Maya ... Craving Some Attention

So she got it, the bottom headset bearing a little rusty and beaten from 66000 enjoyable km.

I love wearing stuff out as that means new faces, places and fun!!

Having accesss to Moto Bius workshop was outstanding, we bought everything from him given he had supported us ... comes around goes around

Although the front bearings were ok as was most of the rear we took the opportunity to do the lot while we had access to the equipment and space to make the job easy.

We replaced the front and rear wheel bearings, cush drive bearings and the headset bearings ....so nice to turn without a notch off the middle ... WOHOH ... welcome back young lady.

The brown colour is less than ideal, a little bit of rust from water and muck

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Up the stearing stem

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Men at work .... (sorry Fiona no pump .. only greasy bits) Biu checking out her top while I looked up her skirt

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The bottom outer cup with a few rail tracks, not too bad but enough to make it grotty off the middle when steering

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So easy when you have the correct gear, Biu making very very easy work of it

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Hooking out the front seals to gain access to the bearings, new bearings, cleaned hub and regraesed everything ....million bucks

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We did the same for the back wheel which missed out on the photography session, we could not get a new seal here so put it back together nicely greased till we could get our new seal ... that later.

Pheww all this dirty talk and romance has made me thirsty .... time for a Rum or 10.

A huge thank you to Biu for getting us the parts and helping us change some and lending some space, Biu your blood is worth bottling mate.

Needing aprts in this part of the world? ... http://www.motobiu.com.br/

Finishing up after Maya was complete was the final time to say goodbye to Paulo, Daniel and Elizabeth, again thank you guys for your hospitality, local knowledge and treatment of total stranger now great friends.

Nossa casa é sua casa (Our house is your house), please come to New Zealand so we can reciprocate the warmth and welcoming.

Itacoataiara .... Getting Maya Sorted And The Final Visit

Friday night we left to head into Rio proper and meet some of Paulos frined and go out for Pizza ...alright!!!

Hungry?

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Rio was cool with cloud cover making it temperate to walk and sight see, Paulo and Elizabeth taking us around the waterfront on a nice walk finishing off with a very nice lunch which we took them out for in appreciation of all their help.

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I local bird along the way

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They love their paddle boards here

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The Saturday night weather caved in setting it up for a very wet and windy Sunday no incentive to drag Maya out for a cruze...in fact it rained cats and dogs some landing on the couch beside Ellen

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So one of the cats took fascination with our camera strap smooching around for some cuddles ...good times!!

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This is what friendship looks like

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The view of the storm fed day across Rio De Janeiro

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An opening in the weather ... the famous Cristo (Christ)

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Rio is a beautifil city with the abrupt rock surroundings, it was great to see it in sun and storms both having different aspects of beauty to add.

Itacare To Rio De Janeiro

Leaving Gali and Itacare were set to down the tar, we met up with Adriana who we had met at the Buzios Rally and stayed 3 days there again taking in some beach time.

On arrival Mrs.Garmin had sent us astray with 3 streets having the same name and both we had in were incorrect, we parked behind a white F800gs and the owner came out to greet us with enthusiasm which was cool, he contacted Adriana for us and few minutes later she arrived on her NX400 Honda to lead us back to her place.

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Ellen out on the reef

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The port area to Porto Seguro

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From Adrianas we again set off south down the BoRing 101, this unfortunately is a truck infested toll road however we needed to make some ground, our lower steering head bearing needed some work with the bottom bearing suffering 66000 km of hard work and starting to show signs of wear with a notch in the center so heading back to Rio to MotoBiu's to buy some bearings and seals from him as he had helped us prior, nice to support those that have supported us.

We decided to do front wheel, back wheel and steering bearings all at the same time and be done so this will see us to the finish of our trip. (that is awful to say )

Vitoria, a moto bar b q was on and we tried to find it but with no luck, the waterfront is huge so it was like trying to find a KTM in Brasil , giving up on that we took our turn inland via another national park which was a back road treat after the 101, we really wanted to turn right heading deeper into the park but we were sitting on the edge of a big rain and in the middle of a red clay soap road on 90% spent "tireds" ... most of the black bits that stick out already gone so we opted out to the main road for a short stint.

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I think there might be an election coming

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Again turning off we hit a very nice wee back road through to Nova Friburgo to Lumiar which was our destination, we wanted to catch up with Kamilla as well on our way through but she was sway so timing did not permit.

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In Lumiar we stayed at a hostal and the dude rode a Harley so was very welcoming, pictured here is Ellen and his good lady, nice people.

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Leaving Lumiar our destination was back to Paulos and Moto Biu to do the bearing job, as usual we could only get 90% of what we needed so had to order two bearings in to complete the order, no biggy, all off the shelf bearings so easy to get.

Getting sorted ... that next

Itacare

Mission was to find Gail, this time Mrs.Garmin was correct to the mm. Easy parking, easy to find, easy to our room.....the perfect landing which does not happen often.

Arriving early in the day meant we could use the rest of it for sight seeing and beach time talking travel, bikes and beach scenery.

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Check out this little dude

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The late afternoon sun with background cloud creating some spotlights to highlight the view, pretty neat really.

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Gail was still suffering an ankle injury from a small binning in Bolivia so an easy slow walk was in order and Gail enjoying being able to start and exercise it again after seeing a witch doctor / janitor / local surgeon / someone who nodded and said nothing broken....all in silence or Portuguese...the same really for us

Hitting beaches was cool, very relaxed place with a great feel to it and surfers making to most of the waves from the southern breeze whipping up a serving of fun for them.

Ellen busy taking photos again of young six packers relaxing, sorry Zoe it's not what your expected, the real Sexy packers will come soon.

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Discussing places to go etc saw Gail heading north to Lencios and us heading south to Arraial d' ajuda, for both of us a hoon down the tar.

There are guys on the beach with little coal fires from which you can buy grilled cheese etc, pretty neat

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It is a very tranquil place to sit, relax and take in the surrounding, we were not the only ones take a moment or two to appreciate our surrounding, also Ellen likes this tatoo

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As dusk unfolded so do the change light of the day with the added guest of a small rainbow lining the sky.

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The sunset finishing a great day of chats, drinks and amigos.

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