Cliff climbing at Punta Ninfas

Last night we stopped at a place called Punta Ninfas. Around here we are still on the coast of Argentina, and about as far south as Hobart is in Tasmania (Australia). Punta Ninfas looks directly across at Penisula Valdes, where we had been whale watching last week. 

But, although it's possible, we didn't see Whales from Punta Ninfas, just Elephant Seals, sea lions, and sea birds. The Elephant Seals make great photographic material (I'll upload some in a few weeks), and when they are active (ie not just lying on the beach), they are interesting to watch. 

I was sitting at the top of the tall cliff where we'd free parked for the night, looking down and watching the Elephant seals below, when I realized there were foot prints on the pebbled beach below. It seemed impossible to get down, so I was debating what else might leave such marks or whether I should go looking for a possible path, when a tour guide and 4 clients arrived. 

The tour guide chatted to me then said he was taking the tourists below. "Oh good", I said "I'll watch where you go so I'll know." 

"Why don't you come too?", he offered. 

I jumped to my feet... Never offer me something if you don't want to give it!

I'm glad I went too, the path down was difficult, the one up, which involved pulling up on a cord, was even more tricky. It was great to get closer to the seals and to have a guide to point things out. 

I was gone a few hours. Meanwhile H was reading a book in the car and completely missed out. He's been book distracted a lot lately- the day before I went walking in Puerto Madryn and went to the Ecocentre without him. (I definitely recommend the Ecocentre if you ever pass the area).

Biggest dolphins I've ever seen: Orcas (Killer Whales)

It's time to finally leave Peninsula Valdes, there isn't much more wildlife we can spot!

Yesterday we took a drive to the north point of the peninsula. The idea was to see Orcas (in English they are called Killer Whales, but they are dolphins, not whales). The star of the film Free Willy was one if these. 

So yesterday, at one point I left H reading in the vehicle and wandered to the beach. I saw seals (Elephant Seals it turns out), and headed towards them (not too close, I didn't want to scare them or me, they are massive). As I walked along the beach I turned in time to see the biggest dolphins I've ever seen traveling the other direction just in the water. I quickly took a photo. 

I wasn't sure if they were just big dolphins or Orcas, but later, when I read an information board about Orcas, I realized that might very well have been Orcas. And everyone I've shown the photo too seems to think they were Orcas. 

(I can't post the photo today, it's on my camera and since my ipad as nicked I can't easily upload my photos) 

We also saw rheas (like emu), manu's (strange thing, like a rabbit crossed with a deer, almost), armadillo (which means that we've now seen both types of armadillo available here), nesting Magellanic Penguins (at arms length too), elephant seals, sea lions, and the common Guanacos (like Llamas) and common Martineta birds (which are really funky looking ground running things). 

So, now we'll head south on the coast for a bit.... There's still another two types of dolphin to spot. 

But, before we leave... It's back to visit the fisherman: 1kg of scallops (on shell) for about $12, and although I'd never cooked them before I did really well and I'd like to do it again. 

Whale watching in Argentina: an albino calf!

We arrived a few days ago in Peninsula Valdes, on the coast of Argentina. Immediately we set up camp on the beach area in town and wandered out further with our chairs and boxed wine to watch the whales in the bay. It was awesome. 

Two days later we arrived at a new bay to camp. The went for a walk on the hard clay-like surface that edged the sea. It provided a handy standing platform and dropped to deep sea just 3 metres below. 

As I stood watching a massive whale and her albino baby approached. About 10m from the edge, they turned and swam parallel with the mud wall. And we followed. It was a wonderful experience!

These are Southern Right Whales. They are bigger than the humpbacks commonly seen off the east coast if Australia, but not as big as Blue Whales.  

This morning I woke to see a Guanaco (like a llama) running down the beach. And then later I sat down on a bit of that mud wall just in time to look ahead and see a seal pop up in the sea just 4m in front of me!  

I'm loving this overlanding lifestyle. This is the type of thing I never got to do as a backpacker, and as a regular tourist time is too constrained. I'm very glad I chose to have a go at this. 

