HI Guys,
Since Buenos Aires a month ago I seem to have travelled on a lot of buses and seen loads of stuff in Patagonia (which consists of the southern
parts of Chile and Argentina).
Starting with a 22 hour bus journey down to Puerto Madryn on the east coast
and then travelled for 34 hours to reach Ushuaia, the most southerly place
of any note on the planet and only 1000km from Antartica which proudly
proclaims that it is ´the end of the world´ and the town itself looks like
it.
From there the only way is north (Antartica will have to wait for another
time when I have loadsa money) to the wonders of the Patagonian Andes - to
El Calafate and El Chalten in Argentina and then across into Chile to Puerto
Natales.
The Ups
- Magallenic penguins at Puerto Tombo on the east coast. It was easy to get
within 1m of them as they just stand or lie around on the path. If you get
too close they start shaking their heads from side to side as a warning and
then they will attack with their powerful beaks.
- The armadillos - Cute but different to how I imagined. I thought they
would move like tortoises due to the weight of their armour, but in fact
they scurry like hedgehogs (and are about the same size) - but they are not flat like
most hedgehogs seen in UK.
- Moreno Glacier - This huge glacieris about 160m high at the face although
a max of 55m is above water, and the face is 6km wide. Not only can you get
within 250m of it to see the detail of the cracking ice under huge pressure,
but because the lake suddenly gets very deep and the glacier is moving at 2m
per day at the centre, it calves (huge chanks of ice up to 40m high break
off and crash into the water). The noise is deafening as it cracks and
tonnes of ice hit the water. A spectacular blue ice giant, a random ice
sculpture in motion - it easily lives up to all the hype.
- Trekking in the FitzRoy Range - spent 3 days doing day treks around a
group of incredible spikey snowcapped mountains with a few glaciers and
corresponding lakes thrown in. There was also a load of rain and some
extremely stong winds when it was only just possible to remain standing. It
throughly tested my wet weather and wind proof gear , not to mention my legs
and made for an interesting few days.
The Downs
- Trying to see Orcas (Killer Whales) snatching seal pups off the beach. We
spent a whole day at the only place in the world where they have learned to
do this successfully but despite appearing the previous 2 days they didn´t
show up.
- The Welsh towns in Argentina are a big tourist draw. Colonised by the
Welsh in 19th Century because they felt oppressed at the English not allowing
them to speak Welsh in Wales, they moved here and now all speak Spanish !
The Welsh teas are famous and expensive except no-one from the UK had ever
heard of them. The only things that these towns really have in common with
Wales are the surrounding hills which look like slag heaps and the very high
unemployment rate.
- After 34 hours travelling to Ushuaia we arrived 3 hours late due to
roughweather on the ferry crossing to find that our reserved hostel places had been
given to other people. Since it was already 1am by this stage we ended up
spending the night sleeping in a corridor.
- Trekking in Tierra del Fuego National Park I got snowed off a small mountain. Strange to think that England must have had snow in March and here I was at the other end of the earth getting exactly the same weather - and it´s only early autumn here.
- Took a very cheap flight from Ushuaia to El Calafate but because of rain
at the destination airport it was closed so we were diverted and then got a
bus the rest of the way. We were supposed to arrive at 6.30pm but didn´t
get there until 3am by which time the hostel was closed and so we had to
sleep in a bus station until 6.30am when the hostel opened. Then I was stuck there for 2 more days as the rain poured down and the roads to both my possible destinations had been washed away. It doesn´t help when the locals say "It´s very unusual
for this time of year".
The Trek (Ups and Downs) - Torres del Paine, Chile
If you want to eat 0.75kg of chocolate, 1kg of nuts and raisens, loads of
pasta and rice and still lose weight, with a free leg muscle tone up thrown
in then this is for you. 7 days hiking and 7 nights camping around ´The
Circuit´ which circles a group of improbably shaped spectacular mountains -
strangely eroded sedimentary layers pierced by hard volcanic plugs which now
stand high above their surrounds. The whole area is a birthing place for
glaciers which dangle down steep mountains and sweep through valleys.
