Patagonia (part 2)

We arrived in the Chilean town of Puerto Natales on a cold and showery day but had a great coffee and lunch at a veggie restaurant in the main square. Puerto Natales is an older town than the places we had been in Argentinian Patagonia with mant buildings dating back to the early 20th century (I think).

The following day was a blue sky day for our journey into the Torres del Paine National Park. This was a super trip as we started with a three hour catamaran journey along the Ultima Esperanza ("last hope") fjord which gave us views of sea lions and our first distant view of the actually Torres del Paine massif. After this we took a river trip in a couple of "zodiac" boats up the river Serrano for another three hours. The reason for using two boats was that it was necessary to walk for five minutes part way to bypass a small waterfall and transfer to the second boat. Then 20 minutes in a minibus to a further catamaran, this time across a lake, to our first "refugio",

This first refugio was large but a bit soul-less with its cafeteria style dining room. As well as the occupants of the refuge (I'd prefer to call it a lodge) it also served meals for the significant number of campers. We stayed there for two nights, making a walk to Glacier Grey from there on another perfect day.

Then a cloudy and drizzly day to the Refugio Cuernos, with the option of a side walk in the middle of this up the French Valley. This is apparently a very spectacular valley, but there was not a great deal to be seen on this day. I walked a bit further than the rest of the group, to a viewpoint, but did not achieve much by this! The refuge at the end of this day's walk (another two night stay) was a much cosier place and quite crowded as they could not quite fit everyone in for one sitting at dinner though the extras remained in the communal area as it was the only place with a nice warm stove to dry off damp clothing.

The day trip from here was to the Bader Valley where I experienced a small taste of Patagonian wind. Not quite getting blown over (unlike some - but I've had Scottish experience) but on hands and knees at times. Saw some dramatic peaks and rock walls but no distant views.

From here to the Refugio Chileano, another cosier hut and with very friendly staff and good food; a bit slow in coming but free drinks to compensate so can't be bad. I arrived in time to have an afternoon walk to the Torres del Paine lookout while it remained clear. The next morning we skipped the sunrise option as it was not clear enough, but went to the lookout after breakfast when we had a reasonable view but with some cloud hovering around the towers.





From here we descended past the Refugio Chileano to our final night in a large refuge, or more of a hostel, before returning the next day to El Calafate and on for a post-midnight arrival in Buenos Aires.

Two days later and I was on my way home after a fantastic trip.

Patagonia - Part 1

My visit to Patagonia was interesting but busy and hence it's been some time since I've updated the blog. I started this part of the trip by flying three hours south from Buenos Aires to El Calafate, where I met the remaining six members of the group I was doing this (organised) part of my tour with.

We started early the following day by driving the three hours to the small town of El Chalten, which is the base for access the Fitzroy range of mountains. Mt Fitzroy is also known by its local name of El Chalten. In the afternoon we took a short walk to a nearby viewpoint and managed to see both Fitzroy and Cerro Torre, though there was also a lot of cloud about.



The cloud tended to be a feature of the next few days when we did day walks, typically 8 hours, and we did not really get to see too much of Fitzroy; it was usually just playing with us, with the top always seemingly just about to clear. I did manage one fairly spectacular sunrise when it appeared briefly.

There was some wildlife to be seen including a colourful Magellanic Woodpecker, Flamingoes and plenty of Condors. We also managed to see an Armadillo which was great as they are not that common.

On return to El Calafate we had a day trip to the spectacular Perito Moreno Glacier. This goes right down to the large lake, Lago Argentino and at times cuts off one arm of the lake completely. Then every few years the force of water causes the blocking part of the glacier to rupture in dramatic fashion; this last happened about 2 years ago. Although I've seen glaciers in many parts of the world this was an impressive one, especially the incredibly deep blue colour, enhanced by it being a cloudy day.




From here it was on to Chile for the Torres del Paine National Park, which I'll describe in a separate post.

Across the Pacific

My final few days in Tassie gave me the chance to visit the old penal colony of Port Arthur and Bruny Island - yet more pristine beaches. Also some more good food and wine, though I reckon Launceston was better than Hobart for food.

Arrived in Buenos Aires at 10am Monday morning (having left Sydney at 11am Monday). Airport was slow with immigration, money changing and waiting for taxi but everything worked fine. A quick look round BA that afternoon and the following day included a visit to some subterranean discoveries made under an old house in the city. This was very interesting and very different from the usual type of museum.

Then my 17hour bus journey to Iguazu to view the waterfalls. The bus (first class - there are 3 types of bus) provided a seat which converted to a fully flat bed and food (basic airline standard but OK) and wine also provided. Worth doing for the experience but would not want to do it too often. When I went to pick up my ticket I initially went to the wrong counter (1 of over 200 counters at the long distance bus station - which has about 80 platforms). This was the international counter and I saw they offer services to place as far afield as Lima!





