sorry for not updating this sooner, however, we`ve been really busy getting prepared for our next trip (which you can also find on the following link :

http://alandsteph.travellerspoint.com

Had to change the URL!

Anyway, in synopsis... the pictures from South Africa are all up and we`re off again around the world... this time for a bit longer though

Hope you`ve enjoyed the pictures and be sure to update your URL or favourites or shortcuts etc. to point to the New Web Site as we`ll be using this one from now on.

Hope you`re all well

Steph and Alan

XX

Finishing off..... remains copyright of the author Taffski, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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after 52 days on a ship we're now in the Big Blue Hostel (which is great!) and after last nights celebrations for our first night on shore (i.e. we all got hammered!) we're a bit rough this morning.

We walked down to the Waterfront in Cape Town and bumped into a few people from the boat that were also just milling about the dock whilst they wait for their flights home.

We of course, don't have flights home for a month so it's time to prepare the last leg of our journey (well for now anyway).

Today we walked up Long Street (which is the main street with backpackers hostels etc. on) and to be honest... Stab / mug central was the words I would choose for the place. During the Day, the place had an unsafe ring about it and to be honest... my spidey sense was tingling the whole time we were there. We did however manage to find the offices of AroundAboutCars and the tourist information centre and also the Internet Cafe.

The days are all mixing into one as we wait to decide what to do for the remainder of the trip around South Africa. I'm finding myself totally on guard with regards to people around us and I can't help but feel like we're in perhaps one of the most dangerous countries in the world.

We Met Jackie from the Boat (who lived in Cape Town) and we were given a personal guided tour of the Cape Peninsula (which was nice) and headed back to her house that evening for a cup of tea and a bitch session

The Next day we went up table mountain in the cable car (we were feeling lazy so decided not to walk up it as was originally the idea and caught a rikki... which is like a three wheeled motorbike taxi with a few seats on the back) and while we were on the top we did a walk along to the beacon point. We spotted a dodgy looking guy walking along the path some distance behind us and since he was on his own and had a hoody top on... we decided to speed up just in case. As we arrived back at the top of the cable cars... whoosh.... a police helicopter flew over us in the direction of where we'd seen the dodgy guy. We don't know whether anything had happened, however, even up on the mountain, Tourists are quite regularly mugged of their cameras etc. (unfortunately!)

It's the 30th of April!

Happy Birthday Steph!

And as her present.... we're going Shark Diving!

Now... we've heard all the arguments about Shark Diving in Cape Town and having seen the other tour operators that operate out of Hermanus (which is down the coast from Cape Town) and having spoken to a few of the guys off the boat who'd done this trip... There are about 4 boats.... all with backpackers and they Chum the water to death, until the fish arrive and then the backpackers are put into the cage (in the middle of all the guts and chum) and then they get to say they were in the water with these man killers and the operators get large ghunks of fish and draw the fish to the cages and the edge of the boats to get the "Tooth" shot!

Keith, Steph and I didn't want to do this!

Keith had done some research and as a result, we'd booked www.ultimate-animals.com
(African shark eco charters)

These guys don't chum (which was one of the most important factors we'd decided we didn't want to encourage as this is one of the more contentious issues with chumming being linked to the increase in Shark Attacks in South Africa in recent years!)

These guys are also the guys who take you to seal Island... which is where the Flying Sharks are............ ???

We arrived at the boat at 5:30 am! Ouch !

We arrived at Simonstown about and hour later, just as the sun was threatening to rise over the horizon, and then we shot off into the ever lightening ocean towards Seal Island.

We arrived by the island, which was covered with South African Fur Seals and smelt accordingly!

We were given a briefing, and we were told to watch lone seals porpoising on the surface of the sea as these were more likely to get "Hit" by the Great White Sharks.

No sooner had we started to wait and watch then .... BOOM ! A Shark went flying into the air some 100 yards away from the boat!

The Boat Started up and we shot towhere we thought the attack had taken place.... as we pulled up to the area... there was blood in the water and we saw the shark fin shoot off under the water in a quick splash. It was all over!

Apparently, Rob (our guide) informed us that when the sharks make a good hit, then it's pretty much over in two bites (as he put it!) As we could see from the blood in the water... it was all over!

We now moved over the the end of the island and waited, but unfortunately... no more Flying Sharks!

We then decided to get in the water.

Keith and I went in first as Steph was starting to have second thoughts

We got in the water and got some great views of these massive killers... however... unlike the impression I had before... these guys were beautiful and really not interested in us at all. There seemed to be about 4 of them all posturing around the boat. However, the sharks were just in the area as opposed to being attracted there by a loads of blood and guts!

We did have a lure though...... a piece of carpet cut into the shape of a small seal It seemed to work though as the sharks did appear and we did get to dive with them.

After a few minutes, Steph got into the Cage also to experience swimming in the water with these beautiful and surprisingly un-scary creatures.

Our respect for these massive fish has only changed again as we realised that they weren't the scary killers we'd been lead to believe and infact, were really not that bothered about us at all... Although I'm not sure I'd have got out of the cage though

We got home later that evening having also seen a Brydes Whale in the Bay and shoals of Large Fish and Gannets in the Bay.

We've hired a car and tomorrow we pick up our little VW Chico (like a Mark II Golf) and we've hired it for 6,600 Rand for 33 days (which works out at 200R a day... which is about £15 which was OK)

South Africa remains copyright of the author Taffski, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Tristan to Cape Town (some 1600 Nm) and about 10 to 12 days to do it (as we plan to head south to make the most of the weather available)

It's day 41 of the trip and we've got 11 days to go on the ship..

Once again... sailing is not the most enlightening or most interesting of things to write about and to be honest not that much happened on this leg of the journey.

We did judge the bad beard competition (I didn't win)
The Photo Competition was concluded and Steph won the best Fantasy picture (I'll try and put all the photo's on here later on)
The Easter Egg Painting competition winners were announced and my Ninja Egg got a prize of some chocolate eggs (Steph was happy)
Friday the 13th came and went (luckily uneventfully)
The weather came and went and so did the wind and swells

However... once again... Neptune rewarded our patience....

On Day 49 (after 9 days at sea and just before we arrived in South Africa to complete the journey)

Pilot Whales... and not just any Pilot Whales

There was a large pod of them swimming behind us and they were racing to catch us up.... the rollers were about 4 to 5 meters and as a result the Whales were breaching out of the waves as they crested!

It was amazing... about 20 or so Pilot whales surrounded the ship as she danced in the waves and began to put on a show... and what a show!

Breaching.. crashing... spinning.... these were Whales though.... not Dolphins. One of the whales even took it upon himself to continually spin upside down as he breached the cresting waves on the side of the ship.... it was fantastic...

And then..... in the middle of the commotion.....

as if guided by all the noise going on.....

a Minke whale suddenly appears amongst the pilot whales !!

Wow.... What A Wildlife show.

It lasted for about a hour in all and is one of the most magical things I've seen for a long while.

We spotted Africa two days later and sailed up towards the Cape of good hope and up the Eastern side of the continent towards Cape Town.

The city is beautiful as we sailed into the docks and it felt brilliant and yet disappointing to be arriving after spending so long on the ship.

We were both sad that night in Cape town and as a result both Steph and I and many others on the ship got very, very drunk as a result of some serious boozing as it was our first day on shore..

We'd Arrived. We'd Made it. What a trip !

one I'm sure neither Steph nor I will ever forget and highly highly recommended for anyone out there should they wish to undertake the challenge.... it's well worth it.

Thanks Bark Europa

Tristan to the Cape of Good Hope remains copyright of the author Taffski, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We arrived in Tristan and sailed up to the island.

It's basically like a big volcano in the sea and juts up from the sea bed in literally the middle of the ocean.

We'd been scheduled to spend 3 days on the island, however, we'd arrived on the Easter weekend and (depending on who you spoke to) either the port was too rough to allow us to land, or (as most of us suspected) since it was the Easter Weekend... and the Tristonians are very religious people... they weren't too enamored with having to curtail some of the residents festivities during this festival by having to open shops etc. ready for our arrival.

We never did find out, however, having spent two days anchored on the North of the Island (where we spent the days fishing and we caught some massive fish!) we were finally given the all clear to land on the island on our third (and luckily) last day.

We all were excited as there were rumors of a pub/ shop / Internet / Phones and all other civilized things we'd not had access to for the previous 39 days!

We landed in the harbor on the Zodiac (which consisted of a single break water barrier and that was all) The Ship couldn't dock and the only way onto the island is by small boats (There's no airport or any other way of getting on apart from a Helicopter or a Boat)

Our first impressions were good. The guys in the Harbour seemed friendly and we made our way up the hillside towards our first stop.... the Pub !!! It was open too !!!! Whayhaeeeeee!!

We grabbed a quick drink each and then we decided best not to get pissed on shore and maybe explore a bit.

It had already been arranged that myself together with 3 of the crew and 2 guests would be playing golf in the afternoon anyway....hmm......

Yep... They Have a Golf course... well sort of ....

It's basically a field that they'd cleared of cows and had placed three golfing holes (well a colored stone and a stick) for which you had to aim.

one of the holes ran through the Grave yard... so when one of the crew hit their ball directly into the graveyard... we decided it might be best to leave the ball where it was

Steph was off exploring by this point anyway and visited the site of the last Eruption (This was in 1961 and they had had to evacuate all the inhabitants to the UK... since it's a UK colony) Anyway, they'd all hated the UK and had decided to come back to the island to live.

We were beginning to understand why....

we spent the rest of the day traveling around and meeting the locals. They were lovely friendly people and outside the pub I spent half an hour playing football with the local kids...

Apparently next time there's going to be a football competition as none of the locals really like golf or the golf course (I can understand that one!)

We bought some Baked Beans and Mars Bars in the Supermarket, sent postcards from the post office, made a quick phone call home to the UK (costing us 2 pence a minute...eh ????) and then unfortunately our days traveling had quickly come to and end, so after a final beer in the pub we said goodbye and left to catch the last Zodiac back to the boat....

Which we caught.. else we'd have been left there for roughly a year

Funnily enough we thought long and hard about the prospect of spending a year on the place and to be honest... we both loved the place and the people and would have loved to stay there for longer!

Although I wouldn't want to live there forever I don't think.

We set sail later in the evening and as the sun set the Full Volcanic prowess of the island jutting from the ocean was all to apparent and was a beautiful farewell from a beautiful and remote part of the world that once again, very few people had had the privilege to both visit and see.

Thank you Tristan.

PS I won the golf Tournament by the way

Tristan Da Cunha remains copyright of the author Taffski, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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it's some 1400 Nautical miles and we hoped to make it in 10 days or so.... 140 Nm a day.... an average of 6ish knots an hour....

The watches were changed slightly and having been out for a cigarette I was unfortunately named Watch lead for our watch (Blue Watch) We'd been joined by a few new faces also so it would be nice to speak to some other people whilst on watch we thought.

The Next 10 days were eventful and yet boring... if you can have such a thing.

We sailed a lot.
We saw Whales and Dolphins.
Some of us saw a Moon Rainbow (This is like a Rainbow but generated by the Moons Beams of light rather than the suns... absolutely amazing!)
We saw many...many birds and notably Albatross so I couldn't fish from the ship!
We had to entertain ourselves... we decorated eggs for Easter, had some practical jokes played on us by the crew and vice versa for April Fools Day, watched DVD's, gave lectures and the beard growing competition was going strong!
It was rough....
It was windy...

