Australia here I come!

Everything is lined up and ready to go. Carnet for Fred (stupidly expense as any traveller would know), Australian Visa for myself . 

Just need to pack myself and Fred.

Take note how clean and shinny Fred is. The bike has not been this clean for two years. The reason for the extreme clean is due to Australia's quarintine system. The bike cannot have any dirt, bugs or foreign soil or it will fail inspection. If this happens it is very expensive to get cleaned by the quarantine people or they can refuse entry into the country all together.

Brought Fred to the airport Cargo and started the disassemble process to make it as small as possible. This helps to keep the cubic volume cost down when shipping. Fred can't complain that I don't treat him well, as he has a more direct flight to Australia then I do. 

What's up with that?

The process was easy thanks to Sandra and Javier at Dakar Motos. They have the system nailed down pat. 

Basic steps

1) Go to airport cargo (GPS coordinates provided) wait for Franco to let you through the gates

2) Drive into the cargo building and onto the scale to have the bike weighed

3) Drive to the packing area where they have a skid waiting and ready to drive up

4) Start the disassembly process (no lack of people to help if you need)

5) Forklift comes picks up the bike and puts it through the giant scanner for customs inspection

6) Bike comes back> finish banding the bike down and shrink wrap

7) Head too the mini bus to take you back downtown

All about a 4 hour process from the time you leave to finishing at the airport.

Fred all ready to go! 

Now all I need to do is start practicing my Australian

My fellow Canadians friends from Quebec. 

Yanick and Marie drove down from Canada to South America and will be leaving for South Africa a week after myself. 

Gracias Latin America it has been fun! But it is now time to go to places with names like Wagga Wagga and Toowoomba.

Bariloche

The famous Ruta 40 highway is taking me and Apolonia north. This is supposed to be the equivalent of Route 66 in the USA. The scenery varied from mountains and rolling hills to flat out nothing as depicted below. And like Route 66 in the USA very little traffic.

It is hard to believe this used to be 3000 km of Ripio (gravel). But do not fear adventure travellers as 700 km is still ripio/off-road. 

Apolonio and I stopped at a routine police check point after leaving El Cafate. As usual the police were great and just doing there job.

1000 km plus later (2 days) we made it to the mountain resort town of Bariloche. 

After 2 days here Apolonio and I had to depart company due to time schedule differences. 

I decided to stay an extra day or two so I could take a drive through the mountains near the town.

Found myself a little Crevezaria spot for lunch. A cold beer a book and sunshine what more could you want. Well a women would be nice, but thats a whole other issue lol.

Apolonio and myself became good friends with the owner of the hostel since he was a fellow rider himself. He took us one afternoon to his house 20 km outside of town which was amazing.

Completely open floor plan

And to add to his coolness (and obviously his wife's) he parks both his motorcycle and quad inside the house.  

Oh to dream!

Well if I can sum up Argentina it is thousands upon thousands of km of nothing, with brilliant spots between. Expect long riding days and even longer days (20+ hrs) by bus if you are a backpacker to most of the famous towns/sites.

 After finishing Patagonia I think Fred is all ready for Australia. I put knew brakes on in Usuhia an oil change in Bariloche and my third rear tire in Mendoza. 

So yes, get ready to wear out some parts when you hit Argentina!

El Calafate

It seems that I am not the only early bird to Patagonia. As chance would happen three solo riders from around the world chose the same hostel to stay at. 

We all arrived in the town of El Calafate at different times to go see the glacier nearby. Apolonio on the left is from Spain and Albert in the middle is from Brazil. Albert is heading south to Usuahia and both Apolonia and myself are returning from Ushuaia and heading north. Because of this Apolonio and I have decide to ride north together for as long as our schedules permit. 

I do not know of a faster way to make friends around the world then this. I now have two more invites to stay at homes when passing through. And of course they will be added to my world contact list of people to visit when in there city.

As the famous Amex commercial goes something like this is Priceless!

I know when I left I said I had enough with the snow in Canada and was not in a hurry to see it again. But my ride down south changed that as the scenery was amazing. Adding to this was my visit to the Glacier Perito Moreno.

The glacier is the only know glacier at this time to be actually advancing.

In the national park they have created a great facility to get up close.

Cool dude in front of a cool glacier.

If you time it right you will get to see and hear the large pieces of glacier calving off into Lago Argentina. 

Many amazing colours were reflected off the glacier. 

End of the World (Finally)

"I am doing something millions have dreamed of, but few have accomplished"

Ted Simon- Jupiter's Travels

It is really weird how subconsciously my timing has worked on this trip. I remember that I arrived exactly 6 months to the date of departure at the equator. And now I find myself exactly 16 months to the day at the end of the continent.

