Camping at Elephant Beach Farm

Hi

Last weekend I went camping with Jacob and Abi. We joined a bigger group, the Conservation Watchgroup, which Jacob is a member of. It's about 2 hours from the base and is close to the coast. It was tipping it down and blowing a gale when we arrived so we popped into the house for a cup of tea while mad people tried to put up their tents! As soon as the sun came out we then pitched the tent, with help. I'd borrowed one from the store room here and it was great, especially as another family had the same one so they helped to put up our one! Allen didn't make it on the trip due to work, he's playing war this week and has loads to do.

So after a picnic lunch we went off on our first off road proper experience. Abi and I were in a car with one of the Stanley ladies called Anna. She was lovely and was driving a Freelander (like ours out here), so we gave me lots of confidence about driving off road. We stopped to look at a colony of penguins, Jacob and Abi returned to the cars covered in penguin poo - delightful. Luckily they were head to toe in waterproofs as at the next stop, a beach to clean, it tipped it down. So all of the penguin poo was washed off. There are some photos from the camp site and the beach we cleaned. Off to the next beach where they did racing games, played on a piece of drift wood and made an impressive castle. After a 40 min drive back we settled down to sorting the BBQ, calm weather returned and it was a fun night of games and wine. Eventually got to sleep around midnight with Abi crammed into my sleeping bag as she was cold!

We awoke to ice on the tent but the sun soon melted it all off. After taking the tent down off we went on another off road experience this time to Cape Dolphin. I went in a car with Sally this time, another Falkland lady. We went to see the elephant seals, no dolphins though. It was a much longer drive with Sally letting every child in the car sit on her lap and drive. Abi thought this was wonderful, Jacob was in another car and was a tad jealous, I was just scared really! We stopped for a picnic in the tussock grass before returning and then getting into our own cars to drive back to base. A brilliant weekend with both the kids wanting to go camping straight away again, we will but perhaps in a couple of weeks!

Rachael.

In the Sea with Dolphins

Hi Everyone

I managed to actually get in the sea at Bertha's Beach so I could see the dolphins close up. They came up right next to us. I took a video clip that I will try and upload, if it doesn't work I'll just add photos! It was truly amazing. They swam right up to our legs, I was a bit worried that they would swim into us. It was definitely worth braving the 10 degree sea to be in with them. I went with 2 ladies who teach in pre school with me. Now I need to get down there with Jacob and Abi as we only had to go in up to our waists although a wave did get me on the head as I was facing the wrong way, still worth it though. So here goes with the upload....

Rachael.

A Relaxing Weekend

Hi

For once we had a quiet weekend. We skipped the Mess Happy Hour on Friday as Jacob and Abi had woken up at 5.30am so were pretty tired by 5pm! Instead we had a tasty tea and DVD together. Saturday is homework morning, then, as it was rubbish weather, I took them to see Where the Wild Things Are at the cinema. This is one of my favourite books, mainly due to the illustrations. The film was good but a little sad for me. Abi was a fidget bum and was on and off my lap for most of the film. They did enjoy it.

Jacob is now riding his bike with much more confidence so we decided to cycle to the Mess for a late breakfast on Sunday. I've included a photo of them both cycling around our circle. It was a calm day here on Sunday, very unusual, so we played some golf out the back of the house - another photo of that. Then we did a walk up Pleasant Peak. It's very close to the base. You may well see the base in the back of one of the photos. There are 2 memorials up there but we've only managed to get to one of them so far. So, on Sunday, we climbed to both. Quite steep drops in places but we were fine. Abi managed to sit in a very wet patch and Jacob's foot went in a really muddy bog bit but everyone enjoyed it. I felt like I'd worked off my cooked breakfast and Jacob and Abi loved the rock climbing. The rest of the day was spent playing outside, going on the bikes and playing at the park.

As I'm typing this it is throwing it down, probably a bit like the UK!

Hope all is well with everyone

Rachael.

Grandma's Second week

Hi

We've been out and about showing Marion things that she didn't see last time she was here. We went to Fitzroy, two ships were sunk here during the 1982 conflict so there are quite a few memorials to the sailors lost at sea. I've put in a photo of one of them. We spent quite a bit of time skimming stones on the beach as well as looking at all of the memorials.

