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Published: November 16th 2009
Richard's Pit Crew
What! a flat tyre, blew up the tube and no air came out? Who let his tyre down ?Well we have made it to Fin del Mundo (The End of the Earth).
We have had some amaising riding over the past few days. We have riden as far South as you can in Chile and now as far South in Argentina and the world..
Below is a blog from David and one from Bones....Cheers, Rosco
David's comments on days 13 and 14.
Hola from Tolhuin!
We've arrived at a resort lodge, with chalets on the edge of the easternmost end of Lago (Lake) Fagnano, in the deep south of Argentinian Patagonia. Only 100 kms to our destination, Ushuaia.
We've had a couple of great days so far on Tierra del Fuego. It's a huge island, mainly agricultural but also oil, gas and tourism.
There are huge estancias, (sheep and beef stations)
but the economics of running them are marginal at best unless there are significant economies of scale.
Despite the poor returns from farming, the land is still valuable and sought-after by absentee landlord investors, and the comment was made that the best business decision a landholder could make is to sell up!
Day 13 was possibly the best day's riding yet, with
GOM
Expressing his love of his home country and scenery over 400 kms of winding gravel roads, along the coast from Porvenir past small, old and run-down settlements to the western end of Lago Fagnano, where Barry and Keith fulfilled a 10 year dream: of standing together with their boots in the water of Chile's most southerly
accessible shore.
Tomorrow, they will do it again in Argentina, even further south.
To get there, we rode over two alpine passes, through snow on the road and piled high in drifts on either side, with flurries of fresh falling snow gathering on our visors. At the same time, a brilliant rainbow seemed to end at Tolhiun at the other end of the lake, where we are now. A challenging ride with a spectacular view as reward.
Our accommodation for the night was at a remote fishing lodge, with a very warm welcome, comfortable chalets, a sumptuous dinner & hearty breakfast. Thanks for the hospitality, Margarita and Mark!
Fuel, or rather a shortage of it, was today's challenge.
We were all running low, as there had been nowhere to gas up since Porvenir.
As always, Rosco and Gerardo had a cunning plan, and they doled out 4 litres to
Old Dredge
Old gold mining dredge on Tierra del Fuego each rider from the supplies in the support truck.
Except to Ian, who wanted to ride until he ran out, to accurately determine the maximum range of his KTM 640 Adventure.
The economy run began, and we rode for 150 kms with light hands on the. throttles, low revs, and constant speed in high gear. We all made it to the next available gas stop, in San Sebastian
Except for Ian, who ran out as intended, having found he could get 535 kms from his bike. Unfortunately, he had to wait 25 minutes for Rosco and Raewyn to arrive and give him fuel from the truck; 25 minutes while it was snowing, with a strong breeze. Cold! (Well, we had to wait for Tom, while he was downloading STUFF in the bushes)
No hassles at the border crossings (out of Chile and then 6 kms later, into Argentina). It seems that the motorcyclists doing the "to Ushuaia and back" thing are becoming more common, and on more than one occasion officials
(Chilean or Argentinian, Immigration, Customs or Biosecurity) have asked "Ushuaia?" The answer "si". usually gets a smile or a shrug of the shoulders ("you must
GOM and Bones
Playing in fresh snow on our way to Fin del Chile be mad?") followed by vigorous stamping of forms, and we're through.
Its all just paperwork; at no stage has anyone ventured outside from their warm offices to inspect the bikes!
The further south we get, the more the attitude of people we meet in service stations, restaurants and hotels and officials reminds me of the attitude of people in the South Island as riders are heading south and converging on Oturehua for the Brass Monkey rally.
People are aware of the event, they appreciate the commercial opportunities and understand the riders' needs, and
give a warm welcome and good service.
Back on good sealed roads, lunch in Rio Grande, and down to our hotel.
An excellent couple of days; I'm only sorry that Michael is not riding with us
as we had hoped and planned. We had been really looking forward to the four of us brothers completing this adventure and getting to Ushuaia together.
Michael may still be able to join us for the last 10 days or so, though; he has his operation tomorrow (thanks Southern Cross Travel Insurance) and
we're working on arranging a rental ute, so that we can throw one of the
More fresh snow
Out of season snow falls bikes on the back and someone can drive with Michael. At least he'd cover the course, see the sights, be with us in the evenings and would complete the expedition, albeit on 4 wheels, not 2.
We arrived early today, giving us a chance to rest and catch up on some washing etc. Everywhere we've been has had a sock-washer in the bathroom; that's a bidet, to the uninitiated.