On day 31....

4 days out from South Georgia...

the storm hit !!!

It was a force 9 storm and had been steadily building up the previous 12 hours or so.

We only had 2 lookouts as we were luckily out of iceberg territory (having headed North from South Georgia!) and these lookouts were at the back of the ship.... we were still steering though and had to go on deck through the wheel house at the back of the ship. Harnesses were permanently on and as the ship rolled in the 6 meter swell we were all briefed for what was ahead of us by the captain.

We started our evening watch that night at 8pm and in the next 4 hours the main bulk of the storm was to catch up with us and last for 4 hours after which it would hopefully die away as it passed over us... this was the theory anyway!

As the wind increased steadily... we began to furl sails and in a force 9 gale this wasn't the easiest thing in the world.... 60 feet high up in the air hanging onto the yards whilst being thrown about in 10 to 12 meter (30 to 40 feet!) rollers whilst 100 kph winds whip around your ears (which are still quite sold incidentally) with the thought of falling and being lost at sea firmly lodged in your head...... Fun isn't the word !!!

I helped furl a few of the sails and with waves breaking over the deck regularly... Steph and I finished our watch soaked and thoroughly exhausted... we didn't sleep though.. The watch was handed over at 12am and we lay in our beds and listened to the storm above decks....

We were woken up for our morning shift at 8 and the seas had begun to drop... the rollers were more regular and less violent and the wind had dropped! It was great sailing weather and the sails slowly came back up and the winds dropped!

We'd survived a force 9 storm in the middle of the Southern Atlantic (Perhaps the roughest sea in the world) and to be honest... it hadn't been that bad after all!

Tristan Da Cunha came into view on day 11 (the 7th of April)

We'd been at sea for the past 10 days and had experienced some rough seas... but we'd come through and with the help of the ship and the crew managed to sail to our destination with no injuries and some good stories!

Journey to Tristan Da Cunha remains copyright of the author Taffski, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We awoke early and found that it was still foggy and dark. The Seals and Penguins were howling and squawking and as the morning progressed and the sun began to rise out of the gloom the shoreline began to appear and in the half morning light the remnants of a large whaling station came slowly into view.

Straight out of some old film or some ghost story... the old whaling station was virtually entirely in tact and combined with it's history, rusty buildings and eerie howling going on around us... this place is perhaps one of the closest places I've ever been too where I could believe that their would be the odd ghost or two

The fog cleared and we boarded our zodiacs for a short walk ashore around the station and up to the graves of some poor Norwegian whalers who's died in the station some two hundred years earlier.

(average age 28 years old!)

As we left this remote and tranquil old whaling and seal station, I couldn't help think that what was in it's day a highly focal and effective slaughter house had slowly been overrun by nature and, poignantly enough, those animals that the people had so actively slaughtered, now guarded their very graves...hmmmmm......

We headed for Fortuna Bay.

We had another Zodiac tour and saw some rather large Elephant Seals basking in the sun. We also visited another colony of King Penguins and also saw some Reindeer (that had been introduced to the islands) It was a nice walk and we had a good feed on our return.

Today we were walking....

Not just any old walk....

Nope.... we were going to follow the final 5 kilometers that Shakleton and his compadres finally made once they'd reached South Georgia.

The weather was sunny and it was the end of summer for us.... for those guys... it was the End of Autumn....

It was an easy enough walk and we headed up into the hills waving Europa off as she left to meet us on the other side of the ridge where she would pick us up after the walk (hopefully!)

We crossed the peak and headed down towards Stromness bay (where Shakleton some 100 years earlier had hurtled down on his ass in the snow)

We didn't have snow, however, I decided some moss would suffice and slid down on (an increasingly wet arse) down the hill... minus a few rocks every now and again... the slide worked quite well... nobody followed though....wimps

On the Beach lay the remains of another whaling station from where Shakleton had recuperated and embarked on a final trip to retrieve his compadres from elephant island some six months later!

They'd all survived !!!

We set sail for Grytviken... the capital (i.e. there were people there) of South Georgia.

We reached the "Big smoke" late in the afternoon and were welcomed by one of the research fishing vessels. The Catabatic Winds had started to whip around and after some waiting around before we could safely dock, we were due to head out to the other side of the island as a day hike.

The following morning we anchored up and after some formalities (where even though it is British soil... we still had to pay $100 for a visa) we were allowed ashore.

We were due to walk across the island to the other side of the point (the Maiviken walk) This was fun and although not everyone took part in the walk it was certainly scenic and well worth the 6 hours round trip.

We arrived back and went to the museum and walked around Grytviken (where we also visited the Shakelton Monument and his grave)

That night we all had a party and were joined by a few residents from the island's 12 strong permanent staff
(I think it was 4 scientists, an electrician, base commander, doctor, The Bases Ships' captain, shop keeper, museum curator and his wife and a postmistress)

We went to bed about 1.30am after a barbie and some free Antarctica Branded beer (Which was made in Brazil...figure that one out!) Anyway.... I kept an empty can for posterity reasons And we all consumed many more !

We left early in the morning and had a good sail down the coast... albeit with slightly dickey heads and stomachs

We headed for Godthul bay and Since Steph an I were nursing severe hangovers... we didn't land and chilled out on the ship (Steph made it up the Main mast too !!)

As the sun began to set I was fascinated by the returning Gentoo penguins who all swam straight up to the ship... would pop their heads up (as if to say what the Feck's this big thing!) and then swim around three times (the same amount each time) before working out they could swim around the ship Most amusing, however, I managed to get some good penguin swimming shots as a result.

We were pleasantly surprised to see that overnight there had been a smattering of snow and as a result the ship was covered with a fine white dusting that morning. Pictures were taken and then the obligatory snowball fight was had.

We then went via Zodiac to another old whaling station called Ocean Harbour where we got to see many penguins, seals, sea lions, Elephant seals, Albatross, Blue eyed shags and a myriad of other birds.

As if this wasn't enough we then headed round to Penguin Cove... where we were greeted (again) by thousands of Penguins...

Gentoos, Chinstraps and King Penguins all huddled together up the cliff sides (which must have been a good old climb to get there and back!)

We went to bed after a good feed and in the morning we headed down to Coppers Bay to see if we could find the so-far illusive Macaroni Penguins (of which there were supposedly more in South Georgia than anywhere else on earth!)

We weren't disappointed and after Landing in Coopers Bay, and short Zodiac ride and a quick hike up a hillside (which was snow and penguin shite laden and slippy as heck) we arrived at the Macaroni Penguin colony.

They are lovely little birds with Red Eyes and a Tuft of yellow feathers shooting back from their eyes (as if tucked back behind their ears.... expect they don't have any... but you can imagine anyway!) These little (noisy) guys seemed to be the final tick on most people's lists of "What to see in South Georgia" (which many of those aboard seemed to have in terms of expectations of the place)
and having been thoroughly Fauna and Flora'd out by this fantastic Island we settled into Anchor watch (from 10 til 12) as Europa was unable to set sail due to high winds

We leave tomorrow morning...boo hoo.....

Thank you South Georgia...

What a great place and a place that will I'm sure remain in Both our hearts for a long time!

South Georgia - Part 2 remains copyright of the author Taffski, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We arrived late in the evening and the weather closed in and we were soon enveloped in a blanket of Fog. We could hear and smell the land, however, it was too dangerous for us to Anchor up... so we sailed on that night.

We could hear the penguins and the seals but couldn't see anything... it was a kind of eerie place and to start with I wasn't sure of what to expect of the island group!

It's literally miles from anywhere... I remember that during the Falklands war... an SAS team landed in South Georgia and that there were no lives lost as a result, however, other than that.... Neither of us were too sure what to expect!

We'd pulled into Rosita Harbour at the Northwest point of the islands and had a little Zodiac tour of the area. We were joined by what seemed like hundreds of Sea Lions and they played around in the water as we sailed into the Harbour. We also managed to see Petrels, some King Penguins and Albatross flying around us as we plodded around in Sloopy....The Boat as opposed to one of the Zodiacs on board

It was nice as to celebrate dry land and hopefully a landing on the Islands tomorrow... we all got a little bit drunk It was a nice evening.

By Morning we'd already moved to Salisbury plains, which was where we to land firstly in South Georgia.... What a place!

150,000 King Penguins !!!

The main colony was further along the beach than where we landed, however, we were able to hang about with those on the pebble beach and just admire the birds as the fought, argued, flirted, and basically just enjoyed themselves on the beach.

They're beautiful Birds and up close (which they were all to happy to come over and try to eat your Wellington boot or your jacket) their colours really are magical. Black and White with a crown of Yellow the Males and females were virtually identical, however, they all just waddled around through us as we sat on the beach. Magical !

We then were rounded up by Tully (Our Naturalist) and walked over the throng that was the main bulk of the colony.

How noisy, smelly, muddy, shitty (Penguin poop everywhere) a place it is..... and yet Beautiful at the same time. Here there were still some chicks and they were getting fed by the adults while the obligatory Skua's hung overhead waiting for any opportunity to grab a bite to eat (Penguin Chick food or indeed Penguin Chick given half a chance!)

There were also the Obligatory Sea Lions inter dispersed along the beach and at the fringes of the colony, however, it definitely was a view that very, very few people in the world have seen and combined with it being our first landing on South Georgia, had already cemented the place as one of our favourites (all in one day and it was only lunch time!)

Ok.... off to Prion Island to go and see some Giant Wandering Albatross. Where the heck are we I thought !!! This place is magical!

A few years earlier in New Zealand, Steph and I had gone to a part of the South Island specifically to see Wanderers, however, all we got to see was a single ball of fluff (a chick) and no adults.... so we were both excited at being able to see the birds with the largest wingspan in the world up close and personal!

We landed on the Island and then had to run (literally at points) the gauntlet of mother and baby Seals that were inter dispersed in the Grassy knolls that ran along side the path up to the Albatross rookery.

Wow.... there were about 20 Wanderers on the top of the bluff.... there were chicks, courting Adults and Juveniles all on land, however, there were also about 10 full grown adults gliding above our heads on the updrafts from the cliffs at the far side of the colony.

Some of the Adults began to display and to our delight they began to perform the Albatross Courtship dance right in front of us.... Amazing !

These birds mate for life are now on the endangered list and to give you an idea of their size.... think of a bird that's the size of a sheep when stood up with the wingspan of a car when their flying !

Gorgeous birds and since the sun was setting at the time it was a beautiful location to witness one of the, sadly, rarer love dances in the world.

Every now and again I need to pinch myself (and Steph) to realise what exactly we're witnessing in this place and it's still day 1!!!!

South Georgia - Part 1 remains copyright of the author Taffski, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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As part of the trip we were due to stop off at Elephant Island, where Shakelton and his compadres had walked and sailed to as part of their heroic adventure.

Unfortunately for us... the weather wasn't nice enough to allow us to drop anchor and get ashore and funnily enough the captain told us that in the previous three trips, they'd never been able to land on the island and as a result they were contemplating removing it from the schedule. Not really a good thing, however as we'd been at sea for two days already to get us to the island... we were already realising that it would result in 8 days at sea before we'd spot land again!

We waved goodbye to the inhospitable island and headed North into the Drake once again.

Funnily enough the weather was pretty good and the water temperature started (ever so slowly) to get warmer day by day. We were still south of the Antarctic convergence (which is where the cold water of Antarctica and the warmer waters of the South Atlantic "converge") so the weather was still damn cold though!

