I hadn’t been so nervous in as long as I can remember and I wasn’t even on my bike. My throttle had been replaced by a microphone and the road ahead by 350 Brazilian High School students. Vanir, their English teacher had heard about me talking to the kids at my friend’s son’s school and had asked me if I’d do the same for her senior school. When she said it would mean so much to them I could see in her eyes that she meant it and was obviously passionate about giving the students something new and out of the ordinary to think about; afterall “Nobody comes to Avaré”. I could hardly refuse but after saying I didn’t fancy repeating myself visiting 10 classrooms I inadvertently set myself up for addressing them all together. DOH! Public enemy No1 = Public Speaking! AAARRRHHH!!! Avaré. 250km west of Sao Paulo and home to 75,000 people, including my old schoolmate and fellow pub pool team player, Robert Adair (Bob). Back in NZ I’d received an email from Bob saying he was now living in Brazil with his Brazilian partner Cecilia and young son Jorge and inviting me to visit should I make it to Brazil. It took me a while but I finally made it…
Chapter 18 – South America-south
May 6, 2009
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Chapter 18 | Tagged: Adam Lewis, Argentina, BMW, Brazil, Carretera Austral, Chile, Colonia, Dakar Rally, F650, Motorcycles, Overland, Patagonia, Perito Moreno Glacier, RTW, Ruta 40, South America, Torres del Paine, Travel, Uruguay | 
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Chapter 17 – Seven Island Odyssey
January 1, 2009
East Timor – Indonesia – Malaysia – Singapore
After the third bounce I opened my eyes and looked out of the aeroplane window. “I’m in the wrong country!” was my first thought as I looked out upon four military helicopters adjacent to a temporary army camp surrounded by a tall wall topped with razor wire and machine gun towers – one of which was flying a skull & crossbones flag. The camp itself was set against a backdrop of large leafed jungle foliage and I thought I’d landed in Vietnam in the mid 60’s. I hadn’t of course, I was in Dili, East Timor or Timor Leste to give it its correct title. …continued in Chapter 17…
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Chapter 17 | Tagged: Adam Lewis, Bali, BMW, East Timor, F650, Flores, Indonesia, Java, Lombok, Malaysia, Motorcycles, Overland, RTW, Singapore, Sumatra, Sumbawa, Timor Leste, Travel | 
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Chapter 16 – A change of plan
August 4, 2008
Australia
Riding east from Kununurra I felt tired, very tired. Not only had it bee an eventful few days but I’d ridden 34,000 km since arriving in Oz last November and spent 160 nights in my tent. The pound sterling was weak, oil prices were soaring and as a result, since leaving Freemantle I’d been considering a different route to South America.
Finally, I decided I was ready for a change. Queensland was somewhere I could easily return to in the future if I so desired and missing it out now was no big deal. With my decision made I rode north to Darwin to plan my unexpected return to Asia. …continued in Chapter 16…
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Chapter 15 – Crossing a Continent
July 6, 2008
Australia
Autumn was making itself known as we rode out of Warragul. Not only were many of the trees turning various beautiful shades of red but the temperature had dropped below 20ºC; a far cry from last weeks barmy 40º!
The bikes felt particularly unwieldy with a set of tyres strapped on the back and 10 litres of water onboard ready for the Outback. Having got used to riding around on Trevor’s XR400 it was like getting out of a sports car and into a truck!
One by one the bends disappeared and the hills flattened out; we were well and truly on our way Outback. …continued in Chapter 15…
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Chapter 14 – Riding round in circles
March 24, 2008
Australia
Raised eyebrows followed by “Bloody Hell; you’ve seen more than us!” has become the de-rigueur answer when the Australian’s we meet discover that we’ve managed to ride 13,000km between Sydney and Melbourne – a distance of 892km! – Plus another 3500km on Tasmania.
For various reasons our tour of Australia has so far been restricted to the South East corner. Firstly we had to find a bike for Tim and then my sister came for her now annual Christmas/New year holiday. We also wanted to visit Tasmania but the biggest reason is that everyone we’ve spoken to has told us it’s just too hot to head out ‘Central’ until March/April.
Think of Australia…
…what pictures do you conjure up in your head? For me, I can see beaches’, the Outback, Uluru, Sydney Opera House etc and I think most people would be the same. Luckily for us, sandwiched between the populated coastal belt and the Outback is the Great Dividing Range. Stretching a few thousand kilometers from the outskirts of Melbourne up into southern Queensland, this mountainous (well… hilly!) divide is an often picturesque strip, full of National Parks (NP), rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and contains all of Australia’s mainland ski fields. The region is cris-crossed with logging tracks, dirt roads and 4×4 tracks that have given us a great opportunity to explore this under publicized part of the country; and well worth exploring it was to. …continued in Chapter 14…
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Chapter 13 – Back in the saddle.
November 11, 2007
New Zealand – Australia
Going Solo
With Danny’s saving running low he had no choice but to accept the offer of ‘job sponsorship’, made by one of a group of friends we’d made in Queenstown. ‘Sponsorship’ would grant him a visa extension, a work permit and a guarantee of 40hrs per week work. All being well, Danny will be able to save some money and join me again somewhere in Australia.
My visa however, expired on November 9th and I had a flight booked to Sydney on the 8th.
Milford…at last…
With my snowboarding gear packed away, my motorcycle panniers packed and my room emptied I was ready to hit the road again. The weather however, had other ideas and the night before my planned departure it began to snow and continued to do so for 72hrs. During this time more snow fell than had done so all season! The road to Milford (my next chosen destination) was closed through avalanches and so I unloaded my bike, unpacked my snowboarding gear and returned to The Remarkables for another three days (Coronet Peak had already closed for the season). …continued in Chapter 13…
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Chapter 12 – Winter down under
September 28, 2007
New Zealand
I’d ridden about 20km along the road to Jackson Point before I spotted the sign saying ‘The Craypot – Closed’. Bollocks! I’d been looking forward to ‘Fush ‘n’ Chups’ before pitching my tent by the sea. It was 130km to Fox Glacier and another ten or so to the campsite at Gillespies Beach and with only two hours of daylight remaining I knew it would be tight, but for some reason I really fancied camping by the sea.
After collecting a few supplies in Fox village I rode directly into the sunset and found the dirt road that wound its way through the forest for 12km to the beach where I pitched my tent under the moonlight. …continued in Chapter 12…
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Chapter 11 – Changing Hemisphere’s
July 2, 2007
Thailand – Malaysia
Missing parts…
“…Sorry, sorry, sorry…” gasped Garry the workshop manager at Autobavaria, Malaysia’s largest BMW dealer, as my hands tightened around his throat. Having ridden the 240km from Tana Rata in the Cameron Highlands to collect the parts for Danny’s bike I wasn’t too pleased to hear they hadn’t arrived. Having being promised the parts would arrive today I’d set out early to do the round trip in a day. Without so much as a toothbrush, let alone any ‘non-motorcycle’ clothing, I didn’t much relish the thought of spending a night in KL (Kuala Lumpur) but as always it’s what seems like a problem that turn into the best experiences… …continued in Chapter 11..
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Chapter 10 – 1st Anniversary: A year on the road…
March 18, 2007
Cambodia – Laos – Thailand
It’s hard to believe we’ve been on the road a year, for March 17th, St.Patricks day, 2006 was the day
we rode away from home. Where did it go..? Here’s a brief reminder… …continued in Chapter 10…
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Chapter 9 – Deja Vous…
January 28, 2007
Nepal – Thailand – Cambodia
Siem Reap, Cambodia, and our seventh suspension failure between us to date. Still, I can think of worse places to be holed up awaiting the arrival of a replacement rear shock from the UK for Danny’s bike. He removed the shock on Sunday to replace the same bush that had collapsed on my bike during the Rally Raid, only to find the ‘U’ bracket had snapped. Even if a ‘local’ repair had been possible, it couldn’t be trusted to last through the month ahead in Laos. Danny’s family sprang into action and his dad rummaged through his garage to locate Danny’s original (OE) BMW suspension unit (shock) which his sister had collected by DHL on Tuesday. At 1000 this morning (Friday) the red & yellow DHL man walked into our guesthouse brandishing Danny’s shock. It left us asking the question ‘Are we really that far from home…?’ …continued in Chapter 9…
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