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French Passage and Neko Harbour (and Una's Tits)

We spend the first part of the morning sailing through the French Passage/ Lemaire Channel looking for wild life, and soaking up the beautiful mountains on either side. It is hoped we might see orca. We don't.  Bill goes out on deck for a bit. I stay and hang with Judy. She tells me about Una's Tits / Peaks. And she wants a photo. Today's blog is censored for 13 and under. Here are the photos. We had trouble identifying Una's in the background....

Polar Plunge, Pleneau Island Zodiac, and Land on Petermann Island

Today is Polar Plunge day, so I've put a photo of that up first....

Gonzalez Videla Station, Waterboat Point and Paradise Bay

González Videla Base is on the Antarctic mainland at Waterboat Point in Paradise Bay. It is named after Chilean President Gabriel González Videla, who in the 1940s became the first chief of state of any nation to visit Antarctica. The station was active from 1951–58, and was reopened briefly in the early 1980s....

Kayaking in Mikkelson Bay, and First Zodiac Cruise at Cierva Cove

We were kayaking rather than do the landing at Mikkelson Bay. (You can't do both.) I love being chosen to kayak!  Here is Bill and I ready to go. Also I love this interesting fact about Mikkelson Bay - Caroline Mikkelsen, Norway, was the first woman to set foot on Antarctica when she accompanied her husband, a whaling captain. Yes, for woman enjoying Antarctica too. ...

First Landing, on Snow Island

This is our voyage below. (We got this at the end of the trip.) It gives you where we went and where we will go. We land at President Head, Snow Island first. We are on an expedition, which means things change. This first landing was not on the plan, but a good Drake Passage crossing made it doable....

Sea Day, Captain's Welcome, and Kayaking Sign Up

Today is a Drake's Passage crossing day.  We both slept well after some early rocking and rolling.  We wake early, read, and both go to the gym. (Yes, the boat has one, one of the reasons Bill chose it.) After breakfast we tag boots, I exchange my jacket for a smaller one and we go to the briefing for people who want to put their name down for kayaking. Jake and Brooke run it. I remember Daniel, a guide on our sub-Antarctic trip who had started as a kayaking guide, telling us...

We Board the Silver Cloud

This is the Silver Cloud, our ship to Antarctica. We board at 3.30pm. The Silver Cloud was the first of a fleet of 13 owned by SilverSeas, an Italian company that is now 60% owned by Royal Carribean Cruises and 40% by the founding Italian family.  Silver Cloud entered service in April 1994, and was refurbished in 2017.  Some other ships in the fleet are Silver Shadow, Silver Whisper, Silver Spirit, Silver Explorer, and more - you get the gist.  Silver Dawn will start in 2021....

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....