The watch was at 11 people (almost a full complement) however, as per usual, some of the others that had been fine for the whole Antarctic peninsula seemed to have forgotten their sea legs and wound up downstairs in their bunks...ill..... apparently!

This was really starting to wind Steph and I up!

-6!!!

Minus feckin 6 degrees !!!

That's what the temperature was last night and we were stood out in it on watch !

Talk about cold !

Taking into account the wind chill on the bow it worked out about minus 15 !!!

The watch is now down to 6 people... Steph had to bail last night and the rest of the guys are feeling a bit worse for ware!

Funnily enough I'm on good form and am starting to enjoy thing on board (even if it's freezing and windy and the seas rough!)

Makes you wonder how those poor soles in Shakelton's tiny boat coped with this weather and how all sailors in the olden days coped! We at least had nice coats and gloves etc....

The weathers getting worse! The cold water also means that the water making machine (reverse osmosis) isn't working as efficiently as expected, therefore fresh water reserves were down to a minimum. The Captain had banned showers until the water levels recover.... which of course was met by the expected contempt from those amongst us who more and more we're beginning to believe that “sailing the Southern Oceans in a sailing ship” was to be a cruise liner style journey only suddenly (to our great joy) to find things….. a little bit more uncomfortable to say the least! Idiots !!!

We on the other hand don't mind the lack of hot water and showers for a few days as those amongst us that had already began to conserve water by showering already smelled.... what did we care

We had a DVD player and big screen TV on board so most of the time we spent down stairs or in the deckhouse, however, as one of the guys pointed out, the deck house was beginning to look like a geriatric hospital more and more each day and since the faces in there weren't grinning when you entered... it wasn't a happy place! People started to hide in places around the ship and Steph and I found ourselves either outside (for as long as possible) or hiding in the library to get away from the incessant moaning of the other passengers!

This trip is doing one thing though.... it's teaching us restraint and patience that's for sure !

Dolphins.... "Comet Dolphins" as one of the guys on board labeled them ! They were fantastic and funnily enough, with a bit of persistence you were always rewarded with some fantastic sight by the ocean every now and again!

They were Hourglass dolphins, however, it was pitch black and the only way we could see them diving in and out of the Bow waves, was because they lit up the water as they shot through it as Phosphorescent algae and small squids etc. would light up the water as the dolphins passed through. It was beautiful and they continued to do this for a half hour or so. They'd disappear and then suddenly three or four comet trails would appear in the water and shoot across the bow.... Beautiful isn't the word for this and those of us that remained on watch were certainly grateful for the show we'd been privileged enough to just witness!

The Wind is beginning to pick up over the past few hours and the captain has asked that we are particularly vigilant during our watches as there are "Bergy Bits" and "Growlers" (Small chunks of Iceberg that don't show up on the radar as the majority of the iceberg is under water) in the water....

We were heading through Iceberg Alley and having completed our watch successfully navigating through the icebergs we handed over to the other watch and went to bed.

CRASH !!!!

What the Feck !!!!

We've hit something. I was jolted awake as something hit the ship and I heard the remnants of whatever it was creaking down the side of the ship.... What was happening!

I lay awake in bed hearing people scurrying above board and listening to the shouts going on.... however... they weren't to panicked and the ship hadn't stopped or anything.... We must have hit something I thought and went back to sleep.

We had hit a Growler and luckily for us we'd hit it head on (Which is the strongest part of the ship!)

The watch hadn't seen it approaching and by the time they did... it was too late and we hit it square on!

A Small hole was punctured in the bow which was quickly patched up by the engineer and some mastic or whatever and other than that (Having had one of the crew hanging of the Bow sprit with a torch) everything looked fine.

Morning broke and it was then that the damage was identified....

We'd lost our lady.... our head cast... Our wooden cast of the lady that was fixed to the front of the ship! This was not a good omen at all I thought and we still have about 30 days sailing ahead of us!

That night a few of us made a small offering to Neptune and hopefully he'll watch after us better than he had our lady

The next two days sailing were pretty uneventful. The winds picked up... icebergs started to get larger but further dispersed and the watch numbers started to increase again as people began to rediscover their sea legs (or the weather got warmer.... hmmm... I know which one I thought)

Finally land is spotted and we sail through between Bird Island and the mainland of South Georgia. We've made it !!!

Steph found this quote in the book she's reading whilst we're under sail.....

"Passengers get sea sick, grow quarrelsome, don't sleep at night, do not enjoy themselves much as a general thing; - No, I never go as a passenger" - Herman Melville's "Moby Dick"

I can honestly say that Both Steph and I (especially Steph) are not passengers any more and as each days sailing progresses we both are becoming more confident and more helpful to the permanent crew.... It's a good thing and the journey is far more enjoyable as a result!

The Drake Passage (Heading North to South Georgia) remains copyright of the author Taffski, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We've actually hit the South Shetland islands which are to the North East of the Antarctic Peninsula. The Weather worked up a storm last night, but luckily we'd managed to get some shelter(although we dragged anchor twice and had to move further along the coast. Klaas the Captain seems to know what he's doing... which is a great thing !

In the morning the weather has totally changed and having not known whether we'd get to land on the islands last night, it's a definite by the morning.

We jump into one of the three small boats (well... two Zodiacs and "Sloopy"... a nice little wooden boat) We're given our life jackets and head over the water to the Island.

We're greeted by a Weddell seal, sunbathing on the beach and by Gentoo and Chinstrap Penguins! It's our first "One on One" encounter with these little ice butlers... however.. they're great and totally fearless.... it's as if they've not seen anyone ever before and curiously start trying to eat our boots etc. They're great little animals and I think both Steph and I have instantly fallen in love with the little buggers!

The Photo sessions had begun and all of us simply sat about and took hundreds of photo's of the Penguins (something which was to be repeated numerous times during this trip!)

We were then invited to go for a walk to the other side of the island so in single file we were asked to follow one another to limit the damage we did to the mosses etc. on the island (This was an IAATO regulation... antarctica treaty thingy which regulates where people can and can't go etc. for the greater good of the continent.. quite a good thing I thought...anyway.....)

You've to remember that the number of people going to antarctica each year is increasing and as a result the mosses and lichens that haven't had any human impact for thousands of years are suddenly being trampled all over and so to limit the damage done we were asked to remain in line and watch where we were standing!

Not a difficult request you would think eh ????

OK... Old People... pretty much like young kids...

i.e. tell someone old that they can't do something.... they instantly (much like a teenager) want to go and do it !

Some of the older generation seemed to think that they'd fought a war or something to protect these lands and therefore it was their god given right to go and trample where they wanted and wonder wherever they wanted !

feckin Idiots !!!

I felt really sorry for Tully (our guide) as he had to cope with a load of geriatrics (although there was only about 10 of them) wondering off into the hills and over the streams and mosses etc. as if in search the swimming pool or hotel where they'd find the cocoon which would keep them young forever!

Or of course they could just be a bunch of stubborn old gimmers that needed strapping together with a rope. (In my opinion shouldn't even have been allowed on a sailing ship around Antarctica.... however... that's just my opinion!) Over the next 50 days or so I'm sure both Steph and I are going to be pushed to our limits by some of the people on the ship! Anyway... I digress.

Anyway, after gathering up the geriatrics we were able to walk to the other side of the island and were greeted with a great panoramic view of the Surrounding islands and also a massive Elephant Seal and his harem sun bathing on the beach! This guy was massive and kept an eye on us always! He'd often open his mouth to gesture to us that he could quite easily fit my entire body in his gob.... the gesture seemed to work as even the Geriatric brigade toed the line and avoided wandering too close to him!

We were also being reminded by the odd fur seal that we were on their territory every now and again as they often ran up to you growling like a dog... however... much like a "shit-su" or whatever little yappy dogs you like... their bark was worse than their bite... although a few people did get close to getting bitten over the course of the trip.... best to wave your arms in the air, however, we've heard since that growling back at them seems to work best !

The following day we passed along the Bransfield strait and towards Trinity island. It was early morning, the sun was shining and the sea and snow looked amazing.

We were suddenly joined by a family of Hump Back Whales. They were fantastic to say the least !

This time of the year they would have been getting ready to start their migration Northwards and would have been full from feeding on krill in the Rich water of Antarctica for the previous five months !

So with a full stomach... they were very playful to say the least !

The stayed with us for about an hour and began to surf the side of the ship on their sides with their fins out of the water.... we even got a couple of breaches from them off the stern of the ship... they kept passing under the ship and eye popped loads of times as if curious as to why this old vessel was here.... It was brilliant and definitely one of the most amazing whale experiences of our lives so far!

After and hour the captain wanted to move on... however, the whales stayed with us for another 20 minutes until eventually they got bored and wandered off! Absolutely Brilliant!

After we arrived, We went for a Zodiac trip through the Ice Berg Graveyard and enjoyed the fauna, however, it was cold and even with all our layers, thermals and two pairs of gloves we were still absolutely frozen by the time we got back on board ! Hot chocolate was waiting for us.... damn this ship's good !

The following day we went along the Graham Passage. It was a cold morning and Steph and I were on watch.. The sea was pretty still and blue and the snow and ice was beautiful.

This place is amazing! You hear people talking about the place... however... and I know it's corny.... but you're never quite ready until you actually see it up close. It should be a definate MUST GO place on everyone's list of places to go... regardless of the price!

That afternoon the winds picked up to a force 8... which even in the Graham passage (Which is relatively sheltered) meant the seas got rough and sails had to be furled.... I was up the masts, of course, in the howling wind.... really loving this sailing malarky!

Not sure Steph's too keen on me hanging on ropes in force 8 winds... however... I think she's getting used to it! Well I'm sure she will by the time we arrive in Cape Town.

We arrived in Neko Bay the following day. It was time to step on the Continent proper!

With my Welsh Flag in my bag and Steph's little red car... we were ready to hit the continent. We jumped into the Zodiac and headed for shore. En Route as we navigated through the almost totally ice filled shoreline we realized that a couple of Leopard seals had decided to stalk the zodiacs. We were chased all the way to the shore and the crew had to use the boat oars to shoo the seals if they got too close. This was highly amusing and fortunately.. they never had to actually beat a seal off the zodiac or more importantly... the seal never got to the Zodiac

We made it !!!

"I proclaim this land New North Wales"

The obligatory flag and car photos were taken and we then looked around and saw how beautiful this place was. It was covered in Snow... with a smattering of rocks and Gentoos. The Gentoos were youngsters and with the Leopard seals hanging around they were all out of the water... luckily for them ! It must be hard though !

We took some great photos of the Glaciers that just seemed to hang about on the edge of the continent (although we did get a few avalanches every now and again)

We were amongst the last to leave and fortunately, the leopard seals had decided to move off on the way back!

We then moved off to Paradise harbour further along the coast line and saw some Minke whales on the way down. We set most of the sails and since Europa was looking so good, Steph and I went into the Bowsprit (The Netting at the front of the boat) and took some pictures of the Ship. She looked beautiful with her white sails matching the whiteness of pretty much everything else around apart from the bright Turquoise of the Ocean... which wasn't that far below us ! It was brilliant!

Once at Paradise Harbour (Although the Paradise a few of the guys were expecting... i.e. a beer laden, palm tree lined jaxuzzi filled with naked women wasn't anywhere to be found) it was still a beautiful harbor! We went on a quick zodiac tour and then anchored up for the night!

