Into Patagonia

Tues 26th & Wed 27th

Two long days of riding has me in Puerto Madryn. The roads have been very straight and featureless for hundreds of kilometres, much like some of Australia, but at least I’m feeling like I’m back in the groove, and the body is starting to get used to sitting in the saddle for hours on end.

This city is located in the eastern region of the Province of Chubut on the Atlantic coast, and while the weather yesterday was 32degrees and boiling!! With the liners in the suit I had to stop at lunchtime to get them out. Today’s been cooler and the clouds have been building, so there might be some rain in store to spoil my time here.

Puerto Madryn was founded on the 28th July in 1865, date of arrival of 150 Welsh immigrants aboard the "Mimosa" that called this natural harbour "Puerto Madryn" after Loves Jones Parry, who was the Baron of Madryn in the country of Wales.

The settlement became effective when labour provided by Welsh, Italian and Spanish immigrants, built the railroad from Madryn to Trelew. If the weather continues to blow up I might take a ride down to Trelew tomorrow.

Thursday 28th

I did go down to Trelew today but was very disappointed. I don't know what I was expecting (cute and quaint??) But it was another big town. Unless I missed the tourist trail completely. So it was 200km to see nothing.

The plus side was that I got back to Puerto Madryn for lunch, so I picked the best looking restaurant I could find and had the best meal so far. A nice rack of lamb with vegetables, half a bottle of wine, and some Tiramasou for desert. Just before I lef there were some wright wales just out in the bay, waving their flippers for about 15 minutes. The best steak I've had so far was in BA, but I can't eat that much meat that late at night. The restaurants here opened earlier (around 8 o'clock) But I just had a burrito in a mex place. There doesn't seem to be much variety here, no Chinese, no Indian. But in general the food is pretty good, just the timing is out!!







I've decided to leave tomorrow. The hotel is overpriced and not that comfortable, so I might as well make up some time and get down to Ushaia in the next few days. I think the most interesting part is going to be when I start following the Andes up the west coast.

Friday 29th

It was about 450km down to Comodoro, and it was very cold and wet for most of the day. I think the weather forcast is getting better for the next couple of days. There is not a lot here it's an oil town, but lots of shops and I found a Chinese Restaurant I might try tonight

I also ran out of petrol about 10km from the next gas station. I filled up in Trelew and pulled into a station half way in between but they weren't serving fuel for some reason I couldn't fathom. Anyway I miss calculated because I thought there would be fuel in the next place which I had plenty of petrol to get to, but no!! Luckily a very kind man in a ute gave me a lift to the gas station and back again. I'm going to have to be very careful on Ruta 40. I might even get a can.

Another 430 km day tomorrow down to Puerto San Julian. Hopefully not as cold, but I don't think the scenery is going to get any better. Patagonia is a lot like Aus in some ways, hundreds of Km of featurless straight roads. I met a lovely family in the hotel the other day who used to work as ski instructors in the USA. They've given me there number so when I get to Bariloche where they live I can give them a call.

No photos yet for this one as I can't get wifi conection in my room and I'm typing this in the loby, not the most condusive place for creativity!! But all in all life is OK and I'm enjying it.

As an update to Stans Bike, a little bending here and there and it was OK. He was very lucky as the crate looked a mess. He had to go through the insurance process though just in case the damage had been terminal. It's the Africa Twin in front of mine in the garage.

On The Road

Saturday and Sunday have been spent waiting. Saturday was full of bikers coming to see Javier to either just hang around and talk, or to work on their bikes, or to watch him work on their bikes. Either way a lot of talking going on, most of which I couldn’t understand because it was rapid fire Spanish. Lunch was also an interesting affair, with lots of meat and chips and salad. Stan and I were the only ones drinking beer though. All in all, a very pleasant day.

Sunday Stan and I caught the train back into the city and had a tour of the Government House. We had tried to go in on Friday when we went to pay the cargo company, but being a weekday and also a working day, it was a no go. It’s beautiful building, originally a fort from 1594, then a Customs building from 1857 when the latest masonry building was constructed. Today it is the centre of Government containing the Presidents office and a Museum. There are some websites that say you can’t go onto the balcony or take pictures inside the Presidents office, but if that was the case nobody was taking any notice and nobody was being told off by the soldiers/guides that take you round.

Monday will see if Stan’s bike is badly damaged where they have dropped the crate!! And I will know if it is to be Tuesday or Wednesday before I get the Wombat back.

It turned out that it was Thursday before the inventory system at the warehouse was closed and that the customs could then complete their paperwork.



I left BS. AS. around ten o’clock on Friday morning. Javier had told me about a place called La Posta in a town called Azul about 300km south. I arrived about three O’clock and was greeted by Jorge with a smile a mile wide, like a long lost friend! Although he speaks no English his daughter Penny speaks it perfectly, and was soon translating until each others stories had been told. Mi casa y su casa was the message and I was told that as it was a Friday the boys would be round later to party!!