The Torres (towers) themselves are spear shaped granite plugs thrusting vertically 1.8km (over 1 mile) upwards from our viewpoint at 1000m. Well worth the 30 minute dawn race in freezing weather, from the campsite up the scree to see them change from purple to pink then orange and yellow in the first rays of the sun before it gets fully light. Just below them there is a glacier which crumbles into a lake full of icebergs. An incredible sight.
There are downsides however. Apart from the climb up with full pack
(weighing over 20kg) there was camping in sub-zero temperatures - I left my
water bottle outside on the first 2 nights and the water was distinctly
lumpy the next morning. I hardly slept for the first 2 nights as my feet
were freezing despite me wearing all my clothes in my sleeping bag. It is
also difficult to keep your hands clean as washing them in freezing water is
simply not a good idea in the morning or evening as they simply never get
warm again. And as for wearing the same clothes for 8 days without a
shower.... well .... everyone does it so no-one notices !
All round the circuit (we walked 6 or 7 hours a day) the views were
amazing, snowcapped jagged peaks were the norm, spectacular summits were
always there (if only that cloud would move !) and there were glaciers around
almost every corner. If you were looking at an incredible view ahead of you
then there was probably one at least as good behind you as well.
The best view of all is when you trek up through areas of snow and rise to
a height of over 1200m to go over ´The Pass´. From here there is not only
an almost aerial view of the huge Glacier Grey 1000m below but a view up to
the source of many of the glaciers in the area - the huge Southern
Patagonian Ice Field. A huge sheet of ice stretching across mountain tops,
over 320km long, covering an area of over 13,000 square km and hundreds of
metres thick. Vast is too small a word - it is a sheet laying across
everything, smoothing out what would otherwise be a mountainous landscape,
stretching further than the eye can see, emitting glaciers at every possible
opportunity down every valley, flowing like rivers, colliding smoothly in an
ever increasing mass and constantly restucturing to fit the valley´s width.
A No. 1 sight - perhaps the No.1 sight in an incredible part of the world. It rained for days 7 and 8 but by then we had seen so much we weren´t so bothered - although camping in the cold rain is not particuarly recommended.
Tonight I am catching a boat up to Pueto Montt - a 3 day and night trip
through some incredible scenery - that is if the weather holds good.
Bye for now
Luv
Pete
Showing posts with label glaciers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label glaciers. Show all posts
Thursday, 4 April 2002
Monday, 29 October 2001
Where 12 Auckland, New Zealand --OR-- SkyDiving into the Freezer for Free Beer?
Dear All,
Hopped over here from Sydney 6 weeks ago and have been travelling around North and South Islands (Such original names - Captain Cook is probably to blame). There is also a West Island (according to some Kiwis) - which some people call Australia! (It's funny the first time but everyone tells the same joke and it wears off really quickly).
High Points
- the highest point reached was 12,000 feet(nearly 2.5 miles/4 km ) above ground. And then inexplicably I jumped out. Yes at last I got round to skydiving (tandem) above Lake Taupo which was an amazing experience travelling at 125mph / 200kph downwards and yet I hardly felt I was moving - and what a view. Recommended if you are mad with an excess of cash -although its a lot cheaper here than in UK).
- Glacier climbing on Franz Joseph Glacier. As if it wasn't cold enough already it started to rain ! It was amazing going through the ice tunnels and squeeaing through the narrow cracks in the glacier - and the ice was so blue - just like a Foxes Glacier Mint!
- Milford Sound - It's a Fiord not a Sound (i.e. carved by ice not water) with sides that go nearly vertically up over 1 mile (1670 metres). Absolutely spectacular ! After a while you get used to the scale and it starts to look smaller..............
- Tranz Alpine Railway between Christchurch and Greymouth - one of the top 6 railway journeys of the world - across the plain to the snow capped mountains, over some and through others....... and as a bonus there is a special wagon where you can stand out in the freezing cold to watch it all !
- Mount Cook (the highest Mountain in NZ) National Park. Had a snowball fight with fresh snow and met a Kea, the worlds only alpine parrot. It followed me around staying 5 metres behind me, just walking in the snow, for some reason it couldn't be bothered to fly. Trying to scare one of these away is not recommended as you have to get so close they will bit you - and
they have big sharp beaks. They often eat windsreen wiper blades and shoes........