We arrived at Port Lockroy which is where we were expecting to send postcards from and get our passports stamped... It was closed !

Well... not exactly closed, but the guys who were normally at the station had already left for the winter... so we let ourselves in and decided to leave our postcards there until they returned... in six months time... which meant our postcards won't arrive anywhere soon.... some time in December was the suggested arrival date !

It's a small British Antarctic base, but it was like a museum in that nearly everything there was antiquated in some way or another from expeditions or research over the past 100 years or so. There were old food stores from the 40's (we reckoned) however, a few favourites were spotted (Notably Horlicks, Spam and Tate and Lyle Syrup)

Once again we were greeted by the smell of Gentoo Penguins and their associated "Odour" on the island. Later in the day we moved to the other side of the island to see some blue eyed Shags and the bones of a few whales that had been washed up onto the beach.

We returned from our little hike to the other side of the island and were given a panoramic view of some fantastic cliffs surrounding the base called the Seven Sisters. They were sprinkled with Fresh Snow and just peeped out underneath the forming cloud. It was yet another Beautiful Landscape and Fauna Show from the Peninsula.

This was to be our furthest point south and before we headed back up North... a drink was given to us by the captain on the deck outside, to celebrate this fact and the ships horn was sounded to signal this to one and all.

The Horn on the Ship is absolutely massive and Tremendously load.... so much so that when we passed a Russian cruise liner... her horn sounded more like a bicycle bell's tinkle, while ours was more of a Concorde breaking the Sound barrier Noise (Well not quite.... but you get what I mean !) This made us men beam with pride.... the Women thought we were being childish... however.... it's always nicer if your horn's bigger than the other guys....... um............ anyway..........

OK.... North here we come and we've got.... hmm.... quite a few days still to go! At least it gets warmer from here on (or so we thought!)

The Antarctic Peninsula remains copyright of the author Taffski, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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EVERYONE... and I mean EVERYONE on the previous watch had gotten Sea Sick as we'd passed the shelter of the Beagle Channel and had hit the rather more testing waters of the Drake Passage.

Now to say that this is one of the most testing and dangerous stretches if water in the world is somewhat of a slight understatement to say the least! God knows how many ships have sunk rounding Cape Horn. however, we were heading south and were pretty much against the wind and the waves and the currents! So the Smooth sailing of the previous night was no more and Whilst bouncing around on deck we managed to survive the 4 hours with neither Steph nor I being sick.... I was happy and quite enjoying the Experience! We had a nice sunrise and Even though it was 8am... headed back to our beds for some sleep (Steph was starting to feel the effects of the Sea and once downstairs again... started to feel a bit worse... however... she Braved through it and we were woken up at 2pm for our next watch! This was a shorter 2 hour watch for the afternoons so that this would mean that each watch would rotate four hours each day... so no single watch would have the same watch as the previous night! i.e. we were due to go on at 12am til 4am tonight! Ouch.... During the course of the journey this watch was regularly referred to as any of the following rather colourful terms... The "Dog", "Bitch", "Bastard", "Twat" or even the "C**t" watch.... which sort of gives you the right idea as to which of the watches turned out to be the least preferred

So We were woken by the remnants of the previous watch (which was now down to 4 remaining members standing... from an initial 12!) Trainees and even crew were falling fast and as we moved into day 3... we assumed our positions around our vessel.

The purpose of the watch system was to ensure that we avoided other ships... icebergs or any other potential hazards in the water, whilst also being available to assist with the Sailing when the Captain or the first mate saw fit to change something. We soon found out that Captain Klaas (Or Captain Nemo as I'd nicknamed him on accounts of his long white beard and hair and obligatory ear ring!) was fonder of changing things than the First Mate. Sails were tweaked... lines tightened... lessons were (apparently) being learned by the trainees as the night progressed.

Steph fell asleep in the Deck house at 2am and by 4am we were all shattered and headed straight to our bunks!

Days began to melt into one another and we found ourselves quickly living by the watches and that life onboard quickly changed to become entirely meal and watch orientated.

Breakfast 7 - 9am
Lunch 1pm
Tea 7pm

These were the times where you would see people other than those on your watch and it quickly became apparent that a few of our fellow passengers were "apparently" suffering from sea sickness... however... it seemed strange to me how some of the afflicted stayed in their bunks at night, got up in the day and still managed to eat at meal times.....
hmmmmmm.........
Some of our watch were also ill...
however, they managed to drag themselves upstairs to get some fresh air and, even though they weren't well, they bravely managed to survive through each consecutive watch with green faces!

Opinions of people were starting to change at this point and Steph and I found ourselves changing our opinions of people who on the first two days we'd thought were "nice". Once again.... first impressions don't tell you Shite!

We'll give the others the benefit of the doubt Steph and I thought and continued on our watches...

It was now Day 4 and Steph and I (I have to admit) were starting to feel the toll of the Drake.

Engines were now being used as the Wind had swung around and we weren't making good progress. (You can check the Europa's web site for exact Way points etc. if you're interested!)

Anyway, I was in the deckhouse and I decided I'd try to read for a bit...... whoops.... mistake..... five minutes in and I ran outside for a "minor" Vom! Only a minor one... however a Vom all the same ! Feck ! I'd been sick and Steph Hadn't.... so much for never having been sea sick before..... damn !!!! I was well pissed off and Steph knew it.... so I was wound up about it (deservedly I know) but it seemed to help Steph (who also wasn't feeling well)

What a nice guy I am....

Why the hell are we on this trip..... ????

I'm sure a few of our fellow passengers were thinking this.... it was windy... we weren't moving much in the water (at one point we had to pull all the sails down as we were almost going backwards when the wind suddenly changed), it was getting colder by the hour (it was down to about 2 degrees Centigrade by now and getting colder!), The waft of sick buckets wafted downstairs and there seemed to be no end in sight! Even some of the full time crew members were taking ill and peoples personalities (or lack therewith) were starting to surface.

Whales....... We spot Whales..... a whole pod of them..... and they're big whales too !!!!

About 6 massive Fin Whales swam along side us en route to Antarctica also it seemed ! They were huge animals (The Second Largest Whale after the Blue) and they effortlessly sailed past us... as we were still on engines.

The Whales were soon followed by a pod of hourglass dolphins playing in the bow wave of the ship. These were beautiful animals and so far have to be some of the most beautiful dolphins I've seen!

They're black and white (much like Killer Whales) and the white is in the form of hourglass shaped stripes passing down their bodies. They were brilliant animals and had nearly everyone (that was still alive) hanging on the bow of the ship to get the perfect Dolphin shot... The Water was a Brilliant Blue and the Black and White of the dolphins combined with the White of the bow waves were brilliant.

This was definitely what everyone needed as a quick reminder as to why we were all on this journey and helped gee up some of those that were beginning to question the trip.

Steph and I were happy however, as those "sickies" downstairs missed all the fun... ha, Ha !!!!

It was now day 5 and the Dolphin and whale sightings had been pretty much the only thing that had happened on the journey so far (apart from going backwards in the night when the wind changed again... which was fun!)

There was plenty of Sail handling and we were given a map of the ropes (or Lines) on board so we'd have a better idea as to which lines to pull to either set or remove a certain sail!

I'm enjoying this ! The whole Sailor thing is really quite appealing and both Steph and I (or so she says!) are enjoying the Sailing aspect of the journey at the moment.... god knows there's a lot more to come in the next month or so so we might as well get used to it!

I went up the Mast today to go and "Furl" (Wrap up) a sail to the Yard arm.. (The horizontal bit of wood on the mast)

OK.... we've been sailing for a while and the sailing terms are already becoming part of our vocabulary! This is what a Training Sailing ship should be about ! Learning how to sail and certainly Steph and I are determined to get learning whilst we're here! For those of you that aren't familiar with sailing terms etc... I'll try and put in "Idiots Guide phrasing" for you every now and again (as above)

So I'm hanging over the raging Drake passage, stood on a rope with a harness and my hands being the only thing stopping me falling to certain death.... I'm loving Sailing ! This is fun !!! However, the cold is now starting to set in and it starts to snow whilst I'm on the yard arm.... Gloves are a requirement.

However, pulling and tying knots in ropes whilst dangling over the sea aren't really conducive to wearing gloves... so I take mine off and my fingers are freezing.... After 15 minutes I finish my one bit of a single sail... my first furl and Colin (A crew member) and I manage to drag ourselves down.... I'm the first of the trainees to go up the mast and furl and I'm ecstatic... I have a funny feeling as the weather and the conditions get better the remainder of the trainees will follow suit... so I decide to help the crew out as often as possible whilst the conditions are somewhat more testing !!!

We finish our watch and it's back to bed.... we're shattered ! /Land shouldn't be far now though as the Captain tells us that it should be the following day and Tjalling (pronounced Tully, who was our resident naturalist/guide come Entertainment manager) started a competition for a bottle of wine to see who would spot land first and also at what time.... Enthused since we were on the 4-8am watch and it was likely our watch could be the first to spot land... we went to bed after tea ready for land.... LAND..... Goddam LAND !!!!! seems like a year ago since we left and it's only 6 feckin days !!!!

PS... we've not been allowed to Shower for the past 4 days as the weathers too rough !!! we smell nice... NOT ! Steph's about ready to flip but other than that we're managing well (ish)

En Route to Antarctica remains copyright of the author Taffski, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The Europa was on the right side of the dock with her starboard side up against the concrete. The main and fore masts towered some 120 feet above us and even thought she had some dents and bruises from the previous four months of sailing to Antarctica, she still looked splendid.

Steph and I met some fellow passengers (sorry, fellow trainee sailors!) in the dock and were shown to our bunks where we dropped our bags off. We met our cabin mates and then headed upstairs to the deck house for a drink and to meet the other trainees and the remainder of the crew. Klaas the captain gave us and introductory speak about safety etc. whilst on board and then we were told that the ship would be leaving the following morning (as the weather was better). We were informed that we could spend the last night on shore if we wanted.... so a few of us headed off to the Irish Pub in Ushuaia for a drink or three. We got back to the ship about 12ish and passed through customs somewhat easily as the guards were having a River Plate Vs Boca football clash... on the play station which was very amusing!

Day 1 - The Beagle Channel March 1st -

Happy St Davids day.... I spent most of the day explaining to the assorted nationalities who, what, how and why we Welsh chose to celebrate this day.... which worked better with some Nationalities than others!

With our rather impressive Horn blaring out we left harbour at 10...ish (Laid back Dutch as usual!) and sailed all of 10 minutes... to the fuel dock to get some fuel! Bit of an anti climax, but soon enough we were off again into the Blue cold Abyss!

Sailed were hauled and all the trainees got (for most of them) their first real go at sailing a square rigger! Ropes needed pulling and so nearly all of us grabbed the nearest rope when ordered and pulled enthusiastically! We had dinner and a glass of wine and a beer from the bar on board (Hallelujah!) and then the trainees were all split into one of three groups. Steph and I were split into Blue Watch and we were informed of the Watch system whilst on board and that we happened to be the first watch... Doh! However, since it was already 7pm we only had an hour of our shift left... Yeah!)

We went to bed early as we were due to be up at 4am for the 4 to 8am watch that morning.

The day was almost over... the weather was fine... the sea calm... the sailing good... and we'd already made some friends on board.... a good start and everyone was expectant of the forthcoming 52 days on board! If they all turned out like this then the trip would be easy.....

