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From El Calafate to Ushuaia

We fly from El Calafate to Ushuaia and Grace has organised a lady to meet us.  She takes us from the airport to the Lennox Hotel. We take a walk around Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world (although this is debated by Chile's Puerto Williams). ...

Perito Moreno Glacier

We left Design Suites at about 9.30am, grabbing a large coffee and tea on the way.  We were driving to see Perito Moreno Glacier, the biggest scenic attraction in these parts. We thought the road was good and it would give us some independence to drive. Here are some shots of the trip there, and then the start of the National Park.  The first one was the first greenery we saw since leaving El Calafate - about an hour earlier. ...

Wetlands Walk and Estancia Visit

We got up early to walk around the Laguna Nimez Wetlands reserve, a bird sanctuary not far from where we are staying. Camera still has the blue button. I am too scared to reset. Will look at that later. ...

To Argentina, and Biking Down Mt Huyliche in Patagonia

Feb 12th, 13th and 14th. We have 5 days in Patagonia on the way to our Antarctic departure from Ushuaia at the bottom of Argentina.  This is from the plane coming into El Calafate, our base for the Patagonia stay. ...

Waiheke 10-12th Feb

We travel from Queenstown to Auckland. (Bill is able to fly this time.  He had to bus down from Auckland to Invercargill for our Stewart Island / Rakiura trip after having an eye operation in January, and not being allowed to fly for two weeks.) We arrive late on 9th Feb to see the sunset at Onetangi Beach. We are back in Waiheke for just the next three days....

Queenstown

Queenstown 7th - 9th Feb A very social three days after the nature of Rakiura. The girls liked the spa pool at the Glebe Apartments where we stayed....

Waitangi Day

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Waitangi Day 2020 (for the overseas readers, Waitangi Day commemorates the signing of our country's founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840). "Today we pray for our people, our history and our future.  On this 180th Waitangi Day let us pledge to take a step across the bridge between our peoples.  Give us the perseverance in our daily lives to commit to a simple action that helps take us to the other side." Below at Waitangi wit...

Final Day of Rakiura Track

And off we go again ... dry today....

Second Day on Rakiura Track

It is wet. It rained steadily through the night.  We head up to the campsite to see how the youngies got on....

First Day Walking the Rakiura Track

We head off on the 3 day walk about 10.30, all packed up. It is raining lightly....

Fishing at Rakiura

After breakfast I pick up the tickets for the Rakiura Track walk from the visitor centre in Main St.  Anna sees this sign along the way. I own a Fiat 500, one of the smallest cars on the road, and we are in remote Stewart Island where carparks are plentiful! So funny we all thought....

To Rakiura / Stewart Island With Our (Enlarged) Family

We are taking the ferry from Bluff to Rakiura....

Last Day and Goodbyes in Dunedin

We have nearly two days travelling to get to Dunedin, it is almost the length of the South Island back.  We are still looking for Magenta Petrel....

Chumming, Big and Little Mangere, and the One in Ten Years Sighting!

We do more chumming for a better look at the birds....

Chatham Islands / Rēkohu ("Misty Sun")

The Chathams lie 870 kilometres east of New Zealand, and run 45 minutes ahead of the rest of the country.  From Wikipedia:  "The archipelago consists of about ten islands within an approximate 60-kilometre (37 mi) radius, the largest of which are Chatham Island and Pitt Island. Some of these islands, formerly cleared for farming, are now preserved as nature reserves to conserve some of the unique flora and fauna. As of 2013 the islands had a...

Pyramid Rock and Rangatira

This is Pyramid Rock....

Bounty Islands / Hauriri

We have travelled 120 km from the Antipodes. The Bounty Islands are a wind swept group of 22 slippery granite rocks 700 km east-south-east of New Zealand.  From the Heritage Expeditions book... "The Bounty Islands were discovered and named by Captain Bligh of the Bounty in 1788. Although he described them as “bare and desolate, with the inability to afford any vegetable production” they are still a unique destination for those on a ship tour in the Southern Pacific ocean. There might no...

The Antipodes / Moutere Māhue

We get ourselves ready for a zodiac cruise....

Toward The Antipodes

We have another chumming session. I learn a few more birds.  This is what we will see, according to our guides - "Black-browed Albatross, Campbell Island Albatross, Light-mantled Sooty Albatross, Salvin’s Albatross, Sooty Shearwater and Little Shearwater. There should be plenty of petrels and, again, the hard to identify prion species."...

Campbell Island / Motu Ihupuku

We drop anchor in Perseverance Harbour and zodiac in....

At Sea, Toward Campbell Island

We are now leaving Australia and returning to New Zealand territory, so we have another biosecurity check. We vacuum our day packs, and look for little twigs. This is Doug and Niall doing their thing....

Lusitania Bay on Macquarie Island

Overnight we travelled further down the Macquarie coast to Lusitania Bay.  Look at the east side of the map, towards the bottom....

Macquarie Island

On our two trips to Macquarie it is hoped we will see four species of penguins, southern elephant seals and orca, though all weather dependent and we are in the wild.   We wake up early. Here we have zodiac'd in to near Buckles Bay on Macquarie. Note Judd in his waders....

At Sea

It is a day to catch up with editing photos, photographing birds, learning more about my camera, blogging and reading. At 9.30 we have a biosecurity inspection clean and check. Here is Daniel doing a check with Tracy. We vacuum our pack and he checks it for little twigs and other bits. We are on our way to Macquarie Island, which is part of Australia.  All the other six islands we are visiting are in New Zealand. ...

Auckland Island, Carnley Harbour

In the southern archipelago of Auckland Island there is a very large sheltered harbour called Carnley Harbour. It is rich in human history including shipwrecks, treasure hunters, coast watchers, and of course scientific parties. We arrive early morning through the eastern entrance. it is guarded on both sides by dramatic cliffs and rugged, tussock-covered hills....