- Wildlife - the Yellow eyed penguins are dead cute, the albatross are huge (wingspan is the largest of any bird at over 3 metres) and the Kiwi is fairly stupid (!) although I only saw them in captivity (in the dark and even that wasn't easy). NZ has 80 million possums (imported from Oz originally) and most of them are very flat and live next to the road - or so it seems.......
And there's the rarest duck in the world the Campbell Island Teal with only 50 left in the wild (it's not very exciting though!) I could go on about NZ birds..........but I won't.
Surprisingly the only mammels native to NZ are bats - everything else has been brought in - and as in OZ anything that is not native is hated by most of the population!
- Whale watching (again) This time Sperm Whales the biggest toothed whales. They don't jump out of the water though so actually it was pretty boring - roll on Humpback whales anytime.
- Boiling hot geysers and vigourously boiling pools of water in Rotorua - the whole places does smell of sulphur though!
- To make up for the heat I did my first cold water dive - I had the whole wetsuit with boots and hood and 12kg weights round my waist to make up for the buoyant effect of the suit. And it was still freezing!! (rated *** in freezer terms). The dive site (Poor Knights Islands - another daft Captain Cook name) was rated one of the top 10 in the world by that Cousteau fellah. Fish and plant life were really good though.
- The Maori culture is much more accessable than the Aboriginal people in Oz and the Maoris are much more integrated into society as a whole and there appears to be little racism. Hoorah for NZ and the positive attitude of the Moaris !
The Lows
- The Torrangiro Crossing - usually the best one day walk in NZ. But on the day we walked it the wind was howling over the ridge at around 60 kph trying to blow us off the ridge down the vertical drop, we were in cloud, in was wet, visability was ...er... low and it was bloody freezing (a **** freezer). Just to make it worse after we had come down from the ridge where supposedly the best views were it cleared and the sun came out - for about 5 mins anyway) - a real experience !!
- The NZ wine here is no cheaper than it is back in UK ! Why that is I have no idea.
- The free beer tap in Dunedin. Yes this should be a high.. BUT....... We were told of this free beer tap as we passed the Speights Brewery in a van ... free beer you must be joking ? There was the tap coming straight through the wall of the brewery - but if this tap was really dispensing free beer then surely there would be a queue of people with polypins ... and
there was ! So off we went (sod the wildlife there's free beer in that there wall ... er... I mean this is culture!) and when we got to the tap there is was .... free flowing .... nearly colourless (but then thats Speights beer for you !) ....... and just about tasteless as well (again that's Speights beer). Very very like water in fact (that's Speights!). Are you Seriously saying that all these people
queue up here with their polypins to get water out of this tap when they could just turn on the tap at home ? Er yes they do! NZ has never had a great reputation as a beer drinking nation .... and there is no way it's ever going to get one now. 'Just popping down the brewery for a few pints of water love' just dosen't wash !!!
- And I might just mention that it is a pain travelling with people who can't get into a pub 'cos they are too young - 16 years old to be exact. And before you start thinking THAT - the answers NO!
Next up is Tahiti (where hopefully it will be a bit warmer and less rainy than the North Island of NZ) for 9 days then Easter Island for 4 days and then Lima in Peru to start some challenging travelling !!! I am trying to learn Spanish but it's slow going !
Bye for Now
Luv
Pete
Hopped over here from Sydney 6 weeks ago and have been travelling around North and South Islands (Such original names - Captain Cook is probably to blame). There is also a West Island (according to some Kiwis) - which some people call Australia! (It's funny the first time but everyone tells the same joke and it wears off really quickly).
High Points
- the highest point reached was 12,000 feet(nearly 2.5 miles/4 km ) above ground. And then inexplicably I jumped out. Yes at last I got round to skydiving (tandem) above Lake Taupo which was an amazing experience travelling at 125mph / 200kph downwards and yet I hardly felt I was moving - and what a view. Recommended if you are mad with an excess of cash -although its a lot cheaper here than in UK).
- Glacier climbing on Franz Joseph Glacier. As if it wasn't cold enough already it started to rain ! It was amazing going through the ice tunnels and squeeaing through the narrow cracks in the glacier - and the ice was so blue - just like a Foxes Glacier Mint!
