Sunsets

We have been having some fabulous sunsets recently, this was one last week that caught my attention as I put the kids to bed.

Trip to Bleaker

On the 8th of March I was invited out to Bleaker with some of the wives. It was a stunningly clear and bright day, still with the usual Falkland Islands wind but beautiful nether the less.
It was strange to be back on Bleaker as this is where we stayed when I came to visit John over 3 years ago now. Above is one of the Load Masters on the BRINTELS. These chaps make sure that the loads within the helicopter are correct, synched down, passengers move aboard and depart safely from the heli and he helps guide down the helicopter onto the landing sites. Generally they are a very cheery bunch of chaps who are fantastic with the kids.

They have done quite a bit of work to some of the buildings on the island. The hut above has been renovated and now serves as a place for day trippers to get out of the wind, use the facilities and make themselves a cup of tea. Jeannette who owns and runs the island had kindly left us three kinds of home baking to sample with our morning tea. She had Whacky cake which is an eggless chocolate style cake, Drop scones and some lovely Oatmeal Cookies. I was an absolute pig and sampled all of them and then at the end of our trip had to ask her for the recipes. She also gave me a recipe for an eggless ginger bread cake which I must try, eggs being as bad as they are down here this recipe could be a real winner.

We made our way around the south west of the island. I was hoping to see some sea lions as I have yet to find any on my travels. We did stumble upon a colony of King Cormorants basking in the sunlight. The light was so bright that photography was a bit of an issue.

There were hundreds of the birds which I call shags after our time in Scotland. You could get really close to them without them flinching. After climbing through some rather tall tussac grass and deciding it was a bad idea we headed further inland and made our way along the fence line. I did managed somehow to get a two inch slice in my newest jeans without noticing as I climbed over the fence. Further up the coast we could hear and smell the Rock Hoppers before we could see them.

There was lots of noisy chattering and general squabbling about who should sit next to who. This is the first time I have seen Rock Hoppers in the wild and they really are quite funny animals. Much, much smaller than any of the other penguins and very different in their appearance and mannerisms.

Although quite a few things are similiar between the breeds such as sleeping on their tummies.

The Rock Hoppers beaks are alot shorter and of course they have the fantastic tufts of plummage at the sides of their heads. They are fatter and squatter than the Gentoos and have a slightly more pee'd off look on their faces.

They climb up some huge cliff faces to make it to the colonies breeding area which consists of muddy hillocks near the tussac grass. On this particular day they weren't moving about much. They mostly sat about enjoying the sunshine like the pair above.

As I went down the cliff face slightly to get the picture above I noticed a movement in the water. It turned out to be my first sighting of a sea lion. This fellow had a dead penguin and was mouthing it and then spitting it out. I don't think it was one he had just killed, I think it had been in the water for some time by the look of it.

These were the best shots I could get of him as there was a thirty foot drop between me and the sea which I didn't fancy trying to negotiate to get closer. They are really huge creatures and have the most fantastic tails. We stood and watched him for a good 20 minutes while he pottered about around the seaweed and shores edge.

The Kelp and seaweed is really magnificient to watch. It changes shape constantly in an elegant dance with the waves. This picture doesn't do it justice, I hope on another not quite so bright occassion to get some more photos of this subject.

As we headed back to the settlement we had the usual company of a turkey vulture overhead. These animals are really, really ugly and yet at the same time fly so elegantly. We have alot of them on camp and on warm mornings you can hear them scuttling along the roof line of your home.

When we got back to the hut we made ourselves a cup of tea, sampled one last piece of Whacky Cake and then had a quick poke around the "shop". I hadn't planned on buying anything so didn't bring any money with me. Unfortunatley Jill had brought some spare cash and I found myself the proud new owner of a genuine Falkland Islands Lambskin Rug. It is beautifully crafted and has a really deep pile. I thought Fergus might claim it as his own but it has fast become Maddie's go to place when she is watching tv.

Camera Practice - Saturday 6th March

On Saturday afternoon I headed down to Bertha's beach with my fellow camera class and
tried to put into practice what we had learned during the week. Tried being the operative word! It was a miserable day with heavy showers coming through every twenty minutes or so, so not the best light in the world to work with.

I did capture this pair, a mother and chick. She was coming out of the sea and her chick went racing up to her. At first I thought they were just being territorial and fighting but as I watch you could see her starting to regurgitate the food to feed her baby. I am glad we only have to breast feed (sorry boys) but man a beak down your throat does not sound good to me. The chick was really insistant and pestered her constantly for more and more.

One of the things you do tend to notice after you have got over your initial "oh my look at those penguins" feeling is that they all tend to have very different characters. This one was flat out asleep and completely oblivious to the world going on around him.

He managed to open on eye and lift his head just slightly as I lay belly down on the sand to take his picture but soon got bored and dropped back off to sleep again.

This lot were not so happy about me being laid on my belly and after their intial look at me decided that I really wasn't something they wanted to be to close to. I call this the racers as they remind me of a group of small children trying to win the race. I love their feet on the bottom with their thick black pads.

This one I decided was practising her syncronised swimming routine and I would definitely give her extra points for artistic impression!

These two were either have a line dancing competition or practising for an aerobics class and were not in the least bit bothered by me sitting and watching.

This pair were practising for the power walking championships and I would definitely give them extra points for the use of their wings as power aids.

