Southward Bound...

The time came to put ourselves in the hands of the company operating our Antarctic cruise, Lindblad / National Geographic. We moved from the Hilton to the Ritz Carlton Hotel, only about 1km away in Las Condes. We actually walked from one to the other, in wonderful sunshine. The Ritz trades too heavily on its brand name, we think. The digs are classier and more expensive, but the Hilton seems to be a better hotel.

Lindblad hosted a welcoming reception, and transported us to the airport for a chartered LAN flight to Ushuaia in Argentina. Yet another reciprocity fee to enter Argentina, but we had pre-paid it in this case, over the internet. Customs was appallingly slow at what looks like a very new Ushuaia airport terminal, but eventually we were all loaded onto buses for a drive through the Tierra del Fuego National Park.

A glimpse of remotest Tierra del Fuego as our charter flight approaches Ushuaia.

Under leaden skies, welcome to Ushuaia on the road in from the airport.

Our bus at the entrance to Tierra del Fuego National Park, as Tammy negotiates the entrance fee.

This park, which shares a border with Chile, marks the very southern end of the Pan-America Highway, only 18,000km to Alaska. According to our guide, Tammy, this is quite a popular road trip. The park itself was reasonably busy with walkers and campers - it is summer, which must be peak season in this remote place at the end of the world. Tammy taught us how to pronounce the town's name. The "h" is virtually silent - oos-why-uh. The weather was surprisingly mild, about 10C, overcast and a slight breeze. The park looked very dry and dusty, as if it hasn't seen good rain for some time.

The southern end of the Pan-American Highway.

Wildflowers and sphagnum moss at the edge of the Beagle Channel.

From Lake Lapataia at the end of the road, we took a catamaran along part of the infamous Beagle Passage back to Ushuaia. This is the route, we think, taken by Charles Darwin and The Beagle on the voyage around Cape Horn to the Galapagos Islands. Nice scenery, snow capped mountains, cruise ship activity, recreational kayaking and bird rookeries plus bird-watching tours were all evident on this little trip.

Unknown ship cruising west on the Beagle Channel.

These people must have kayaked some distance to get here.

A newer version of the Faro lighthouse at Ushuaia.

The catamaran dropped us back at Ushuaia which is a surprisingly large town. Tammy had explained that it has a population of about 70,000 encouraged by the government which offers a tax free environment - no income tax, no GST. Being the starting point for most Antarctic cruises adds to the town's busy-ness at this time of the year, and the small harbour certainly was evidence of that!

High density living for the King Cormorants on this rocky outcrop.

Looking across Ushuaia Harbour into town.