Day 174. Wednesday 19th February. Tennis Club Camp site. Brasilia to Lagoa do Samuel. Due west of Brasilia. 76 miles or 122k’s.

A nice camp site but for an idiot driving around at who knows what hour, without a muffler.

The challenge again, find tires. Raphael did his best to get some answers but with him communicating with others, who have no idea of urgency. An answer came back , we might be able to get tires by tomorrow or Friday? Or?

The problem is, Online advertisers, who do not have any stock, promote things they cannot supply. Or if they can, an address is needed and a delay inevitable. Jen got on the job and managed to find a Land Rover mechanic about 7 k’s away. Deciding to be pro-active, we dial his company into the sat-nav and find it quickly.

We find Patrick.

Filipe in Sao Paulo gave us his contact information but somehow we had overlooked searching for him.

Patrick, is very happy to see us, and we him. He is a great guy with a basic but adequate understanding of English. His workshop and parking area are full of Land Rovers. Defenders mainly and the occasional Discovery. He said it would take 5 days before any tires ordered, arrived.

What options? While considering my offer to buy his spare tyre, he sets about replacing the oil and filter and fuel filter. Checking all diff and gearbox oils and greasing all nipples.

Look at those tyres. Do you think they will last aother 4or5000k’s?

Once completed he says he does not want to disturb the tire rotation routine he has with his Defender, but has a tire of the right size, just not an All Terrain, with about 50% tread remaining. We decide to buy it for the spare wheel, and we will push on with the tires we have. As he does not have a tire replacing machine, we stow the tire inside Poki and set out, after lunch, for Varzea Grande, over 1000k’s away.

Brasilia, as Jen mentioned in yesterday’s blog, is laid out in the shape of an aeroplane. Perhaps a giant DC3. There is no way you can get the slightest hint of that, from the ground. The city is beautifully proportioned with endless green areas. In fact it’s often difficult to see any buildings at all.

Not this one though. We think it’s the Attorney Generals Office? Built in 2002. Again, you guessed it, designed by Oscar Niemeyer, who died in 2012 aged 104.

Sadly the roads are very badly effected by huge trucks. Some 30m long. That’s almost 100feet, and maintenance is not keeping up. !!!

Making plans for home.

Jen has been having dialogue with Martin, of IVSS in the UK, regarding shipping dates for Poki. We settle on 7th April for Poki to depart Montevideo, in a 20′ container. Brasilia is unfortunately going to be the most northern part of our return South American travels. We are looking forward to getting back home to New Zealand. Patrick urges us to go further north to visit the north east, for it’s amazing beauty. Yes Patrick, we would love that but it’s time for us to go home. It will be well over a year since we left New Zealand

Jen is also struggling a bit with the heat. She is also affected by biting and stinging insects. She is happy when we are driving but with mid 30 daytime temps, and strong hot direct sun, it’s less than ideal.

Tonight’s camp.

It’s very difficult to get out of the city and suburbs of Brasilia. Not because of the the roads but the sat-nav wants to take us south then back north and we want to stay on the BR 070 due west. It won’t do it, so we have to use google maps, on the phone.

The camp is beside a lake and again, we are the only occupants. Apart from the lovely location and adequate wifi, it’s expensive at 70R each, when we only paid 80R last night total and with far superior facilities. I don’t think we will be bothered by boy racers though!

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