Where? Here, there and everywhere!!

I guess it is all very well to say that we are going to Antarctica and Patagonia but there's a heap of country out there encompassed by those two destinations. I figured I should put some sort of itinerary up here. 

We leave Australia on Monday 4th January (woohoo that's a week today) and travel for ever - oops - no not forever, just will feel that way. We fly for nearly 17 hours to go from Brisbane to Auckland, then onto Santiago in Chile before hopping our last leg to Buenos Aires in Argentina. Not looking forward to that bit. It's not the flying I have a problem with, it's the sitting still. I drive Dave crazy with the up and down and up and down all flight. I don't do well in small seats for long periods (note to self - need to get rich so I can go first class).

After 2 nights in Buenos Aires we will fly down to Ushuaia, "the southern most city in the world". Argentina established Ushuaia as a penal settlement similar to Tasmania in Australia, the principle being there was no where to run to. Nowadays it is mainly a tourist city used as a base for trekking Tierra Del Fuego or as a leaving point for Antarctica. 

We arrive on Wednesday 6th January and the photo journey will begin in earnest. There are several day walks to be done in the area and while it will be cold (today's top temp 4 deg C with snow flurries overnight) it should be spectacular.

Then on Saturday 9th we board the MV Ushuaia and Antarctica here we come!  The ship is an Ice Class 4 vessel, 84m long and 15m wide. She holds 84 passengers and 38 crew. 

We spend the next 12 days onboard ship. One of the most talked about aspects of the Antarctica trip is crossing the drake passage, notable as some of the worlds roughest water. I swear I have every seasick remedy known to man packed into my bag - better safe than sorry. Once through the passage we explore the South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula for 5 days then head back to Ushuaia.

We land in Ushuaia Tuesday 19th Jan and hop a plane straight up to El Calafate then a bus to El Chalten. 

El Chalten is a town in the Los Glaciares National Park of Argentina, renowned for 2 massive mountains - Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitz Roy. It was built in 1985 as a tourist stopover for people who were keen on climbing the mountains. I am thinking there must be some photo ops here surely?

After 2 days of trekking the feet of the mountains (can't really see me trying for a summit) we head back the 220km to El Calafate to take in the amazing sight of Perito Moreno Glacier. Time, weather and inspiration will dictate how close we can get to the glacier but I am hoping to be able to get onto it.

From El Calafate we head across the border into Chile and the Torres Del Paine National Park. I am looking forward to this bit as we will be staying in serious luxury and seeing some incredible scenery. We are booked into an eco-lodge inside the park and from all the photos I have seen it would seem we are sleeping inside geodesic domes from which we can see the mountains. We will spend 2 days here trekking our little hearts out. Each day we have 10-14 hours of trekking to get to bases of Los Cuernos and Los Torres. We have a friend who went last year and he said it was awe inspiring to see the grandeur of the mountains all topped out with snow. Fingers crossed for good weather there as wind and rain are a common occurrence.

Monday 25th sees us leave the mountains and head back onto the water. We are catching a "ferry" from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt through the Straits of Magellan and the fjords of southern Chile. The website raves about how great this journey is and I am hoping it lives up. Lots of mentions of whales, dolphins, penguins, albatross, ice and more ice. 

After our 4 days on board we land at Puerto Montt and head north into the lakes district. Basing ourselves in Pucon we have no idea what we will be doing here although as soon as I saw the words "thermal springs" I had my whole week planned out. This period will be more in keeping with the way we normally travel - no plan and no time limit. Well, a small time limit - we have a week. There is an active volcano that I know Dave has his eye on so undoubtedly our time there will involve at least a little more trekking.

On Friday 5th Feb we head back down to a town near Puerto Montt, Puerto Varas and overnight here before crossing the Andes in a series of hops from bus to boat. Now this is the boat trip I am looking forward to. We traverse the mountains using the glacial lakes. I figure they won't be rough so I should avoid being seasick. (Everything I read about our Antarctic cruise and the navimag ferry journey all mention horrible seasickness for at least part of the trip and I am prone to great gushing bouts of seasickness - yech).

Once across the mountains we will head to Bariloche for a couple of days before flying back to Buenos Aires. We end our trip with a week in Buenos Aires but Dave seems to think we should head out to Uruguay, or is that Paraguay, well one of the guay's. We'll have to wait and see how that plan comes together.

Sadly Monday 14th February will see us leave Buenos Aires and South America. The flight home crosses the international date line so coming back we leave on the 14th and arrive back in Brisbane on the 17th. Thankfully I don't have to do 3 days on a plane - that would be a killer.

So there it is - our trip in a nutshell. 

It's about time

I figured that my life is taking so many strange twists and turns of late that it's about time to put fingers to keyboard and blog it up.

For those not aware I am about to embark on what many would call the journey of a lifetime. Indeed when recently I stated that I was going on a journey I was asked if it was physical or spiritual - I replied probably both.

I am off to Antarctica and Patagonia on a six week journey of exploration.

We (the BF and I) will be traveling to Buenos Aires in Argentina then flying to Ushuaia at the southern tip of South America before boarding a ship and heading into the vast southern ocean in search of the vast southern land.

The decision to take this trip was anything but planned. We very seldom plan anything holiday wise, it tends more to be a case of where is the best airfare to somewhere new and off we go. This trip is much the same in it's inception. We have been talking of Antarctica for a while now and one day I did a little research and decided to book something.

We are traveling with a company called Polar Cruises aboard the MV Ushuaia for a 12 day trip to Antarctica. She is a smaller ice strengthened ship with a maximum of 84 passengers. The thing that held the most enticement about this ship was the word "zodiac" (not as in star signs, as in inflatable boats - think Jacques Cousteau). We have the chance to step away from our mother-ship and onto the Antarctic peninsular itself, an exciting prospect for an avid photographer.

Did I mention that I like to take photos? No? Well that is kind of what this journey, and indeed this blog, is all about.

I am an avid - actually no, more obsessive than avid - photographer. It is what I do for work and for fun which means in the end that my work is fun (if that makes sense).

This trip for me is a way to test my camera and my eye against the wilderness that is Antarctica and Patagonia. An opportunity I relish. Do I sound too dramatic? Well if so then I have achieved what I set out to achieve. All of the photos that I have seen from the places we are going are dramatic and I thought I should try to impart that from the very beginning :)

Anyway - I have just digressed.

After we return from the icy south we are doing a whirl wind action packed trip through Patagonia; Argentina and Chile, trying to fit as much as possible into a fairly short span of time. There will be much excitement about what I have seen and done and much moaning about how I should have gotten fitter before trying to tackle the Andes with my camera and tripod and heavy feet.

For those that wish to join me on this journey I welcome you and your comments.

It is my intention to keep this blog going while I travel (where internet and computer hire permits).

I plan on not only relating my travel stories, such as they will be, but also some of the photographic experiences I have and the things I learn.

I hope you will come along for the ride.