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Dads on tour: Cruising in Cambodia

My dad loves to write a holiday letter. And they’re usually too funny not to share. Names have been changed to protect fellow passengers (you’ll understand why)…

This letter is the latest update on his boat cruise in Cambodia

Hi,

Well these days just about everyone has spent some time in Siem Reap so it is certainly not worth elaborating on the temple hike as good as that was.  

They certainly built lots of very impressive temples although I suspect some construction didn’t manage to survive the passage of time, albeit a bit older,  as well as those of the Incas but a great experience.  

It is hard though not to bundle up the vast majority of the tourists to Siem Reap into a few groups.  

The French – well what can be said other than that there are lots of them, there to do lots of temples, and un petit peu miffed that French is not spoken anymore in Cambodia the way it used to be.  Of course it is not to say that some don’t come with attitude – a couple of female teenage somethings from Paris or thereabouts not happy with being told to cover up to visit a  temple and managed to give the security guard a degree of attitude that would have even shocked some of the best from school (I do mean students of course!). 

The Americans could be seen walking around with their guidebooks, she writing notes as to what they were seeing and he getting told what pictures to take.  

The Indian tourists needing to visit far flung temples, with a prayer or two thrown in, often challenged by the workout to get there on foot and needing to complete the journey on well positioned motorbikes just waiting for the fatigue to set in.  

But then of course comes the Asian tourist, particularly emanating from the rapidly growing Chinese tourist market.  Whilst only getting to the major temples and at set times in the routine – beware selfie sticks abound and lookout if you happen to find yourself in the middle of the guided tour by accident – momentum takes over.  What is it about Chinese tourists wanting to be photographed framed by a temple window – one tourist at a time of course.

But wait, what is a good story without a Brit or two thrown in?  Two British ladies, probably up to the 54/11 stage managed to drop the credit card into the moat at the entrance to one temple.  Now why would you have a credit card out at this point?........ but as I left two lovely locals had exhausted the possibilities of a drag net and were in the water up to their waste looking for the sunken card (with direction from our two Brits on the boardwalk above of course) which was very much needle in a haystack, Cambodian water not being known for its clarity at the best of times.  As I walked back across the boardwalk I saw two straw hats floating -  I did wonder if the credit card wasn’t the first part of their property to hit the water.

I could have started my own diplomatic incident on my second day in Cambodia.  Yes I wanted a tuk tuk and an English speaking guide and all was arranged by the hotel.  I thought the tuk tuk driver (who did speak English) was also the guide.  90 minutes down the road, the tuk tuk driver gets a phonecall from the English speaking guide saying she is at the hotel waiting for me.  The guide tells me off – she wants her $46, the hotel manager gets involved – his fault/my fault/driver’s fault, etc etc.  I was adamant we weren’t going back at that stage though. 

Then the driver starts telling me he is going to lose his job and so it goes on. On checking out of the hotel it was on my bill so after a bit of negotiation we compromised at half each!

The tour group for the trip down river is 22 in total, mainly Canadians, with 2 Americans, 2 Germans and 3 Australians thrown in. My mantra has always been that in any tour group there is always someone to talk about, so beware if no one stands out!  Believe it or not (and I heard someone else say this tonight) that they have never been on a tour before where the whole group seems to get on really well and I really think that is the case.  

Mind you I did put in an early bid for being talked about by managing to separate myself from the group at one of the temples – no I wasn’t lost but did find myself “imprisoned” in the midst of a selfie taking Chinese tour group, not knowing whether our group was in front or behind.  This was the temple used for Indiana Jones filming.  I decided to head straight back to the bus, not knowing where the bus was (we entered by a different gate) whilst the search party was out!  Yes a bit of ribbing but nothing that couldn’t be dealt with.

Floating down the Tonle Sap River prior to joining the Mekong proper in Pnomh Penh tonight has been a great experience.  All of the river life with the deafening sound of many of the river boats has been fascinating - no OHS in these parts. 

Our boat anchored this afternoon for a while to provide an opportunity for a swim in the river.  It was pleasantly warm but with a surprisingly strong current, which was flowing downstream (this is a river that flows upsteam for 4-6 months of the year, such is the volume of water coming down the Mekong and back into the Tonle Sap.  Of course it was not the time to contemplate what other matter finds its way into this water – as one of our group said dilution is the solution to pollution!

