I was at Beaudesert too, Noel! Wish we could have met.
Rob Hall

Heya Rob

We have done that many times too, found out other travellers were in the same town and in one case next door and we missed them.

Cheers Andi

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

Back track to our first day at Jordans, amidst the excitement of seeing some cool spots and the interruption of the tornado I left this out.:huh

Jordan loves his horses and took the opportunity while we where there to saddle up and go for a ride, Jordan had all the skills while we watched on with the setup.

IMG_2759 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Soon enough we were on our way, galloping across between the lakes at walking pace then down an extremely steep track fording a ragging torrent to meet up with an extremely busy road and around through native rain forest back up to home.

Gallopwalking between the lakes

IMG_2764 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Extremely steep hill

IMG_2768 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The ragging torrent

IMG_2774 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The motorway

IMG_2791 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Leisurely explains it pretty well, the horses of course knowing the noobs didn’t really know what to do so pretty much they were playing follow the leader with Jordan leading the way and the pace.:clap...

Our fearless leader turning around in a split second to ensure the safety of the competitors

IMG_2789 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

After the horse racing we spotted a bird which had caught snake and was busy having a pretty good lunch by the looks of it

IMG_2795 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Great wee side trip from the main trip exchanging steel horses for real horses

Thanks Jordan we very much enjoyed the ride around.:clap

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

Leaving Urubici and saying goodbye after everything that had happened was hard, unsure if mum nature was going to come along and have another go at wrecking things.:eek1

P1200710 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Exiting the driveway and heading off down the shingle road it was apparent the whole valley had a thrashing with trees down, gates smashed and telltale signs of fury everywhere.:eek1

It was a game of slalom through the branches, mud and water until we got to the paved road, even there was wheel tracks in amongst greenery strewn all over the road.

Once on the main drag we were handed twisties to play with until the main drag down to Florianopolis, there are some big long straight sections and we had a windless day which was perfect for my mission.:clap

Maya had not felt quite right since Tibagi and the crash, we had not had any clean straights without wind since the crash, today was it, while sitting, straight, relaxed and windless I did a few visual and feel checks.

On the dirt roads she had felt stictiony in the fork operation, eyeballing top triple with bottom triple etc I determined things were slightly misaligned.

Also our left hand side fork protector had been rubbing on the fork stanchion which was a telltale sign.

Having an uneventful trip to Florianopolis was great and we had an invite to Edsons place, a fello Brasil Rider who has covered many many miles on his 12 Tenere.

It was a quick drop of gear at his house, change into cooler gear and off to the 16th birthday party of the Floripa Brasil Riders, there was heaps of people there, food and drinks, good times.

Ellen dancing with Edson

P1200763 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

At the celebration time and cake cutting we were dragged up front to the stage and formally welcomed to Florianopolis before the celebrations of the club birthday took place, they still treasure the doers and made us feel very proud of what we are doing which is living our dream.:clap

P1200748 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Some very interesting people there too, many who have done some pretty big miles around South America and beyond.

P1200749 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The cake about 1 meter x 1 meter :eek1

P1200723 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Many people

P1200721 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Some of the motos

P1200720 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Maya creating interest

P1200730 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

One of the trikes

P1200765 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

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

Taking the opportunity of a flat concrete floor we swung Maya up on the centre stand and undid the triples bolts top and bottom and removed the nut pad from the centre of the bars so I could get an accurate eyeball down the clamps.

Wiggling and wobbling things, lining up then retightening everything it was apparent things were lined up better straight away, the forks didn’t feel sticky so were sliding easier.:clap

The Beach

Our ride out the following day to a beach was the test of time, on letting the bars go Maya tracked straight and true and the fork action felt great ..welcome back to the land of true and straight, hopefully that is the last of the shit from the hit (apart from the luggage and racks which is a known).

Praia dos Naufragados (a beach) at the southern end of the island was our destination, so close to a city of half a million but a moon away being quiet and tranquil, a one hour walk leading us to a beach with 3 surfers, and two other couples in total …awesome (not for the camera tho), Ellen being the usual Asianfish piled in enjoying a coupla swims and we took a good walk as well.

IMG_3098 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

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

Car Tour

While at the 16th birthday party we meet some locals, one who is retired invited us for a local tour of the island well hell yeah.

The plan was to moto it but mum nature was not playing into our hands, we ended up in four wheels but for me this was a bonus, as I got to look out the window without having to concentrate on the road.

photo1 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

We took in various sights with our host and hostess giving us the local knowledge and lowdown, very cool indeed.:clap

IMG_3142 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Some beautiful places

IMG_3129 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

A relaxing day was had with a beautiful seafood lunch....very exotic day out for us.

A local guy trying his hand at fishing

IMG_3148 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

A seat carved out of one lump of timber, very old.

IMG_3115 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Some neat beaches, Florianopolis has 42 beaches to choose from ranging from sit and enjoy family beaches to nudy beaches and surfer only beaches.