Arriving just after midday in the pouring rain I did not bother with the falls that day but the next day took a tour to the Brazilian side. That started with a visit to the world's second biggest hydro-electric scheme (recently knocked off number one by China's Three Gorges). This straddles the border between Brazil and Paraguay and the plant is accessed from Paraguay - which is noticeably third world as you drive across the border from Brazil. It supplies 25% of Brazil's power and 80% or more of Paraguay's.


Then to the falls - very spectacular and the previous few days rain had added to their power. Also quite a bit of wildlife including racoons and an anteater to be seen on the path.





The next day I did the Argentinian side before returning to BA. By now the weather was sunnier though with a lot of spray and mist in the air this was not always apparent. Saw turtles, caymen, iguanas and lots of birds as well as more butterflies than I've ever seen. Many different varieties and hundreds at a time in places.




I fly south to El Calfate tomorrow and it sound as if it's going to be cold - max about 10 and min around zero for the next few days, but it is 2000km south of here so guess it's a bit like flying from Scotland to the north of Norway.

Tasmania

After a few days visiting friends in Melbourne and Ballarat I headed south to Tasmania where I've been busy hence the delay in getting blog updated.






Tassie is a great island with lots of superb walking. I started with a 2-day trip in the Freycinet National Park. I walked into Cook's Beach, camping there amongst very tame wallabies and annoying possums. I'd carefully put all food in my (very small) tent overnight but that did not stop the possum taking the loo roll out of the vestibule. I heard the rustling and managed to retrieve it.

The return route took me over Mt Graham (a mere 569m but great viewpoint) to the famous Wineglass Bay. The weather was perfect blue skies.

The following day I paid a short visit to the Bay of Fires, further up the east coast, with more beautiful white beaches. Not quite swimming temperatures yet, especially with a cool wind.

I returned to Launceston, Tassie's second biggest city and got things sorted out for the Overland Track. This is a walk of around six days and is rated as one of the top walks in the world, which it proved to be.

The actual walk is around 80km, but there are plenty of side trips which is why it normally takes six days. There are huts along the way though you are advised to take a tent in case these are full or you are caught out by the weather. Most of the huts are quite small, sleeping about 12-16 and fairly basic though comfortable; no sleeping mats, just sleeping platforms/bunks. From 1st November you have to book (and pay $160 - £90) to do the walk so leaving on 28 October as I did made it quite a popular start date.



The weather remained good for the start of the walk but cloud was beginning to come in so not quite so good for photos, though most of the time it was execllent walking weather. Just one day when there was light rain for a few hours, until the final night (when I was camping) when it poured most of the night.

With the combination of cloud to restrict views at times and quite a lot of soft snow on boulder fields on higher peaks I did not end up actually getting to the summit of either Cradle Mountain or Mt Ossa. However I did get some extra time to divert to Pine Valley and visit an area of lakes known as The Labyrinth.

Overall a great week. I am now in Hobart seeing some local sights, and even came across an evening orienteering event by pure chance. I think it's the first time I've been round a course in jeans!

World Masters Orienteering

Our tourist activities started with a drive to the touristy (and thus overpriced) town of Katoomba. We had already overpaid there for tae and cakes the day before so found a more reasonable cafe. The walk we planned nominally started at a classic viewpoint where it cost about £2.50 an hour to park so we found a layby a couple of km away and modified the walk. The path network was fairly extensive and we did a four/five hour trip which took us down towards the bottom of the steep cliffs on which Katoomba sits. There were 900 steps back up at the end and lots more on the undulating track, so not a route for the day before a big race.

However the next day was just a model event when we experienced the intricate rocky "pagoda" terrain and realised we were going to be in for a challenge.

The first heat of the long qualification races followed the next day in an adjacent area and I struggled with the rocky area (see map which I'll put on http://public.fotki.com/DaveCo/omaps/ ). Control 5 was my big mistake and when I eventually found it I was 15m vertically above it; I reached it by scrambling down to a 45degree fallen tree which I then climbed down! I cannot really show my route in the complex terrain as it just obscures all the features.The second part of the course was a complete contrast with fast running and easy controls. I just scraped into the top half in this heat, so needed to do at least as well the next day.
The second qualification was in very different terrain - classic Australian spur and gully, with plenty of rock features. A major error on the first control cost me about 10 minutes or more and a smaller error a bit later another few minutes. Then an easy but very long leg, over 1.5km on a 5 km course gave an obvious track run for a large part of its length and running hard here managed to keep me well enough up to get in the A final.
The final two days later was a mixture of spur/gully and rock, but the latter less technical than the first qualification. I began cautiously but speeded up as things were working well and with just a small mistake later on, of just over a minute, was pleased to come 15th, behind some strong competition. An enjoyable race but the planning was unimaginative and the course did not feel as expected for a WMOC Final. Our course was also on the short side, being won in 40.41 rather than 50 minutes.