Unfortunately.... Neptune was to see to it that in the coming months.... the weather would test us all and whilst some of the trainees would fall by the way side... Steph and I were both determined, prepared and ready for the effort ahead!

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well this is our last entry for the next 53 days as we´re off on the Ship today to sail to Cape Town, via Antarctica, South Georgia and Tristan de Cunya.

Hope everyone´s well and we´ll update the site with pictures and stories... sure there´ll be a few... as soon as we get to Cape Town... assuming the ship gets there that is

Here´s the link to the Ships web site so you can see from the GPS where exactly we are and there´s also a ships log etc. posted every now and again so you can keep up to date with our journey.

www.barkeuropa.com

Go to follow the ship and you´ll see where we are !

We´ve finished shopping, dropped our stuff off and board in a couple of hours.... so....

See you all soon...

Steph and Al.

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Hostel La Posta was a brilliant hostel (if a little bit far out from town) however, they made up for this with breakfast includced in the price and free waching and internet etc.

Ushuaia was a bit touristy after being in Natales for so long, so it was a bit of shock to hear lots of French & American accents from people down here specifically to do the big cruise ships down to Antarctica.

We chilled for a few days and got supplies and went shopping ready for the next BIG leg of the journey!

I went fishing one day as Tierra Del Fuego is one of the premier trout fishing spots in the world (I caught nothing though....DOH!) and luckily Maria & Kieron turned up for a few days so we had a few beers over the next few days.

We also went walking to the National Park (Tierrs Del Fuego) which was lovely as the weather was (apparently) brilliant for Ushuaia

Anyway.... it´s a nice place, if not the furthest south place... Puerto Williams in Chile getting this title. Unfortunately, we never went there (obvious though it would be to get William Williams in Puerto Williams) but it would have cost us about $100 US to just get the ferry over.... which for a day trip we reckoned was a little bit too expensive... so we never went South of Ushuaia.... until today !

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We got a warm welcome and were shown to our room. We then got the usual run down of Touristcos activities... for the usual turisticos prices, to which we did the usual..... muchas gracias and decided to see what it was really all about in town.

We walked into El Calafate and spoke to a few people about the associated trips and the different aspects of each one.

We knew Bert and Ans (a dutch couple we{d alreadcy met in Buenos Aires) had already arrived and funnily enough they were staying right across the road from our hostel, so we popped over for a cerveca and a discussion on the merits of each of the trips.

We decided to do the day trip on the bus which was the cheapest option, and this proved to be a great decision. They offer boat trips and hiking on the glacier... however... Steph and I are still of the mind that we might finally get to do the Heli hike on the Franz Joseph glacier in New Zealand... so we decided not to bother.

We pulled up at the park in the bus and payed the usual "exoticos" price for entry into the park. Katie (the American girl from Fitz Roy) was with us and we all took pictures on our entry to the park.

We arrived at the viewing platforms and started our walk down.....

Crack...rumble.... crack...... something was happening already ????

We ran down to the first viewing platform just a a massive piece of the glacier was sheering off into the water. Steph was the quickest and managed to get a picture of the piece falling off... whilst slow coach Williams was far too slow and got a video of the ripples (or rather massive waves) hammering down the glacier afterwards!

Well done Ms D..... the photo proved to be a good one !!! Action shot or what !

We then sat around for the next four hours listening to the glacier cracking and watching bits (albeit smaller ones) cheer off the face of the glacier and collapse into the water below... it was cool!

We were joined by a group of (unfriendly) Israeli´s who promptly began to slag everyone off in their vicinity.... seems to be quite a few of them down here and although the odd one is really nice... the majority... well... If we didn´t have any opinions before... lets just day we do now!

Anyway, we got the bus back and that night had a nice meal with Bert and Ans and (supposidly) Katie... however, Bert and Ans hadn´t booked the restaurant so it was full.... unfortunately, we moved to another.... I hung around for 15 minutes or so waiting for Katie, however, she never turned up.... although the next day we met her and she said she´d been a bit late and where the heck had we gone.... whoops.... Sorry Katie!

We´d all arranged to go horse riding also.... Steph, myself, Katie, Bert and Ans so we were picked up later the next evening from our respective hostels and driven up to the Estancia.

The Estancia was right in the hills and the views (since it was a lovely evening) were awesome!

We only got to ride about on the horses for an hour or so and the ride was a bit slow to say the least (Although I managed to get a short gallop up the hill!) We did however, get a lovely assado (Argentinian BBQ) when we got back and the wine began to flow.

We got home later that evening and packed our stuff ready for the short hop over the following day into Chile.

We´d got a bus for about $50 pesos (I think) and crossed over into shile relatively uneventfully (well.... apart from stopping to watch the other bus companies bus out of the ditch in the side of the road with the help of a tractor...very amusing!) and pulled up to Erratic (Not Erotic) Roack II... our hostel for the next three nights whilst we got comfortable in Puerto Natales.

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We´d popped into Erratic Rock (one) the sister hostel of ours for the free information talk given by Bill (The Owner) on the W and Circuito route (which was free... we even got a free coffee) and Maria Hired a tent and we hired some mats to sleep on!

Day 1:

It was a nice and early start at 7.15am with a bus pick up to the park! It took 3 hours to reach the park and another 30 minutes to reach our drop of point! So it was 3.5 hours of snooze time for us!

We had decided that taking the catamaran was completely wussy (and extra expense!) so decided to save the 5 pounds or so and walk the first easy(ish) 17 kms to our first camp!

The walk was pleasant which was nice as we had full backpacks.... it was good practice anyway!!

The sun was shining as we approached the first camp ´Lago Pehoe´. The charge was 3500 chilean pesos (It was easy to convert Chilean Pesos to sterling as you just dropped a zero and the price was in pence.... so 3500 chilean pesos is about 3 pounds and fifty pence.... easy or what!) each but had nice hot showers and a quincho (a hut with free gas and plenty of tables). The camp was very busy but we managed to squeeze in and have a ´cook up´(as Kieran called it), have a hot shower and then hit the sack!

Day 2:

The camp was pretty open so it was a windy start but we rose nice and early and rushed to the quincho for brekkie! Alan made porridge... yum yum!

We left our gear at the camp and set off on the sendero (walking track) to Grey Glacier.

It was mainly uphill and in some places quite hard work, especially with the powerful patagonian winds which sounded like jumbo jets coming towards you as they blew through the trees!

Halfway up to the glacier we heard a big rumble and witnessed an ice avalanche..... quite an impressive one too!

We made it to the glacier mirador, it was quite an impressive glacier, although I personally preferred the perito mereno glacier near El Calafate, but nice all the same and worth the trek up to see it.

We walked a few metres back from the mirador and in the shelter of the forest we stopped for lunch, having walked off out morning porridge, and had some much needed sandwiches!

The walk back down was easier but at the same time (which was thought was impossible) we were both hindered and helped by the amazingly strong winds! It was just not possible to stop so we made the 3.5 hour walk in 2.5 hours! (Hardcore !!!)

Back at camp Lago Pehoe we had a very quick rest, packed the tents away, grabbed our backpacks and continued walking onto camp Italiano!

It would have been an easy walk except for the blooming wind.... the walk was done in silence as we were all shattered and we did not dare stop until we reached the camp incase we lost the will to carry on!!!

We arrived about 2 hours later yeahhhh!!!

It was a nice sheltered camp and even better it was free with free runnning water very nearby (aka the glacial river which was gorgeous water although freezing cold! Makes you wonder why people pay so much for the stuff when we were guzzling it down for nowt!!!)

Tonights ´cook up´was bangers and mash with a much deserved rosé wine that we (sorry... alan!) had bought in puerto natales (and carried all the way so far) whilst Kieron and Alan were fastly comsuming their 2 litres of Local Rum.... in either cofee... tea... hot water with lemon juice... porridge... etc. etc...

We sat around talking into the night before crawling into our tents (in mine and Alans tent it literally is crawling as its a small 2 man tent... very cosy and fun when you want to get changed ha ha)!

Day 3:

We left our backpacks at the camp again and walked up Valley Francés to Camp Britanico where we had a short breather before heading further up to the mirador. After a short but steep climb we came to a rock that had ´mirador´written on it but we were convinced that it was not the spot and ventured on.

The next leg was an even steeper climb before bringing us out onto a flat section.... the views were great but the path still carried on so the guys decided to carry on.

Maria and myself waited while we caught our breath. It was snowing a little which produced a rainbow over the mountains... very pretty!

The guys didn´t make it to the top, god knows where the path went, so we descended back to camp britanico to have lunch!

After lunch we headed back to camp italiano! On the way back we spotted 2 woodpeckers happily .... well.... pecking wood!

Back at Camp Italiano we packed the tents and grabbed our gear before walking to our next chosen destination which was camping los cuernos.

The 5.5km, 2 hours, to los cuernos was very pleasant next to the lake side most of the way. Los cuernos was busy again but we managed to get a nice sheltered site each.... Alan and myself in our two man tent, Maria in her one man tent and Kieran in his bivvibag (like a swag)!

We splashed out and purchased a litre of vino tinto to drink with our dinner of pasta and hit the sack!

Day 4:

Had a nice hot shower before having the much needed porridge (with fruit and nuts in this time... posh or what?) and packing our tents away.

We had a fairly easy 6 hour walk to do, but we did have our full backpacks on (although they were getting lighter(ish) as we ate our way through our rations!).

The first leg, a supposed 4 hour walk, took us 3 hours with plenty of stops on the way! We decided to stop after the 3 hours for lunch. After a cuppa soup we all (except Alan) had a siesta in the warm sun.... this was a luxury as the sun was shining and the wind wasn´t strong enough to whip a walnut!

After our long lunch break we decided to carry on to camp chileno.

It was a steep but steady climb but 1 hour into the walk we saw the camp, there was light at the end of the tunnel! Apart from the ever determined wind the sun was shining and as soon as we hit base we grabbed a cerveza each!

We were nice and early so grabbed a decent camp site...... it was very open to the elements again so we found a sheltered spot around the corner of the refugio to cook!

After eating we bought another litre of vino tinto and grabbed a seat inside the roasting refugio where we chatted until the wine ran out!!

Day 5:

I woke up pretty grumpy as it was a pretty cold night (was down to about 1 or 2 degrees C... or so it said on Kieron´s thermometer!) but after a warm shower and lots of porridge I was a LITTLE better.

We packed up the tents and moved onto Camp Torres for our final night!

The walk was steepish but only lasted an hour so to hardened hikers like ourselves it was a ´piece of piss´. We arrived at camp and set up the tents, had a coffee and headed for the mirador Torres Del Paine... the whole reason for doing the 6 day trip!

Now this was extremely steep and hard going, after 45 minutes we rounded the peak and boy was it worth it! We stayed there for a while admiring the incredible view of the massives (3 granite pylons forging into the sky).

It was such a cool view of the Torres!

Climbing down was great fun.... not... but it was a lot less tiring!!

After another coffee at camp the guys decided to walk to a camp a little further (Japonesa) while Maria and myself decided to conserve our energy.

The guys arrived back and we all had dinner and some vino tinto (that we had purchased at the refugio chileno... a little forward thinking) while the guys managed to finish the last drops of the two bottles of rum that they had brought with them.

I personally don´t like the stuff but must admit a hot toddy (hot water, sugar, lemon juice and rum) was quite nice on a cold evening before bedtime!

Day 6:

It was an even earlier start at 5.30 am to head up the mirador for sunrise!

