Long trip around South America and New Zealand

The following is the diary of a year long trip around South America and New Zealand on 2 XT600E’s called Elliot and Bog. Our previous trip lasted 8 months 2 up on a 2 year old Triumph Sprint in 1996. On that trip we travelled from Durban in South Africa through Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt, Israel and back through Europe. We decided to take a bike each this time and do more adventurous routes.

 We equipped the XT’s with 40 litre fuel tanks, oil coolers & tool boxes on the bash plates and heavy duty rear wheels.

We thought we’d covered all options…….

Lufthansa had lost our Carnet and took four days to send it to us, blaming a George Bush visit for the delay! We struggled to understand that one and took the storage excess on the chin.
Carnets were actually not needed after that until New Zealand. Considering their cost it makes you want to spit really!
Eventually we took directions from the guys in customs (who had have never seen the same map as ours) and  they were probably smirking as we left very overloaded and in a rush. Elliot promptly ran out of fuel. The tanks had been too thoroughly drained before crating and we ended up shuffling fuel from one to another and limping to the fuel station.

Customs had given us directions back into Buenos Aires and down an imaginary secondary road system. An absolutely manic road system with cars to left of us and buses to the right and on other occasions they chose to try our lane at the same time as us! Not good! We bailed out back towards the airport and veered off onto Ruta 205 - simply because it was on our map. After several wasted hours we eventually stopped in a nice roadside motel. Stick to our own opinions next time.

With 2 bikes and Sharon's sense of direction I always lead, watching the road, traffic and Shaz in my mirrors to ensure we keep together.

So it´s a bit concerning, then when I see her head disappear below the handlebars as she gropes for the reserve tank! I slow down expecting Bog to pick up within seconds - no chance, Shaz rolls off the road and I do a U-turn wondering what has caused the huge fuel consumption - of course, a 50 mile round trip 2 up shopping the day before is the reason for it all! DOH!

So its syphon time again with the cooker fuel bottle and we´re off again. A fuel station 30KMs later is a god's send - the attendants face as the pump passes 76 litres on 2 motorbikes is an absolute picture...second only to his look of horror watching 2 fully loaded bikes topple over immediately after. I really cannot hold both at once.

Stopped by the fruit and veg police this afternoon - but as we had no fruit and veg smuggled around our person the Police let us go.... have to bear that in mind when we come to county lines. (We were asked for an English coin by the police - can this be classed as a bribe?)

It was a good job we were stopped or Kevin and Julia Sanders (of Globebusters and Guiness World Record Holders) would have ridden past and missed us - Had a good half an hour catch up with them. They were into the last week of their 6 months tour before heading home to the snow. Their tales of customs mirrored ours. These Carnets would be a real pain when air freighting! Nice to have been told about the windy weather though guys!

Sharon's first dirt road is 100 mile round trip to see the killer whales at Punta Notre on the Peninsula Valde´s. The bikes are unladen and she manges very well - 30 in 3rd gear with a good run at 40 in 4th on the way back. The road is gravel - about golf ball size pieces - with hard baked earth beneath it. At its best when the gravel has been compressed by the tour buses. Unfortunately we are neither of us happy in sand (sand is for beaches not main roads! - Shaz) helpful when we´re camping among the sand dunes!

I asked her if the trip was worthwhile of the Orcas - Yes (Gravel - No). Whether she will get used to it is another matter as there will other opportunities for big style off roading. In fact that comes 2 days later when we detour to Punta Tomba to see the Penguins. The gravel is worse as it is deeper & looser. The wind and dust add to a gruelling 64km and 2 hour each way trip! Due to our late start and the time taken at Punta Tomba we are then forced to break both rules 1 & 2. As along the way we found Ruta 3 has no towns or villages worthy of a hotel for the last 200 miles. Not what it says on the map. But this is Argentina, the distances are extreme and clusters of humanity few & far between. In Africa there was always something or someone within a short distance, here the road stretches for miles in a dead straight run and the headwind has been relentless. The excitement comes briefly once a day when a corner is indicated, something to relish and with due reverence we watch it disappear in our mirrors until the next one the next day. But today has been different, the time is running away, storm clouds gather and darkness falls along with the temperature. The heated jackets are used but it is 2 very frozen bikers that arrive at Comodores Rividavia campsite at 10pm. The wind continues to beat us and concern over the bikes and fuel consumption as often we found ourselves at high throttle openings in 4th just to keep to 50mph. They must be taking a beating with the load they're forced to carry (and I've lost weight.....)

One of the important things about motorcycle touring is having a reliable mode of transport. You cannot always drop into the local bike shop for a certain part or a service and tune up. There may be no bike shop for hundreds of miles and they may have no more than a hammer and screwdriver to work with.
What takes hours or a couple of days can take a lot longer on the road.
Now you might be wondering why this subject has cropped up? Its a question repeatedly asked by family and friends prior to our departure. We were very confident in our reply, ¨"we always sort it out" or "something will crop up" or " we have very reliable modern motorcycles"

In 2 African trips neither bike has let me down, not even a puncture! and they were both British!!
You can guess where this is going can't you?
A Petrified Forest had its hand in it really, 130 million years in the waiting. Plotting for the day 2 Yamahas came to visit. The heat in this Jurassic valley and its 60km of dirt road slowly cooked the bikes beyond their design limits and eventually something had to give! 200km of headwind back on Ruta 3 left us stuck in 4th gear and Elliot cried enough! We limped into Puerto St Jullian with an oil consumption to keep Shell in business for days. It was a seaside resort with no real assistance to offer so next day, after coaxing Elliot into life (can't do any more damage to him now) we limped to Rio Gallegos with Elliot doing a fair imitation of a 2 stroke. A gentle blue haze blown away in the 40 mph head wind.
But fortune favours the brave or just jammy? Cold & wet we find SM Motors, the Yamaha & Honda dealership for Patagonia. A gentle strip of the engine revealed what we had already thought. Broken piston rings and a distorted piston. Ouch!
Leaving a very grotty looking Elliot in a pristine workshop (It really was so clean, so tidy - heaven) with his innards exposed we plodded off on Bog to find a hotel.
So now we know what to do if an engine breaks in the middle of no-where! You drop into your local Yamaha/Honda dealer and let a nice man sort it out. So it'll take a week or 2 but he will make it all better!
( Well that's what the nice man told us ).
Us? Well we'll fly over to Ushuaia and look out for Darwin & his origin of species............