Cafayate to La Quiaca

Leaving Cafayate we head out with plans to ride Ruta 40 to Cachi, we stop to refuel at the YPF but with no luck, an English speaking Argentinian on a BMW redirects us to another fuel station up the road and follows us there. After refuelling he advises us not to ride Ruta 40, 'very dangerous' he says and gives us a map with alternative routes which we reluctantly decide to take, but it is such a stunning ride along the RN68 we wonder if Ruta 40 could be any better?

New Zealand - 2

Auckland (20-01-2003) till Auckland (16-02-2003)

Perth2

G'day! How are yo going, luv? Should be allright, mate!

"Hey kennt ihr nicht Popey?" ruft uns eine Frau aus dem Auto neben uns zu. Das gibt es doch nicht. Das ist doch die Frau vom Graderfahrer den wir auf der Great Central Road getroffen haben. "Der ist jetzt zu Hause." Wir fahren die naechste Moeglichkeit ran und sie beschreibt uns, wo sie wohnen.

3. Grand Canyon

After Los Angeles the Grand Canyon and the Mountains of Arizona were a breath of Fresh Air
Left LA early, it took 110 kms to get out of Greater LA and for traffic to become less frantic. After that it was a geat ride becoming colder as the road climbed up from sea level to the stratosphere.
I stayed in Flagstaff, a very nice town and also very cold being at 2,200m this was to be expected. It was -4c (yes that is a minus in front of the 4) the first morning I woke up there.

Crash Bang Wallop

Once in hospital it was discovered that I’d punctured my lung and broken five ribs.Once the finer details of the relay team had been ironed out it was all systems go and everyone busied themselves with preparation. By the end of 2004 everything seemed sorted, the bikes had all been through Dave Lambeth’s fingers so we were all feeling confident that they would stand up to the challenge. We’d been doing a great deal of riding on and off road; we were frequent visitors to Derbyshire and were getting quite used to picking our bikes up after numerous falls.

Laos - 2

Vientiane (28-01-2002) till Lakxao (10-02-2002)

As we left Thailand and arrived in Laos there was a little tiny problem. If you do not use your head, you must use your feet (or in this case your bike). Martin left our pictures on the counter at the Thai side of the border (so across the bridge). There was no doubt about, he had to drive back and so he did. While we were waiting at the border he was driving the guards on the Friendship bridge crazy for they did not know what was going on. They tried to stop him before the bridge but his bike was too fast.

Many climates, in one day

From near the Amazon basin to the sea, all in one day.

We had stopped for a couple of days at a nice Spa town called Banos, which sits in the shadow of Tungurahua, which last erupted in May 2010.

The town is about 60km from the start of the Amazon basin, but as the hostel offered sauna treatments and thermal baths we opted to stay and play in the water.

15. Lassen Volcanic National Park

A Fairy Tale setting but the reality on a bike was Freezing, Foggy, and Wet,
I left Lake Tahoe early, great ride through the mountains, no traffic, overcast and cold with the altitude between 1200 (4000') and 1800m (6000') until I got to Chester which is at the base of the Lassen Park.
It started to drizzle so I stopped to waterproof myself further and fill up with fuel and give my rear end a break.
The road started to ascend steadily and kept ascending and it got colder and the roads got wetter and more winding and then the fog joined in to add to the excitement.

Karin Lepa & Peter Pond

So this is the beginning,so bare with me, as I learn this blog thing as I go. I am posting the intro to our trip for our initial blog, some of you have already read it, but every story needs a beginning, and this is ours.
Peter and I are the ultimate dreamers, especially whem it comes to exploring the world on our bikes, and this is part one of our fantasy trip. Stayed tuned.

So the bikes are happily bobbing there way to Australia via Singapore, or so we hope, and we plan to meet up with them in Freemantle on the 13th of Feb. and start the T.T. tour of Australia.

Pakistan - 1

Taftan (05-09-2000) till Islamabad (17-09-2000)

Crossing the border was so easy and relaxed. I was offered a chair when they were doing the paperwork of my Carnet (bike papers) and had tea as well. After finishing everything I spend the night in a hotel in Taftan the border town on the Pakistan side.

El viaje a las cuevas

Trip down to caves at Semuc Champey. The tour 'bus' from the hostel, get on and hang on. Single track dirt road winding around steep hills all the way!

The cave tour. All done by candlelight. In parts this involved swimming one-handed while holding your candle over your head, and jumping in pools while again attempting not to extinguish your candle. Followed up with swim in beautiful outdoor natural pools.

May 11 Katherine NT - Darwin NT

Katherine - Darwin 307 km (Kakadon't)
Total 10306 km
Average 572 km/day
There are 2 ways to get to Darwin, via Kakadu Nat Park or bypass Kakadu i.e. Kakadon't. Will do Kakkdu on the way back down. Confused?.......check out a map of Northern Territory.
Henk & Mike casually stopped to take photos of a bush fire on the side of the road, then saw it jump the road 50m in front of them. Time to get out of here!!