Our July ramble was on a snowy day and we walked from near Mount Harriet down to the coast.
In a small river valley we came to this cave which apparently used to be a popular picnic destination for a day out on foot or horseback from Stanley.
It wasn't quite up to Cheddar or Wookey Hole!
This was the view down the valley towards the coast.
We then had a bit of a scramble. This is Greta and Ross.
Although it was a calm day there were some big waves when we reached the coast as it had been windy the day before.
2 rock shags and an inperial shag on the cliffs.
An imperial shag.
These strange white birds are pale-faced sheathbills. They don't breed here and you see more during the winter than the summer. They nare usually scavenging around other bird or seal colonies.
3 weeks ago we had our last Falklands weekend away. We went with a friend, Greta, to a very comfortable self-catering bungalow on Race Point farm at Port San Carlos. The weather had been very wet so the road was very muddy and rutted.
The Saturday was lovely and sunny and we spent the whole day exploring. Simon enjoyed some very challenging off-road driving and we saw lots of gentoo penguins.
These ones were just heading down to the sea at Rookery Sands.
These had just come out of the sea having been off fishing and we enjoyed watching them porpoising out of the water on their way in.
The farmer's 7 year old daughter riding her quad bike with one of their dogs on the back. This is her 3rd quad bike and it said on it not suitable for under 14s! She seemed very competant and also has 2 ponies. A very different lifestyle to most children in UK.
We were sure we had seen our last Falklands penguins BUT the following weekend whilst walking on the snowy beach at Surf Bay I found this young king. He looked as if a seal had tried to bite him and so he had come ashore for a rest and preen.
Last Sunday we had our last ramble quite near to Stanley. We walked along Wireless Ridge and then down to the Murrell River.
This is where we stopped by the river for elevenses
Following on beside the river.
Looking down the river from our lunch spot.
This causeway was built to take the road over the river to one farm. Before it was built the track forded the river a couple of miles upstream.
I spotted this bead plant (named for its shiny, bright berries) amongst the grass and diddle-dee when we were walking.
Yesterday morning we had a bit of snow and a hard frost last night but this afternoon the sun was warm and it felt quite spring like. There are even a few crocuses coming into flower in the garden.
This pair of ruddy headed geese were enjoying grazing on our back lawn.
They were then joined by these upland geese.
Well it is likely to be a long time until I blog again. I will one day try to post more pictures of the amazing wildlife we have seen and places we have visited here.
We are due to fly from here to Southern Argentina on Saturday. We have a flight booked from Lima to UK on October 26th. In between we hope to do some skiing and visit all sorts of places and take some very long bus journeys. We hope to check our emails from time to time.
