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

IMG_7067 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_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

P1240386 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The first glimpse

IMG_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

IMG_7116 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_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

P1240396 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The far side of the glacier

IMG_7133 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

A large lump breaking off

Screen Shot 2015-03-21 at 8.56.10 AM by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

A stray lump of crystal ice .. beautiful

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

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

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The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

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.

Heya Wayne

Yeah I tried

Will check out your link, should have wifi for nexxt few das and maybe the appropriate weather too

Good man, go chill and have a few , have fun mate.

Cheers Andi

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

Heya lectron

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

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

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.

IMG_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.

IMG_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.

IMG_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

IMG_7234 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

No camp site is free of Murphy tho rofl....never set your tent up from the other end first, always start from the other end :huh :rofl

IMG_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

IMG_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

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

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.

IMG_7244 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The first view point

IMG_7250 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The valley all the way up offering stunning picturesque scenery

IMG_7254 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

One creek crossing

IMG_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

P1240418 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_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.

IMG_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.

IMG_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.

IMG_7296 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The monsters in full

IMG_7265 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_7267 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

On our way back down Ellen wanted to cool her feet off :eek1...mine were fine :clap

IMG_7309 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The final part of this walk was Lago Capri, a nice spot it was too.

IMG_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

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

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.

IMG_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.

IMG_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.

P1240438 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_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.

P1240442 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.

IMG_7371 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_7376 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The peaks providing some epic viewing ...something we can't get sick of :clap

IMG_7384 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The spire up close

IMG_7378 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The head of the glacier

IMG_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

IMG_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.

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

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.

Heya lectron

Mate we still can not believe how still, calm and sunny, not to mention warm

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

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

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

P1240461 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

P1240463 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-)

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

P1240465 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 evil

IMG_7403 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

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

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

IMG_7417 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Some neat clouds wicked up by the wind above

IMG_7423 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

In no mans land in the middle, stunning countryside

IMG_7430 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Lunch spot :clap

IMG_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

IMG_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

IMG_7457 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Our camp and the setting ... awesome and thank you to the Tomkins for providing a beautiful place clap ...may many more follow your footsteps :clap

The green part is the camp in the valley, sheltered, secluded, special.

IMG_7455 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Our camp

IMG_7467 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The setup for the place, pretty cool

IMG_7478 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Just some normal pics to share now.

Some cool shrums

IMG_7479 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Bumblebees

IMG_7504 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Back to the Carretera Austral now WOH HOH :clap

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

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.

IMG_7553 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_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.

IMG_7561 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_7565 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_7585 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_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.

IMG_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.

IMG_7627 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The tied Maya down tight, they knew something we didn't :rofl

IMG_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

IMG_7637 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

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

Hopefully 1

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

Probably 2

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