Stunning scenery, the equal of
Lake Tekapo.
I'm very pleased with my bike and gear. The bike was made for just this sort of trip, and is
performing exactly as intended. Great on the open road, excellent in the gravel, comfortable, economic and low maintenance: no chain to oil each night, a huge airfilter with well-positioned intake (I've only had to clean it twice), and useful data readouts (fuel consumption, range, temperature etc) as you ride. Thanks to the team at Experience BMW and Mike Acket for help in preparing it.
The Garmin Zumo GPS is specially designed for bikes, with big buttons that can be used with a gloved left hand; it works really well. It's easy to use and quite intuitive in its functions, and
More Snow
Over the pass has more information than you can possible use.
It has proved very accurate, any the only time I've got myself temporarily uncertain of my whereabouts ("lost") had been when I ignored its directions.
Thanks to Russ Phillips and particularly Vanessa at GPS Tracking NZ for their help in setting it up, finding and loading accurate and detailed maps of Patagonia, and their technical support during the trip.
I will comment on other gear in future entries.
Now, for a quiet peaceful evening in beautiful, but cold, surroundings.
David V.
From Bones.....
Ola again! Recapping on the previous blog when I was rudely interrupted by a man on a mission - the 4 hour dash from Caleta Olivia (I did like the town, but don’t ever want to revisit it under the same circumstances) to Commandante Luis Piedabuena was similar to a headlong rush into a black hole - it rained for half of the duration - which made vision difficult especially with huge trucks and trailers hurtling towards us. No road markings either. I was scared that I would fall asleep, so we played the Great NZ Songbook at full volume, which helped! The downhill
Guanaco
Looking for something to eat... effect was not due to my imagination either, as we passed through the lowest point in South America - 105metres below sea level around San Julian.
Anyway, we arrived around 11.30pm, everyone was in bed so we went there too. I hardly remember this hotel, but our host was welcoming, the bed was comfortable and we had a good night’s sleep. We ascertained the next morning that Gerardo had spent the night at San Julian due to a lack of fuel (we won’t go there) and sent an email for Rosco to come early the next morning with fuel. However, by the time we received the email, he was on his way, having secured some supplies (how, we haven’t ascertained) and he arrived at 8.30am. just as we were having our briefing. Mike was awarded the Medal for the Day -
unanimously!
This day was a logistical exercise of immense proportions - as Ian was riding Michael’s moto, and we had a border crossing, all the appropriate forms of export and import from
Argentina into Chile were filled out before we departed the hotel, and the dining room was starting to look like a huge office (complete with
Lago Fagnano
The team that made it! a demented female secretary giving out forms, advice (?) and collecting them up again. Please remember this blog is written from my perspective, and not necessarily that of the adventurers! They will have their own versions!!
Onto the border crossing after 200kms - complete with a busload of excited young Chilean boys wearing Boxing Club uniforms, who formed a never ending queue. However, we persevered and after facing many officials, and lots of gesticulations, we were all released into the crisp Chilean air.
We left Richard’s moto, to be taken to Punta Arenas for repair by friends of Gerardo’s, which meant unloading everything, leaving Michael’s gear with the moto to lighten our load just in case we needed to utilise the back (and inside) of the truck again.
Another example of “it’s not what you know, but whom!” We were very grateful for this assistance!
Onwards to the ferry crossing at Punta Delaga, across the straits of Magellan to Bahia Azul. The boys had allready crossed and were ahead of us - it was very chilly on the top deck, but I deemed it necessary pre-training for Rosco’s and my Antarctic expedition at the conclusion of the moto expedition.
Keith and Barry
Keith and Barry wet their feet as far South in Chile as you can ride. (I think Rosco has already posted these photos).
We followed the team along 86kms of gravel from Manantiales to our destination at Porvenir - again, a warm welcome by our hosts, a late lunch for some, with several rounds of Piso Sours setting the scene for yet another hilarious dinner within the cosy walls of our hotel. The Medal was awarded to Gerardo for being Outstanding in His Field (San Julian!)
Porvenir is a unique town, very colourful (paint wise) and populated by many dogs of varying pedigrees (I saw a different side of Keith here). Many of the residents are of Croatian descent, and reminded us of the hardships faced by the pioneers crossing this huge, seemingly barren land.
Day 13 - Porvenir - Vicuna. A distance of 250km - a mere doddle!
First chore after changing a flat tyre, was refuelling - very necessary this day, as there are no refuelling points for two days!