I found the local supermarket, and with a bottle of Quilmes Bock (dark beer. They also do an excellent Stout) and a bottle of Malbec/Cabernet along with coffee, milk and cereal for breakfast I was set to go. The party was quite something. I was told there was usually around eight or nine people turned up, this Friday nineteen people were there!! And with one of them having a birthday on Sunday they were in a mood to celebrate early. Three large chickens appeared and were cut up to go into a kind of Paella type dish with rice and spices. Wine flowed and everyone had a good time.



I have to admit that I cut out early, Jorge told me the next day they finished up at around three O’clock in the morning. The next day (Saturday) I walked into the town to see the sights of Azul, like most Argentinean towns I am told there is always a central square with a church and some sort of town hall then the shops spread out from there.





I left Azul in sunshine on Sunday morning after saying goodbye to everyone who was there for the usual Sunday lunch Mate session. The ride today was only a short one but it rained a couple of times and was freezing!! A sign of things to come I think as I head further south. I had put the liner in my jacket but not in the pants The liner has the waterproof membrane in it) so I got a little wet and cold from the waist down!! I'm here for two nights so that mistake will be rectified the day after tomorrow. Also this village is on a dirt road, so the bike is now covered in mud along with my boots. The view is spectacular though of the hills around here so I'm hoping the sun will come out tomorrow.





I'm in the best hotel in town http://www.villa-ventana.com.ar/aguapampa/index.htm and I'm very pleased, it's usually $400 pesos a night but they let me have this room for $250 pesos (about $64 Australian) with breakfast included.

I'm finding it hard to get my head around the riding at the moment. It's hard to explain but on these big trips you settle into a mindset where you know that you have to do big mileages day after day, but I haven't got that yet, I'm still in 250km mode!! When I leave here I have a couple of big days ahead to get to Puerto Madryn so maybe that will help.

Buenos Aires

A fourteen-hour flight saw me landing in Buenos Aires half an hour before I took off on Saturday the ninth. A chance to re-live the day? Or just a Groundhog Day moment? Either way I was here, after a week of packing the container with all my worldly possessions, sorting out the shutting down of the rental house and finalising all the outstanding bills.





I had booked the first three nights at the Salar Soler bed and breakfast near to Palermo, which involved a forty-minute taxi ride from the airport. Although the driver seemed to be in way too much of a hurry, we made it successfully in what turned out to be very light traffic for a Saturday. It turned out that the Monday was a public holiday so the traffic was very light all long weekend. It became real on Tuesday morning!!

The next two days were spent playing tourist around the sights of Buenos Aires. Government House, the Cathedral, the Cementerio De Recalta (where Eva Peron is buried) and the areas of San Telmo and La Boca.









Day four, and another taxi ride, this time to Dakar Motos who were helping me with the importation of the bike, and who also let travelling motorcyclists stay in the back of the workshop if they have room. This was going to be home until I was reunited with the “wombat”





The last couple of days have been spent catching the train into the city to either go sightseeing again or to pay the $450 fee for the cargo company. The ship will be arriving on the 15th at around 15.00, with some luck the container might be unloaded on the 16th and I might be able to get at the bike and clear customs on the 18th or 19th we'll see.

There's a new page on the site for videos. I've just spent the last five hours editing and trying to post the first video. It's part one of the Birdsville Track adventure. I'll try to get part two finished and uploaded next week. This has been done on the desktop at home, what success I'll have on the notebook is anyones guess, I'll try part two on that.

Seeing it's my first attempt at video be patient and hopefully I'll get better as time goes on.

Three weeks to go and counting now, I've got my travel cards and some Argentinean Pesos, I've had my yellow fever shot (and a few more besides!!) and I've arranged all my insurance. All there is to do now is pack up my things and leave.

Then next big trip.

I arrived back in Australia on Tuesday 24th August, with the intention of booking the bike on a flight with QANTAS as soon as I could. I'd spoken to them the day before I left for England and the indications seemed good that it might only cost about $3500 to fly the bike and avoid all the hassle of putting it in a crate and shipping. Knowing it would be in the hold of the same airplane and that I might have it only a few hours after I landed was also appealing. A trip to the freight department on the Wednesday revealed the truth. No problem to fly it said the man as he got his tape measure out. “Don’t you use actual weight” I asked? “No” he replied “volumetric weight”. I let them go through the process knowing what the probable outcome would be (the 1200GS is not a small bike!!) “it will be $4700 without the top box” he said, and that was at cost!! It was clear flying the bike was not going to happen.

On the way home I called in to see my old mate Gerry Kerkvliet at DLR Freight in Tullamarine. He said that he would arrange the shipping ASAP to try to get it arriving in Buenos Aries on or around the 9th of September. He later that afternoon sent me an Email to say it would arrive on the 18th unless I could get it packed at the despatch yard the next day in which case it would arrive on the 11th!! Some quick phone calls and pr-packing spanner work on the bike saw us packed and ready to ship on the Thursday.













So that’s it, apart from packing and repacking to try to reduce the luggage to a minimum its Argentina here we come.

Time for an update

England was the same, the first week wasn’t bad, but then it was grey and damp for the rest. Good to see the family again, and good to catch up with old friends.

