Antarctica and South America - a rough plan

About 8 months ago, an opportunity arose to join a private trip down to the Antarctic Peninsula. I was at the start of my jaunt in Europe at the time, so I was a little distracted, but in the end there was no way I could turn down the opportunity. I've wanted to go to Antarctica for as long as I can remember, and this time in my life couldn't suit better.

I'll be flying to Ushuaia initially, via Buenos Aires, where I'll have a few days in the 'Southern most city' to get a few things ready for the trip, do a bit of walking, and celebrate the new year somehow. On the 5th of January, we leave Ushuaia for the ~3 day journey across the Drake Passage, on the yacht Australis. There'll be 9 of us clients (only 2 of whom I've met thus far) and 3 crew on the 75 foot boat.

The main 'objective' of the trip is climbing. The Antarctic Peninsula is dotted with mountainous islands, many of which are home to unclimbed peaks. We plan on heading as far south as we can to get away from the busier areas such as Paradise Harbour, and also give ourselves more chance of climbing new routes. We'll be making a combination of one day outings from the boat, going ashore early morning, and we'll also camp 'on the land' (ie snow) a few nights, depending on the length of route we intend to climb.

We'll be spending a total of a month aboard Australis, before returning to Ushuaia in early February. It's less than 2 weeks now until we set off from Ushuaia, and I can't wait. The prospect of all the climbing we plan on doing down there is exciting enough in itself, but I'm also looking forward to being at sea, looking for our first 'berg.

After returning to Ushuaia, I'll be heading to Puerto Natales to meet Will, my oldest mate. We've been leading somewhat different lives for quite some time now, but have always said we should travel together - so now its happening. We'll be kicking our trip off with a hike through the Torres del Paine in Patagonia. From there, we have 6 weeks to make our way north-ward. We plan to be as adventurous as we can in these days of lonely planet guides and the all knowlegeable internet, and thus plan on not planning too much. Our general idea is to head north through Chile/Argentina, into Bolivia over some salt plains, then down into Peru - hopefully with a visit to Machu Picchu - before I return home, and Will continues on his way.


This is the yacht we'll be on: www.ocean-expeditions.com

Filling in the gaps

And once again, I'm practically unemployed - or at least I don't plan on working for another 4 months, anyway!

After a grand 6 months in Europe, work free, I had a whole 3 nights at home before flying up to Mount Isa (western Queensland) for 3 weeks of work. I surprised myself by enjoying being back at work even more than what I had expected. I guess I was a little disillusioned after leaving my last permanent position, but I was quickly reminded that mine surveying is something I really have an affinity with.

After Isa, I had a week in Sydney before heading out to Parkes (central west NSW) from which I've recently returned after about 6 weeks of work. I still enjoyed the work, but being in these country mining towns reminded me that the lifestyle doesn't suit, well, my lifestyle at the moment. There are aspects of regional Aus that I love - the relaxed pace, the beautiful, open landscapes, the simplicity of all ranges of things from navigating to interactions with locals, but the locals can also come across as pretty naive at times, and very insular. So much so that I find I'm often quick to be more critical than I really should.

The roster I was working in Parkes enabled me to get away a couple of times to the Blue Mountains. On one such break, I headed to the Wolgan Valley with a good friend, James, who happened to be working at Parkes. It was a good weekend of climbing, walking, drinking, and discussing all the World's issues - including how we'd managed to fill his ute up with all sorts of paraphernalia, yet found ourselves without any sort of fold out chairs, sitting on the ground.

On my next break I packed in a surveying conference, climbing with Kim (my Brother), seeing my Cousin's new house, meeting my companions for the next trip, and seeing the new Bond flick - another good weekend in the Bluies, punctuated by average weather.

And that was more or less it for the last 2.5 months. One thing I've found upon returning to Australia, is that I think I appreciate it far more than I used to. About a month after getting back, I felt a huge happiness at being where I was - in the Blue Mountains, a tree filled valley spreading out below after dropping off the escarpment, all the unique birds chirping in the trees - impossible to describe in words, but it just felt like home. And it always will.