Tierra del Fuego - Fin del Mondo

Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world; the climate seems to be cold or colder, windy or windier, and there are about 19 daylight hours a day here at the moment. I’m holed up here for a week, waiting for the next leg of my little adventure.

It’s a big port on the Beagle Chanel and looking across the islands, it appears to be just a drab windswept landscape; treeless, where little could live.....olive green and grey, with just a touch of bronze.

Wendy, Gordon (an hilarious Canadian /Hong Kong Chinese guy) and I took a trip in a little converted fishing boat, out to the islands, and they are bursting with life. 

Our guide Carlos with 300yr old moss

Our little boat on the left

Huge colonies of cormorants and seals, surrounded by the most amazing huge floral kelp.

  

A hike over the hills revealed a burst of life and colour....

an extraordinary pallet of reds and yellows, orange, greens and grey......lichens clung everywhere to rocks, grew through ancient mosses. 

The ground was covered like patchwork with hardy little shrubs of infinite colours and textures........

bleached driftwood washed up everywhere.....

A scramble down a hill side took us to a cormorant nesting site, their nests cemented impossibly onto the cliff side with iguano.

The end of the earth is a stunningly beautiful place, brimming with life.........

Sailing and South Orkneys

21st:

We sneak between two lows on the unexpectedly calm Scotia sea. - The weather is so good we may be able to do an unscheduled landing on Sth Orkneys, depending on beach conditions. Very few people ever come here….

Got to know lots of interesting people on board…some young, most  older, retirees, wildlife junkies… Canadians, Israelis, Americans, Brits, several Hong Kongers, Aussies and the odd Kiwi. Lots of "birders" and camera buffs, forever toting massive lenses and tripods. Some have had several Polar trips. The Dr, Robert is from Christchurch - working hard at preventative medicine on the slippery rocks ashore 2 days ago, dreading a fractured hip…

Lots of talk of animal welfare and global warming …. the scientists on board say deal only with the facts, the data, and always check the funding behind the source… 

Facts: seal and penguin populations are exploding, glaciers on Sth Georgia are retreating; ice is growing on the Ross sea side of Antarctic, diminishing on the western side of peninsula. The earth's tilt is increasing. 

09.10 - site our first iceberg. Soon become quite blase - as we round the north of the Sth Orkey Isles they're everywhere, and they're awesome. 

Shingle Bay - they haven't done a landing here for 8 years. Huge glaciers fall into the sea on one side, thousands of Adelie penguins line cliffs on other. And it STINKS… the iguano, pink from eating krill has been squirted all over the rocks, and the chicks are pink from living in it, waiting for parents to come back from the sea. In 10 days it will be deserted, the cycle will repeat next year…..
Hard to stay on deck to watch... biting wind is literally laden with ice and stings our face as we watch them unload the scout Zodiac. A light dusting of snow starts coating the hillside.
The landing does go ahead though many decline... we roll back and forth in big swells as the ships crew work hard manoeuvring her for 3 hours in the swell while Zodiacs are loaded and unloaded. The mudroom is awash with water when I get back so at least one swell must have crashed through. There are many aborted attempts to bring Zodiacs alongside, and a few so nearly fall into the drink… it's all about timing. A woman dislocates a shoulder. I bet Scobie a beer he couldn't keep us dry in the swells and I  lost. He's a crafty old sailor…

Dining room is just below the bridge and has panoramic windows…. massive tabular icebergs  (new word for today - big square sheer blocks) float past as we eat - we all wonder where the other 7/8s are and thank God for sonar….a lot of empty seats tonight the big seas, but I just love it….not a hint of sea sickness.

The Last of South Georgia

18th:

Calm seas, fog lifts - land in Godthul Bay, site of an old ship based whaling operation. Climb through the tussock grass and pesky fur seals, high up to a lake. Gentoo penguins colonies all over the hillside; we startle a herd of reindeer. A life and death struggle mesmerises everyone - penguins trying desperately to defend a chick from 2 skuas. They maul the chick 3 times, but can't fly off with the weight. Soon it's just the parent doing battle alone. The skuas win…..