We finished off the afternoon by getting on the mountain bikes for a ride into the country side to visit some local crafts people.  I have to say to see a substantial size clay pot (the Bunnings $89 variety or the like) made from scratch by a woman who does not use a pottery wheel – the clay is stable and she rotates around the emerging pot was amazing.  At the end of the day she receives approx 80 cents US per pot for her labours.

Having a great time.

Dad

[dadsontour]

Dads on tour: Things operate a little differently in Argentina

My dad loves to write a holiday letter. And they’re usually too funny not to share. Names have been changed to protect fellow passengers (you’ll understand why)…

This letter is the latest update on the current jaunt around South America.

“It was interesting that the passports were processed overnight on the boat by the Argentineans, content to put a stamp inside, and then assume everyone found their way off the boat and onshore at Ushuaia.  Then,  on passing through security to board for El Calafate, no need to take out the computer, “just go through!”

El Calafate is quite a few degrees north of Ushuaia and finds itself at the southern end of the northern Patagonia if you get what I mean.  

Clearly not enough pre travel research done here as it came as a surprise to be out on the Argentinean steppe, with snow covered mountains in the distance.  Not too much grows here, even the sheep are sparsely spread.  

The calafate berry however is fairly common across all environments in this part of the world – a fruit very similar to a blueberry but growing on an incredibly threatening bush best described as a cross between a box thorn and a blackberry, but more thorns! Needless to say it is possible to load up on its jam, wine, soaps and anything else that can be flavoured.  

Argentina seems to be grappling with tourism as a means of boosting the floundering economy in these parts. Prices are all over the place.  Yes staple items seem cheap  (the humble empanada, Sth America’s answer to the meat pie,  is everywhere) but then anything with a scent of tourism about it, starts at $150 (that would be 150 Argentinean Pesos - roughly $10USD).  

With a change to a conservative government just over 12 months ago there is an attempt to cool down inflation but the figures were released yesterday showing that the inflation rate for the year just gone was 36%  with 25% expected in 2017.

That is a country in turmoil, which under the previous government just printed more money and claimed inflation was not a problem.  The Big Mac index was manipulated by doing a deal with McDonalds that the Big Mac had to be the cheapest in the world here if they wanted to trade in Argentina.  

To fill in an afternoon waiting for the bus to head further north, what better than a long walk to and around a wetland, supposedly displaying local birdlife – yes 150 Pesos later and having seen a few gulls and 3 stray dogs a contribution to the economy had been made!  A few days later I subsequently found the birdlife in abundance further around the bay – they too seemingly didn’t want to pay admission.

“The buses are an experience in themselves. Both the buses and the drivers are oversized.”

From here a short bus ride of 210 kms finds the far north outpost of Patagonia at El Chaten.   The buses are an experience in themselves.  Oversized (both the buses and the drivers), the buses come with an air horn that seems to be the driver’s main weapon as he blasts it incessantly to terrorise smaller vehicles as well as greet all his friends along the way. 

It was not difficult to translate the airhorn messages.  The road (Ruta 40) has its own “legendary” history, snaking north to south through Argentina as far as politics and waterways will permit. It is well made but comes with painted sidelines only, lending itself to some degree of negotiation (for want of a better word) about where the centre of the road is.  

The buses work on Sth American time of course (as one Argentinean said to me, there is no word in Spanish that literally means NOW, rather than say sometime in the next 15 minutes).

“The lottery of preallocated bus seating”

Having paid the 20 pesos tax to “use” the bus terminal, the lottery of preallocated bus seating had me seated beside an Italian traveller who was couch surfing through South America whilst doing his PhD in Taiwan, before returning to his Italian roots mid year (only child and his parents wanted him back!) to set up a permaculture business.

Of course his supervisor was not aware he was out of Taiwan and Piedro was still contemplating how he would explain unavailability for a meeting in Taiwan next Friday, let alone that he wouldn’t be back until March!  Adding new meaning to “working from home”, his thesis on the impact of radiation on permacultures near power stations hit hurdles getting any radiation data from the Government, but of course the PhD was going on.

El Chalten is a small village of 600 people in winter, exploding to backpacker central in summer.  If you are not compressed between an oversized backpack and a day pack on the chest, then there is an uncomfortable feeling of being out of place.  

Of course this is way beyond the travel plans of the American traveller – not too many backpacks there!  Apart from Argentineans in large numbers, French, German and Australian accents abound.  With a degree of embarrassment I extracted my suitcase with wheels from the luggage pit of the bus and headed off directly over the road to a hostelia as the burdened down back packers headed off into the distance to find their hostels much further along the one main (paved) road that joined the 15 blocks of El Chalten.  