Robbed! But at least they didn't get the most important things

Sorry there's going to be a slight gap in my blog posts.... I had written some, but not uploaded them yet, and then my iPad got stolen, so I'm back to writing on my iPhone. (Yet, I'm actually quicker at it!)

Yep, we got robbed. Not actually our persons, but the car when we weren't with it. It happened while we were having lunch in Bariloche (Argentina). We returned to find the passenger door lock had been tampered with, my backpack had been emptied, and a few things taken. Later I received an email from someone saying they'd found my backpack (with some things left in it including a bunch of cards I made for giving out to people, which had my photo and email address). So, I got the backpack back: good, it's been my constant travel companion for quite a while now and is still in good condition. In my backpack I also got back my international vaccine certificate, which is also possibly important to my travels from Brazil. 

Okay, it's sad about what was lost, but we're grateful for what they didn't take ... Like the GPS thingy (though the iPad could be used for that), H's notebook computer (which was as easy to find as the pad was!), the passports. 

Anyway, since I last wrote we've caught trout, hiked waterfalls (Huilo Huilo), crossed the border back to Argentina, visited cute towns with too many chocolate shops (San Martin de Los Andes and Villa de la Angostura), taken a boat trip to see a beautiful Myrtle forest, stayed in the garden of more awesome couch surfing hosts, and caught up with other overlanders that H had met twice before. H also fixed a leek in the roof of the camper. 

As I write this we are headed across the Pampas to the marine life spotting hub of Pennisula Valdes, on the Argentine coast. 

A view of the lakes around Bariloche. 

Chilean lakes district, local food, couchsurfing

We've entered the world famous Chilean lakes district. It's rather pretty: lakes with the Andes and volcanos behind them, nice farming country, friendly small towns. 

We are avoiding big cities and enjoying shopping from local farmers and local stores. We finally found some great cheese which we bought from a farmer who had a faded sign on the road. And we got smoked salmon from another roadside business. 

And now we are couchsurfing. Couchsurfing (couchsurfing.org) is where each member has a profile and as you travel you can request to stay with local members, and when you are at home you can host. I have been a host at home, and a guest in multiple countries. Each time you participate you write and receive a reference. 

H and I don't need places to stay (we have the house on wheels), but we were finding that we just don't meet locals as we travel around. So, we've been looking for hosts who are not in a city centre, where we can park and camp, and join them for some conversation. At the moment we are just outside of a small lakeside town being hosted by a young couple who are really nice. Being hosted also gives us a chance to clean up bit and for H to do some mechanics. 

We also have 2 more hosts lined up for the next week. 

Looking across Lake Calafquen at what I believe is Villaricca Volcano (in snow). 

Chile welcomes us: Cheap skiing, but no snow shoes.

After we crossed the border into Chile we accidentally found ourselves at a ski centre. I had directed us into the reserve with an idea to hike a volcano, but when we got there we found that snow shoes (those things like tennis rackets put onto shoes) were needed to go up, but were told we could camp anywhere (yay!) and then we found the ski centre. The place was the Centro de Montaña Corralco, Reserva Nacional Malalcahuello-Nalcas.

H was delighted, he'd been wanting to ski. The price was cheap, they had an end of season deal where a day of lift pass, ski hire, and lunch was about $44. And they let us camp there for free, so we arrived late on the Friday, camped, H went skiing on Saturday then we free camped again. I didn't ski, I've done it a couple of times, but this location didn't make me feel I wanted too. Plus H and I are together mostly 24/7, so it was good to be apart for a bit. 

Here's where H went skiing in Chile. 

Oh, and here's the single lane tunnel of some 4.528kms that we had to go through just after entering Chile... Those who know me well feel for me now, I get a bit anxious in tunnels, and this was particularly horrible. 

My first border crossing as an overlander: Argentina to Chile: Paso Hachado

The pass from Las Lejas, at Paso Hachado, was open, so H and I made the crossing. 

So what happens when you cross the border with a vehicle? The people have to still do migration/passport control, the vehicle also has to go through migration, and instead of running your luggage through a baggage scanner, the vehicle is inspected.

