Two Moto Kiwis Arctic To Antarctic May 2012...

[SkycamNZ]

Hey Andi... think you have demonstrated beyond doubt now that when your trip away finally comes to an end, you have a new profession awaiting you.... should you decide to settle down for 5 minutes or longer. The 'Travel Chanel' on Discovery and Swimsuit Illustrated are going to be tripping over each other to employ you as photographer. Come to think about it, get employed as photographer, and you will get PAID to travel!

Those shots in Campeche of the sunset, the moon, and others were GREAT!

Keep up the good work guys!

Pedro

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Originally Posted by SkycamNZ

Hey Andi... think you have demonstrated beyond doubt now that when your trip away finally comes to an end, you have a new profession awaiting you.... should you decide to settle down for 5 minutes or longer. The 'Travel Chanel' on Discovery and Swimsuit Illustrated are going to be tripping over each other to employ you as photographer. Come to think about it, get employed as photographer, and you will get PAID to travel!

Those shots in Campeche of the sunset, the moon, and others were GREAT!

Keep up the good work guys!

Pedro

Heya Pedro

Actually Ellen takes the girlie shots or I am just a perve ... ok if she takes them.

The rest of the stuff is a combo of us both but the street shot is mine as is the sunset and moon ... she got the girlie shot

[Two Moto Kiwis]

With the intention to get to Merida only we set off early as we woke early.

The road down in southern Mexico being superior to those up north we made it there in good time and easily.



We made the decision to carry on to Playa Del Carmen where we had organised a place to stay, that part of the trip was slower but we made it in off the road about 5.00pm.

Mrs.Garmin could not find the address so we parked up at McDees and had a cold frappe, a nice reprieve from the heat.

During the trip in the middle the temperature got up to 38 degrees C, luckily there was a small breeze to help dry us out.

We met our host there and she lead us back to her home.

Now it is time to organise oil and our trip to Cuba ... something that is a big unknown and we hear various reports from just go for it to people saying we will have VISA trouble etc ... time will tell.

Our first day consisted of going into town to see travel agents who were all closed as it was Sunday so we walked along the beachfront taking in the sights in the Gringo area.

Some amazing sculptures



Coupla neddies on the roof



Some very cool wind decorations that were seriously cosmic to watch rotating in the wind ... quite clever stuff really



Buildings here painted incredible colours



Being set up for tourists the food prices were higher so we went back three streets to the local food, better priced and more importantly far nicer.

Ellen wanted a swim so we decided to head back to “the zone”, we did this via a fruit shop so we took fresh fruit and freshly squeezed juices which were simply divine.

Sitting in the sun was very nice, Ellen piled into the water and had three swims, this girl got in the way when I was trying to photograph Ellen



Heading back to home base we took the wrong bus ... we have done that before.

Thankfully I had noted the house on the GPS and packed it before we took off so it was only a 1.7 km walk to home after we realized we were heading the wrong way.

Ellen knocked up some Chinese dumplings for tea yet again producing fine fud.

Day 2 consisted of getting back to the now open travel agents, as we can’t get on the Stahlratte till 14 June we either slow the whole thing down and take a better look around here or we fly across the Darien ....which is the expensive option.

Based on that we have decided to slow the whole thing down and spend three weeks in Cuba rather than the original week to 10 days, so 27th February we fly out to Cuba and return on the 19th March.

The rest of the day was getting oil for Maya and sushi stuff for us as well as a nice sit down at the beach to look at the scenery.

Day 3, change Maya oil and clean the clutch jet, the results far better than when we first picked up Maya and the filters were full of shit.

The sump magnet looking clean



Dry sump filter with some residue I suspect and hope is leftover from last time.



Bottom screen nice and clean



The filter a whole lot straighter than the original so no coolant damage which is a huge relief



Our reward was a trip to Akumal to do some snorkeling and a reward of a coldies afterwards at the bar.



Check out the cloud forming behind Ellen



Some coral with really cool pattens



Local fish hovering around ... he was at least a metre long .... mighta been 2!!



Some very ominous looking cloud formed and it came over black as a burnt sausage and you guessed it soon as we jumped on the bike to return home it started pissing down .... this was nice though as the temperature dropped and our visors got a wash.

On returning back to home base Ellen waved her magic sushi wand for tea then we packed down for Cuba.



Next report from Cuba ... see you then.

[Das_Schnellste]

Originally Posted by Two Moto Kiwis

Yeah sorry our camera was playing up, unfortunately is has been playing up right here in Playa Del Carmen ... maybe I should post these to see if our panel of photography experts can diagnose the two problems

Dibs on panel of judges!!!

[Shaggie]

[QUOTE=Two Moto Kiwis;20816859]

Just spent another 600 bucks on parts to fix fuckups and failures,



wtf?

what NOW?

[Shaggie]

Originally Posted by Two Moto Kiwis

.

We will get hime back, maybe not today or tomorrow, now it is a game, I will torment the fucker until he dies.

Plans are being put into place now.

MOST excellent sir....(rubs hands with malicious glee)


(cue Vincent Price laugh)

[Two Moto Kiwis]

[QUOTE=Shaggie;20820949]

Originally Posted by Two Moto Kiwis

Just spent another 600 bucks on parts to fix fuckups and failures,



wtf?

what NOW?

Oil return pipe split and nearly pumped our sump dry so we are replacing both the return and feed pipes .... those plus a number of other bits and pieces that have crapped out.

Hopefully there will be an end to the bigger stuff we will have a reasonable run soon, yesterdays oil change was good new so pretty happy about that

We won't have any problems for at least three weeks now

[dryden_rider_54]

Playa del Carmen and Cuba are a couple of the nicest beach areas. Normally at this time of the year I would be laying on one of those beaches so very envious.

Hope the bike troubles start to subside. Enjoy Cuba, it is a beautiful place with beautiful people.

[TwoUpTourer]

Originally Posted by ata

awesome pics in here
good luck for the rest of your trip
in

Ditto, again. My wife said 'No one can take pictures of sunsets like that!' but there's the evidence. First rate pics and report guys.
cheers
john

[TwoUpTourer]

Omg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(the beach scenes, the ones I didn't show my wife :)

[Two Moto Kiwis]

Wifi is next to impossible so we will not be updating any reports until we return to Mexico on the 19th March

Cheers Andi and Ellen

[dgeezer]

Hi, been following your trip all the way.
Was hoping you would choose to go to Cuba.
I travelled it in 03 for two weeks. No Gps and
bad road maps. But the people were always
friendly, except the fisherman near Bay of Pigs,
guarding their blackmarket catch.
Don't miss the little town of Trinidad, south shore,
and Cienfuego. Beautiful. Lots of horse and pony
carts. Fair winds, dgeezer, Che lives.

[Jesse Luggage]

Originally Posted by Two Moto Kiwis

Wifi is next to impossible so we will not be updating any reports until we return to Mexico on the 19th March

Cheers Andi and Ellen

[NCK]

So there I am on couch-surfing looking for folks to stay with on the beginning of my RTW down through Mexico this April and I start reading the reviews of this one guy and one of the reviewers seems awful familiar THEN I REALIZE IT WAS YOU TWO WHO REVIEWED HIM.

What a small world.

[Mike Ryder]

Hey what's up down there? The spot has not moved for a while.