So what is the difference between a hostelia and a hostel?  I suspect it starts with being opposite the bus terminal and having an ensuite, but let’s not get too carried away, having the proportions of a typical Japanese hotel room, where the walls can almost be touched from the centre of the room and in this case where the walls and ceilings are so thin that the snoring above and beside booms in!

A hostelia, as with a hostel no doubt, has a friendly feeling.  People talk!  On the first morning I met some Brits sharing a transfer out to a strategic starting point on the walk to Mt Fitzroy.  The conversation was interrupted mid sentence by “Is that a British accent I hear?” directed at the people behind.  Oh the excitement -  they had not met a single Brit in the last two weeks.  

“Brits can’t afford to travel now you know”

I was dropped like a hot spud as they shared their stories of what they managed to book pre Brexit and how they are now suffering.  “Brits can’t afford to travel now you know”  My immediate thoughts were of a penniless Barmy Army unable to make the journey to Australia next summer.  

The fellow Brit behind was contemplating how she could face up to ever working full time again – she liked her travel. “We thought we met some Brits the other day but they turned out to be Australians” said in disgust!  Needless to say I met them many times over, he craving for a “good feed of hake” and she for wi-fi.  Alas they would be back in Bath by mid week.

Armed with a “hostelia lunchbox”  (150 pesos of course!) the walk to Mt Fitzroy o Chalten provided another set of stunning landscapes with the physical challenge of a rise of 400 metres in the last 1 km to the glacial lake at the base of the peak.  

They were deciding to take a naked plunge into the glacial waters to test the impact of glaciation on the human appendage “

With many many people doing this walk at this time of year the stage was set for an extrovert or two, so there they were deciding to take a naked plunge into the glacial waters to test the impact of glaciation on the human appendage – they soon found out!  I guess by now the whole performance is across Facebook many times over.

The second most popular walk is of similar distance, but supposedly up a much more gentle slope to Lago Torres, another glacial lake, containing lots of icebergs.  

A gentle walk in a glacial valley – there is an oxymoron with boulders to be dodged and climbed over.  Nevertheless, another meeting with Piedro along the track indicated that the PhD wasn’t progressing too far.  Once at the lake with some great views, which could have been even greater had the cloud blown away (but not to be), the option existed for a short climb further up the moraine to look down on the glacier as it breaks off into the lake.  

Welcome Demitrios, who has travelled to these parts from Greece, joining a camping trip in a yellow truck which started back in Quito in November and will finish at Rio for the Carnivale.  Now Demitrios asked if he could follow me up this track as he was scared of heights.  

“I must be in the centre of the photo, everytime!”

I soon found out why he wanted to follow.  “Could you take  a photo of me here please?”  ... and here...and here!  “I must be in the centre of the photo, everytime!”  OK he has a photo of himself hiding the glacier, etc, etc.  I left Demitrios at the top contemplating if he would break away from his camping trip as he didn’t really like camping anyway.  “You know I am a winter swimmer”  No, before you think it there were icebergs in this lake!

An early morning departure from El Chalten back to El Calafate with a bus driver obsessed with his air horn ensured that those bedraggled backpackers some of whom looked like they had slept on the hard earth with their thin sleeping mats (I do remember!) one night too many could not get any rest onboard.  

I travelled beside an Argentinean student who had studied law and decided he could not change the world by that means so had turned to studying his passion (music) and doing the things he really wanted to do.  Interesting conversation as he spoke of life in B.A. post the election a year ago where as he put it a bad government took over from a poorly performing one.  

He was genuinely concerned for his future as a young person in Argentina.  All of that said he reminded me of how safe a place Argentina is for travel (“but be very careful in B.A.”)

So, back to El Calafate for one last dose of Patagonia to visit the amazing Perito Moreno Glacier, the glacier of all glaciers in the park.  A quick check in to the hotel which seemed to waver between being upmarket and mutton dressed up as lamb.  It is located on the Avenue of the Liberator –South American cities seem to make big statements in their street names.  

With a small degree of pain and suffering in the calves from the previous few days of walking, taking the elevator up the one floor seemed a good alternative.  Good, until it refused to open at piso 2.  

“The lift is stuck, get me out of here!”

