PhotoSouth

A few photos from my short stay in the Hunter valley region. This includes a barn or coach house that was part of one of the original properties in the Lochinvar region with the house built in 1821, all constructed with convict bricks. Apart from being close to industrial areas such as Newcastle, there is a lot of history if you get of the main highways.

It has been a while since my last post, and as I had occasion to travel north to (very) rainy Queensland and had a spare 3 hours decided to spend this at Mt Tamborine.

As this was my first ever foray into a tropical environment short of a hothouse, it took me a little while to adapt to the dark and damp conditions. Being overcast if not drizzling (I’m glad my Pentax is pretty much impervious to this sort of environment) at least removed some of the problems associated with rainforests of high contrasts with beams of sunlight filtering through the canopy and the dark shadows underneath it.

My overall impression on a cool about 20 degree day was that the air was thick with humidity, and everything was green and trying to get up into the light.

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A Visual feast of pictures in bucket list places where many have not gone.
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PHOTOSOUTH 2016
PART 1 – TO PATAGONIA By Walter Berger

PHOTOSOUTH 2016
PART 2 – ANTARCTICA AND BACK By Walter Berger

On the flight back from Buenos Aries to Santiago I made sure to get a seat in front of the wing and on the right hand side of the plane. I wanted / needed to see Mount Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Andes and South America at 6961 meters and also outside of Asia, and therefore the highest point in both the Western Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere. Many years ago I did start making plans to climb this but never quite happened, but at least now I have seen it. The plan worked perfectly for a fantastic view the flight path only being a few 10s of kilometers from the mountain on a clear and still day.

I’m writing this whilst siting in the Santiago airport waiting for my plane back to Australia. Only 2 hours to boarding.

Regards

Walter

Another long day gone and a longer one to come. Spent a day exploring Buenos Aries by tourist bus, taxi and on foot. I like the on foot bit, you see so much more. Buenos Aries is only a few hours flight from Ushuia, but it is a world away. Apart from the heat and all the trees the most obvious things to me were that in most areas there is very little rubbish lying around and there are no stray dogs. Here dogs seem to be more pampered than at home with lots of pet accessory shops and quite a few dog walkers out and about with several dogs at the same time. I even saw a poodle have her own chair at a roadside café.

There is also a bit of history here all the way from the 17 hundreds to the bomb shrapnel marks on the walls from a military coup about 30 or 40 years ago. But Argentina has had a stable democracy since the last dictator got ousted back in 1983 (I think) after the Falklands war with England. The Malvinas/Falklands is still a sensitive issue with many. The two subjects that are likely to create a lively discussion are politics and football. I know nothing about either here, so got away with it easily. There are a huge number of memorials and streets named after important dates and presidents and other important figures.

Another place to see memorials is the Recoleta Cemetary. Fascinating to look at the various mausoleums, especially if someone can tell you about some of the historical figures entombed there, like Evita Peron

Seeing I did my exploring on a Sunday there were markets everywhere, and mostly artisan type stalls where everything anybody could make was available for sale. By I just walked by as I wanted to visit the Japanese Gardens, like many others so I found out. If you ignored all the people you could find parts that were an oasis of calm. The many parks were full of people and families enjoying a day out. Same with the tourist areas like the colorful La Boca harbor side suburb. I do prefer natural landscapes to manmade, but it was an interesting diversion. Now to head back to an alternate reality.

Regards

Walter

Time to leave the peninsula and head north again. We headed for the Drake Passage after leaving vast areas of tabular icebergs behind towards Cape Horn, the seas being a lot calmer than the first time with only a 2 to 3 meter swell mostly. We did see one more berg in the distance in the straight on the following day. After 2 nights and a day in the Drake Cape Horn was spotted in the distance on calm seas unlike what a lot of ships have experienced here. We arrived to the West of Cape Horn, then rounded the Horn travelling eastwards towards the Beagle Channel and tonight’s final port, Ushuaia, having travelled through 3 Oceans in one day. The Southern, the Pacific and the Atlantic. Often being accompanied by Albatrosses and the occasional Petrel.

Now to get ready to disembark after a farewell dinner. Next stop Buenos Aires tomorrow. That could be a contrast.

Regards

Walter

We sailed overnight through the Bramsfield Strait to the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and Brown Bluff. Very appropriately named due to the tall brown volcanic tuff cliffs. With a dusting of fresh snow overnight it looked like a painting. And yes there were penguins. I mostly ignored them and climbed up a steep and loose moraine ridge to get some views of a terminal glacier moraine, the penguins on the volcanic cinder beach, the nearby Weddell sea and what looked like red penguins , being the passengers of the ship on the beach I was up so far.

As we went back for a cruise around in the Zodiacs some of those still on land went for a swim seeing they had a nice beach there. unFortunately I missed out on that polar plunge.

Next and last stop Goudier Island, which was going to be the last stop on my Antarctic Adventure. It was getting colder with ice forming on the decks. I spent some time up there as there were reports of whales. I did see a tail fluke and a couple of dorsal fins of in the distance. We got in the Zodiacs and headed over to the Island and the landing was around a corner of a small headland in a bay about 5 or 6 meters wide between various size rocks. A few chunks of ice the size of large eskis or coolers had to be pushed out of the way with larger chunks and a couple of small bergs, one with a Leopard seal on it, were floating about also. A close eye was kept on these to make sure we could still get off the beach.

Once again there were penguins. Lots of penguins. The last estimate was about 27000 or so. Chinstraps, Gentoos and Adelie all together. The sound, smell and sights was almost overwhelming in a good and fascinating way. Then it was back onboard the Zodiacs through the ice for a final trip around the area and back to the ship. Around the back of a small iceberg we came across a Leopard Seal dispatching the rest of a penguin. Amazing David Attenborough like vision of it tearing the penguin apart by grabbing a piece in its powerful jaws and flicking his head and the penguin vigorously. Amazing to see and almost impossible to photograph due to the speed and only being a few meters from the Zodiac.

In the distance a whale was spotted so we motored towards the area. On the way there we could see the tail flukes pop up so it had dived. This happened a couple of times. Then suddenly one popped up right in front of us, then another one. They took a couple of breaths and then dived showing us their flukes on the way down. We motored towards another area and unexpectedly were surrounded by whales with 2 or 3 either side of us. I was standing at the time in order to be able to get better photos and videos when 2 more whales surfaced only a few meters in front of the Zodiac and dived heading straight towards us. At that stage I thought I had better sit down just in case we got bumped, but all good.

What a day. What a day!