0217 Ushuaia to San Sebastian

28^th Feb 2015

Heading north again.

Yesterday I spent the whole day catching up on things that had backed up while I was out in the bush on all the dirt road for the past few weeks.  As well as banking and other internet stuff, I also managed to clean the car a bit, change the fuel filter, grease the prop shaft and suspension, and put all the stuff that hangs outside on the spare wheels back in place.  By the end of the day I was ready to hit the road again.

This morning Sergio (the camp site owner) was obviously more ready to leave on a couple of days vacation than I was – When I got up the showers were locked, and even the door into the nice warm lounge area was locked !  When I went round the front of the building to find him, Sergio was packing his car and was ready to go ! I got him to unlock the showers, and then the lounge area so I could dry my towel by the stove, and as soon as I started my engine, Sergio was out of there in front of me !  So if anyone arrives at the camp site in the next couple of days I guess they will find it closed !!

0216 Ushuaia 2

26^th Feb 2015

Wind, sun, and a glacier !

Today I had a few chores to do, but at a leisurely pace.  So after breakfast and a chat with a few of the other campers around the warm stove, I set off into town to collect my spare wheel, hopefully now with the puncture fixed.   All done – It had been about a 2 inch nail that had gone straight in through them main part of the tyre, so it could be plugged no problem.  These two spare tyres still have some tread on them, but they have really been chopped up by all the dirt roads, so are really only good as spares.  But the tyres on the car now are good, and will be fine for the rest of the trip.  I might need to check on the price of these tyres in UK, and compare them with Argentine prices – Might be better to get some here before I ship the car !

0215 Ushuaia 1

23/24/25 Feb 2015

Punctures, computer problems, and penguins !

I have enjoyed a very relaxing break in Ushuaia.  It is quite a fun little town, and if only the weather would behave itself, it could be a lot more enjoyable !  After the initial high winds, we then got a day of sunshine, then a day of rain, then a bit of everything ! But since the camp site has this warm room with a pot belly stove that Sergio the owner keeps burning 24 hours a day, as well as his big kitchen where we are invited to cook out food if  it is too cold / windy / wet outside, it makes it VERY bearable.  Plus we have had a great mix of Overlanders passing through – French, German, Canadian, American, Swiss, which makes for lots of chats round the fire at night. 

0214 Rio Grande to Ushuaia

22^nd Feb 2015

The stars had disappeared by the time I woke up, and it was grey, overcast, and raining !  The joys of Tierra del Fuego – 4 seasons in one day – Every day !!  So I hit the road pretty quickly, and headed south towards Ushuaia. Heading toward south towards a little ton of Tolhuin, I saw a couple of signs for a Panaderia in the town some 30 kms before the town.  This is unheard of down here – They don’t usually advertise at all, let alone 30 kms before the town !  Definitely needed investigation, so when I got to the town, I turned off, and after a little exploring, found this store with big “PANADERIA” lettering above it – And cars everywhere, and even a big coach stopped outside !  So in I went !

0213 Laguna Blanco to Rio Grande

21st Feb 2015

A lovely sunny morning beside the lake, if somewhat chilly.  I packed up as I ate my breakfast, and when I set off, I hadn’t gone 50 yards when I saw the Swiss couple from the big truck walking across, so ended up talking to them for quite a while. Mark and Barbara.  They have been on the road a while, and like many people I have met, really want to go to Australia.  So I promised to put them in touch with a shipping agent I have used in the past, because one of the big concerns of the big trucks wanting to spend time in Aus is the fumigation requirements for their vehicles.  Mark also has a little kayak he can use for fishing, and apparently he caught 4 big trout in the lake last night !  Wish I had met them earlier before they ate all the trout !

0212 San Sebastian to Laguna Blanco

20^th Feb 2015

It was cold and windy when I woke up – No shelter at all meant that a quick breakfast and pack up was called for !  I went and had a chat to Joshua and Shannon and it looked like we were headed in the same direction today – Off to see the King Penguins on the shores of the Bahia Inlet – Actually joined to both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, but more directly to the Atlantic.  I believe this place is the only one where you can see the King Penguins from land (ie without having to go out by boat to an island somewhere) – All the other penguins down here are the smaller Magellenic (?) penguins. But Joshua and Shannon are having a few suspension alignment problems with their car after all the rough roads, and after the penguins want to try to stay on black top roads as much as possible as they head north to ship their car home to the USA. 