Now here’s a challenge,  Spanish classes didn’t extend to “The lift is stuck, get me out of here!”  No phone available so what does a person do?  Ringing the alarm bell and thumping on the door didn’t produce the desired result.  In time the sound of a vacuum cleaner was in earshot and with increased intensity of bashing on the door, eventually a room service man came to the rescue forcing the door open.  Needless to say the lift has been out of service since.

Perito Moreno Glacier lived up to expectations, even if it came after grappling with a bus load of “locals” who had to be first off the bus, first on the boat,  in the best positions for selfies on the boat for the first 5 minutes before going back inside and then first off the boat.  

What an amazing sight to see pieces of ice calving off the front of the glacier  and crashing to the water with a noise equivalent to a clap of thunder.  At 70 metres in height at the front, it is a lot of ice coming into the water.  

Wow!  Patagonia has been absolutely amazing and has certainly lived up to all the expectations I had prior to the trip.

Dad

[dadsontour]

Dads on tour: One day in Antarctica

My dad loves to write a holiday letter. And they’re usually too funny not to share. Names have been changed to protect fellow passengers (you’ll understand why)...

This letter was received after a sightseeing flight to Antarctica.

This was never going to be a typical flight, albeit Melbourne to Melbourne (via Antarctica) non stop for 12 ½ hours depending on what happened along the way.  

The instructions were quite simple – bring the camera and not much else, no check in, no luggage,  just a lanyard and two boarding passes (one for the trip to Antarctica and a different seat for the return).  I opted for the back section of the 747 where viewing was as unrestricted as it can be through plane windows.  Good choice.

The passengers

Three hundred and something people boarding a jumbo in domestic – well it worked and there was not a spare seat!  I couldn’t help but notice a school group decked out in their uniform.  Of course my thoughts went straight to which private school was this and then counting the rather good teacher to student ratio! 

 It was only later that we found out that the school was a government one and was one of three (the others from Hobart and also Invercargill) as part of a scientific research program in schools. I suppose no overseas travel documentation required on a Melbourne to Melbourne flight!

Not having extravagant luggage to squash into the overhead lockers might have simplified boarding considerably had it not been for the couple in row 46 who just could not work out which seats they had, but we got there.  Off and in the air by 8.20 a.m. in the safe hands of “one of QANTAS’s most experienced captains” with two other captains and a second officer along for the ride.

Remembering the first rule of group travel “if they are not talking about someone then watch out it could be you!” we weren’t even past take off when it became obvious I was surrounded by some of the potential talking points of the outbound journey.  

Yes my neighbour (let’s protect the innocent and call him Bert) and his daughter (let’s call her Beryl!)  Well Bert did manage to ensure that everyone around had an individual explanation of his hernia op and his knee replacements before Port Phillip Bay had disappeared. 

 And Bert was a contractor in building the runway too!  But wait Beryl, they have the flight path on the screen “I’ll show you how to read it” And read it he did, aloud! Photos, he had to get a few so off to a window before announcing that his phone was just about full somewhere across Bass Strait. To some relief he found himself trapped behind the drink carts and unable to get back to his seat until somewhere around Hobart.

We also had a film crew on board from the Places We Go (channel 10 in October) - the Clint Bizzell one.  I saw Clint at one stage come down to  the next galley but they didn’t trouble themselves with the rear cabin!

Brunch

Its brunch time over the Southern Ocean and of course being seated down the back, the food options were reduced by the time the trolley came around, but no problem. We didn’t come for the food.  

Bert got half way through his meal when he informed us that he had a Japanese tenant at one stage and she sends him photos of food still. He decided it was time to return the favour, so took a photo of the meal to send to her.  Next time Bert perhaps before you start it rather than half way through??  The food served, the young gentleman in the seat in front of Bert took the disruptive step of putting his seat into full recline (the only one in the whole cabin) and settling into a movie as you do on a sightseeing flight to Antarctica. 

Now my solution to that as previously trialled on long haul flights is quite simply to undertake very regular knee and leg exercises into the back of the seat of the offender.  Not really a possibility for Bert with those knees (“titanium you know”). 

Valentines day passion

I had joked previously about all of the Valentines Day couples who would be on the plane.  Well let’s put the record straight.  By 10.30 the queues for the toilets certainly reflected the demands of ageing bladders, not Valentines Day passion!