IMG_3141 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

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

Also to add to the list of cool things to do we had been invited by a local who had lived in New Zealand which was cool, fortunately the weather cut us a break so our plan A of moto tour was on, Mauricio took us up out and about around a different part of the island taking in beaches and some grande views.

P1200788 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

P1200790 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

A groovy house along the way

IMG_3165 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

We arrived at a small beach with a restaurant that was label central, nice place

IMG_3171 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The two bikes parked on the beachfront having a constant stream of visitors and photos

IMG_3177 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Then for what turned out to be an eye opening meeting of a lady who is 102 years old, yes 102 and she was wanting to sing a song for Ellen, Mauricio said we wouldn't understand so she chatted with us all the same, bright as a button and alive with enthusiasm and walking around all by herself, just incredible and heart warming. clap:clap

IMG_3186 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

IMG_3188 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

So all you jokers with a box of excuses....throw that box away and get into it, you too could be welcoming strangers from the other side of the world at 102, I was inspired by her fearless and warm welcoming heart clap:clap

The lads at another stop, the Police came along too as we were illegally parked, a quick word from Mauricio and there interest in us turned to curiosity, all was good with smiles and stay there as long as you want :clap

IMG_3227 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

A beautiful and old building

IMG_3208 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Cool fishing villages along the way, we also met another RTW traveller there who is on a Vee Strom

IMG_3232 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Local bird watching on with anticipation that a piece of fish might fall out of the fishermans bucket

IMG_3236 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Continuing our journey we got to the top of the island, after meeting the old lady I felt lifted and the afternoon blew paste me, at 5.00pm I thought it was about 3.00pm and wanted a coffee only to be told the real time on earth where everyone else was.rofl

We made it to the top again with being different appearance we created some more interest

IMG_3253 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

A churasco was planned for the evening with local oysters. We picked them up and headed back to home base for a few drinks and a feed, later on in the evening mum nature unleashed another epic thunderstorm impressing us with large crashes and bangs and a lightning display, no missing roofs this time.:clap

Raw oyster for the trying

P1200807 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The local Brasilouts ...good times!!!!!:freaky

P1200809 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

On conclusion of a good night to cap a good day we headed back to Edsons making a run for it when the rain had settled down a bit, we still got cleaned on the way home tho.:evil

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

I was one of those welcoming people on the front desk .,anyhow see you next HUBB.

Nice to have a day off today to catch up on your journey .so much beautiful country you have traveled through ,Photos up to you usual standard .cheers for now YDF Noel

I've been keeping an eye on you two, I'm still enjoying your ride report and travels, but enough with falling off already. ha ha.


My boys still ask about you two and were surprised that you are still on the road.


I told them you were living off Ellen as she is rich and didn't need to work, that's how you get to travel for so long.


Bye for now.


David

Heya David

Great to hear from you mate.

Yes it has been a while but still all good good, just confirmed our flights home so on 14th May 2015 it is back to work for us.

Say hi to the boys and your good lady too, Ellen being rich ... I wish!!

Catch up again amigo

Cheers Andi

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

Tuesday, Ellen and I surfaced about 10 am.....our plan was to see the last of our want list before heading back toward Porto Alegre, we enjoyed a short lunch at the river side and a swim before it turned black, looked like it was going to rain so we decided to pack it in and head for home....then it hit and hit it did, within 5 minutes the road was flowing like a river, branches were flying .....seen this before.:rofl

P1210605 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

P1210598 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Hmmm ...wet! :evil ... someone that looks like me left the vents open too :lol3 ..ouwh no!

P1210597 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

We ended up riding some 25-30 km in these conditions, normally these are short and sharp and gone but this went on for a long time, the water spraying up off the road up my trousers and into my boots and water filling my sleeves from the front, Maya being waterblasted and all of the days earlier mud wash and gone.

P1210620 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Jet boatin :clap

P1210621 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

P1210618 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

With the road flowing like a river it was nice to be a newish rubber which was accepting of the deeper water so no aquaplaning :clap

P1210634 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

Finally nearing town it settled back to normal rain then when nearly home it was spitting/dry, by this time we were soaked through for everything, I had also left my vents open accidentally so….yeah. :deal

Our plan was to head off Tuesday but we had not tried the local cheeseburger so were not allowed to leave before trying it, this turned out to be a godsend as our gear was soaked and very dirty, Leticia insisting we finish the washing process started by mum nature which we duly did but it rained during the night and was pouring in the morning so it was nice not to climb into soaking wet gear and ride off in the rain.

P1210639 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

P1210644 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

The Burger, chicken hearts for Ellen, normal beef for me!!

P1210647 by twomotokiwis, on Flickr

A small psycho vid we made of our mum nature prewash of gear, bike and humans :rofl


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/rBw-LLwXm2E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

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

Great down pour Andi, is that the cleanest the bike has been in a while?
Don't think there much chance of rain where I am
Go steady

Wayne

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

Heya Noel

Thanks mate, Brasil has lots to offer you just gotta get out there and find it.

Now into Uruguay so will catch up with RRs today after a dry spell of wifi

Cheers Andi

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