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

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

P1240467 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!!!!!

IMG_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.

IMG_7661 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Check out the wee rock star in the trailer giving us a wave :clap

IMG_7663 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

They too stopped at the bridge to admire mum nature nature finest

IMG_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.

IMG_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.

IMG_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.

IMG_7769 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Tomorrows mission is to climb Cerro Castillo.

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

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.

IMG_7717 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

At that point there was small camp which we headed through on the way to the top.

IMG_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

IMG_7737 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_7725 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_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

IMG_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.

IMG_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.

IMG_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.

IMG_7763 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_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

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

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

P1240488 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

P1240480 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

IMG_7852 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

During the afternoon our stay included Mate lesson of drinking and handling, very informative

IMG_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.

IMG_7862 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Nacho the owner on the guitar ... he was good too.

IMG_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.

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.

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

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 )

P1240521 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Heading up the valley, stopped for a pee stop and stretch, welcomed sun too

P1240493 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Beautiful clear water rivers much like New Zealand

P1240510 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

ALIEN 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.

IMG_7864 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

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

What the Hell. You are two tough hombre's. Pictures are great. Keep up the optimism enthralled by all your reports.

Heya lectron

Actually we are soft core ... just caught out

Cheers Andi

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

Surviving the night, not giving birth to an alien …..things were looking up.

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

P1240550 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

We discussed climate change again too….yeah.

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

Like I said Tough Hombre's. Hat's off.

Heya lectron

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

Cheers Andi

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

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

P1240568 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.

P1240544 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

P1240529 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

And yes that IS sun coming across the fire place for about 10 minutes :lol3

IMG_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.

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

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

P1240538 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

While the weather was grotty we still got to see some nice stuff
P1240570 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.

P1240579 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.

P1240583 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

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

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

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

IMG_7876 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

There were monsoon helicopters flying up and back with fire retardant all afternoon into early evening.

IMG_7879 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Two choppers working together

IMG_7926 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Monsoon spraying

IMG_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.

IMG_7908 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Blue sky without one cloud tainting it

IMG_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

IMG_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

P1240600 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Frozen frosted grass with fog and the lake .... pretty neat to wake up too.

IMG_7938 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

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

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.

P1240617 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The offender

P1240615 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

P1240620 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Things did take a strange turn tho so we were not outa the woods yet roflvery spookie .... you can buys Noahs here :eek1:eek1


P1240621 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

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

Prolly a couple

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

Nutha 1

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