The plane was a real mix of people, but there was certainly an over representation (in my part of  the plane at least) of daughters around 50-70 taking one or both of the elderly parents along for the ride.  Not sure who was paying!

“Beryl, how about we have a selfie” says Bert and so lots more NQR photos before a woman in front ends the misery by offering to take the photo of them.  “They call this a selfie” says Bert to the helpful lady. “ I have a couple of selfie sticks at home but they are broken”  For that we could be grateful as I told him!

The first icebergs

By 11.20 the first sightings of icebergs appeared amongst lots of clouds,  announced by someone walking the aisle as “I just saw an icicle!” Much excitement and photos of course.  

By this stage we were not at the Antarctic Circle and still cruising along at just over 10,000m ASL.  Apparently the weather all week in much of Antarctica had been really bad and although they had 19 alternative flight paths, it was quite clear they were hoping to some extent on this occasion.  

Typically it all starts to open up about 4 hours into the flight as the ice takes over. That ice on this occasion was below a very thick cloud cover.  The most common flight path is apparently to head for the South Magnetic Pole and then on hitting the coast travel west along the Australian section of Antarctica, but not today.  

We were aiming for the Ross Sea and Ross Ice shelf where the weather was expected to be better.  On passing over Cape Adare we dropped down to just over 5000 metres which was to be the level we flew at whilst down there.  Remembering of course that much of the land is over 3000 metres ASL. Only -26 degrees outside which I expected to be a bit colder!  

The clouds have cleared

And then 4 and a half hours into the flight the clouds cleared and the most amazing sights appeared. At this point the whole dynamic of the plane changes.  Even the movie goer is out of his seat taking a photo or two.  Bert has managed to squeeze out a few more photos.  

Virtually no one is in the centre bank of seats and everyone is in the aisles or squashing into the 3 or 2 side seats.  We then spent the next four or so hours cruising around the Ross Sea with the plane doing figures of 8 to ensure everyone saw plenty.  

Concurrently two former Antarctic Expedition Leaders provided continuous commentary over the P.A., which was good although difficult to hear at times.  I was very appreciative of an exceptionally generous couple (my seat rotation pair) who were happy to share their window views on the way down.  That was the sort of atmosphere that prevailed once the views appeared.  

Spotting penguins (not quite)

We flew over the Korean base and the Italian one (the Italians had gone home for winter) and although McMurdo was down there I did not see it.  One of my real highlights was flying adjacent to Mt Erebus and actually being able to look into the smoking crater of the volcano as we flew just 1500 metres above it. 

Pristine ice tongues extending out into the ocean looked amazing, stunningly sharp and steep mountains and some great glaciers but let the photos speak for themselves in that department.  We got down to 78 degrees south. 

No, we didn’t see any penguins, but as I am reminded by the fans of Happy Feet the girls have done their bit and left the eggs with the males whilst they go back out to sea.  My view on these flights had always been that a flight and could not match the ground experience.  How that has changed.  

The distance we flew over and the sights we saw from the air were just amazing.  Such a fantastic experience.  And of course each flight is different.  The one the week before from Sydney had passed over Mawson’s Hut and other places that were off limits to us due to the weather, but then the comment was made that they had not seen parts like Mt Erebus as clearly as this flight on any previous one.  I don’t think anyone felt left out of the viewing or the experience.  

Heading back to Melbourne

When the cloud set in again about 4 hours later we went back up to altitude and started heading for Melbourne.  We weren’t finished though as the Balleny Islands (right on the Antarctic Circle) popped out of cloud – an uncommon phenomenon apparently.  Of course that meant a 30 minute detour to take these in as well. That was the sort of flight that it was.

The return flight was a much more subdued as dinner and the fundraising raffles (for Mawsons Hut restoration) were underway.  A head wind back as well as our detour around the Bellany Islands meant that the 6500 kms was a bit slower, with a late arrival, but who cared!  Certainly not me.  

It certainly did not feel like a 13 hour flight.  As everyone had been thanked and we cruised into Melbourne there was one more experience awaiting.  Our much praised Captain (under the watchful eyes of his two peer captains) misjudged the last few metres of the descent and we arrived with a (huge) thud.  

The passengers in front who were suddenly presented with a whole bank of oxygen masks falling out of the roof certainly got a huge shock!  The Captain came on the P.A. and apologised for the landing, assuring us though that there is a silver lining to every cloud – the sudden stop meant that we had a much shorter taxi to the terminal!  

What an unbelievable experience!