0211 Punta Arenas to San Sebastian, Tierra del Fuego !

19^th Feb 2015 

I’M HERE !!  The title of my Adventure was “Australia to Tierra del Fuego….via Alaska”, and today I landed off a ferry onto the Grande Isle de Tierra del Fuego at 3.11 pm local time – So having left Anacortes on the 6^th May 2014, it has taken 9 months and 13 days to get here !   I am just so pleased and proud to have made it – But it is not over yet !!

0210 Puerto Natales down to Punta Arenas

18^th Feb 2015

Well the journey today was not really too exciting, but I guess in a 50,000 km journey, you are bound to get a few days like that – And to be honest, there haven’t been that many !

While packing up I was chatting to the Dutch couple next door in a rental van, Henk and  Antje.  They have 3 more weeks to go of their holiday, then they fly home from Santiago. They had to be rescued and given a replacement van a couple of weeks ago because the gearbox collapsed on them !  Also chatting to Ramon and Sylvia from Spain in their Toyota – He is still working so they leave their car here and fly home quite regularly.  They also had a German Tom’s conversion done on their 4 WD, and while the work and quality is exceptional, I still like the layout of Troopie better – There is so much more room inside.  But I am slowly getting small ideas for some minor improvements !!

0209 Las Torres back to Puerto Natales

17^th Feb 2015

Woke up to find that today was a good day to be leaving Nacional Parque Torres del Paine. It was very overcast, low cloud, was raining a little, and it was cold.  Looking up at the little bit of the mountains that were visible, there was a good dusting of fresh snow quite low down.  I have seen what I needed to see, walked more than I thought I could, and thoroughly enjoyed my visit.  Even the winds, although very annoying, are just part and parcel of the Pategonian experience.  And I have left enough undone that should I ever have the luck to be able to visit here again, I ould not have to do the same things again.  So a quick pack up and breakfast, (no bananas for breakfast today – Supplies are running low after 6 days !) and I headed out of the park – I WILL be glad to see the back of these very corrugated dirt roads !!

0208 Pehoe back to Las Torres

16^th Feb 2015 

Last night I was sitting over at the camp office with several other people using the wifi, and a fox trots up, not 20 metres from us, does a No 2 right in front of us on the grass, then sits down and looks at us for about 5 minutes as if to say “What are you lot looking at ?”, before wandering off nonchalantly into the scrub behind us.  Naturally I had no camera, so you will just have to take my word for it, but none of us could believe it.

When I got up at 7.30 am the sun was just appearing over the hills to the east, and slowly lighting up the Cuernos del Paine and the big Cerro Paine Grande to the west – Just a beautiful start to the day.

0207 Lago Grey to Pehoe

15^th Feb 2015

Well that was like being at sea last night – I have never rocked and rolled so much in a car before.  I was awake most of the night because is seemed the car would tip over, it was rocking that much.  I should have parked more head on into the wind, but the car park was limited, and I had thought that nestled up beside Steve and Gilly’s big truck I was better off.  Not so !  And talking to Steve this morning, they hadn’t fared much better !  Ho hum, the joys of Patagonia.  So I was up, dressed, ablated, breakfasted and on my way by about 8.30 am – The wind was still so strong that I could hardly stand at the back of the van to make my breakfast – The cornflakes were blowing away !  And when I got up in the morning, not only had my little plastic footstool blown about 100 yards into the scrub, but even the toilet, which is not that light, had blown about 10 metres from the car and was resting against a bush !!  So as soon as I could I headed round to Hotel Lago Grey, only about 500 metres down the road, to try and get some shelter from the howling and non stop wind blowing off the Grey Glacier and down the valley. 

0206 Torres del Paine to Lago Grey

14^th Feb 2015 

What a dramatic change in the weather  from yesterday – Patagonia strikes again ! Grey, overcast – You couldn’t even see the Torres behind the camp site - See photo on left.  Photo below is from yesterday.  Soooo lucky to have done the hike up to Torres yesterday.  But that was OK – I had other plans for today, and after eggs for breakfast (no (recognisable) bacon in this part of the world unfortunately -  And giving some of my old tourist info to the Dutch girls, I set off up the road to head to the end of the park at Lago Grey. On the way out of the camp site I saw the French lady I had met briefly yesterday on the way up the mountain – She was standing by the road so I pulled over to say Hi.  Turned out she was waiting for a bus to take her up through the park, so I said I would give her a lift – As long as she could wait 10 minutes because I had just realised that, along with the old tourist info,  I had given the Dutch girls my current map of the park, so I had to go back to get it.  When I got back to the camp site, I collected my park map, and then Dwayne and Jerry came over (the NSW guys on bikes) and we had a bit of a yarn, so by the time I got going again it was half an hour later.  But the French lady was still there, so I picked her up, her name is Eva, I found out, and we headed off up the dirt road through the park.

