THE END OF THIS TRIP

Back on dry land it felt good to push on but the weather was unbearably hot and after a while I grew tired of being sweaty 24/7 so I raced down the 2000 km to Brasilia. It’s an interesting city considering it was “planned” and built from the ground up as a replacement capital to Rio de Janeiro. But besides that it’s mostly just a city.. Let’s move on to Rio!

Long, straight roads. Day dreaming all day!

A few days of this and your will to ride slowly wanes.

Swapped out the rear pads again, know this bike inside out now.

Close to having a break!

Oil and filter change plus a new rear tire. Ready for the final 4000 km.

The 1200 km to Rio was relatively uneventful in that most of it was toll roads, which suck the life out of any road trip. Paying every 50 km. To add to this Brazil is by far the country with the most speed cameras I have ever seen, quite literally riding past 300 per day, basically every single kilometer. I wasn’t sure if they would come back to bite me at the border on exit... (they didn’t!).

I don't like big cities, but Rio de Janeiro has a pretty pimpin' location!

Hiking up to the lookout over the city there were many of this tiny monkeys.

Some a little bigger... and more aggressive!

That famous statue above the city.

First time back in a really touristy area!

Another monkey on the way down.

Rio's coastline is beautiful, unfortunately a cold front had moved in and it was raining a lot now.

After Rio de Janeiro I rode along the coast towards Foz do Iguacu...

Taking the coastal road to avoid the boring highway.

The Iguazu waterfalls are situated at the tri-border between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. On the Brazilian side I found the falls to bea tad underrated, but the bird sanctuary next door was soo good!

Flamingos up close, hilarious fighting ensued.

A type of toucan.

The classic toucan we all know.

Get ready for a lot of butterflies!

So big and pretty!

Another toucan, the photos really don't capture the vibrant colours of their beak!

Almost the size of my head!

More strange birds...

Butterflies at lunchtime.

The falls from Brazil.

A coati comes towards me thinking the camera is food.

More than 275 waterfalls in one heap!

View of the "Devil's Throat".

Yep, this is happening. Selfies.

View back down the gorge...

Alright, final border crossing! Leaving Brazil was easy, no check, straight on through with the stamp. Plain sailing all the way home now. For some reason the paperwork for my motorbike was taking a bit longer than usual on the Argentinean side. My Spanish is still terrible so I wasn’t quite understanding what the problem was, all I knew was they wanted another document from me... one I didn’t seem to have. I had already provided bike papers, insurance, licence and my passport.
¿problema? Turns out my last temporary import wasn’t processed correctly when I left for Chile a few months earlier and in the system my bike had never left the country (that’s illegal). Next course of action, impound the bike. Lucky I’m a charming guy and all was good, viva in Argentina! Seriously though it was quite lucky, I had no proof that I had left the country correctly but somehow the customs lady believed me.

I'm glad they post speed limits for the big cats.

The Argentinean side of the falls was absolutely spectacular! Rainbows. Rainbows everywhere. And you basically stand on top of the falls the whole time. A really worthwhile and immersive experience. Well the bike’s chain had started clunking, hopefully it makes it to Buenos Aires. Also weather forecast is looking shite!

First glance at the "Devil's Throat" from above.

Thought you'd gotten away from butterflies...

Gotta ruin a few nature shots with me in them!

Lots of walkways  along the top.

Not sure if they're bigger than Niagra, but they are even more fun to look at!

It was a cold and rainy ride for the final stint to Buenos Aires. Such a strange gut feeling the final 200 km coming to terms with the trip coming to an end. Well it’s not over entirely yet, still organising the shipment of the bike back to Australia (no this is not a financially wise choice but I have gotten attached) and the cleaning of the bike, getting ready for Aussie customs!

The route covered back into Argentina.

She's so dirty, this is going to take some time to clean!

Flooding has really affected Argentina and Uruguay recently.

I’m now living in Buenos Aires with an awesome biker I met while riding in Peru. Tying up the loose ends before returning home. I will update this section with how the shipment goes in a few weeks time.

- freight -

500 days away from home and on the road. 70,000 odd kilometres on the motorbike, 6,000 or so on ferries and small boats, about 1,000 by bicycle and I never counted the buses and trains. Too many countries to list, even more border crossings, 2 full passports. 1 flat tire. Hundreds of friends, blah blah blah the usual end of trip stuff haha! Here’s some photos to summarize.

Heading North in Australia, naive and without a clue!

Timor-Leste, still no idea what I'm doing. But it's pretty!

Indonesia, I'll be back here. But with a scooter.

Fun times in hospital after getting Dengue.

8 ferries took me and the bike from island to island.

The onion boat that transported the bike from Indonesia to Malaysia!

With Chris in Bagan, Myanmar!

The bike was popular in India...

Traffic was also a thing here...

The Himalayas, another thing I need to re-visit!

Pakistan was a bit of an eye-opener. In retrospect though.

The roads, the heat and the culture was all taxing.

Qeshm, the Southern island in Iran. Adventure paradise!

Camp on one of the mountains in Iran with some great friends!

Turkey was stunning, but I was ready for Europe! 

Couldn't kick the habit of camping, Croatia.

The Alps, winding through many small countries on my way to Germany.

The motorbike was on the ship to Chile, so I thought I'd try some cycling in France and Spain.

The first half, always looks easy on the map!

I made it to South America! Chile.

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia... some of the best camping on the trip!

Death road, Bolivia. Had a blast here with Freddy!

I rode together with my dad for 7 weeks through Patagonia!

Torres del Payne, truly amazing.

The best part of the trip was with my dad that's for sure.

So many quality times!

New riding buddies in Peru!

And more for some off-road fun in Colombia!

Down the amazon... not ideal with the bikes!

Almost 40,000 km in this one continent.

But when I lay it out flat I can see Africa just staring at me!

I’ll end it with this. People kept saying to me, why didn’t you do this or detour here or see this thing IT’S A ONCE IN A LIFETIME TRIP YOU SHOULD BE DOING EVERYTHING. All I can say to that is. I’m 23. If I want to go do it again, I will. Also it's impossible to experience everything, so just relax and enjoy.