Dad

[dadsontour]

Dads on tour: I’m on a boat

My dad loves to write a holiday letter. And they’re usually too funny not to share. Names have been changed to protect fellow passengers (you’ll understand why)... 

This letter was received from Argentina after a boat cruise around Cape Horn.

“Long flights are the means to an end but always throw up their challenges. 

After QANTAS decided that my safety was important to them they pulled the plane out of service at the last minute and brought in one that I am sure will be first to go in Alan Joyce’s fire sale when the new ones come on board this year – but it made it!  

I cannot say I have experienced a paper cup delay before – who forgot to put the coffee cups on board?  What’s another 15 minutes!

At least I wasn’t confronted by one of the space Nazis who has to recline their seat in your face as soon as the seat belt lights go off.  

School holidays , what to expect other than a couple of disgruntled teachers sitting behind upset about how the assistant principals conspired to stack the principal selection panel to get one of them up for the principal job, but the plot was overheard by staff.  

Flying south along the Andes from Santiago to Punta Arenas is just another reminder of how elongated Chile is, running some 4500 km north to south and this was over a 3 hour flight to the deeper south. Lots of volcanoes to be seen until the even longer continuous white cloud took over. 

Punta Arenas

Punta Arenas is an interesting place, very much wanting to be part of the tourist scene given its location as a potential jumping off point to Patagonia and colder parts further south.  At the same time it is very much part of the petrochemical scene for Chile.   

Summer temps can get into the mid to higher teens with a day or two of mid twenties in February when the kids take the plunge into the fairly icy waters.   

Beach towels on sale after Christmas – really what was that retailer thinking!

Global warming impacts heavily in Sth America and here the big issue was that the ice skating rink didn’t freeze over last winter for the first year in a long time.

There is no chance of the Donald visiting Patagonia one feels!  I met a lot of Americans hiking in Torres del Paine and did not find one who claimed to have voted for him!

With some trepidation I headed off on a tour of Punta Arenas where the main attraction was the cemetery!  Hmmm!    

Much of this area is steppe used for farming of sheep and more recently cattle in a harsh environment with the original pastoralists coming essentially in hope wanting to make a fresh start in the mid 1800s.  

In came Mr Menendez with his manager Mr Braun. Mr Menendez (Jose to his friends) was given lots and lots of land by the government.  So all the way from Lithuana comes Mr Braun’s sister Sara who manages to marry very quickly more new found wealth.  Her husband dies young and she inherits the biscuits! 

So we now have the wealthiest of the wealthy as the Brauns and the Menendez’s.  Needless to say Mr Braun’s son then marries Jose Menendez’s daughter and the deal is done.  

The Brauns control all the wealth.  Sara has a palace built adjoining the main square with a special little sun chamber constructed at the front to enable her to watch the goings on of the locals.  

Mr Braun builds his palace next door with a special glassed in tower on top that enables him to look out over the city to the waters below carrying out a busy trade of his sheep on the Magellan Straits pre Panama Canal.  

Sara died in the 1950s and her name is all over town, including the Sara Brown Secondary School (as well as the cemetery where her tomb is one of the biggest – her husband is a small one beside hers – she would not be buried with him as he was the wrong religion in death but not in marriage!).

The trip from Punta Arenas into the stunning landscapes of Patagonia is almost a 5 hour bus ride through to Eco Camp where I stayed.  

The M&Ms

Just four passengers on the bus.  Enter an Australian couple, he retired, she still working as a GP.  

If it’s travel, they have done it all and happy to tell everyone about it.  If they haven’t been there they have been somewhere better!  

“Some people call us M&M” comes the admission related to their Christian names, others might have seen a physical resemblance to one – lets call him M2 as there was no doubt who was M1.  

After a very fleeting (2 day) visit to Patagonia, M&M were headed for an Antarctica cruise on a very expensive boat as M2 had an akubra that he had worn on all other continents and he needed to go to Antarctica to complete the set.  

They struggled physically with the demands of the sightseeing “you know he is full of medical bits” but did manage in a couple of days to see a few animals and ensure that everyone knew of their world travels and that for them travel complications only happened when they let their friends do part of the organisation of the trip.

EcoCamp

The EcoCamp where I stayed at Torres del Paine was really good.  Living in a dome for four nights was different.  A little case of the haves and have nots – I had the “standard” number – no heating or ensuite, neither of which bothered me but the half sized doors were a bit of an embuggerance for someone with no protection from skinning the skull on the top of the door way!  