A giant  petrel lopes awkwardly downhill, trying to take off, but onlookers impede his flight path.

2 sooty browed albatross soar together in a courtship dance…

We sail south to Malki; first glimpse of bergy bits (that's the real name!) and then a small iceberg. Huge glaciers meet the sea, one sliding in and the other a sheer cliff.

Proved yet again that Gortex is really waterproof……another wet ride in the Zodiac, thumping over the swell. We crashed onto a beach, bits of melting ice amongst the seals….I 'm hooked!! Penguin enthusiasts were looking for Macaroni …..we saw lots of elephant and fur seals, and Benoit, the French Canadian and somewhat fey kayak master, leads us up the slopes following path of reindeer. He reminisces about his time with the Inuit…

19th:

 Awesome day!!!! Apologies to David Attenborough. Not Richard who did the docos; this is so surreal - like living in a movie. I wander round trying to take it all in, composing my blog in my head….and catch myself mouthing the words….talking to oneself = crazy lady! Surprise, surprise…..

We start the day at St Andrews Bay; huge swells as we board the Zodiac and a few people have icy water fill their boots on the loading platform as they sink in the swell. Colonies of penguins everywhere, pesky fur seals dotted all over (one does not argue with the males), and huge 6000lb juvenile male elephant seals chest thump (like AFL players). practising to "dominate".  Apparently once they reach the pinnacle, they only have one season to prove their worth protecting their harem before they run out of oomph and energy. Not surprised!  Julio, a burly, bearded Chilean and the expedition boss, sits like Neptune on a rock, watching over proceedings.

The hut is a summer base for scientists - Frank Todd, (Mr Penguin - he has more time for them than humans; built the penguin enclosure at San Diego zoo).. spent a month here 20yrs ago. It's very basic, well stocked with supplies …and whisky.

Afternoon brings us down spectacular coast, more jagged peaks and glaciers framed in amazing cloud formations, absolute sunshine….. the Gap crew say they have been down here and not been able to do one landing! In Cooper Bay, we're treated to a Zodiac ride right amongst the rocks and seals and giant kelp…. a seal with fishing net around his neck… hundreds of Macaroni penguins squawking and preening on the beach and cliffs. There are no words left….

We finish the day cruising up a fiord and having dinner surrounded by sheer cliffs, glaciers and little bergy bits dotting the water. Get a chance to watch this from the bridge as the ship does a 180 and heads out the fiord. We say goodbye to incredible Sth Georgia in a beautiful fading icy light. Everything is becoming blue and black and white; No more green.

2 - 3 days of open sea ahead, down to the Weddell Sea in the Antarctic Peninsula......can't wait to put photos to this.

SOuth Georgia

16th:

Blue sky, calm seas, 6 deg and unbelievable wind as we sail along coast of Sth Georgia. Stunning craggy snow capped peaks with sheer sides covered in scree, fall straight to the water.

Easy Zodiac landing to the old cemetery and Shackleton's grave, surrounded by "juvenile" Elephant seals and fur seals with pups. Penguins and seals ignore us as we stroll past rusted out boilers and vats, windlasses and decaying old jetties. A rusty whaler, harpoon gun on the bow, lies beached  and silent, but somehow sinister. The old baltic pine church is beautiful; prefabricated in Norway, complete with library full of well worn books, wood heater. 3 crosses on the hillside are a memorial to young 22 yr old troops stationed here after the Falklands war. Bored, and after too much drink, they thought they could swim out to a buoy in the bay….

Way too little time in the museum, replete with a replica of the wooden lifeboat  "James Cairn" in which Shackleton and his men made the trip from Elephant Is to Fortuna Bay, east side of Sth Georgia. This afternoon we retrace their steps overland from this to Stromness, another whaling station. It's a 5.5k walk up over the peninsular's spine. They did it in winter……

Alas 40 kt winds prohibits our landing; we sail around instead, to a bay with 2 eerie deserted Norwegian whaling stations, Stromness and Leith, ghost towns of rust and ruin. The Falklands war apparently started here, when an Argentinian company was given rights to salvage metal……. 

We're not allowed within 200m of these old settlements, so great is the risk of flying iron. What a shame these places weren't preserved for their history… It's all part of the Antarctic story. 