I must say it was great fun climbing up the mirador in the dark with my trusty maglite. It was quite funny to see the numerous headlamps bobbing up the side of the mountain!

At the top we all had a cuppa soup, which felt quite bizarre at 6.30am but it warmed us all up!

Unfortunately we didn´t get a good sunrise but the Torres were still amazing and worth a second peek.

So it was back down to camp for a coffee and muesli bar before packing away for the very FINAL time.

We had a 3.5 hour walk infront of us and 4.5 hours to do it in so we could take our time and amble on with our relatively light backpacks!

On the way past chileno we met a german guy who had hurt his knee... it was pretty swollen and he was struggling a little so the guys took his backpack all the way to the shuttle bus pick up point. We also put a bandage on his knee to support it!

We arrived at the shuttle bus pick up point 1.5 hours early so it was decided to walk the 7kms to the coach stop along the road in the mid day sun (have we learned nothing !!!)

I had my reservations but went along with the idea... we had time!

Well we made the coach on time and saved a whole pound sterling with the walk as we didn´t have to take the 1000 chilean peso minibus.

Back on the bus, We spotted the german guy with the swollen knee alive and complete with backpack so our good deed seemed to have worked well!

As soon as the coach started moving we all fell asleep.... surprise surprise!

After 4 hours on the coach we made it safely back into Puerto Natales, shattered but safe and sound!

We walked back to Erratic Rock, had a shower, wenbt out for some food and then crashed out for the rest of the night... we had an early start in the morning to get the bus from Natales back to El Calafate as we´d arranged something quite posh for our trip down to Ushuaia....

Uno Aeroplano.....

Torres Del Paine Parque Nacional remains copyright of the author stephyd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Anyway, the lovely Cecilia was fantastic in recommending how to get to the Fitz Roy Range, the various walks and the limited services available in El Chalten (the first one being no ATM.... so luckily we´d heard about this before we arrived so had packed a wad of cash before we´d arrived!)

We´d met some people on the bus and met them again in El Chalten since it´s only a tiny little place... some hostels and the odd hotel, some panaderias (Bread shops) and a few other buildings (it was only built in 1985 to stop the Chileans taking the land from the Argies!)

The next day we walked the southern route from El Chalten to Laguna Torre. Now the Pargue Nacional Los Glaciares is a beautiful place and competes with Torres Del Paine in terms of beauty and scenery (although the mountains here are bigger than those of it´s more famous neighbour!)

The Laguna Torres Walk was direct from El Chalten and since you don´t have to pay for entry into the park....

WHAT......

Ahem.......

You don´t have to pay for entry into the park.....

Feck me..... the first thing I´ve had in Argentina for free since we´ve been here !!!! I already loved the place !

The walk was an easy 4 hour amble up to the Laguna where we could look on the Glacier Torre and if lucky we´d get a panoramic view of Cerro Torre (one of the highest points in the park)

Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy, however we did have lovely weather and the glacier was nice also!

We walked back and met up with some other people from the bus, Kieron (Irish), Katie (American) and Maria (German).

The night was spent in the Micro Brewery, which was virtually next door to the hostel....coincidentally I thought, with a few other guys from the bus and a couple from the Hostel. A great night was had by all

The next day we´d arranged to meet up with some of the guys from the bus and thought we´d go for the more taxing Laguna de los tres route, which would give us great views of Mount Fitz Roy also.

It was a beautiful day and the photo opportunities at the first Mirador were fantastic.... I got the Welsh Flag out for posterity reasons and "the flag travels" photo was taken.

The last hour of the walk was a bit more strenuous and after scrambling up a cliff face (well... it seemed like it!) we got to the top to have a great view of Mount Fitz Roy, the Laguna, the glacier and the surrounding mountains, lakes etc.

It was a lovely day and all five of us really engjoyed it. On the way down, Kieron (and Irish bloke we´d met on the bus) left the four of us to go camping for the night and we headed back to the hostel for a well earned cerveza.

We met up with some of the guys from the bus again and had a cheeky beer or three, and then went to bed so we could get up the following day to get the bus to El Calafate.

We said goodbye to Cecilia and thanked her for her hospitality and great help whilst we were in El Chalten. Both Steph and I were taken by the hostel, the little town and the location of the place, and were both dissapointed to be leaving after only the three days.

We´d have preferred to have spent another couple of days there and maybe camped (for free) in the park and done a few more walks etc., and a day or two less in El Calafate... but hey... hiensight is a wonderful thing, and as I keep saying to Steph (which is driving her nuts!)

You live and Learn.... live and Learn!

Surprisingly... although Chalten travel offered the route from El Chalten to El Calafate.... we chose to go with Cal Tur... their competitor !!!!!

I Wonder why ????????

You live and Learn Steph.... live and Learn

El Chalten remains copyright of the author Taffski, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We´d payed an extra $65 pesos for the side trip to the Cuave de las manyos and in Bariloche the girl had told us that this included entry and then we´d meet up with the original bus ready for the final part of our journey down to El Chalten.

The mini bus arrived and we all boarded minus our backpacks... these (we were assured) would be placed on the larger bus when we reboarded it later in the day...fine!

The mini bus then shot off along the dirt covered roads, winding up through the hills towards the caves.... obviously time was of the essence based on both the speed we were hurtling along the tracks and that we didn´t stop for anything, including three condors, sat in a field by the side of the road.... or the illusive Ruta Nacional 40 sign either ! We did ask.... however..... feckin Chalten travel!

We pulled up at the Caves some three bumpy hours later and were pointed in the direction of a little hut by the edge of the cliff. Here we were politely informed that there was an entry charge !!!!

OK.... the girl in Bariloche was now definately on my "hit" list! However, it turned out to be $15 pesos each (which isn´t too bad after all) and for this we got a guide (who´s broken English was enough to get by on) so I wasn´t that miffed..... feckin Chalten travel!

We walked down the cliff and the wind hit us.... damn this Patagonian Wind is Cold and Strong !!!

The Caves are impressive in that the Hand prints are easily visible and they´re on the exterior of the walls, so we were surpised that they´d managed to survive this long at all.... being that they ranged from 12 thousand to 2 thousand years old!

90% of the hands were Left hands and there were even prints of Nandu feet, South American Emu´s, (they must have asked the Nandu´s very nicely to stand on the wall!) and some hunting scenes and geometrical shapes also!

Pictures were taken and, now thoroughly frozen, we headed back to the minibus. The apparent Cafe, where we could get a coffee and something to eat (none of which any of us had had that day) was in the process of being "rebuilt"... i.e. CLOSED..... feckin Chalten travel!

The minibus rattled along for another hour or two and then pulled up in a small estancia, literally, in the middle of nowhere! Here we got some food.... at the usual extortionate "Exoticos" prices.

An El Chalten bus pulled up and people started to get off.... however... we didn´t recognise many of them..... maybe it was the bus going North we thought.

Nope.... some 20 Israeli´s had (apparently) suddenly arrived in Perito Moreno.... and now would be travelling on our bus? Which begged the questions... where did all these Israeli´s come from and more importantly... how were we getting to El Chalten?

By Minibus.... but of course..... feckin Chalten travel!

We hopped back on the minibus and started down the remainder of the RN40. We stopped off At an estancia (again in the middle of nowhere... which... coincidentally.... we were informed was owned by the family of the bus driver.... and since the minibus arrived last by the time we got to the food counter... nothing was really left ! Steph had an Apple and I, a small sandwich..... feckin Chalten travel!

The final leg of the journey was relatively uneventful... apart from the mini bus driver missing the petrol station and the clutch almost burning out... however... we finally pulled in (ahead of the main bus) in El Chalten.... at the "Luxurious" Rancho Grande..... hmmmmmm

Our driver was in a rush.... so dropped us off.... pointed us in the direction of the desk in the rancho grande and drove off !!! Half an hour later... the main bus (with our backpacks on) pulled up at the hostel!

An Australian couple travelling with us were put in a dorm (when they´d payed extra for a double), four or five others were given tickets for "alternative" hostels where they would be staying.... However, they weren´t given a map of how to find them... etc. etc...

The Usual Chalten "feckin" travel debacle!

I hope you´re getting the jist of how we feel about Chalten Travel by now....

Steph and I, however, had prebooked our accomadation and walked the ten minutes down the road to the Albergue Patagonia Hostel, where we were greeted with a welcome, a big smile and a lovely hostel!

Ahhh....How good we felt to be in a nice warm bed in a gorgeous hostel that night !

Ahhh.... How good we felt to have planned at least this part of the trip in advance !

Ahhh.... How good we felt to no longer be under the control of .....

Feckin Chalten travel !!!!!

Ruta Nacional 40 - Day 2 remains copyright of the author Taffski, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We checked out of our hostel early in the morning, having decided not to bother with the boat trip around the islands in Bariloche the previous day (it was $160 pesos for a three hour trip seeing most of the things we'd already seen), and headed down to the "Chalten Travel" office, which was where the bus was to pick us up.

It arrived on time at 6:30 am (which was surprising!)

We'd read up about the "Ruta Nacional 40" as it is one of the last remaining "off the beaten track" roads still in Argentina and runs down virtually the entire West Side of Argentina from the very North to the Very South and lots of it is still unsealed.... dust tracks!

We went to the Tourist Information people and did some research for a couple of days and basically came to the conclusions that unless we were doing a 4 days+ safari down or had loads of cash to spend there was basically only one way to get to El Chalten from Bariloche. Chalten Travel.

We arrived in the office and the girl was nice and spoke good English. She showed us the route, told us they have a bus leaving to go south every other day and that it would also stop in the "Cuaves De Los Manjos"... The Cave of the Hands (which is a 12,000 year old cave with a multitude of cave paintings on it's walls and specifically one of the only places we both wanted to go on the way down) It sounded great so we asked the price....

No since there was only one company that did this route, I thought it might be expensive, and consequently, I was prepared for a big number......

$495 pesos........ "how much" I asked......

$495 pesos........ "how much" I asked......

$495 pesos........ But you get a room for two nights and this includes the Cuaves de los manyos side trip......

"how much" I asked......

Luckily Steph was there to ask some more searching questions whilst I dwelled on the price for a little bit longer..........

The Cave side trip was $65 pesos.... not that bad.

We'd heard that the hostel they stopped at in El Chalten was a bit crap, so we'd booked our own hostel which meant that they'd drop $30 pesos from the price... which meant that we'd pay

$465 pesos........ "how much" I asked......

$465 pesos........ Including a Dorm bed in Perito Moreno.......

Now, relatively, $465 pesos doesn´t sound a lot, however, when you compare this to normal bus tickets in Argentina..... which is on a Cama Class bus.... with food and drink etc.....It was expensive.

It works out about 80 pounds... which isn´t that much I know... so after some discussions with Steph we decided to book the trip (since they were the only guys that did it after all!)

The bus was a normal bus... (No Cama class here.... but of course!) so we headed off to El Bolson and Esquel, where some other people got on (so you can get the bus from here if you want) and then we headed good a proper through the mountains aloung RN40.

We knew things were starting to get bad... when the bus driver drove straight past the Ruta 40 Sign post (which is the photo stop everyone on the bus wanted)

After about another 4 hours, we stopped in a tiny little town in the middle of the patagonian steppes. We were offered a Pasta meal at the hotel (affiliated with Chalten travel) for $16 pesos each (which we declined and which were were told was crap anyway) and walked the five minutes to the petrol station for 2 jamon Y queso sandwiches (cheese and ham) for $10 and a bottle of water... we're not giving Chalten Travel any more money I ranted!