For a few more dollars they came with heaters and ensuites (and bigger doors!)  My three days there were spent taking on the three arms of the “W route” which essentially take in the three most commonly visited locations in the park - the Torres del Paine base (a 22km walk/climb), the Frenchmans Valley (an 18km walk) and the Grey Glacier (a more relaxing boatride).  

I’ll let the pictures do the talking for these three experiences – they were all amazing, although the Frenchmans Valley was a little soggy which stopped us doing the last 3 kms of the walk.  We tended to be with the same group each day and that enhanced the whole experience as well.

I then travelled back to Punta Arenas to board the Stella Australis, a four day boat trip headed ultimately to the Beagle Channel and a landing at Cape Horn, before docking in Ushuaia (Argentina).  

On the boat

All aboard, OMG, around 190 passengers had me shaking at the knees anyway given my allergy to cruise boats, but this was a means to an end and I had to keep revisiting that!  

A cruise with a group of 37 from Deutschland and as if it were an Olympics medal count, even more from the U.S of A.  These were not the type of American tourists I had met at the Ecolodge.  

At my first meal I made the mistake of walking too far into the dining room where a lady met me and said “I’m sorry but these tables are for a special group of us from Harvard”.  The Donald was alive and well here!  One of the Americans on my dinner table has already told me how .... you guessed it, I have found someone who voted for Donald!  

But then this couple did stay on the same floor as Venus and Sarina when they came out to the Australian Open.  Looking after Hedge Funds in the U.S. set him up and she is big in events management (running the campaign to convert the under 35s that All Spice is not for “old people” and organising corporates with Bill Clinton and Colin Powell.  

I even came across the person who co-ordinated the bid for the London Olympics.  On the last night they have an auction to sell off the navigation map to Cape Horn – that will be a story and I certainly would not consider a bid!

The boat trip was fine.  Loved the barrage of glaciers, many coming right down to sea level.  There was a small celebration as we passed the avenue of the glaciers - the Italian, French, English, German and Dutch glaciers in quick succession, with the crew handing out corresponding alcohol and food, ensuring a lively night on board. 

Loved the wildlife we have seen with animals right into breeding season (well childcare really) – they don’t have long before winter is back.  I’m not making any parallels with some of the passengers there!   

I find the U.S of A provides a rich source of amusement!   The (U.S.) woman seen carrying a torch on the boat saying you know it still does get dark at night here.  The (U.S.) grumpy old man at the reception after the first meal complaining the he was “starving” as he didn’t eat octopus and there was no other option – the octopus was an opener only in a 4 course meal.  The (U.S.) woman who on hearing they are building another of these expedition boats to increase the number of trips heard to say “Oh, could it be with an elevator”  Then coming back to that recurrent theme of the Donald as it comes up in conversation all the time, the man (from the U.S. and sounding like let’s say North Dakota) perhaps coming to terms with reality reading an article “Managing Donald”  Then there was the group from Harvard who had their own sessions running – “welcome to come along but you are not permitted to ask any questions”.

Cape Horn

After being softened up for the prospect of not being able to land at Cape Horn, the weather gods smiled initially at least with sunshine and calm.  

This is as far south as it gets short of Antarctica and one family gets to look after the place for a 12 month stint (no breaks and no leaving the island unless an emergency).  

So just in case you were contemplating a career change (there is just the Naval officer, his wife who becomes the Park Ranger, and three kids 14,8 and 1) it takes 12 months training to ensure you are emotionally stable and then appendix removal for everyone with the Naval Officer opting for the vasectomy as well.  

No TV of course and a weather station to be read every 3 hours.  In summer you get to talk to a few visitors such as our boatload, in winter no one comes near the place.  Just to remind everyone of the hostility of the environment, we arrived in sunshine and left in heavy snow (all in one hour).  But then as was said, it is an address that almost everyone on the world knows of.

Argentina

This morning saw an Argentinean stamp in the passport with the boat trip ending in Ushuaia.  It has become a trendy little place catering to tourists jumping off to Antarctica these days.  

It wasn’t always that way though having been set up as a penitentiary where the inmates outnumbered the residents back at the turn of the 20th century.  A little train runs today  (at a price doing the Argentinean economy no harm), along the line constructed by the inmates over 100 years ago – a fascinating story, but not for the inmates I am sure.

The journey continues!

Dad