- Milford Sound - It's a Fiord not a Sound (i.e. carved by ice not water) with sides that go nearly vertically up over 1 mile (1670 metres). Absolutely spectacular ! After a while you get used to the scale and it starts to look smaller..............
- Tranz Alpine Railway between Christchurch and Greymouth - one of the top 6 railway journeys of the world - across the plain to the snow capped mountains, over some and through others....... and as a bonus there is a special wagon where you can stand out in the freezing cold to watch it all !
- Mount Cook (the highest Mountain in NZ) National Park. Had a snowball fight with fresh snow and met a Kea, the worlds only alpine parrot. It followed me around staying 5 metres behind me, just walking in the snow, for some reason it couldn't be bothered to fly. Trying to scare one of these away is not recommended as you have to get so close they will bit you - and
they have big sharp beaks. They often eat windsreen wiper blades and shoes........
- Wildlife - the Yellow eyed penguins are dead cute, the albatross are huge (wingspan is the largest of any bird at over 3 metres) and the Kiwi is fairly stupid (!) although I only saw them in captivity (in the dark and even that wasn't easy). NZ has 80 million possums (imported from Oz originally) and most of them are very flat and live next to the road - or so it seems.......
And there's the rarest duck in the world the Campbell Island Teal with only 50 left in the wild (it's not very exciting though!) I could go on about NZ birds..........but I won't.
Surprisingly the only mammels native to NZ are bats - everything else has been brought in - and as in OZ anything that is not native is hated by most of the population!
- Whale watching (again) This time Sperm Whales the biggest toothed whales. They don't jump out of the water though so actually it was pretty boring - roll on Humpback whales anytime.
- Boiling hot geysers and vigourously boiling pools of water in Rotorua - the whole places does smell of sulphur though!
- To make up for the heat I did my first cold water dive - I had the whole wetsuit with boots and hood and 12kg weights round my waist to make up for the buoyant effect of the suit. And it was still freezing!! (rated *** in freezer terms). The dive site (Poor Knights Islands - another daft Captain Cook name) was rated one of the top 10 in the world by that Cousteau fellah. Fish and plant life were really good though.
- The Maori culture is much more accessable than the Aboriginal people in Oz and the Maoris are much more integrated into society as a whole and there appears to be little racism. Hoorah for NZ and the positive attitude of the Moaris !
The Lows
- The Torrangiro Crossing - usually the best one day walk in NZ. But on the day we walked it the wind was howling over the ridge at around 60 kph trying to blow us off the ridge down the vertical drop, we were in cloud, in was wet, visability was ...er... low and it was bloody freezing (a **** freezer). Just to make it worse after we had come down from the ridge where supposedly the best views were it cleared and the sun came out - for about 5 mins anyway) - a real experience !!
- The NZ wine here is no cheaper than it is back in UK ! Why that is I have no idea.
- The free beer tap in Dunedin. Yes this should be a high.. BUT....... We were told of this free beer tap as we passed the Speights Brewery in a van ... free beer you must be joking ? There was the tap coming straight through the wall of the brewery - but if this tap was really dispensing free beer then surely there would be a queue of people with polypins ... and
there was ! So off we went (sod the wildlife there's free beer in that there wall ... er... I mean this is culture!) and when we got to the tap there is was .... free flowing .... nearly colourless (but then thats Speights beer for you !) ....... and just about tasteless as well (again that's Speights beer). Very very like water in fact (that's Speights!). Are you Seriously saying that all these people
queue up here with their polypins to get water out of this tap when they could just turn on the tap at home ? Er yes they do! NZ has never had a great reputation as a beer drinking nation .... and there is no way it's ever going to get one now. 'Just popping down the brewery for a few pints of water love' just dosen't wash !!!
- And I might just mention that it is a pain travelling with people who can't get into a pub 'cos they are too young - 16 years old to be exact. And before you start thinking THAT - the answers NO!
Next up is Tahiti (where hopefully it will be a bit warmer and less rainy than the North Island of NZ) for 9 days then Easter Island for 4 days and then Lima in Peru to start some challenging travelling !!! I am trying to learn Spanish but it's slow going !
Bye for Now
Luv
Pete
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