Sydney

The few days we had in Sydney produced cooler and damper weather than expected but we still managed to see a few major sights. After wandering the streets and parks a bit we visited the Opera House for a performance of The Mikado which I really enjoyed.


The day after that we did the "Bridge Climb" which gave a good view of the city from an interesting viewpoint. Unfortunately you are not allowed cameras on this trip and I was not prepared to spend $25 (nearly £15) for one (of the many photos) that they took. A good trip though a bit pricey, like most things in Australia - especially at current exchange rates.

The weekend gave us two days of sprint orienteering. The heats on Saturday were not that exciting. I had an OK run but only just made the A final, though did not make any big mistakes. The final at Sydney Olympic Park was much more challenging with many complex structures and tricky controls. I got into top half of the A finalists so quite happy with that; maybe I need to do a few more sprint events to improve.

(Talking to some fellow competitors, queues for registration got to five and a half hours before the issue of photo passes changed to blank passes. The only need for a pass seems to be free public transport in Sydney, which is of little benefit to orienteers after Sunday as we are 2 hours out of town).

We are now in Lithgow in the Blue Mountains ready for the Long Distance orienteering races which start with heats on Wednesday, so a day or two for tourism first.

A Whale of a time

Had a great day of whale watching from Hervey Bay. Spectacular views of whales. Will try and put one of pictures on blog when I can.

A two day trip to Fraser Island was also a good trip. A small group of just 5 people. A bit of gentle walking and beautiful beaches. It was quite busy due to being school holidays.

Flew to Canberra on Monday for 2 day orienteering. First day was a bit of disaster not helped by compass sticking and tricky and rough area. Took 90 mins for first two thirds of course. Second day much better (but a very straightforward area).

We drove to Sydney yesterday and completed a marathon! Well that was the queue to collect stuff for the event. Two and a half hours queue! World Masters Games is not good to be associated with!

Bay of Islands

My last few days in NZ took me to the Bay of Islands area for a weekend tramp. A group of six of us drove to the small settlement of Rawhiti, north east of Russell, where we stayed Friday night in a backpackers' hostel of sorts. It comprised a collection of rather old caravans; the toilet facilities were fairly basic with just a mossie screen door. Still it was right on the beach as we saw in the early morning sunshine.

The Cape Brett Track which we walked started 1km from here. This was an undulating walk (we clocked 1100m of ascent that day) through the bush but with glimpses of the coastline on either side of the peninsula from time to time. These would have been better if the sunshine has remained but the cloud came in for much of the day giving some rain. However it was not too wet and by mid afternoon we were back in sunshine.

After about seven hours walking we arrived at the Cape Brett lighthouse. The DOC (Dept of Conservation) "hut" where we stayed differed from their normal huts as it is actually the former lighthouse-keepers' house. It is below the main lighthouse but about 45m above the sea. We read that there had been occasions when the spray from breaking waves reached up to the house! It was agreat place to spend a night.

Sunday morning we retraced our steps for a couple of hours before descending a short distance to Deepwater Cove where we had booked a water taxi to take us back to Rawhiti. Fortunately it was calm morning or we would have had to walk out the way we had come in. Then a fairly direct return to Auckland for my flight to Sydney.

Next morning I took a short flight to Hervey Bay in southern Queensland where I am now, staying with friends, Phil and Eleanor.

Ski Touring and Winter Walking

On Monday (14 Sep) I should have been ski touring but the previous renter of the kit I was to use failed to return it to the shop! As it turned out the weather was not good that day so things worked out OK. Arriving late morning on Tuesday the snow was still rather firm and cover not great but Andy and I managed a short tour to a nearby peak (see photo), though we both need to put into use our self-arrest technique when traversing a steep icy slope (no harscheisen!)

Later in the week I flew north to Nelson where I met up with Richard and John, a friend of his, for a four day tramp in the Nelson lakes area. Friday was grey and increasingly damp for our quite lengthy walk in as far as the Angelus Hut. Richard had gone ahead and was going to come back and help John with his pack but in the end John turned back and went to a different hut. By now it was too late for Richard and myself to do this! We got to the hut, which was not easy to find in the mist with dusk approaching, rather wet and cold but got the stove going well and got all our kit dried out overnight.



The next day provided stunning weather and the two of us made an early ascent of Angelus peak (seen in the background of other photo, hut in foreground). The snow was well frozen and perfect for cramponing. After this Richard went in search of John and/or a mobile signal but the news eventually arrived via another tramper that all was well. This night, being Saturday, the hut was relatively busy with a dozen or so peole there. (The full story of John's journey is far to long to tell here.)

