Shane´s crash

We have made it to the mainland of Chile, 280km since we last wrote (700km in total). Absolutely stoked to meet Sophie at the airport Punta Arenas- all in a pretty intoxicated state! We tried to hide from her and play a trick, but typical Sophie was way too cunning!! We set off the following day loaded with food...Sophie riding amazingly well after a two day multi-sport event in New Zealand and a long-haul flight as recovery! Our riding was interrupted 20km out of Punta Arenas by the first serious injury of the trip. Shane, trying to prove himself as skilled as Soph, attempting no hands riding down-hill on the gravel with heavily laiden Bob (the trailer on the back). His tumble resulted in a pretty nasty laceration just below his right knee. With 3 out of 5 of us being doctors, this didn´t prove to be a problem. We were all in agreemeent that stitches were required. As Anna anxiously looked out for an ambulance we set to work with some local anaesthetic, a needle, fishing line and some Kiwi ingenuity while Shane smiled bravely and filmed the whole thing!! We were pretty happy with our handy-work and Shane´s knee seems to be healing well.

The riding has been alot better over the past few days. The scenery is more interesting with lakes, rivers and mountains as our back drop. We have had a few tail winds and it is an awesome feeling to be riding with ease and getting a few k´s under our belt. We have found fantastic camping spots every night. Last night was an absolutely magical sunset with rainbows and an ever changing sky in the long twilight. Today we rode into Puerto Natales, the closest town to Chile`s famous Torres del Paine national park. We are planning to ditch our bikes for 5-6 days and head into the hills for a tramp. We´re all really looking forward to being in the mountains and doing some walking....