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.
We walk around the wetland. It is super windy. It takes 45 minutes. This is what we see. We also walked it the next day and it was very still then. I have included photos from both walks. Some are not blue. You can see how windy it is from the grass in this shot.
This is a calafate bush - they're like a blackberry bush in New Zealand.
I saw a bird hiding.
Lago Argentina is on the other side of the wetlands reserve.
There was a birdwatching platform and I saw a bird.
and another.
There was a bird watching hut by one of the lakes.
These two sheltering from the wind behind a bush.
Mid afternoon we are picked up in a van to be taken to Estancia Nibepo Aike - an Argentinian station. It is not one of the big ones, but it is still 12,000 hectares! We pick up three other couples around El Calafate. It is a 90 minute drive on a bumpy gravel road.
These all taken out the window as we are driving along.
And finally we arrive.
It is a sheep and cattle station. They round these sheep up at night and put them in a pen because the puma has been known to take half a dozen in a night. They are a real threat to sheep around here - otherwise we could almost be in New Zealand.
The birds are different though. I think this is a caracara, a bit like a hawk, they are common in these parts.
The great things about these trips is you meet some lovely people. We chatted to Guy (pronounced as in the French, Ghee) - mathematics professor from Quebec City and his wife who I remember speaks French, and I think is Francesca. I lost my note sorry Francesca? I remember Guy because he told us of an exchange at a university he went to. He told of us of a colleague who firstlycould not get his name was Guy (pronouncing it the English way) and a mother would call her son Guy. Then he had a problem also with the pronunciation of 'Ghee' - he struggled to call him Ghee when his name was spelt like Guy. Then when Guy left the university after his time there, the colleague slapped him on the back, and in his pigeon English said "Your name is strange, and you are a great guy".
Horses are loved in Argentina.
We were shown some of the activities on the farm. We watched a sheep being shorn with shears for a few minutes. They put it back in the pen half shorn. I was a sheep shearing rousey one holiday before going overseas, so I attempted to sweep up the wool with a broom. I wish I had a blog about that time. (Some of that blog wouldn't have got past the censor, Ed.) That was a different culture. Here is the shearer in action.
I found this cat sleeping in the wool.
I think the joke here was the shearer playing with the sheep when he wasn't moving. I think I was photographing the cat at this point. I wanted to put it in because it is a good photo of Guy and Francesca(?).
They work with horses a lot, so we got a little race.
And then we warmed up before dinner.
I spotted these birds out the window and I was pretty pleased with this shot.
And then I got this one. "Good one Mum" I can hear my kids say.
Then we had dinner. It wasn't an outstanding meal and the company was. We chat with Ross and Lynn from Brisbane, but both grew up in New Zealand, and Ross's family was not far from our house in Cedar Rd. The other people on this trip were all fun.
We really enjoyed our trip to Estancia Nibepo Aike.
