Good to see you still enjoying Mexico - I had expected to meet you at home now. Jill and I are staying for the second night in Wanaka. We are near the end of a 12000km tour of NZ, and then it is back to Aus.

I brought my Sportster across from Aus, and Jill had intended to as well. But we Got Routed, when the shipper changed the shipping arrangements and refused to refund the deposit that we had paid.

We ended up buying a 400 Honda for Jill, and it has been reliable enough, but whoever said that you do not need big bikes in NZ was kidding themselves! NZ is awash now with lumbering campervans, driven by people who fail to realise that they are driving a truck instead of their Audi.

With enough power (say 1200cc), I dont give a stuff: but poor Jill, creeping along behind.....

And she swears! Never knew that before we had intercoms!

Ride safe!
Rob Hall

Heya Rob

Bugga about the shipper that is not god, at least you guys enjoyed NZ, pity we were not there to host you and show you around our place ... maybe down that track?

Have fun guys.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Only 137 km to do, easy as, relaxing start saying goodbye to Ivonne, we had our directions nailed so we were good to go.

We had not even left town and a bus nudged our left pannier nearly sending us to the deck, it was all my mite to hold Maya up but we got away with it, the dickhead didn't even do a thing :huh

Luckily this is all we have to show for it .... I won't show you my undies :evil



On exiting the city and just getting onto the cuota road we came across a bad truck crash on the other side of the road, it slowed things slightly but we managed to carry on easy enough, there was a line of traffic probably 5 km long banked up tho on the other side.



Worthy of TV coverage



Thinking how lucky we were not to be jammed up in that our road suddenly came to a stand still, as far as we could see there were cars and truck banked up ... argh no.

It was stinking hot, uphill and we were crawling at best, so Maya didn’t overheat we kept turning her off and starting to move up, it took us two hours to move two km, we had had enough of that, Maya had the fuel issue of squirting fuel out of the sensor when the tank got pressurized by heat and today she was like a boy dog having a big wizz.



A truck and a pickup has collided and it was fooking mess, both vehicle out of our lanes but the lanes had been narrowed hence the monster bottle neck





Not and ideal situation, finally we broke free from the traffic and managed to cut so clean cuota road stopping at a small town to tank up tummies and Maya.

Somehow we managed to screw something up direction wise and we bypassed Cholula and got to Puebla which we didn’t want to do and on the way we also managed to go to a road where Toppes were EVERYWHERE stop ... start ... stop ... start ..... it was fun!!! so Plan B was quickly activated.

Along the way tho we managed to get stuck is a small street parade so a bit of a bonus, we had front row seats :rofl





A band



We found a hotel not too badly priced and called it quits for the day.

Walking into town to the very local scene we had ended up in was interesting, not another whiteyfoo to be seen but the locals were all smiles and very friendly and we had a beautiful feed of something not having any idea what we order other than pointing at others plates and saying Dos Por Favor (two of those please)

All in all not a big milage day but one for of accidents, 3 done, things come in 3's we are sorted now :clap ... being trashed from heat, crashes and toppes we bunked down for a good night sleep.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

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3mountainsadventure

Awesome dude !!

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

If you wondered why we are not moving now it is because Spot has crapped out.

We have contacted spot and await there response to replace it so in the mean time our block will cover were we are.

Luv to all

Andi & Ellen

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

The trip from Puebla to Oaxaca was uneventful and we took the Cuota road to make some time given the hard day getting out of Mexico City.

We had arranged a couchsurf stay with Don and Pat, riding the Cuota road we made good time, we had a bit of fun finding their place but not because the lack of instructions :deal

They greeted us and welcomed us in and made us feel at home .... bloody typical Canadians!! :rofl

Unpacking and changing into human clothing we sat down and scoffed some cold water which was very welcomed, Pat had organised Spaghetti for tea which was outstanding and set the bar high.



Next morning Don took us to town to see if we could find sealant and an O ring for Maya given she was pissing fuel out when things got hot, success, we did get an oring but more so we bought some fuel proof sealant/adhesive to fix the problem, looks like we succeeded thus far.



Swapped the non return vent to the rear and put put the open hose to the main tank, thanks to the Flexx Bar cushion it holds the tube in place perfectly.





That afternoon Ellen set to and made some dumplings (No pictures sorry, we could show you but we would have to kill you ), I set too and fixed Maya ... again.

Centro was calling so we piled into a bus and had a look around Oaxaca town center, arriving back home we all tucked int the dumplings, Don and Pat gave them the big thumbs up so that was great.





Tequilas and chats then off to bed with another successful day under our belt.

The pyramid ruins were on the agenda for the following day, we were greeted with a hot clear day and our hike started at 9.30 am before the heat really set in.

The ruins were very cool, amazing the flat area that had been formed on the top of the mountain which commanded 360 degree views.





Some large circular base columns



Me!! (note Ozzies no pink bum :rofl)



View of town from the top of the ruins



On finishing there we took the bus into Abastos the huge market place in Oaxaca town, memorizing to say the least.



Fruitart



Valentines Day .... same same world wide



Once we were done mindlessly running around in circles we headed back to home base.

Pat and Don cooked bar b q chicken, another outstanding meal thoroughly washed down by more Tequila :freaky ... life is good.



The plan was to leave the following morning however the teachers were having their annual strike blockading all major shopping centres and city exits so we were not going anywhere, Don and Pat said no point trying to go so we decided to stay (mainly cos we can't go anywhere).

Ellen could not get Sushi ingredients so unfortunately Don and Pat dipped out, onya teachers!! :huh



Receiving an email from Phil and Jane, team bro and sis traveling south as well, we had a few emails back and forth and they came out to join us for tea that night, Don and Pat took us all out for tea to a local Tacorilla, the food again was outstanding and we all left substantially heavier.





See what the fud did to Phils eyes ... it was so big it made his eyes pop out



As we were being kicked out Phil and Jane had organised to take our room the next night as we were on our way again. :clap

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere