An eventful day indeed.

After buying my boots for the trip I decided to go for a run up the Rimutakas. On the road up the hill I am behind two bikers, and lo and behold they are Gareth and Jo Morgan.

To those who don’t know Gareth Morgan is an economist who nowadays doubles as a professional loud-mouth and worldwide gallavanter with his wife Jo. Their website is World By Bike and they have just returned from a tour of the USA. They were pretty interested in the trip and very positive about it which was great. Their advice? Get on the road early. Find your accomodation by 3 or so and then you have time to enjoy the places you’re going to. They report few incidents of trouble with locals/law etc. although did give a heads-up on a few of their mistakes. Nice to get the A-OK from some who’ve gone before.

On the hill I scraped my pegs suddenly - i.e. I veered over so that my new boots scraped the ground. This isn’t a problem except that I didn’t intend it to happen and almost got the wobbles coming back up. It turned out I had a puncture, and with tubeless tires a puncture means you are stranded. Thankfully my friend Pete has a trailer and enjoys taking my bike for a ride once in a while so was well disposed to helping me out.

It’s a little under three months before we depart… and the first step has been taken - vaccinations. Josh and I took a trip to our local Travel Doctor, to talk Rabies, Rashes, and Love-Bites (not an actual disease), plus other things of that nature…

All up, i’m getting shots for:

• Rabies - I was a bit iffy about getting this one, but considered that small, furry creatures tend to chase moving objects (like motorbikes). Having this shot gives you about 7 days to get to a major-ish hospital for the required anti-rabies jab(s). Without it, you’ve only got 48 hours - not something you want to have to worry about when your in the middle of no-where. In particular, our journey from Boa Vista to Manaus (300 miles through the Amazon) might be a little hairy if one of us is hit by a flying monkey… rahrg. (This is 3 shots, spaced over a month - $50 per shot so $150 all up)

• Yellow Fever - a viral disease transmitted by mosquitos, mostly fatal. It’s compulsory to be vaccinate before entering some of C/S America. They also give you a spiffy looking certificate to show off to boarder guards. I’m having this one last, as it’s a living culture of the disease (!), so your immune system needs to be in tip-top shape. Apparently on in two million people die from the vaccine… (One shot, $70)

• Hepatitis A / Typhoid - Pretty much mandatory, as both diseases can be transmitted through food and water. Hep A is the most frequent disease seen in travelers that is vaccine preventable. (One shot, $150, protects you from both for up to a year)

• Tetanus/Diptheria - To protect against any nasty crashes, scratches, or over excited love-bites. (One shot, $10, cheap and choice)

• Malaria - Transmitted by mosquitos that bite at night. Theres no vaccine against malaria, but it can be prevented by taking anti-malarial tablets while there. Depending which one we go with, we’re looking at $4 - $9 a week in tablets.

So far, Tetanus/Diptheria has been sorted, and i’m one shot into my Rabies treatment. Horray!

Hope you like the website, it’s almost finished - a few minor things to do still.

In budget news, i’m still trying to sell my Car, and my Guitar… the whole trip becomes viable as soon as I can pawn them off

Peace, Jonno B