Thanks to Mike Larner who lent me his car for the first couple of weeks while he was away on holiday.





Also nice to see Mick Doringtons plaything this time, which acted as a very pleasant taxi to the curry house!!



An upgrade to business class for the flight from Dubai to Melbourne made it a little more bearable, Thanks Mum.

Dubai

I felt very pleased with myself; I’d had plenty of time to pack and get ready and even had a lift to the airport after having dinner with my good friends Jan and Mark. At the airport plenty of time to gather my thoughts, and I’d already checked in on-line. “Good evening, where are we off to tonight?”

“Dubai”

“Can I see your passport, please?”

“Yes”

“I’m sorry Mr Phillips, you were supposed to be here last night for your flight”

My world suddenly went into a spin of shock, surprise, and disbelief.

“What, what, that can’t be!!

“Can you go to the service counter and they’ll sort you out.,

I moved very quickly and desperately trying to control the rising panic within me. How could I have done this? How could I have been so stupid?

“Don’t worry Mr Phillips, a lot of people do this you’re not the first and you won’t be the last”

Somehow that didn’t make me feel any better about it.

“We’ll be able to put you on tonight’s flight”

Thank God for that, At least I was going to travel. They charged me $75 for the change of flight, but luckily waved the $150 fee for the no show the previous evening.
I got on board still kicking myself for making such a basic mistake, and settled in to the 7.5-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur and then another 7 hours to Dubai.

I’m sorry to say that the seats in economy on Emirates are no better if not harder to sleep in than every other airline, so I arrived at Dubai Airport very tired at about midday. An hour later we were through all the processing and luggage collection and customs and finally through to the taxi rank to get to the Hotel.

Wham!!! out of the air conditioning and into 44 degrees !! I knew it was going to be hot here, but when you’ve just left Melbourne in the middle of winter and step into this it shocks the system a little bit.

I checked into the Admiral Plaza Hotel, and go back into the comfort of the air conditioning. It’s amazing how much better you feel after a shower and cleaning your teeth. I went out for a walk to try to find some bottled water and coke to mix with the Bundy Rum I’d bought in duty free later on. I managed a circuit of the block around the hotel before I found a supermarket then gave up and went back. Neither the body, nor the mind was ready to cope with such a temperature battle. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing watching the ‘Bourne’ movies. I made it until eight o’clock before the eyes couldn’t take anymore and the brain shut down for the night.

I think it was about four o’clock in the morning when I woke up first. It seems that as I get older the jet lag gets me more and more. Breakfast at 07.00 and while I was stoking up for the day I thought I’d check if there was a tour that covered most of what I wanted to see in Dubai. They confirmed that there was but I would have to wait until 09.30 to see if there was anyone else, because there was a minimum of two people required for the tour. It turned out there wasn’t so just after 09.30 I headed out on foot to try to see as much as I could.

The Hotel was very close to the old part of the city and surrounded by all the computer shops. With instructions from the front desk and a free ticket to the Museum in my pocket I slowly made my way up towards the creek and the oldest area called Abra. It only took twenty minutes to get to the old fort, which now serves as the Museum, but the temperature was already 38 degrees!


It’s getting warm.

The exhibits at the fort give you a good idea as to the very rapid development of Dubai over the last century, but for all the glitz and glamour of the modern city it has become it’s still and trading based economy, with the feel of the ability to barter and bargain if you feel inclined. The old souk is very close to the fort and has been kept in the old style of building that had very tall chimneys to catch the breeze and act as cooling towers for the shops below, although these days that’s supplemented with air conditioning units.




The original air-conditioning


The old market

The next thing was to get across the creek to get to the spice and gold market. There are small boats that act as water taxi’s at various points along the creek and you only have to wait a few minutes before the next one leave’s and all for the princely sum of 1 dirum (about 35cents) As well as getting to the other side of the creek it allows you get a good view of the old boats called Dows, that still ply their trade from this waterfront.


The Dows that still work and moor along the creek.

The spice market is the same type of thing that Mike Green and I came across throughout Asia and especially in Istanbul. The smells are always amazing and “foreign” to our western noses, but evoke the feeling of being somewhere exotic.

I had a quick look around the Gold Souk but I didn’t want to buy, and after going into one of the air-conditioned mini malls within the Souk and finding it far more pleasant to be in than the 44 degrees outside


The gold business is obviously making a profit in Dubai!!

I started to head back to the creek to catch the water taxi back to the other side. Once there I soon hailed a taxi and returned to the Hotel to the welcome cold shower and air-conditioning to try to get the core body temperature down.

I left the next morning for the UK happy with the short time I’d had in Dubai, and still slightly dark with myself for not having the extra day there which I would have been able to fill quite easily. I’m glad I’ve seen the older part of Dubai before it disappears for good, although they seem to be realising that some of there heritage needs to be preserved for posterity.

Five weeks now in the UK which I never really consider to be a holiday. It’s nice to have some good beer, a good curry (which I think is now the national dish!) and catch up with the few good friends I still have there.