Sunday was another sunny day and we returned to near our starting point via a superb ridge walk; mostl on snow but some rocky patches to blunt the crampons. We finally met up with John again for the last night and had a gentle day on Monday before returning to Auckland.

The Auckland weather has not been so good for the last few days so it's been museum and wine tasting before heading north tomorrow.

Dolphins

After my Nguaruhoe ascent I had a gentle day taking a scenic route to Raglan on the west coast some way south of Auckland. Not such a nice day so I was very lucky the day before. Raglan is a laid back surfing town, very quiet (no surf).

Then flew to Christchurch where weather for the weekend was superb. Stayed with Pete and Dee for Fri/Sat - many thanks to them - and had a great run in the Port Hills each morning.

Sunday afternoon took a wildlife cruise in Lyttelton Harbour and saw some spectacular action by Hector's Dolphins (that's the name of the species, not the owner!)

Today (Monday) Andy and I were supposed to head to Broken River to go ski touring. Unfortunately the person who had the ski touring kit I was to rent had failed to return it. Anyway it is very windy today and +9C at the skifield so we have delayed a day; had a good mountain bike ride instead. 24C in Christchurch.

Now in New Zealand

First day in Auckland was mainly taken up with domestic chores; a shame as it was perfect weather. Had an unscheduled visit to Waiheke Island when I got directed to wrong ferry!

Next day I headed south to Tongariro National Park but only time for a short walk after the drive, but spectacular views of three snowy peaks - Tongariro, Nguaruhoe (a classic volcano cone) and the skifield peak of Ruapehu.

Wednesday had planned for the Tongariro Crossing but impossible to book the shuttle bus back without doing a guided trip. So as alternative I made a pre-dawn start to walk up Tongariro, round its ridge and then up Nguaruhoe. A fantastic day out with a couple of interesting sections, given that the snow was quite icy in places.

Pictures show me on summit of Tongariro with Nguaruhoe in background (self-timer pic), Shadow of Mt Fuji at dawn from summit and tuna in Tokyo fish market.

Japan - Part 2

So a day later than planned we walked up most of Mt Fuji to a hut at 3450m. Early to bed for a 3.30am departure for the final 300m to the summit for sunrise. There were probably about 1000 people making their way up, mostly from lower huts - so they had to get up even earlier. And we were told - "I've never seen it so quiet!"

Sunrise was duly observed but no views to speak of as we were above a sea of cloud and could just make out one or two distant peaks poking through. After a lap of the crater rim we had the long descent - 1300m mostly down a loose (ash/lava) path.

Ended the Japan tour with two and a half days in Tokyo, managing to see quite a bit, including an early morning visit to the fish market. This is huge and there are hundreds of varieties of fish. Also there is a specific tuna auction area where we saw at least several hundred huge tuna awaiting sale. I'll try and put a photo on this blog when I get access from my own computer.

Now arrived in Auckland and after a day getting sorted am headed to Tongariro in central North Island for a couple of days walking. Hope the weather holds as it's currently blue skies and reached 18C yesterday, not bad for the beginning of spring.

Mt Yarigatake

Had a great day exploring Kyoto viewing some spectacular temples and later visiting the Geisha district. Also part of the huge shopping arcade with a vast array of mostly unidentified food.

From here to a small town in the hills where we stayed at a "Ryokan" - a traditional Japanese inn which was beautifully preserved. After a traditional Japanese bath we dressed in the standard dressing gowns provided to sit down (on the floor - on tatami mats) for an excellent meal.

Mt Yarigatake is known as the "Japanese Matterhorn". A spectacular peak with a good scramble to the final summit. We split the ascent into two stages, staying at mountain huts. Quite smart places compared to Europe and the second one was huge; apparently it can take 700 people!

Unfortunately the weather was not too kind so

we did not see much on upper half of the

mountain so the photo shown is of a poster

in the street of a local town.

Just arrived in Fujiyoshida and hope for an ascent of Mt Fuji in next few days. However a typhoon threatens so this may be delayed a day.

Kyoto (and Tokyo)

Had a good flight to Tokyo and spent Sunday afternoon sightseeing. Such a huge place and hard to know where to start but got a feel for the high-rise part of the city and some of the smaller shopping streets in the Shinjuku district.

After a long sleep took a late morning bullet train ("Shinkansen") for the 450km journey to Kyoto, taking 2 hours 20 mins. That afternoon and today sight-seeing in Kyoto. This is an old city with lots of interest. There are a huge number of temples and gardens so I've hardly scratched the surface.

Round the World

Just starting my round the world trip. Shortly departing for Tokyo so looking forward to a major change in culture.

Croatia

Recently back from Croatia and Italy. Weather not great - 1 day without rain in 4 weeks!
A few photos on http://public.fotki.com/DaveCo/