Then you go from the activities to the types of penguin. Here you have Miss with her fur coat who is just not quite cutting it on Rodeo Drive but is definitely a wanna be.

You have the scruff who wants to make either a punk statement or just some sort of statement that tells the world he is hard and doesn't care what you think.

Then there is the teenage boy who cannot be bothered to do anything with his appearance although I think this one is slightly geeky.

You have the George Michael wannabe but he has managed to mix up which way round the goatee should go.

And then you have the city slicker type who likes to gel his hair down and doesn't mind getting a bit wet in the rain as it only makes him look harder and slightly more cool.

Then you have the one you feel sorry for. The ugly duckling syndrom which raises its head even in penguin circles. This poor chap spent ages looking in the puddle trying desperately hard to find his imaginary friend.

Okay so now we have determined that I need to get out more and find some other company rather than penguins I should go and do some work. I should also practice my photography skills a bit more as shooting in P mode is looking mighty good to me right now.

Love to all Helenx

Catch Up - Pleasant Peak Sunday 7th March

I am afraid I am playing the game of catch up. Last week was so busy with niff naff, entertaining and preparing to go away this past weekend I haven't had time to post about our recent adventures.

We had a spate of glorious weather with brilliant blue skies and burn a hole in you sunshine last week.

On Sunday the 7th we headed for a walk up Mount Pleasant Peak. It is one of the mountains that lies just to the North of the air base. It has two commerative crosses on top to remember the crew killed in a 'blue on blue' incident during the Argentine war.

On Sunday june 6 1982 a 656 Squadron AAC Gazelle AH1 XX377 was shot down in error by HMS Cardiff with sea dart missiles. The Cardiff's ops room was jolted into action when one of the radar operators detected an unidentified air contact moving slowly east across East Falkland. With no known British Air movement and no special signal to make any exception for any British aircraft doing anything that night, Captain Mike Harris had to make a swift decision whether this was friendly or foe. Unfortunately he plumped for foe and ordered two Sea dart missiles to be launched believing it had to be an Arg flying toward Port Stanley, Fitzroy or out to sea.

The helicopter was engaged in Relay Broad Casting Station resupply sortie to Mount Pleasant Peak and crashed on its southern slope. Staff Sergeant Christopher Griffin and Lance Corporal Simon Cockton of 656 Squadron and their passengers, Major Mike Forage and Staff Sergeant John Baker of Headquarters and Signals Squadron, Royal Signals were all killed.

The climb up to the two crosses is definitely interesting with some very easy paths and then an awful lot of rock scrambling. It would be horrendous to attempt this in wet weather but we were so fortunate on our chosen day to have clear, clear blue skies.

At times we were on our hands and knees carefully hedging our way up the slope. Fergus however, leaped around the rocks without a care in the world and gave me a heart attack on several occasions as he took massive jumps off some of the more jaunty rock faces. He grinned his way up the slopes as if he was half his age.

The views are absolutely stunning as you head up the mountain. The whole of the air base is laid out below and you can see far out to sea. Behind the peak you can see across to Onion Range, Mount Wickham, Mustard Mount and Rocky Mountain.

Maddie completely surprised me being the first up to the top, she was like a little mountain goat on steriods. Euan was a typical boy and found theee most difficult way up scrabbling around the rocks in a happy daze.

This is the first of the crosses that we reached and is set right up on the ridge line of the Peak. You wouldn't want to be up here in a typical Falkland Island day with high winds as it would become rather perilous.

It was rather busy up at the cross with several groups of climbers stopping for a break and some lunch. Euan had been happy climbing up the hill but wasn't so keen on being at the top. He has a very strong fear of heights but managed really well considering that at the back of the cross it is a shear drop down a very rugged rock face.

Maddie however had no such fear and was happy to pose for Mummy on any ridge line. Mum had insisted at this stage that Fergus be put on a lead as he was leaping around anxious to get to me and not really looking where he was walking.

Since being on my camera course last week I thought I would try to get out of P mode and start taking the shots using Aperature and Shutter Mode. Hmmmm not sure that was such a good idea, I have been really frustrated with the results I seem to be getting. On a dull day I can cope but in brilliant sunshine I am struggling big style.

Next we walked to the second cross which involved quite a bit of sliding down and climbing back up and around some of the huge boulders. There are some really interesting rock formations one of which reminded me of a massive penguin.

This of course is John's idea of heaven and my asthma's idea of hell! but I coped okay even if I had very rosey cheeks when I finally made it to the top.

Fergus and Euan were happier to pose up at this cross as it is slightly lower down the ridge line.

The cross itself is stunning. I am not sure what it is made of but there is an ammunitian box with a polishing cloth which they ask the climbers to use to keep the wonderful reflective surface clean.

Mountain goat lady was back to have her photo taken again before she scurried off down the ridge line to beat her brother to the bottom of the hill.

We descended around the back of the Peak and walked back along the road in front to the car which we had left in the quarry. Ellie was happy pottering along with my camera taking pictures of rocks and odd arrangements. By this stage I had begun to realise that I should have put some sun cream on my arms and neck as well as my face. I now have a wonderful t-shirt tan which thankfully hasn't peeled.

With a high noon sun it was definitely time to head home for a long cold drink and some lunch.

Bless her, Maddie had decided she was rather tired by the end and was happy when she spotted the car not to far away. I thought Fergus would be sore the next day but other than a very sleepy and snoring dog that night he didn't seem to suffer any ill effects.