We walk amongst the seals, penguins and introduced reindeer, back up the braided creek to the waterfall that Shackleton had to negotiate in winter. Terns are nesting in the exposed rocky creek bed…… clearly there are few predators. We walk back in the late evening gloom; a wonderful long soft light that seems to make the world glow pink. A few people fall in sink holes or seal wallows, shit up to their armpits. The smell is just awful!!

Back on board and up to the Polar Bear Bar - two great musicians among the crew, Jeff and Roger jam away on guitar and keyboard. They warn us that tomorrow will bring a strong north wind, and the landings may not be possible….

!7th:

We sailed NW overnight, and wake to find ourselves anchored in a millpond! No wind and 8 deg. This is the Salisbury Plain, square km's of wildlife as far as the eye can see. It's like walking into a Richard Attenborough documentary. This is the home and breeding grounds of the King Penguin, estimated 80,000 pairs. 

Words can not describe the wonder of this place…pairs dancing a courtship ritual; brooding birds giving us a peek now and then of their egg as they preen; year old young are balls of fluffy brown down; miserable moulters huddled in groups (they starve for 3 weeks while they moult); fledglings flapping their wings as exercise before they launch off in to the sea. Squabbles and fights break out, beaks clack, wings slap, and everywhere the constant trumpeting of adults, chirping of the young looking for food… How do they ever find each other? The smell and the noise is unforgetable..

Everywhere are fur seals; bulls protecting harems, nurseries of the cutest little black pup.  Adults are extremely defensive, and launch themselves at you if you get too close. Giant petrels fight with gannets over an unfortunate dead seal, a petrel chick sits unguarded in it's nest……. everywhere is a story of life and death, and a cacophony of sound, languages and instincts we will can only imagine…..

The temp drops suddenly to zero, and soft rain starts as we head back to the ship. Two hours sail takes us to Prion Is, the nesting ground of the wandering Albatross….

I'm in the second wave of groups to land - we've seen the others come back soaking wet from heavy rain, and very cold. There's a huge swell as we get into the zodiacs - you have to get the timing right. We skim and thump through a sea of giant kelp, seals porpoising around us; past craggy rocks awash with fur seals and slimy kelp. 

Scobie, a weathered Aussie with a Manchester accent , 40 something years is the Antarctic and man in charge of Zodiacs, designed and built the boardwalk here. Good job. Seals hop and flop in front of us as we climb the steps - there are hundreds, mainly pups, amongst the tussock grass. We're more fortunate with the rain.

Atop the hill giant wandering albatross nest, oblivious to our awe…. Almost supercilious.  They stretch and yawn occasionally, preen a little. A couple land (badly), one struggles to take off, awkwardly….. they need the height and the headwind…..

We're halfway home in the Zodiac when news comes that they have to reposition the boat. The weather is deteriorating rapidly…. we cruise around for a while, in freezing horizontal rain, then go back and wait on shore for the go ahead.

Metre swells on the way back. I'm in the front; we crash through waves, dumped with icy cold spray. It awesome fun, freezing fun (and I can think of another f word to put in front!!)….

And then….. we even saw a couple of (Southern Right ) whales, tails in the air as they dived. We're told in the debrief, that we're extraordinarily lucky to get into all these places, and I believe it. Very blessed…

The Expedition

9th January :

Moved into Ushuaia hotel - my roomy is Wendy Peeters, a thirty something Canadian, and just lovely. They put us together because they thought we might be related! We have in common an unbridled enthusiasm for what we're about to do and hardly sleep, either of us!  

10th starts with some Spanish language footage of floods in Lockyer Valley and Toowoomba, and I feel prickly all over. I went straight to the net  and am gobsmacked. i'm having such a good time here and there's so much chaos at home!…..

A trip to beautiful Tierra del Fuego National Park in the sea meets fresh water in a myriad of islands, towered over by Andean mountains. The forests are beech, lichen is everywhere. It's the "Fin del Mondo" , the end of Route 3, Pan American Highway. It's dirt road here, and a very long way south.

