Australis Yene hue Puerto Madryn

... Next we went to see the Elephant seals who, as far as I can work out, go out ot sea to eat then come back and sleep in the same position for a day, *******, before heading out to feed again! Little action to see but the are cool - 7 metres long!<br><br>Next we got to see the Penguins who are wicked! Only the males were there, preparing their burrows before the females got back to take advantage of all ...

... was the best part, seeing the whales right next to the boat when they came up to breath, and seeing them swim under the boat. Both Jemma and I loved seeing the whales out in the wild, rather than in a huge fish tank. This was a great way to finish what we both felt had been our best day so far. After the journey back we had some home-cooked grub once more, but this time courtesy of Jemma Delia Smith Waters. We also upgraded and bought a 45 pence bottle of wine this time - we ...

... that our enjoyment of the whales was to the background music of many parents and kids being sick constantly. Luckily not us. We save that sort of thing for night buses.<br><br>Also in the area we saw some other animals including guanacos (Patagonian llamas), ostrich-type things and a few very cute armadillos! They are really sweet, shuffling around with their hard hairy shells sniffing for food.<br><br> We also stopped ...

... an hour too early! Then, it hit me, about the time change. I chugged the beer down, and lugged my stuff out to the platform, and sure enough, it was mine! Was I lucky! Well, the bus went all nite, and we finally arrived at Pto. Madryn about noon. Onward and upward!

... this is the origin village of the Peron family and there is a little Peron museum with some artefacts of the Peron (and Evita) era. Now, two quite long days of driving through the Patagonian Pampa southbound and then across to the mountains towards the famous Patagonia Glaciers .... some of it on dirt roads .... where big busses don´t go ... adding a bit of adventure to our journey!

... or wine! We had foot rests and fully reclining<br>seats (not far off horizontal) and a film in english! Heaven! Managed<br>to get quite alot of sleep (i think the pint of whiskey post dinner<br>helped things!) only down side was that we arrived 1.5 hours late for<br>no apparent reason. Best way I have ever travelled - National Express<br>have a lot to learn!!!

(Sorry, this is really behind - we're actually writing this entry from Mendoza. Catching up is a work in progress, we promise!) Puerto Madryn was our first destination in Patagonia, and we were looking forward to escaping the head of Buenos Aires. Little did we know that in the vast desert that surrounds Puerto Madryn, dust and heat are part of summer, except without any shade for respite. Add a few sandstorms to the mix and voila! Summer in and ...

... Gaiman is a Welsh settlement. Lonely planted recommended stopping in an old welsh tea house. We chose the house that was written about in LA times and other famous news papers. For 40 pesos each we got tea. Along with the tea service come all sorts of baked goods. Take a look at the pictures different types of breads, pastries amazing. Mom you would have truly enjoyed the setup. The tea was amazing. We didn't have a ...

... vu le beau temps, la plage est assaille de baigneur locaux ou venu des environs (ou de l'autre côté de la planête, c'est selon). Comme première impression, l'ambiance me plait beaucoup plus que Buenos Aires je dois dire, mais je n'ai jamais été un grand fan de grosse ville. L'auberge est très sympa, très sociale et organise pas mal de circuits de découvertes dans les environs, ce que je vais faire demain!

... went to the theater to hear Captain Bob the Ice Master's briefing. He was captain of a US Coast Guard ice breaker that helped supply the US Antarctic bases. He had a very interesting presentation.<br><br>Captain Bob started as a deck seaman and worked his way up to captain. He was captain of the Polar Star ice breaker. It's hull was 2-5/8ths tempered steel, round on the bottom, and "rolled like sin." It would ride up on the ice and the weight of the ship would break trough the ice. He said ...