0205 Hiking to Torres del Paine

13^th Feb 2015 

I GOT A WHOLE PACKET OF BLACK WINE GUMS !!!

It was a lovely morning when I woke up – Light cloud and no wind at all.  By just after 8 am I was heading towards the start of the walk to Mirador Las Torres de Paine, right at the base of the towers, and about as close as you can get without crampons and all that stuff !!  I passed a gaucho and his mate getting the horses sorted for the day, wearing their Patagonian berets pulled down to a peak at the front.  Then it was off towards the Hotel Las Torres where I bought another bottle of water from the little store, just in case – After all, it is written as a 4 ½ hour hike one way, so I was kind of planning about 10 hours total for me. 

0204 Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine NP

12^th Feb 2015

Odd little camp site – Only room for 3 cars, so everyone very squished in –Mostly back packers though.  Apart from a Chilean family next to me from Santiago who were towing a small caravan Dad Julio had made himself.  Had a chat to them, and Julio very kindly gave me a bottle of my favourite local merlot – Gato Negro ! Very nice of them.  They have driven down, but are going to take a ferry back up through the islands from Punto Arenas to Puerto Montt – 3 days on the ferry – Should be fun, and rather like the Alaskan Marine Highway, I would think, travelling up through all the islands in SW Chile. 

0203 Perito Moreno Glacier Argentina to Puerto Natales Chile

11^th Feb 2015

Interesting day – A bit of everything really – Except warmth !!  I must still be recovering from all my hiking over the last few days, because it was 9 am before my eyes even opened !!  And it was raining – And blowing, of course. Rain wasn’t too heavy, but it did mean I had to jiggle my normal pack up to make sure I got everything in without either my stuff or me getting too wet ! After 9 months on the road, practice makes perfect, and it all got done, and by just before 10 am I was back on that dirt road, headed back towards El Calafate.  Boy, am I get sick of dirt roads, and the bad corrugations they always seem to have !  Last night I had to spend an hour or so replacing screws that had fallen out of various places, vibrated loose over the recent pounding over the dirt roads.  There are still a few more that I cannot reach easily – They will have to wait till I have some time in one place, and some fine (and wind-less) weather. 

0202 El Calafate to Perito Moreno Glacier

10^th Feb 2015

Well, I was sitting there doing my blog outside the “Recepcion”, sitting wrapped in all manner of furry things to keep me warm on a freezing night as I tried to get my blog uploaded, and in drive two Troopies !!  Couldn’t believe my eyes – Going to have to sell mine soon if they keep getting this common !!  Anyway, it was two German guys, Bruno and Roman, who shipped over to Montevideo on Grimaldi and are just starting on their trip north to Alaska.  After they had checked in and got set up, they came over for a chat about what lay ahead for them as they headed north.  As for me, I eventually got all my blog and photos uploaded  by 1 am, (sorry, did not annotate the photos or do the maps – Too tired), and went off to bed.

0201 El Chalten to El Calafate

9^th Feb 2015

I went to sleep last night before 10 pm – And woke up this morning at 9.30 am !!   To a clear blue sky !!  Oh no – Fitzroy will be clear – I must go back !!  Then I tried to stand up, and quickly realized there would be no walking anywhere today !!  Never mind – I was still more than happy I got up there yesterday.   So it was a quick breakfast and pack up, and I wandered slowly back up the dirt road into Chalten to get some fresh bread and some empanadas from my favourite bakery, a new gas cylinder for my camping stove – And then on the way out of town I saw a caravan with a couple of girls in selling cherries - $2 for half a kilo !  So I got some.  A German called Tomas came over for a chat at the road side, and the girl in the camping shop is about to set off to Australia for a `12 month working holiday, so she was keen to know more about the place !    Eventually I set off out of town, leaving behind  a clear Fitz Roy !!

0200 Around El Chilten - Hike up Mt Fitz Roy !

7-8^th Feb 2015

Today, Saturday the 7^th, was a very lazy day.  I have walked nowhere, I have only driven about 20 kms, and I have taken very few photos.  Excellent day !!  But it is all part of a Grand Plan, weather permitting !

I slept like a log last night – obviously my body recovering (or trying to) from all this sudden strenuous activity !  Woke up to a typical Patagonian day – blue skies with a few fluffy whites, but also some black clouds over some of the peaks.  You never know whether it will rain or blow here, so, a bit like in Scotland, you just get on with what you were planning to do anyway, and let the weather take care of itself.  The plan is to just wander back down the road to the other camp site I had noted yesterday, over night there, and then do the Lago de los Tres hike the next day, thus allowing my legs a full 24 hours recovery. 

