TRAVERSE Issue 16 - February 2020 | Page 31

for a few days so we could do some much-needed bike maintenance. An island of hotels and resorts, I’m sure Florionapolis would be insane during the summer season. Off sea- son definitely suited us as we ended up with a third-floor apartment, close to Ingleses beach with a view of our bikes, air-conditioning, full kitchen, balcony and lounge area for AU$25.00 per night. Sometimes this budget travel lark does produce welcome surprises. The days flew by. The bikes were happy with their new brake pads and clean chains, while Kelvin had man- aged to temporarily fix his exhaust. We also finally found one usable cash point. Then it was off again! We moved inland to a tiny town called Urubici and a biker hostel called Motogaragem. The landscape was beautiful. On arrival at the hostel we met a lovely couple called Luciano and Nathalia and another called Jussiê and Carina. Later, the hostel owner sat us down with some fresh coffee and gave us stickers and invited us for a compli- mentary breakfast. We made plans to travel onwards with Luciano and Nathalia for a day. Luciano had been riding a lot of the backroads in the area on his GS in preparation for the GS Trophy. We were looking forward to a bit of off- road action again, although Kelvin’s bike was barely up to the challenge with the bouncing shock. First stop was Corvo Branco. A public holiday, the traffic was crazy, yet it was an amazing place to meet fellow bikers, in fact the whole day was! We then made a quick stop at retro gas station Posto Serra Azul where there was a huge Harley (Davidson) group gathering before heading off to São Joaquim National Park. The ride through the National Park was truly beautiful and best of all, no-one else around. The roads TRAVERSE 31