Our guide is Teresa , a local who's studied science and is full of enthusiasm for what she does (and sips on her mate constantly!) She helps her family run a hostel, but most income is from guiding. She has a great sense of humour and a pragmatism for what life is for her and Ushuaia now (she hates the casinos!)

We finally board our ship MS Expedition. The crew is multinational and super friendly-  Ukranian tech crew "wis big accent", Brazlian and Philipino hotel staff; the enthusiasm of the naturalists/biologists/ historians/adventurers come zodiac drivers and admin staff is contagious. We have "mandatory safety briefing" (delivered  wis big  accent!) and shown how to don life vests and thermal survival suits, and which survival capsule will be our saviour if we abandon ship; we're fitted for wellies  in  the "mud room" and assigned Zodiac stations. Ours is "Scott", but there's no question about our  return! We are advised to take sea sickness tablets if we have them because we're heading out to serious ocean. Wow, this is serious and REALLY happening! 

And it does have serious waves! We sail out the Beagle Straits, rock and roll through the night. It takes a while to get used to the rhythm and the groans of the ship, but I sleep really well…

There are many green faces the next day. My new cabin mate (Julia from England)is very nauseated. Lots of sleepy people from sea sickness tablets. So far so good for me though - I love the soft-kneed crab walk we have to do as we plough on west to the Falklands. Our sea legs are growing!

With the wind chill factor it's about 0 deg out on deck as we watch giant petrels and albatross ride the winds in the ships wake, ever vigilant for food, or just cruising. They remind me of Choo's  Zagi model plane, soaring and sinking, never flapping.100,000 a year are lost to long line fishing.he day is full of wildlife lectures and briefings as we head for our first beach landings amongst the penguins tomorrow, on Westpoint Is in the west Falklands tomorrow.

I just read a bulletin posted in the library about the missing, the dead, and the impending threat to Brisbane. Oh God this flood is happening…

Bought some very expensive internet, read the news, and emails from kids, friends. All the family are safe; worse than 74, Choo is trying to check on my place; Toni Bardon and Jan Peach have lost their homes…. I feel a growing dread in my stomach…..I live on the river…New Farm is evacuated… Nana has food, on top of the hill in Auchenflower ……and my internet runs out trying to watch news on video….

It's 11 at night, I am on my way to the Antarctic, and there's nothing I can do except try and get some sleep. Do I laugh or cry?? 

The photos are in the garage…..surely I'm high enough….what about the tenant….it's going to be a long night……….

11th Jan:

Slept till 3.30.   What's happening at home?????

Can't get internet working so crew offer to let me use sat phone, but no mobiles, no landlines answering. What would I do if I did know anyhow? Nothing except keep heading for Antarctica. Crazy really…I learn the peak will be at 3pm our time.

Go chasing penguins instead. It's a great diversion. 

We have our first Zodiac trip to West Point Is, a working farm. A hike over the hill, past an old shearing shed (fresh bales of wool inside) brings us to a colony of Albatross - thousands of them nesting on cliffs, nurturing their chicks. Columns of little Rockhopper penguins, troop up to drink and bathe in a fresh spring. They squawk (or was it bleat, or hee-haw); they spat and preen and yawn and then waddle off in a line amongst the high grasses back to the sea to their nests or the sea. Albatross soar around the cliffs, then come in "on approach", feet down as flaps, for uncontrolled landings amongst thousands of birds.  

The afternoon we zodiac off to Saunders Is - windy, sunny, a pod of black and white dolphins accompanying us;  exhilarating! On shore are penguins as far as the eye can see, thousands of them, four types. Not sure with the penguins and people who's watching whom. They are incredibly approachable and curious. Thousands of young, some lying prostrate and panting in the "heat", waiting for parents to return. The chase of the young for food is comical.

4 sorts of penguins here cover acres; the Gentou on the beaches, agile rockhoppers cover the cliffs, Magellan waddle up steep hills to burrows, dotted amongst grazing sheep. Even a small colony of King Penguins in a moulting stage. 

And they share this with predators and carrion seekers, with Upland Geese, and defensive Skuas swooping and pecking to defend their chicks. Even the crew are blown away; they don't want to leave. We decontaminate in the "mudroom" on board and set sail O/N for Stanley, Falklands capital.