Some of the other travellers had sandwiches also and after the dusty stop in the hotel in the middle of nowhere we continued down the route.

We all fell asleep and after a while we pulled into a small Estancia... to rip off the gringo's (once again)... a bottle of water was $6 pesos (normally $3) and again it was just the Chalten travel buses at the place.... there's a common link here I thought!

We were then almost killed by (not the bus driver surprisingly... or even the prices in the stop off point) but, one of the guys doing "The Dump from Hell" in the toilet at the back of the bus.... so bad in fact that half of the people in the back of the bus suddenly decided to come a visit us all in the front of the bus for a while... if it'd been a boat... we'd have capsized

We pulled into Perito Moreno at about 8:30 pm.... 14 hours on a non-cama bus.... ouch!

Now to say Perito Moreno (the town... not the Glacier) was quiet is pretty much...... one of the biggest understatements going!

The place was positively "Morte".... DEAD!

We were dropped into our hostel (not the one we thought we were going to be in... the Hotel Belgrano) but another one... where the mortar in the brickwork was still wet and the guy who owned it had to light the gas heater (for the first time ever me thinks!) .. and it was about 12 blocks from the Hotel Belgrano.

We didn't complain as the dorm was nice(ish)... no locks on the doors or anything... but nice (ish)

We were pointed in the direction of a local cafe (which was closed) and local supermarket (which was closed) and the local bread shop (which was closed) and then finally, the local internet place (which was open.....Whayhaeee) but where it took ten minutes to open a single web page..... yep.... kicking and screaming into the 21st century I tell ya!

We all eventually turned up in the same little restaurant some five blocks fom the hostel. It was good as we all chatted over a Quilmes and began to bond as a group.... most of all ..... it was cheap (obviously not affiliated with Chalten feckin travel !

We waddled back to our hostel and hit the sack, the end of an already eventful Day 1 of the Ruta Nacional 40.... hope tomorrow was better!

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The bus station was nice so rather than pay for a taxi to the hostel we jumped on a bus and headed for the centre of Bariloche. This was easily done and cheap compared to the taxi... $1.20 pesos each.

We got off in the centre, got our bearings and headed for our hostel. We´d checked into the Ruca Hueney hostel and were greeted with a coffee whilst they cleaned the room (a 4 bed dorm) It was nice enough and we dropped our bags and headed in Bariloche proper.

Bariloche sits perched on the hillside overlooking a rather Picturesque lake with the snow capped mountains in the background. It´s very much like little Switzerland... or so they like to think (looked more like Austria to me!) with log cabins and loads of tourists ambling around the streets. Have found out since that (apparently) a few Nazi´s may (or indeed may not) have settled down here in the late 30´s so maybe that´s where the look and the money´s come from.... well... that was what I heard anyway

It´s the peak time of the year and all the tourists were walking around browsing in the shops and eating Ice cream and chocolate... poor Steph was drooling most of the time we passed one of the shops... but to her credit... managed to refrain til the last day

We went to the El Chalten travel office to see about the "Ruta Nacional 40", after yet another not so nice or helpful woman in the tourist office said there was only the one company that did the route, and then popped into the supermarket to buy 2 litres of Quilmes and some food for tea.

Quilmes.....

Local brew and it costs about $3.50 for a litre in the supermarket. If you take an empty bottle with you, you get $1.50 back... so it works out at $2.50 a litre of beer... 35 pence !!!! and surprisingly, alcoholism doesn´t seem to be too much of a problem here!!!!

So... hangover in tow we booked our bus down to El Chalten for three days later and our hostels etc.... after some wrangling and pigeon spanish conversations on the phone (I´ll explain Chalten travel and the Ruta later...... grrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!)

We also arranged to hire a bike each the following day to do the "Chico route" which is a cycling (and subsequently we were to find our car based) journey around the lakes and some beautiful scenery.

We were up bright and early and went to the bike rental shop for 9am as arranged.... we left three quarters of an hour later having been waiting for the guys to firstly arrive at work and then faff about with the bikes (i.e. pumping the tyres up... which was nice of them!) but they were cheap at $30 for the days hire! Manyana... manyana !

We´d arranged to not cycle the entire chico route (60k´s) and had arranged to drop the bikes off in Colonia Suiza later that night which cut off 15 k´s (thank god!)

So we set off... along the main road and headed towards the Chico route....

Now... to say that the roads were narrow in Bariloche, and especially on the chico route.... was an understatement!

Trucks... articulated lorries... buses... all zoomed past us at top speed literally skimming our elbows as we struggled with the roads... until eventually we gave up and decided to ride on the dirt track on the side of the road... which is where, evidentally, cyclists should cycle.... so an apparently easy 45k jaunt on a sealed road turned suddenly into a 45k off road moutain marathon!!!

Having spent two hours (and some 18k´s) trying our hardest not to get squashed we pulled off the main road and onto the Chico curcuit proper. Here the traffic did improve.. however... we still stayed on the dirt hard shoulder for periods.

We stopped off at a charir lift up one of the mountains and having arranged with the guy at the bottom that he´d watch our bikes for us... had our lunch at the top of the mountain... surrounded by fantastic mountains, beautiful lakes and even the odd tourist!

We picked our bikes up at the bottom of the chairlift (surprised that they were still there!) and set off in the direction of the Llao Llao hotel (which is fantastic and ridiculously expensive... $750 US dollars a night!)

This is where the ferries that tour the surrounding lakes set off from and having noted this for another day, we headed off along the remainder of the Route.

Colonia Suiza is like a little hippy town in the middle of the mountains. It´s much smaller than Bariloche and far...far... more relaxed. It looked like a great place to stay also and most of the walking routes start from around here, so highly recommended for a couple of nights stay if we return!

After an hour of bouncing down a dirt track, we pulled into the place. Dropped our bikes off and promptly downed two litres of Quilmes in the hour before the bus back to Bariloche arrived! We got back to the hostel which was nice and quiet, had a quick tea in the kitchen and went to bed.... shattered!

OK.... we´ve had a bike ride in Argentina now..... no more !!!!

Bariloche remains copyright of the author Taffski, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We´d booked into "Gwesty Tywi" and here we met Diego and Brenda (our hosts for the next four nights). The hostel was fantastic and Having spent a few minutes getting our stuff our and into wardrobes and drawers and had a shower in our private ensuite bathroom ...Flash or what.... we headed out for a stroll in Gaiman. The room was only $90 per night and was immaculate.

We went to the museum in town which opened at four and met the tour guide.... who spoke Welsh! Wow... how strange it is to speak Welsh with someone from Argentina! Having had a few minutes of general chit chat.. we were introduced to an older lady who was third generation Welsh and her grandfather had been one of the original settlers to Chubut (the province in Patagonia). Her Grandmother was originally from Holyhead and her Welsh was more North-Walian than South which was interesting.

We went back to the hostel and met Brenda´s mother. She was there with a Welsh couple from Caernarvon who also spoke Welsh and so poor Steph was left for a while listening to us all jabbering away.... me doing my utmost to remember to use "Chi" (the polite way of saying you", however, I did slip up when chatting with Brenda´s mum... who was a bit older) by saying "Mae fy´ghymraeg yn ifernol"... "Ifar" being a not to nice word for "bad" and one of the last words you should use when in a formal situation... she clocked it straight away and being a teacher... I got a stern look and the next day I apologised profusely... If I´d been a pupil.... I´d have been sent to the headmasters office for sure!

We spent four days touring around Gaiman. Visited Trelew which was nice. The Tourist Information office wasn´t too helpful, however, the museum was fantastic and we saw a bone belonging to one of the largest dinosaurs in the world... the Argentisaurus Goliathicus... or something like that ! It was huge.... so we took a picture of Steph stood inbetween it´s back legs with her arms spread wide and she still couldn´t touch either leg! Luckily for her the Dinosaur was long dead else she´d have been in serious trouble had it been taken short... "Death by Dino doo doo"

Diego loaned us his and Brendas bikes for one day and we rode the 10km´s to the Dinosaur park, just south of Gaiman. It was a self interpreted walk up the side of the canyon, leading you to the top where you could look across the entire Chubut river valley, from Trelew in the East to Dolavon (another small Welsh village... really nothing there though! not even a tourist info place!) in the West. It was a nice view and having been thrilled with fossils on the way up well worth the ride there and back... although we were a bit worse for ware by the time we got back to the hostel!

The four days was fantastic and although the town of Gaiman was small, there were a few nice restaurants and a few things to do to entertain you for a few days... although by the fourth day, we were both ready for a change!

We booked our tickets on the direct service from Trelew to Bariloche with Patagonia transport for $160 pesos each and the next day got a lift from Brenda´s mum with the couple from Caernarvon to the bus station and boarded our bus....
Cama class.... but of course!

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Being not that bothered about birthdays (especially mine!) The fact that it was the 27th of Jan was quickly dropped and we wondered what we´d do for the rest of the day.

We Met Roy on the Beach and looked after his stuff while he went swimming and then, we decided we´d give it one last chance and sped off to Punta Norte!

The High Tide was later in the day (about 5pm) so we hung around til about 6:30.

Nothing again... boo hooo

well.... I think we´ve learnt that you can´t expect to see something all the time and also, that the next time we come (which we will!)... it´ll be in mid to late Feb !

Anyway, we headed back to Puerto Piramides and headed to the La Estacion restaurant with Roy for a Birthday feed (Which was fantastic!) after a few cheekies we headed back to the hostel and noticed that we could see a bright star in the sky... although this star had a bright tail spilling out from behing it !

Now I´d heard that there was a comet about at this moment... however... I never thought it would be this clear !

It was fantastic and the McNaught comet covered most of the night sky! It´s the brightest comet for 40 years and will dissappear off into space, never to be seen again !

We crashed out and arranged to pick Roy up at 8am the next day as we had to get the hire car back before 10am.

We dropped Roy off, said goodbye and dropped the hire car off... a little bit dustier than we´d received it... which the guy wasn´t overly amused about... and then headed to the bus station to get the bus to Trelew ($6.50) and then jumped in a cab ($25 fixed costs) to Gaiman... the Capital of "Little Wales"... It was time to forget my rubbish Spanish and get back into my rubbish Welsh! Poor Steph just wanted the next four days to be over ASAP I´m sure

Happy Birthday to me ! remains copyright of the author Taffski, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Roy, Steph and I had planned the route so that we´d end up in Puerto Norte at the North of the peninsula for about 2pm and headed directly there so that we´d miss most of the tourists... that was the plan anyway!

We arrived and the were greeted by a fairly tame Patagonian Fox (Which is very rare) and some even tamer Armadillo´s. Some photos were taken and we then set ourselves at the top of the cliff in the public viewing spot for the patient wait to see if the Orca´s would turn up!

The Sea Lions were interesting enough on their own and with Roy´s Lemon Tea, the frolicking of the sea lion pups and the posturing of the Male sea lions, the hours flew by.

Unfortunately, High tide came and went with not a whiff or Orca!

We checked in the Guarda Faunica office (which is right by the viewing spot) and apparently there had been about 12 Orca spotted two days earlier... so, seeing that it was getting close to the "Sea Lion Pup Chomping" time of year (End of Jan, Feb and early March) we thought we should be in luck!