Ushuaia is the southern most town of the americas and as far as you can drive south. 

Antarctica is a mere 1000 km away! 

And yes, I am very proud that I accomplished this all by motorcycle. 

The town itself was a very pleasant surprise. I was completely unaware that it was a mecca for outdoor adventure. Climbing, skiing/boarding and Antarctica tours are the norm here. The town itself resembles Banff Canada or Steamboat in the USA.

Also due to having the mountains and the ocean together you could have just as easily mistaken this place for Alaska.

Driving here has been one of the most challenging experiences of my life. I have ridden 50,000 km through amazing scenery some of it in perfect conditions and others in rather harsh elements.

I have mentioned in the past that sometimes I think I should be on a snowmobile rather than a motorcycle. Ushuaia was no different with all the snow around. A motorcycle seemed out of place, but  it also made the sense of accomplishment that much greater. 

I do not look at this as the end but just the closing of the first chapter. And I look forward to my ride back north to Buenos Aries and the start of the next chapter in Australia.

Cheers from the road.

Ryan

 

Patagonia (East Coast)

I was warned that making a run too Patagonia will be one of the most challenging rides yet. And let me tell you it was that and more.

Basically the above picture is what you get for 3000 km in all directions. 

A whole lot of nothing!

Now since I road down earlier than most would (think of the first goose you see in spring when there is still snow around and ice on the lakes and you go what the hell are you doing here so early). Well that was pretty much me. 

Now throw in rain, freezing temperatures, mud and constant winds of 50 kph gusting to 70 kph (the winds in Patagonia have been know to push a motorcycle right of the road). And you get 7 days and 3000 km of pure blissful riding NOT! 

And why you ask? For no other reason then to say you drove the furthest south you possibly can to the end of the continent.

But because of this craziness you get the totally unexpected adventures of a life time.

As most know by now I do not over plan or expect anything. For example I landed in the town of Puerto Madryn just for a overnight stop. Little did I know that because I was travelling south early I was in prime time to see the elephant seals.

So I decided what better way to spend the next day (my birthday) then getting up close and personal with these hugh beasts. 

I truly felt like I was from National Geographic laying among the Elephant seals on a beach in the freezing cold taking pictures.

The dominant male elephant Seal will weigh around 5 tons and have a harem of up to 40 females.

Random faces and places

Well I officially started my final run south to the tip of South America. I am a little ahead of schedule so I will probably be in for some challenging weather as spring has just started. My first stop was the town of Azul where I was told I must drop by and meet an avid motorcycle enthusiast Jorge aka "Pollo".  And wow am I glad I did!

Jorge has to be the nicest person I have met. My plan was to say hi and then spend the night at a hotel. Jorge would have none of that and said the classic "mi case es su casa". And promptly showed me to a room in his house where I would stay the night. 

  

Jorge was so pumped that I was there that he pulled out a Canadian flag and raised it on the pole in front of his clubhouse. He wanted all  know that there was a Canadian in town.

Jorge has a little club house on his property where friends and family gather.  All the walls are covered in signatures of other motorcycle travellers from around the world that have passed through here before me.

I arrived on a Wednesday and Jorge really wanted me to stay for the Friday night Asado (BBQ) that he has every week. I had to gracefully decline as I needed to continue my run south. He still managed to gather some friends and we broke bread, drank wine while we and talked motorcycles and travelling.

I was not worried about Fred being stolen as he was guarded all night by about 10 rabbits running around the property.

As usually a random stopped turned into the limitless generosity of complete strangers. I have scene beautiful landscape and architecture during my travels. But it is the people who are the heartbeat of the countries that will provide the fondest  memories.

Tigre, Argentina

Well we left the City of Buenos Aries for a neighbour hood called Tigre about 30km north of the city centre. There are numerous options to get there like boat, train or bus. We opted on the local train line for the crazy cheap price of $3.75 pesos each! 

End of the line Tigre station

Our first night accommodations in Tigre. 

All was good except for the fact that my sister was extremely pissed at the rooster that woke her up at 5am. We found out the next morning from the owner that the neighbour has pheasants and other birds next door. He was quite excited about it. My sister not quite so..........

Tigre is a weekend destination for most from Buenos Aries due to all the canals. 

There are plenty of rowing clubs along the canal.

From this shot you would think you were in Amsterdam. And it also felt like Amsterdam in the winter.....Damn the weather has been extra cold while my sister has been visiting unfortunatly.

Tigre lies on the delta waterways north of the city. So we decided to be good tourist and take a tour of some of the waterways.

Some of the architecture along the way.