13th:

I wish I was getting more news of home, and wake early, go on the freezing, wet deck to watch approach to Stanley. An email from Choo tells me my house is OK , but the garage had some flooding. I'm one of the lucky ones, but hope my photos are OK. Belinda on board lives in Dixon St , Auchenflower, on the 3rd floor, and is worried sick. We know the power is out in huge areas, we hear of rising death toll, the devastation in Grantham. We both wish people from home would/ could write!

Stanley is a surprise, a bit of a time warp; very British, perfectly preserved  accents; and it's own pound currency; old Landrovers everywhere, and a huge residual anger about the Falkland War in 1982. There are still 25,000 uncleared land mines here, mostly on the beaches and around the capital. 

We have to stay at the dock - the wind is above 30 knots and too strong to pass through "the Narrows". After 2 hrs we sail in to white caps, out the narrows, and the PA tells us the sealion is on the starboard side. It proves to be a refuelling tanker.

This is a bonus - manoeuvring alongside in rough seas is extraordinary, skilful, tense for the crew on both ships. The refuelling takes 3 hrs, during which we're informed and entertained with more lectures.

We secure everything for a rough night ahead on our way to South Georgia, but the seas are kind to us. 

14th:

We're entertained with tales of Shackleton's feat, as we set out to follow his path. Note to self: get BBC series; extraordinary feat

Learned today Robbie's kindergarten is inundated - devastating after 30 yrs there. 2 ladies on board are desperate for news, but the internet is unreliable and hideously expensive. Will try and blog regardless, and add photos later. Wish people would tell us what's happening…..

15th: Still at sea, heading for Sth Georgia. Crew all comment on good weather. Fill the day with briefing about biosecurity for landing at Grytviken, an old whaling station.and Scientific base at Prince Edward Sound. Vacuum our backpacks and outer wear, disinfect our boots. Rats a huge problem here. 

Thanks for all the emails - extraordinary spirit there it  would seem. Just can't imagine…Apologies if I don't answer - difficult with au.yahoo. Blog is way easier

Ushuaia

For some reason, this is not what I expected.
I had in my head a pretty town, lots of pines, nestled at the foot of amazing mountains, overlooking a myriad of islands; like Vancouver Is I guess. 
But this looks like a frontier town. North to Alaska upended, and SO dry. Tried to establish from a local whether this is normal, or the flip side of the Oz floods and El Nina, but my Spanish phrase book lets me down.

The old Ushuaia

And clearly Ushuaia was home to only very hardy souls supported by the port until the tourist trade took hold. Tin shacks and tiny weatherboard houses (with gabled rooves) and commie looking concrete houses are rapidly being surrounded by "Alpine" twee (with gabled rooves and stacked stone). Unpaved footpaths, dirt roads in lots of places.... John Wayne could be just around the corner, propping up the bar!

The local store near hotel

And then I found the main street.... Duty Free and outdoor shops, casinos and worst of all, tons of tourists wearing Gortex. Then I realized I have just bought all this gear!!


Memo to self: do not ever get involved in a discussion about the degree of warmth provided by your thermal underwear under your quick dry travel pants!!!

The new Ushuaia

Some unhappy campers here too

I really lucked in with the hostel I found on the net - Hostal Calafates, in the old part of town, very basic but very friendly, family owned. Lucky - it will be home for a week when I get back from this Antarctic expedition. Only locals staying there, and no English except for Ady who runs it. She had one of the other guests give me my first taste of mate (a bitter herbal concoction the locals are addicted to) -  great hilarity with my reaction.

I love this town; the people are really friendly. It's a Queenstown in the making, and good luck to them with the prosperity that will come with it. Somehow I'm glad I'm seeing it now though.

Home for the next 3 weeks - little one in middle

So excited I can't sleep.... set sail tomorrow

Bueno Aires

Big, beautiful, bustling, baroque. Very European in flavour, but faded, jaded. Avenues of trees everywhere, hints of Paris. Huge monuments and wide boulevards dedicated to past glories, many a vagrant sleeping in their shadows, washing themselves and their clothes in the fountains. Grand statues are weathered and graffitied with defiant slogans and bird droppings.

