So back on the road for the last 2 days travel into Buenos Aires. Still not without some potential drama due to the busy roads,but also the fact that "Mana" was starting to run a little rough (maybe just bad fuel) but both tyres are now looking like a pair of racing slicks.....not sure if they would make the last 500 k's...
One last night with the camp set up, we've camped alot due to the price of accommodation and while most of the camps have been horrible due to noisy outsides, it has saved us the precious $$ that are fast running out.
Into town we arrived and amazed at our own ability not to get too lost in a place of 14 million folks.
Got to our accommodation with out incident and under a warm blue sky. had made a booking for the time left here on the Internet and eager to see what we had booked. Cath leaves in about 5 days but I don't fly out until the 12th as I have to try and organize the shipping of the bike yet.
So with that, we will sign off the blog.
I've been on the road now for almost 3 months and covered 24000 k's. Been through 14 countries, 28 boarder crossings, sailed with bike on board and just about all the weather that's available. The last 8000ks of course have been 2 up with Cath "it's different from Behind" which has added to this amazing experience.
With all the worlds events leading up to this happening, it would have been easier to put it off for a period of time and let things settle, which is what a few people felt I should have done. But what happens then, it's just replaced with some other event, and before you know it you've missed out again on experiencing something that you just can't describe yet alone watch on the discovery channel.
I would not have changed a thing on this whole experience and I'm sure will find it hard to settle back into doing what I must and get back to work, but sure am going to miss life on the road...... although I do hear that Brazil is great this time of the year........
Cheers
Kiwi on wheels......

The Peninsular boasts one of the largest breeding colonies of Magellanic Penguins, this is just one of hundreds.
My little camera does not do the Southern Right Whale any justice at all and Mark,thankfully, got some great footage on the video. But it gives you an idea how close they were.


Classic

Whales ahoy!!!!! Sooo exciting, we werent to know it yet,but we would be right beside a mother and calf, and it was overwhelming
Cape Valdez Peninsular National Park, Pt Piramides, and we saw two whales just off this ancient sea bed, unfortunately, we had been sitting on the beach at dusk having a beer, and didnt have the camera...so you will just have to believe me.
The photos are in the wrong order here, but when we stopped on the road for a tea break, we couldnt believe our choice of beach and who we were to share it with
They were just doing what sea-lions do
This pup, had a dead fish stuck to its chin, too cute. The whole group smelt more than a bit fishy tho!

on the move,images from the back seat

Mark sticks to the centre line, which makes for close call action!

These red flags are everywhere along the roadside, often, they can be accompanied by intricate shrines, with figures,crosses and offerings.Notice how they are stretched out in the ever present side wind.
The roads can be quite narrow and passing trucks dont have much space, combined with an unstable shoulder.... this truck driver with his two big trailers,was not meeting his deadline today.
Love this look, horses and dogs doing the muster.

Head'n North....

Back out of Ushuaia and over the pass again ready for the wet and cold that seemed to be awaiting for us. However it went very smoothly and was on the other side before we knew it. How did we know.... cause the wind had kicked in with vengeance and to a point of ridiculous..
Not only can you fill up with fuel at the gas stops but this one station had some great little pies on offer all for about $1 each.....so 9 later.....
back on the road again and only 3000k's to go
with alot of trucks on the road to add to challenge

Due to falling upon a good deal to go out on a sail boat to a few of the islands within the bay we decided to do just that.
Like every other day, dealing with the weather as we approached the South, it was back into the down jackets and see what was on offer.....
I wont go to far into as I"ll let Cath fill all that in.
Then the next day it was back to the mighty twin to get us back over the Summit in between the sleet showers in town. In full gear ( in other words, all the clothes we have in our bag) I must say it felt good to be back on the road, I mean we've had a full day off so what else do we do......

Since Cath is on the back what else can she do but take photos....(all though she has just mentioned that she might even be able to read a book) This was taken once out of the mountains but due to some of the strongest winds I've ever had the misfortune to experience, I pulled the pin on the day only 200 k's into it...... better to arrive in one piece than on time, right.

Just for the photo...

a mad rush through the forest but I'll let Caths "Its different from the behind" fill you in on that...



Then it had to be followed but the compulsory scotch...

Caths words.....
Oh, i failed to mention that we went through two border crossings today. The bottom tip of the country is shared by Chile and Argentina, and as a consequence, passports have to be duly stamped, fruit handed over to the large lady with the gloves and Chilean money bought.As you know all ready, we didnt do that one.
Out of the hotel after greeting some bikers riding v-stroms and a bmw who had been travelling from Brazil,and looked very slick on their new bikes...they even had pump action visa cleaner, it was off for the last leg of the journey southwards.
Fill the empty tank with fuel, the hotel and the gas station here take Argentine pesos, less than five minutes of tarmac and its 100kms of dirt road. Offroading with trucks took us to the border crossing back into Argentina and back onto tar seal .As the road started to climb into the mountains, we were greeted with plummeting temperatures,strong winds and freezing sleet. All ready wearing just about everything in the wardrobe, there was nothing for it but to hunker down behind my hero driver and sit it out.
Dropping into Ushuaia was a relief if only because the weather cleared and a milky sun hung limply out to dry(no rainbow for our pot of gold tho).
Just because we had reached our goal town, did not mean we were privileged enough to find a great place to stay, there were no t.v crew welcoming us in with 5 star accommodation or a champagne reception, so it was into a one star upstairs hotel in the main street and the bike didnt even get an inside courtyard as a reward! It was going to have to sit in the gutter and maintain its own dignity.
We didnt unload the bike, but went out to the sign in the National Park. We couldnt go this far and not do the photo on the same day, how would it feel, if someone nicked the bike overnight, knowing our form of luck this is not so random......Going into the Park, we got behind about 6 large coaches and any amount of cars. There was a cruise ship in port, and wouldnt you know it, they were all going out to the sign for a photo too!
This called for some fun, off road riding, and dodging the traffic on the narrow, dirt road became a blast, i felt like Dick Dastardly from the Wacky Races, making a race of getting to the sign before the crowds arrived, any which way.
The last coach was overtaken in the carpark, and as Mark squeezed the bike through the wood posts, i felt that the whole journey was represented in that last mad dash, and that it was very fitting.