We also had a night in Stanley. We stayed at the Hillside camp, it's an extension of our base here. It mainly has a bomb/weapon disposal section there that deals with old weapons that have been found around the Falklands. These date back to the first world war but a lot are from 1982. We had a tour of the things that they have found over the years and it was quite surprising. We also walked to the lighthouse. There's a memorial at the lighthouse for the Atlantic Conveyor. Another ship that was lost in 1982, it was a big loss as it was carrying supplies and helicopters. We had a very nice meal out in town but a disturbed nights sleep due to heavy rain and people having a party next door!

We also went to Darwin house for Smoko, coffee and cakes. It was rather tasty. After gobbling lots of cakes we went for a walk to the Brodie Creek Suspension Bridge. It's the most Southerly located suspension bridge in the world. I've included a photo of it, it is rather knackered and you can't go on it any more!

Put our red car up for sale and sold it easily so that's good. Took our 'new' Freelander off roading to the bridge and it managed easily.

The flights in and out of here are a bit all over the place due to the UK weather. It's 2 days late in at the moment. Hoping Marion's flight will still go ahead on Tuesday. School starts again Tuesday, holidays go way too quickly for me. The weather here has warmed up but it's been pretty showery.

Hope all is well with everyone

Rachael.

Carcass Island

Hi

We have just returned from a 2 night away trip to Carcass Island. It takes about an hour and 5 mins to get there by helicopter. It's to the far west of the West Island of the Falklands (we live on the East Island). It's a beautiful island, similar to Pebble. The seas around it are so blue and green, truly breath taking. I could have easily sat and stared at the sea for most of the time, well that would be if I didn't have Jacob and Abi to sort out! We stayed in a fully catered lodge. The food was excellent so now the diet starts! We got there in time for afternoon tea and then went out to the closest beach, a 30 second walk. The first 2 photos are from that afternoon. There's a cruise ship in the distance, they were only there for the afternoon and we didn't see them our end. We had loads of Magellanic penguins around, 2 even lived in the lodge's garden. Six French people arrived on our first night, very noisy and got up at 5am to go out and take photos. They only stayed one night thankfully.

The next day, Rob, the owner, drove us to a beach 2 and a half miles away. It was full of magellanics, so full we weren't sure were to sit! We then walked back and spent the afternoon building sandcastles with moats and relaxing in the sun.

On Monday Rob dropped us at the far end of the island so we could see the elephant seals. The next photos are of 2 elephant seals, Jacob took the shot and then one of elephant seals and penguins. We walked quite a way along the coast and it was full of the huge seals, we had to be careful were we were walking so as not to tread on penguins or seals. We had a lovely break away. The weather was gorgeous and the food excellent.

Allen's got most of this week off so hoping to go into Stanley and visit a few places that Marion hasn't seen yet. I'm showing Lady Peach around pre school tomorrow, no kids in though as we're still on holiday so a bit of a waste of time really. Oh well it'll make me tidy it up I suppose!

Hope all's well

Rachael.

Allen's 39th Birthday

Hi

Allen celebrated his 39th Birthday yesterday. He had a relaxing start with coffee and bacon sandwiches in bed. He then went off to the gym for 2 hours. I made him prawn sandwiches with a special homemade seafood sauce in for lunch and then we went off to the beach again. It was very different to the day before weather wise. It was blowing a gale and a bit damp! We did however see a king penguin, some gentoos and some magellanics. I've not seen all of those at Burtha's before so I was impressed. The kids had fun playing in the sand. Unfortunately it was too rough for the dolphins.

We then went to the cafe for cakes and I cooked a fish tea that everyone enjoyed. We made Allen a ghost cake and put candles that were like sparklers in - I've included a photo of Allen and the kids with the cake and one from the beach.

We then watched the new Star Trek film which I really enjoyed (I slept through the last one I watched!).

Happy New Year everyone

Rachael.

Grandma's Arrival

Hi

Grandma Melrose arrived safely on Monday afternoon. The airbridge down here is currently a bit all over the place. FlyGlobeSpan went bust, that's the airline that was used from here to the UK. So now it's any airline they can get! Marion came on HiFly. It had rained all day but as she landed it cleared up and was a lovely calm evening. The next day was sunny so we got the key for the beach and headed down there. It was beautiful, calm (unusual) and sunny. We same loads of dolphins. I've included one of a jumping dolphin. They were really showing off, splashing their tails and swimming through the waves. We also saw a group of penguin swimming. I've also put in a photo of Marion and the kids on the beach and one of just the beach as it looked so good!

Rachael.