Bathtime in the boulevard

I pound the pavement, my head full of Lonely Planet directions, trying very hard not to look like a tourist (duh - I really do blend in here!)...but an hour on foot leaves me really feeling comfortable in this city.

Casa Rosada

Casa Rosada, and the famous balcony of Eva Peron's speech 
the bustling Av Florida, full of shoppers, businessmen, tourists and tinkers, buskers and beggars
the Catedral, so Spanish, so OTT, but frequented by many, (mostly men, often young) "paying a visit" and crossing themselves on their way to work
the beautiful Teatro Colon, long past hey day of theatre.... 







and the Galeria Pacifico, a shopping mall with Sistine Chapel like ceilings, same shops you find worldwide, but arguably the world's most beautiful Xmas tree.

For a self-confessed fundamentalist Xmas tree aficionado, it was really out there; 10m tall and covered only in 50mm Swarowski crystals and fairy lights. The bar is now set very high; at least the tree wasn't real! 




My midday, armed with my Spanish phrase book, decided to tackle the subway or subte. It's smelly and stuffy - no aircon, but easy enough to navigate. There's no English much spoken here, and I soon learn that 2 vaijes means 2 trips and not a 2 day pass.... thought it was a bargain!
Headed out to the upmarket Palermo, it's acres of parkland with beautiful French and Andalucian gardens, rose garden maze and winding lake portico, built at the turn of the last century, when Argentina was in its golden era. 


Feeling very brave by now, I decided to go to a dinner and a tango show in the evening, on my own........


Buenos Aires at night comes alive; it exists by day, but lives and breathes and almost seethes at night. Come 8.30, got to the door and did a volte-face, walked a block the other way, talked to myself (using names like chicken and coward), took a deep breath and went back..... and survived! 


Alas, no photos, but it was a very entertaining evening. A dear old thing of indeterminate age, garish makeup and too much plastic surgery was sitting alone a couple of tables away, and smiled at me (on no, was it with sympathy, empathy??), and the tango was just, well, the tango.... plaintive music and song while a guy in full dress suit with tails danced and strutted with a very lithe and near naked woman.... The locals are right in to it, lots of "bravos" and great applause. All quite voyeuristic really..... 

New day - 

off to yuppy Recoleta (full of baby shops and yummy mummies and people walking around in surgical scrubs - lots of private hospitals)

 and the famous Cimetario where Eva Peron is buried. What a crazy place - a necropolis with pine lined avenues and huge family crypts, with stairs down to vaults, and altars... Not sure if it's about respecting the dead as much as displaying wealth and power and keeping up with the Jones'. The more recent mausoleums are all militia

Eva Duarte Peron family vault

Cimetario

Eva Peron's family grave

and San Telmo, the cool area, full of great antique stores with things like real Louis Vuitton luggage chests- (largely art Deco, surprise, surprise);

trendy bars and boutiques, the streets are cobbled, the old European buildings getting a new lease of life;

the leafy Plaza Dorrego where I indulged in a tortilla patatas and a cerveza for old times sake and was treated to some more "free" tango"

So now its bye bye Buenos Aires and off to Ushuaia tomorrow, the cruise on the 9th.

BA is a great city, a strange mix of religion, sensuality and a darker side - melancholy or bitterness; just depends which side of the fence you were/are on.

Notes to self:

 come to Buenos Aires on the weekend, to take in a soccer match, see the real tango, and the big antique market at San Telmo.

 visit La Boca, the hippy arty area

 take tango lessons!!

The beginning

I've been dreaming of going to South America forever. The blog is just a collection of photos and notes to self woven together so that I remember it all!


It begins on 5th January 2010 - a very looong day as we fly east, and south over the Pole. The night is short, the horizon always streaked with a thin orange line of "sunset"; the dawn is spectacular, and an hour into daylight I get my first glimpse of the magnificent, wide, wild and snow capped Andes. So mesmerized I forget to dig out my camera. So exciting - imagine if I'd chickened out of this trip!!


We land in pouring rain in Buenos Aires an hour before we leave.