Once there, well, you got the picture.....

Almost there....

After arriving at a place that we had to stay at, due to running out of gas, then having to pay an incredibly overpriced accommodation, we continued to head south..... in not bad weather
A couple hours later started to climb over a pass, with a notable drop in temp and increasing winds.....which I didn't think was possible.
Then on the other side of the pass we met with this...
and this. Dam thought we had got away with it but not so. Still about 50k's out from Ushuaia it got incredibly cold but just had to grin and bear it
Then finally arrived at the entrance it was indeed a welcome sign to see....

just a few others

lets move on faster....

Ok so we've now baled out of the Andies 'cause it was howling a gale and we had had enough. So out to the coast we head. Once there it was a good decision, and found a great camp to hang for the night. Penguins were cruising just off the shore and giving us free entertainment in our free and quiet campsite. Light an over due fire just to complete the night....
Then we got to see our first sign of one of the reasons I considered this journey... to see the most Southern City in the world... and to fit in as much as possible in between ...
"it's different from behind"
Comodoro Rivadavai sounds very Meditterranean,and thats where the connection ends. We arrive in the township on a Sunday afternoon, after travelling through flat land blighted by machines extracting oil, relentlessly nodding on the landscape.
The search for decent accommodation at a reasonable price was exhausted yet again, and the guide books comments of homely rooms and lovely corridors translated into pre-historic,Alfred Hitchcock style rooms with overtones of seedy desperateness....except that the proprietors didnt see it that way, along with Lonely Planet 2008, and wanted to charge us our only remaining arms and legs.
Seriously depleted of options, we headed back onto the open road heading South, only to find, just over the brow of the hill and outside of the City, a small, upmarket suburb which sported a municipal campsite!
What a jewel of a find.
The campsite was just one block from the Atlantic Ocean and after after an Argentinian Style Pizza, made by an Italian Chef, who should have known better, we retired to the restfull sounds of the sea(the boy racers, no,seriously, had gone to bed).
The luxury of a walk along the ocean front was not wasted on me, and i left Mark to pack up the bike while i sucked in the salty breeze. The sea is my leveller, and by the time i was picked up, i felt re-juvenated and ready for the next adventure...
Puerto San Julian was one of those places that surprises. Mark was ready for a hotel, and me, well, being next to the ocean and who usually loathes campsites, wanted just that.
We decided to take the scenic 8km trip round the coast ,(my desire to find penghuinos)before heading to a hostel. But instead, we found an idyllic spot, sheltered, on a tidal inlet that turned out to be a brilliant camp.
Loaded up with a couple of beers and a tuna pasta one pot meal we made camp.
Twilight came upon us and hey, look, over there, isnt that penguins?
The penguins came onto the rocks ,dived into the ocean, swam with the incoming tide to fish, hauled their portly bodies back onto land and repeated the exercise.....we were mesmerised. Tuna meal in hand(priorities), i squelched through the mud flats to get a better look and was thoroughly entertained. I love penguins.
The night just kept getting better, and after the pingus we lit a fire, watched some nocturnal animals scavenge the rocks after the weekend tourists and went to bed with the tent rustling in the ocean breeze, magic.

"
Ok so now it's getting real and in a way it become harder due to knowing it was just down the road, but first an unexpected ferry ride
and dam it was cold.....
Once again it's words from.... "it's different from Behind".....
The morning air was filled with squabbling birds, im loving it. Before tea was even poured i was up to enjoy the dawn chorus
and what a racket. Getting up at the crack of daylight brings such rewards and the long eared hares,so sensitive to every rustle but not accustomed to aliens so early in the morning gave us the pleasure of their company.
It was with reluctance, and after a walk along the beach, stalking the hawks between the hunt,that i got onto the back of the bike and headed to Tierra Del Fuego.
The journey seemed endless, flatlands, winds and uninspiring visuals. Limas and ostriches were the only form of wildlife, bar the odd silver -fox and so it was doubly depressing when the sign for Tierra del Fuego that we passed over 50kms back was the turn off that we should have taken.
The dulcet tones of Nora Jones, to soothe the atmosphere, couldnt mask the fact that we had little fuel and too many ks to cover it.
Some divine intervention, or as luck would have it, i had enough chilean pesos in coins in my pocket to get 4 litres of fuel from a petrol station, that quite honestly, shouldnt have been there! If it wasnt for the substance of the fuel, it could have been quite unreal. We had enough fuel to get us to the unexpected ferry trip, and by the sniff of the proverbial oily rag, into Sombrero.
This 'small city'(described as such by a truck driver with pretty good English) sported one hotel, you can guess the rates, and one petrol station. By this time, choices were short on the ground, it was, u guessed it,cold and late and we accepted the double room with private facilities, for the same price as the twin room shared with the builders, after an exchange of facial expressions.
The restaurant provided no menu, but promptly put down a set meal of soup, beef and mashed spud, and a sweet mousssey style dessert....just pay the man.