Chile has pretty tight quarantine control (as does Australia), and I very much respect this. I'm pleased also that H also respects it. We cooked/ate all our fresh produce the night before making the crossing, and we only had to discard some honey. 

On the Argentine side they checked the vehicle with a Labrador dog. On the Chilean side 2 men looked through things (with H showing them). We declared what we should have, and they approved everything to go through: dried meat and fruits, cooked food, and packaged items were all okay. Everyone was very friendly, and there wasn't a queue, so we got through quite quickly. 

I hope all the crossings will be as simple and friendly. 

H turned the vehicle around for this shot. The sign says: "You are in Chile, Welcome, IX region of the Araucania". The pass is at 1884m... So a bit chilly in early October. 

Quarantine is important!

For me quarantine is a very important thing. I'd hate to introduce an item that was hosting a pest that did damage to the industry and livelihood of a place. I always answer the questions honestly, and let the officials tell me if the product is okay. Usually things are okay, and occasionally I get something confiscated (or another option like fumigation or sending it back to a person in the country it came from). This isn't a problem: if you've honestly declared something there isn't trouble, but if you make a false declaration you will have trouble if caught. 

I simply take the view that the farmer doesn't deserve to lose his livelihood by me bringing in a product that contains a pest/disease/fly/fungus. I wish more travellers could see it this way instead of being selfish. (Of course, there are plenty of good travellers too... I've just met a few who say 'oh, just hide it'... And I've told them what I think!)

Bush camping: the serendipity of it!

H and I both prefer the bush camps. This means that we drive until we find someplace nice, and then we pull off the road. Hopefully it's somewhere that won't have vehicles passing all night. Usually we choose it for a nice view. We sit outside while the sun is still warm, and then head inside. If it's warm enough we eat outside too. 

When we are in bed we can star-gaze (I even have an iPad app 'Star Walk'), and see the view from the windows when the sun comes up.

H says he's delighted that the time he couldn't get the vehicle started in the middle of nowhere I simply didn't panic. But why stress when I had nice surroundings?

On a stop in Argentina, we camped beside a river. On arrival I said 'let's go for a walk', and so we did. We were quite surprised to find scores of coloured parrots nesting in the clay walls of the river. Sometimes you get more than a view. 

The parrots discovered nesting in the river bank, near Chos Mahal on the Solado River. 

The Solado River in the morning, from bed. 

Where am I, and where are we heading?

I've realised that many of you mightn't know where I am, aside to say that I'm in Argentina. So I'm going to do my best to explain it.

I started my Overlanding in the camper vehicle of H almost 2 weeks ago from the Argentine city of Mendoza. Mendoza is a wine producing city in the foothills of the Andes. The Andes mountain range runs down the western side of South America, and in this part of the continent forms the boundary between Argentina and Chile. 

We are heading to Ushuaia. Ushuaia is almost at the bottom of South America, it's almost the end of the road, you can't drive much further south (but I imagine we might take the road as far as we can). From Mendoza, by the most direct route, it's 3234kms (according to the Firestone Atlas de Rutas 2012) to Ushuaia. But we won't be taking the most direct route!

We plan to cross into Chile, visit the Lakes District on both sides of the Argentina-Chile border, visit Puerto Valdes (on the East coast of Argentina) to see Orcas and more wildlife, cross the pampas (Argentina), stay on a farm perhaps, and just see as much as possible. It is quite the journey. We hope to be in Ushuaia for the overlanders Christmas party in December, which would be wonderful full time to catch up with people met and unmet. (So far we have met 2 other overlanding campers, passed one in a town, and saw 4 overlanding motorbikes (1 group, they were headed North)).

In the last 2 weeks we've come South as far as Las Lejas, which is 700-800kms South of Mendoza. From here we to cross into Chile, subject to the border crossing being open, which is subject to weather (snow and ice) conditions. We had hoped to cross further North, but couldn't. If we can't cross here we might decide to go East to the coast (Puerto Valdes) and then come back to the lakes later on. In overlanding there must be flexibility in the plan. 

Then, from Ushuaia, we turn around and head North.... Assuming we still like each other!