We filled the fuel containers, and were on our way, using the corner man system. Along the way we visited an English cemetery at Onaisin - with headstones such as “Killed by Indians“, “Accidently drowned” and “died in a storm”……………situated
GOM Construction
Gerardo, playing at construction of the bridge to cross the lake. in a windswept wilderness, one wonders how, and why this cemetery is located here. We will never know - only that we honour the memory of other adventurers in another time……….
We continued on our way, digressing for a few kilometres to visit the Scottish settlement of Cameron, which is still a hub today, for this area.
Our destination was a fishing lodge at Vicuna - run by an Alaskan/Chilean husband and wife. We devoured a quick ‘sandwich’ that we bought with us, and onto the motos again, for a most marvellous ride up into the mountains.
The lodge is situated within a new World Wildlife Reserve of huge size, and we traversed a mountain range and climbed around 2000 metres to reach the westernmost point of Lago Fagnano, and the southernmost point (road wise) in Chile.
The ride was a real buzz, 150km round trip, complete with switchback corners, 2 metre high ice on the side of the roads, and as a bonus, gently falling snow to ride through.
We weren’t supposed to be there at all, but ignorance mostly always works when you are confronted by a barred exit on the way out and asked for your
Ian outa Gas
He did over 500km on a tank of gas. entry permit! A bridge is being constructed over the end of the lake - eventually it is hoped that travellers will be able to go further south than Ushuaia without having to cross the border into Argentina. Obligatory photos taken here - everyone with smiling faces…….the icing on the cake of a very full day.
The medal, awarded at the evening briefing, went to Tom for having an Alcohol Free Day (not!) After a tasty parilla, preceded by the ritual Pisco Sours, we are turned in for an early (?) night, in our cosy cabanas, all with individual wood fires. Lovely!
The next morning, after a sumptuous breakfast of kiwi size proportions and a 5 litre ration of fuel for each moto, we were on our way to Hosteria Kaiken, crossing the border at San Sebastian into Argentina, again. Some refuelled just over the border, but Ian tested the capacity of his moto by opting out of the top up at breakfast - he is proud to report that, with prudent (?) riding he squeezed 535.7km out of the tank before he putted to a halt.
Had to wait some time for us to arrive - Tom had pulled
Lago Fagnano
Largo Fagnano from Hosteria Kaiken. up with a major emergency, and we had refused to assist. However, we did wait around the corner while he downloaded his hard drive! We thought that the sheep dashing out in front of him, had something to do with his “emergency”!
On through Rio Grande and turning towards the west, we found our hosteria on the opposite end of Lago Fagnano to where we had ridden the previous day. Picture book stuff, lovely setting, right on the lake. A relaxed briefing, accompanied by the tasting of more Argentinian vino, much telling of tall stories, with the Medal being awarded to Richard for declaring at Customs that he was in possession of a KTM, while actually riding a Kawasaki! Perhaps he was slightly distracted by the fact that he had just become a grandad for the third time, that day!
Day 15 - Hosteria Kaiken - Ushuaia. We woke to a wintery scene outside - snow had been falling since 4am, and it was Christmas card scenery all around. By the time we had breakfasted and loaded up the motos, the sun was shining (well, almost) and we set off in near perfect conditions. Rosco and I found
Keith
Just being Keith? the original road just before the Paso Garibaldi and followed it for a couple of kilometres until it fizzled out. We rejoined Ruta 3 and shot some video climbing the pass, but there is no way you can do it justice. The scenery is just too big……………We did photograph some of the original switchback road from the lookout at the top of the pass, overlooking a lake - it would have been a spectacular ride in it’s day.
Coming into Ushuaia after all the expansive scenery was quite claustrophic I thought, and we had to concentrate on our day sheet instructions, as the one way system was quite a challenge, with street names changing at every intersection, along with the distraction of the ice capped mountain range providing a amazing backdrop.
We regrouped at our hosteria, then rode out through the Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego and the end of Ruta 3 at Fin del Mundo at Lapataia.
We managed to get our long awaited photos of motos and Riders in front of the parque sign before the busloads of tourists pushed in, I thought the
strategy of some of the boys keeping the tourists occupied by having their
Chase truck
The case truck covered in snow. photos taken with them, while others finished their posing, worked very well!
We returned to Ushuaia to retrace our steps to our hosteria (we only took half the time to re-locate it - that’s without GPS!) and that’s where I leave this chapter, having some ‘time out’ before our evening briefing and another sortie into the town (I wonder who will get the Medal tonight?)
Hasta luego, Bones
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pj
non-member comment
what?
Congrats all. looks like a great trip.