Good Start-Tongoy in Daylight

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The 2011 Rocky Road Adventure got off to a frustrating start for me, as low cloud and fog cancelled my connecting flight from Kaitaia to Auckland to connect with my Lan Chile flight to Santiago.
During my Saturday BUS trip to Auckland courtesy of Air NZ, Hamish, our trusty House of Travel agent, delayed his social BBQ to get me a ticket on the next flight on Sunday.

Meanwhile, String, Robin, Diane and Wim all flew out on schedule, with Gerardo picking them up.
Paul was on the next flight, so we sat together and met with Gerardo for the transfer to Vina.
I went on Monday to pick up the others, but the flight was delayed for 4 1/2 hours, but Bill was there as was Hans, so we headed back to Vina.
Baz, Jan and Alan arriving later in the day.

So, with all the paper work completed on the Tuesday morning, we we headed off to the shipping depot to pick up the Motos.
There they were all lined up outside, ready for us.

The only problem was , is that I never gave the KLR key to String, and as I was not riding a moto, never gave it a thought, until we went to put some fuel in, "Where is the key?" Bugger it is back at the hotel in my makeup bag.........an hour later we returned to the depot, to find all the motos cleared by Aduana and everyone ready to ride.

Gerardo and I had a few problems to sort out, as I discovered that the tailgate hinge was broken, and we had to get at least one new tyre. The spare was pretty good, so we bought another new and replaced the worst one on the rear, we will need the traction in Bolivia.
After going from work shop to workshop, we got it sorted, all welded up like new.

After a great Welcome Dinner and a tearful farewell to Gerardo, we all headed NORTH to Tongoy, arriving around 3.30 PM ie in the DAY LIGHT!! (last year it was 3.00AM)

Today is a bonus day for getting away on time, so it has been very relaxed, having ridden into Coquimbo and a tour of Cruz del 111 Milenio.

We are now relaxing beside the sea in Tongoy.
Cheers,
Rosco

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Photos

Flying from Kaitaia
On the Bus in the rain

Hans and Bill
Arriving Santiago

Serious Stuff
Sorting paperwork at Enzo and Martina's

Revamped Ankara
It is finally finished

Broken Tailgate
Major repair needed

Street workshop
Gerardo sorting out the Tailgate problem

Citroen Workshop
They did a great repair job on the Tailgate.

Valparaiso
Bill just blending in

Local Transport
What you pay for on this adventure, 5 star transport

String
Aduana have cleared the motos, so lets go!

Alan
Ready to go

Sea Lions
Enjoying the relaxed life style by our Hotel

Our Hotel
String and Bill and the Sea lions...you work it out!

Jan
On holiday in Tongoy

Comments

[Raewyn]

Great start!
How wonderful that you saw the coast in the daylight! Well done! Have a great trip - love the photos! Travel safe, don't miss Gerardo too mucho! Love, Bones

[Dave]

Finally !!!
Glad to see Bill finally on another adventure. Good for you guys. Enjoy and be careful. Well, back to preparing tax returns.

[peter]

blog
well done ross look forward to the next blog regards peter