am happy to still be a alive and bore you guys to tears :rofl: If you learn Chinese you can read her version of what happened too :innocent: Yes Wanaka can get extremely cold and frosts with fog make for some amazing shots, extremes of conditions always do but yeah ...a little uncomfy when you are down. Cheers Andi |
Lake Meliquina La Ventana
Now with me being crook in bed Ellen headed for the hills ....but she came back.
La Ventana is a cool rock formation, La Ventana meaning window. So I will not babble on as Ellen did it, will just biff a few pics up for you guys to see. Looking up to the top from the 3/4 mark https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7620/...fcbaf835_b.jpgIMG_8372 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr You guessed it, look down from the same place, our place and me sleeping to the right hand side of the road heading toward the lake tucked in the trees so you can't see it. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7720/...b2528c6c_b.jpgIMG_8368 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The famous rock window https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8741/...0dcdc41a_b.jpgIMG_8357 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Looking over the sheer drop from the north side and autumn serving a platter of colours from seasonal change https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5453/...4d8b3d41_b.jpgIMG_8349 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The full window https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7689/...84d11512_b.jpgIMG_8338 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr And that my friends is La Ventana... next up some interesting events :D |
Meliquina To San Martin And Back
Test run, to see if I was good enough for the job.:rofl
The day was nice, no early start so we could avoid the cold we hit it to San Martin to visit Lucas and Andrea. So good I felt on the way there to hold onto the bars I had a wrath of enthusiasm when we hit the paved section, playing on my mind was to ride Maya a little quicker to feel the Duro tire amidst interest of its capabilities. I really enjoyed the ride in, had the Duro front tire chatting to the tarseal and the Heidenau rear having an arguement trying to stay in line, both tires building heat and the Duro clearly as happy as, we pushed it to the edge (not advisable to go past that point:evil) so I was happy.:clap Arriving in San Martin after completing the last part on the gravel section we found Lucas’s hardware shop and had a chat, we then set off to enjoy San Martin and celebrated with a pizza for lunch …..bloody good it was too I will add. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8819/...817634a6_b.jpgIMG_8385 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8763/...48628646_b.jpgIMG_8384 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr To the supermarket then back to Lake Meliquina, I was till feeling enthused however my battery low signals were coming on leaving me wondering 8-( We cruised back at a lesser pace taking in the breath taking views and autumn colours gracing the vistas, back along the lakeside rippio Maya suddenly started acting up in the steering, I slowed up but nothing seemed out of place so we continued, this time in second gear looking over and into the lake with the admirably clear water, this was really nice to see and made going slower back to be very relaxing and good mind food. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7685/...75c7fbe5_b.jpgIMG_8400 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Back to the Lake we did a kick, wobble, push and shove to see if we could find why Maya was now being silly on the corrugations. After about 15 minutes we discovered the shock bottom bush had disintegrated, yes this is the shock that Kuntflict Suspension supposedly rebuilt everything on ….ripped off.:cry Not being terminal meant we would carry on with it being noisy and loose, just very disappointing after it was supposedly rebuilt. Packing everything down that evening after deciding I would be well enough to ride the following day I felt enthused, that night although still feeling off shade I felt a level of happiness as my passion of riding and seeing new places was on again...WOH HOH :clap:clap:clap |
Meliquina To San Martin
Time to leave ....the morning came …supposedly, the alarm went off at 9.30 am for my drugs …. looking into pitch blackness I thought the android tablet had lost its marbles, clearly it was dark and nowhere near 9.30 am. :huh
It didn’t seem right, we turned on the phone, same time ….WTF, looked out the curtains, nup dark…..SERIOUSLY WTF.:eek1 :eek1 We swung the door open to find Armageddon, it was raining sand, dust and ash, a quick sniff and taste revealed sulphur smells ….WTF, it was deathly deathly unnervingly quiet with NOT a single sound …..the previous night on ADV rider Mike Ryder put a link on our ride report saying a volcano south of us was doing poos. Putting 1+1 together still made 3, the ash and sand laden breeze was blowing in from the north east, the volcano was 145 km south west of us, we automatically assumed that a volcano close to us had let go.:eek1 We had no electricity, no wifi, so no communication or lighting, at 10.00 am we lit a candle being it was pitch black, we wanted to preserve our LED light batteries in case we needed to leave without the bike and in the dark?. Mega thoughts running through our minds, how cold will it get?, how long will it be pitch black, how long will it rain sand and ash?, how deep will this shit get?, can we ride out or do we have to leave Maya here?…. **** … too much to think about...my head was already hurting now stressed with a situation never presented to either of us in our life. To be honest it was very weird, the time and darkness was really screwing with my head which, at this point in time, was already screwed. It was kinda cool but kinda unnerving, the feeling of fear, the feeling of anxiety leading the charge but we had to take control realizing we were ok, had food, had shelter etc so not a problem yet. Making some quick management decisions we got all the water we could until it turned brown (the water comes directly from the creek), the sand and ash turning the water brown.:eek1 Managing to round up only 9 liters of safe water we have our filters which we could use if need be. Plans of leaving today became apparent was not a happening thing, at 11.34 am it was still dark but we reckoned we could see light above in the sky but neither of us knew if it was our eyes playing games or not. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7688/...2e54ba10_b.jpgP1240714 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr By 1.00 pm the sand/ash cloud had settled and we could start to see, we put on our face masks and B lined it to the bomberos (local fire and ambulance station), it is about a 2 km walk, still raining sand and ash we both turned white walking down, the bomberos said the roads were closed so that confirmed we were there to stay, they also confirmed it was Calbuco that had blown it's lid with fury. Pity there are no banks here :rofl https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7700/...69f0a79a_b.jpgP1240718 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The entry stairs https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8790/...b2e83e37_b.jpgP1240717 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7687/...0c2125cf_b.jpgIMG_8401 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr This is what 1.00pm looked like https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7689/...32050066_b.jpgP1240728 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8699/...6f9232f0_b.jpgP1240731 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The dust varying in deepness from 5 - 25 mm https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7712/...c2a38ac0_b.jpgP1240733 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8778/...fd0fec6c_b.jpgIMG_8415 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Down to the shop we bought a 2.25 L Coca Cola which boosted our liquid supply by 30% :rofl, the shop owner saying if we needed water he has a clean bore from the ground so all was good. :clap The volcano delayed our departure date by another day, and that was already after being there for about 10 days trying to sit out me being ill.:cry I felt the world was against me at this point, seems that every time we ride past a volcano it explodes …."starting to get a complex" now :rofl:rofl Sitting out the day behind glass drinking Coke we slowly watched the cloud dissipating and seeing the extent of the event unfold, dust storms came and went and as the cloud cleared the wifi signal started and we got some information which saw us in the middle of an epic international crisis event with state of emergencies declared etc, the magnitude far greater than we realized. The mid afternoon gloom https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7718/...6be182e1_b.jpgP1240724 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7680/...5c5eeb71_b.jpgP1240734 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8712/...98a81ca0_b.jpgIMG_8409 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Then the dust storms set in with a yellow tinge from the sun behind/above https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8698/...9effc7d2_b.jpgIMG_8420 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr The night was one of anxiety as the authorities said brace for more, luckily it did not happen and we woke to a day that was promising so we made a break for it. It was like riding through a bag of flour, powder everywhere and every step we took making a cloud. Face masks were definitely the order day and with me still not right I was not taking ANY chances. Does this mask make my nose look big? :rofl https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8719/...7e5d7f8d_b.jpgP1240736 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr A slow trip to San Martin, now looking into the lake was brown and murky so I was very happy we took the time before the volcanic ash changed things, now we are riding in a grey monotone nuclear fallout looking place so very spooky, again still deathly quiet. Hitting the main road which is paved made no difference, if anything it was worse to ride due to the 15 - 20 mm layer of superfine ball bearings supplied by mum nature, coupled with this when a car went past we had to stop and wait a minute literally as we could not see a thing, another fear playing on my mind if a car coming from behind not seeing us and taking us out .. **** it does not get any easier, with this in mind we stopped hard over to the edge of the shoulder. Pulling over to stop before the cloud swamped us https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8811/...0fd09da3_b.jpgP1240744 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Arriving to San Martin was WW3, dust storms, twisters and grey EVERYTHING coated. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7659/...80496a8c_b.jpgP1240749 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Airy feeling, signs everywhere saying “Despacio” which means “slow” in Spanish, any and every movement creating a dust storm, people with shovels mounding up all the ash, every shovel load creating more dust. It seemed like a fruitless effort nonetheless the spirit of cleaning up was alive and well. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7717/...abfd20ea_b.jpgP1240750 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Lucas and Andrea from next door at the lake said come stay the night so we caught up with them, Ellen making Chinese dumplings as a sign of our appreciation for their help and friendship. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8784/...e88ce224_b.jpgP1240753 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr Andrea, (my angel) washed our ash and dust laden clothing in their washing machine reverting them back to their original colours, the little things that make a big difference. That evening more ash and sand came down but very little and not enough to cause any more trouble for us thus in the morning our plans to head over to Chile were welcomed with an almost clearish day with dust in the air but good visibility.:clap |
You two do have some adventures! What, you had to go half-way across the world for some geothermal adventures?
True though, we have not had a volcano in NZ for a long time, but , hey, wouldn't you have settled for an earthquake in Christchurch? We were there 2013, and Jill dropped her bike because of the uneven road surface! (It was) Rob Hall |
volcano Fun
Hope you guys didn't make a ash out of yourself with your recent expierience. LOL. Glad to hear things have settled down and hopefully you can move on to your next destination. Take care.
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