0199 Around El Chalten - Hike to Glacier Huemul

6^th Feb 2015 

Woke up early and the wind had died down a little, but still not enough for me to put the pop top up while I got dressed and packed away my sleeping bag etc.  Surprisingly all the Dragoman tents were still standing, and I had not burned Troopie down last night in my efforts to cook my supper (yummy local chorizo sausage, spuds and boiled veggies – I eat quite well on the road !).  And I wasn’t feeling too stiff either, although I ended up with a big blister on the bottom of my heel (odd place for a blister !) and it is quite sore today, so I might postpone the walk to Mt Fitz Roy for a day, explore El Chalten a little, and then drive the 30 or so kms up to the end of the road and find out what is up there.  It was also bitterly cold this morning – I had jackets and my furry Alaskan hat on right from the start !

0198 El Chalten - Hike to Laguna Torre

5^th Feb 2015

Had to sleep with the top down last night due to the wind, but it wasn’t a problem. Slept pretty well, and woke up early this morning with the plan being to hike up to Laguna Torres. They had told me at the info centre that this was the best hike to do if the weather was overcast or rainy.  And as they had said the weather forecast was for rain and even higher winds, I planned accordingly.  It was cloudy and very grey as I had my breakfast and made sandwiches for my trek – and I packed my rain jacket and trousers as well as a fleece in case it got cold as well, and at 9 am I set off on my ‘splore.

0197 Casa Riera to El Chalten

4^th Feb 2015

Really nice little camp site beside the river last night.  Couldn’t believe there was no one else there.  Got up and had my breakfast in the morning sunshine, and then headed towards Gobernador Gregores.  There was a shorter road, but it was dirt again, and I have really had enough of bad dirt roads for a while !  The scenery was the same plano / desert / steppe that we have had for the last day or so – Just wide open plains – A bit like crossing the Nullarbor, or the Atacama desert – Not really very exciting, but interesting in its vastness.  When you drive through these countries like we have, you certainly get a feel for their vastness, as well as the large stretches of desert that no one ever talks about, so you don’t really expect. 

0196 Near Paso Roballos, Chile nearly to Casa Riera, Argentina

3^rd Feb 2015 

What a perfect campsite last night. Sheltered from the wind and the sun, not a soul around – A perfect wild camp.  Woke up with the sun and by 9.30 am was back on the narrow track full of corrugations -  Its amazing how quickly you forget how bad they were – Until you start back on them the next morning !  But as with yesterday, the amazing scenery more than made up for the bad road.  Unfortunately the sun was behind the mountains that I was trying to photograph, but even so, they outlines against the blue sky were just so good I had to try and take a few snaps.

Not 20 minutes into the morning, and I find a “railway” going up a mountain side – It seems they are mining slate or similar right at the top of the mountain and have built a little rail track to bring all the cut rock down.   You ware in the middle of nowhere, but keep seeing signs of every day activity ! Just round the corner, a couple of guanaco dashed across the road in front of me and shot up the cliff face to my right – Then stood at the top watching me !

0195 Lago General Carrera nearly to Paso Roballios

2^nd Feb 2015 

Well, the internet worked last night – After a fashion !! I eventually managed to get everything up loaded, but it was just to slow doing some of the other stuff like the map and the naming of the slides, so I gave up.  I was sitting outside and it was getting cold – I will do that another day !  While I was trying to do all that, the Patagonian sunset over the lake was superb – Trouble was, after all those photos today, my camera battery was dead, so I only got three photos – And after that, it got better !  But at least I got to see it !!

0194 Perito Moreno Argentina to Lago General Carrera, Chile

1^st Feb 2015 

I really enjoyed last night – Dave I knew from before 2012 when I had met him in his workshop on the Gold Coast, and I feel as though I know Ross because we have been talking about this trip for some time. Few beers, a decent meal, and some good company – What more can anyone ask for on an evening  in the middle of Patagonia ?  I was late to sleep as I was trying to get my blog done while I had decent wifi in the hotel, but I still woke up early and after a shower went down to check on Ross who was working on his fuel problem before they went any further. We had a slow breakfast, then slowly packed the cars and got ready to head out for the day – The MG’s heading north up to Bariloche where I was a week or so ago, and me heading west back to Chile so I could continue my journey down the Carretera Austral.  I had enough of dirt roads yesterday, so I decided to go back on the “main” road, through Chile Chico.