We left about 5pm, miffed, but undaunted and trundled back via the Penguin colony just south of Puerto Norte. These little Guys were entertaining (if a bit smelly) and since you were virtually on top of the wee buggers... some quality shots were had! We then trundled back to Puerto Piramides for tea.

The next day we decided to hit the Peninsula from the South Upwards. Once again... the plan was to try and avoid the hordes of touristicos being ferried along the peninsula.

We arrived at Punta Delgada to find that the gate was shut and the notices stating that we were unable to enter the public viewing spot. Luckily Roy spotted some local guys, and found out that the public viewing area was just the other side of the gates and you were perfectly entitled to open the gate and drive the five minutes down to the public viewing spot.

This we did, although we did mutter on about how the hotel was taking a liberty by placing the gate literally on the road side of the public entry point! Obviously trying to be overtly exclusive... i.e. if you´re not in the hotel... you can´t get in!

The views from Punta Delgada were nice, however, you were quite a way up from the Elephant seals. However, this didn´t stop you from seeing how big the buggers were!

The ones we could see were Immature males and then were roughly about 2 tonnes and about 3 metres long. A full grown male can grow up to 6 tonnes and about 6 metres long !!! These things are massive (I might be a bit wrong with the numbers here but you get my drift!)

We then headed up to Caleta Valdes, which was North and about half way to Punta Norte. Here we were greeted by the masses of touristicos and their buses. We had a quick look at the sea lions, some Lemon Tea (kindly provided by Roy Again) and a sandwich and then headed up to Punto Norte for a second days´vigil!

Nothing......

Not a sausage !

However, the Armadillos and the Sea Lion pups did their best to entertain us in the meantime!

Feckin Nature I tell you !

Homeward bound and by now the speeds in the car were up to about 80kph and I´d started to overtake other cars.... although I know it´s not big or clever... it´s a hire car... what dýa expect

Valdes Peninsula - Overview remains copyright of the author Taffski, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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For those of you not sure with the Peninsula Valdes area... it´s basically got the beach where the Killer Whales take the baby seal lions from the beach, amogst other Natural delights.

Now, I´ve seen this a few times on TV, however, the thought of not only being able to finally see Killer Whales (which we´ve still not seen in the flesh) but also seing them chomping on some poor defenseless seal lion pups was enough to get me over my fear of South American roads and more importantly, other South American drivers!

Entry to the Peninsula was $30 pesos each and since we were staying there, you only had to pay this once... which was really handy I thought. If you stay off the peninsula... you have to pay for every day you go there.

We arrived in Puerto Piramides, which is the only real place to stay on the peninsula, after two hours or so and dropped Roy off at the camp site so we could go to our "hostel"... "The Posada Piramides".

We pulled up outside and it looked rather nice. However, when we got in our room, it was a large double room with an attached bathroom which was shared with a 5 bed dorm.

To cut a long story short... we´d booked the hostel on the web with hostelbookers.com. We sent and emial to confirm the bed. The hostel replied and said they didn´t work with the web site anymore, but we could have a room for $180 peso´s per night and not the $120 pesos per night we´d seen on the web site (which we thought was being a bit flash!)

"That´ll be $220 pesos per night" the girl said..... WHAT !!!!!
Now remember this is Argentina.... Not Aruba!

This worked out at 38 pounds sterling a night (not a fortune for anyone travelling on Sterling I admit), however, when we compared this to the $94 pesos we´d been paying in Buenos Aires, which we thought was expensive... was over double the price for a worse room if anything!

We informed the girl that the room was too expensive and that we´d agreed $180 per night. She looked stunned and informed me that we had a big room.... with 5 other beds... ???

What did we care how many beds there were there.... how many can I sleep in... what... should we have a bed rotation system and spend a different night in a different bed???

Dizzy Bi..... Anyway.....

After a phone call to the manager she agreed on $180 but would need the money up front!

eh...............

"All of it?" I asked

yes, she replied!

We didn´t like this girl!

When you get cash out of the cash machine here.. it gives you $100 peso bills (up to a maximum of $500) which works out about 90 quid. If you hand over a $100 peso bill for payment for anything other than a big meal or cloths or something... they really don´t like you! All we knew was that we really didn´t like this chick!

Anyway... we said we´d pop to the cashpoint... which we did and got $500 peso´s out. This we put down as a desposit and it was agreed that I´d speak to the manager regarding the outstanding payment and the room etc.

"Can we rent out the dorm room?" the girl asked....

"What???"

So... not only were we paying twice as much... and had payed most of it already... she wanted to rent out the joining room so that we then would have five other people sharing our bathroom... that we´d payed for as an en'suite!!!

Steph left me ranting in Pseudo Spanish... Pseudo English... Pseudo Obscenties!

We left for the beach and coffee.

On our return to the "Posada Piramides" we were welcomed by another couple in the dorm room... who´d locked the door so we had to knock to get in !!!

Now we´re not snobby, however, we´d splashed out on this room so we then spent the next hour or so, messing about with locks so that we could actually lock our door so anyone in the dorm couldn´t just walk in and nick our stuff! We Ended up with three keys. One for the room into the dorm. One to "Open" our door... and a different one to "close" our door !!!

Feckin....... Let´s just say we weren´t happy with our choice of hostel at that moment in time!

On the other hand... Puerto Piramides is a lovely little place and has a few hotels, and ATM, internet shop (albeit satellite internet) and some lovely restaurants and cafes.

We met Roy that night and popped out for some food at a little restaurant called "The Estation".... which was fantastic (The Fish was particularly excellent!)

We went to bed at about 2am.... ready for a 12 o´clock start the following day to the Peninsula and to see some Orca, seals, sea lions and penguins... Fingers crossed.

The Valdes Peninsula remains copyright of the author Taffski, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The next morning we arrived in PM. It´s a sleepy little town and the bus station was a chilled as the town. We´d decided to walk to the hostel as it seemed fine and the hostel was only a few blocks away.

We checked into our 4 bed dorm and then strolled about Puerto Madryn for a few hours. Had something to eat, and then Steph decided that we´d go for a short walk to the other end of town to see the Eco-Centre.

This seemed like a good idea as the distance looked short on the map! After an hour or so, we finally dragged our sunburnt bodies into the centre.

We were given an English handbook to accompany the exhibitions and so, we set about gleaning as much as we could about the flora and fauna of the area (and specifically Peninsula Valdes)

The centre was $18 perso´s for Non Nationals, $12 for Nationals and $6 for locals.... I thought of trying to claim that since I was a "direct" decendent(ish) (i.e. from Wales) of the first Welsh to land in PM and without them the town wouldn´t even exist I could try for a local ticket.... however... thought better and bought two $18 peso tickets (being that we were gringo´s after all!)

We got to see a replica of one of the orcas (Mel), the Blue Planet film (in Spanish) for 30 mins or so and then walked up the lookout for a good view of the Massive Cruise liner (that´s based in PM) heading out to sea for a 20 day trip to the Malvinas (Falklands) and on to Antartica (Not long now.....!)

On the way back we stumbled across a little Welsh Museum on the side of the road! They had a big flag outside (of which the girl inside was particularly proud... although she couldn´t speak any Welsh) It was the official flag of the Galles (Welsh) in Patagonia...

Think of the Argentinian flag (light blue, white and light blue horizontal strips) with the Welsh Dragon set on the white bit in the middle of the flag... it´s a slightly different draig (dragon) as it´s much thinner and the idea was that it would link and yet not be an exact copy of the original.

So after an hour or so of walking round this little room, looking at the original ships (El Mimosa) log of passengers and checking out that there were two William Williams already in the area... and been allocated land in the Valley to the south... which is where Gaiman and Dolavon are (where we´re heading in a few days or so)... we decided to get a sticker for posperity and a copy of the Local Newspaper (which was in Welsh of course!!!)

On the way home we popped into a rent a car place and found out that it would cost us ($120 per day for four days and 200km´s) to hire a car and having popped outside for all of two minutes we decided we´d take it, we booked the car for the following day... ready to head to the Peninsula to "possibly" see some Orca´s eating some young seal lions....

We crawled back into the hostel and bumped into a few guys who were having an Asado (Argentinian BBQ).... We stumbled in broken English and Spanish as to what we needed to do (which turned out to be... go and get some meat from the Butchers around the corner) and then the guys cooked it!

You buy meat by the Kilo (so you can get a kilo of Rump Steak for $20).... just over 3 pounds!

The guys cooked a great feast and we all sat around being filmed by an older geezer who was filming his trip around Argentina. Couldn´t speak a word of English but a nice guy!

We went to bed about 1am leaving the guys to rant on in Castellano about whatever they´d been ranting about for the past two hours and got some kip ready for the experience of driving on South American roads the following day!!! Right Hand driving !!!

Puerto Madryn remains copyright of the author Taffski, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The next day we caught the bus back from sleepy little Puerto Iguazu to happening Buenos Aires! This was pretty uneventful, apart from the bus stopping every 100 miles or so, and the army boarding the bus twice to check for drugs and checking passports!! It was fine though and we got the usual looking after with plenty of vino tinto for Alan and vino blanco for steph!!!!

We arrived back in Buenos Aires and jumped in a taxi back to the hostel. The guy asked us if we´d like to put our bags in the back but we insisted on keeping them with us in the cab.... which was a good decision we think !!!

To get from Retiro to the hostel was a maximum $8 peso journey, however, by the time we arrived outside the hostel the meter was reading $18 pesos!!! We weren´t sure if there was an extra rate for a sunday, so although we knew it was more expensive we gave the taxi man two $10 peso notes. Now we´d heard of the scams that the taxi drivers try on tourists... so when the man showed me one of "alleged" ten peso notes I´d given him indicating it was a forgery... we were taken aback and after some too-ing and fro-ing we eventually got out of the taxi and had told the git to F off (in not so many words!) He mumbled something when we got out and that was that.

It´s only 10 pesos we know, however, it´s a point of the matter that he tried to indicate that we´d given him a forgery! Rogue or what!

Anyway, we got back in the hostel and checked into our room... which had a fan in it this time we were glad to see!

We then went down stairs and met up with Bert and Ans, a dutch couple we´d met earlier whilst in BA. We were sat downstairs chatting when we heard a bang outside... we thought nothing of it until Ans pointed out that there was a load of smoke passing the window. We looked outside and right by the obelisk in the centre of town a car was on fire!!! Within seconds the fire engines were hurtling down the street and having grabbed our camera to get some priceless shots of Avenida Corrientes empty apart from a flaming car we watched as the fire service guys put the fire out.

Eventful start to BA again or what !!!

We then decided to go shopping for some last minutes things before we went out for tea and got ready to head to Puerto Madryn the following day.

We were walking down Av Florida (the main shopping concourse) when suddenly, a motorbike shot past us, almost running over Steph´s foot! We thought this was strange until hot on it´s heals was a gun toting Policeman... cocked and ready to fire!

We watched as the police sped down the streets after the hoodlums... however... it wasn´t until we got to another street that we saw the guys on the motorbike had been apprehended... and more surprisingly... were still alive!

Now don´t get us wrong... Although Steph wasn´t too enamoured with Ba, Alan thought it was OK (like any other city in the world!) just a few more guns.. rogues and fortunately police!

So we´ve now pretty much done BA and so we leave tomorrow for Puerto Madryn to meet up with the Welsh who migrated there a century or two ago... Steph can´t wait .... NOT!

Puerto Iguazu remains copyright of the author stephyd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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