WE MADE IT!!!

Wednesday, February 25th: Just an "unofficial" post to say that, with a good bit of perserverence and effort, we made it into Buenos Aires. Starting well before sunrise, the team took a calculated risk and made it through rush hour traffic all the way back to their original hotel. The cars are now back in their garage, drivers are now working with the shipping agency for their return, and (hopefully) Vince will finally be able to see some of the city. Lots more to tell, but we are working feverishly to get the cars into customs this afternoon, so it will have to wait. Stay tuned...

The Journey Northbound

Thursday February 12th: Leaving Rio Mayo, once again in extreme Patagonian winds, the little troop made its way northbound to Esquel, a quaint town steeped in Welsh tradition. The decision to stay two nights was made since Vince needed time to correct his still dodgy steering from the evils of the ripio. There was time, however, to ride La Trochita aka "The Old Patagonian Express", one of the world's oldest narrow-gauge railways.

Saturday February 14th: We arrived in El Bolson via a very scenic drive through Los Alerces National Park. The terrain took on an alpine look with trees and lakes as far as the eye could see. Along the route, we passed Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid's old home, nestled in the foothills of the Andes.

Sunday February 15th: A lovely casual drive to Bariloche through more mountains where we were met half way by the car club from Bariloche, headed by Mac and Phyllis good friends of Vince. The members of the car club made us very welcome and fed us coffee and goodies before escorting us into Bariloche to our hotel.

Monday February 16th: Time to explore the town of Bariloche, catch-up on laundry, and with the aid of Martin and Phyllis, get our return shipping documents notorized ready for the anticipated battle in the docks of Buenos Aires to get our cars loaded on the ship home. Our friends from the car club treated us to a wonderful evening of food and beer at a popular local pub - thank you!

Tuesday February 17th: Guided by Martin, we took a quick drive around the Circuito Chico in the morning and saw the gorgeous views of the lake. In the afternoon, Vince, Johny, River and Diana went horse riding and enjoyed the tranquillity of the hills. In the evening, Phyllis and Mac invited us to a wonderful evening at their home. What a treat!

Wednesday February 18th: Stan turned 60. To celebrate, we thought we'd go for a drive! Once again, the friends we made through the car club made our day, and they took time to see us off and wish us safe travels. We drove to San Martin de los Andes through the Nahuel Huapi National Park and along The Road of the 7 Lakes. Although this was a ripio road, the scenery made it worth the roughness. We are now finished with ripio - yeah!

Thursday February 19th: Another rest day and time to maintain the cars. Grease all the nipples, check all the fluids, tighten the loose nuts, clear any blocked jets, check the tyre pressures, and plan the route for available petrol stations. We will be ready for the next few days of the last leg of our trip.

Box on the Rocks (or Lightning Strikes Twice)

Tuesday, February 10th: The ripio claimed its second victim, this time from none other than Vince himself. Shortly after starting the ripio again after the town of Perito Moreno, history repeated itself as Vince's Box Saloon took what was now a too-familiar nosedive into the unforgiving surface. Another kingpin had come out! Once again, repair had to be done on site, and, as admiring busloads of southbound tourists watched, Vince and Jack proved anything can be done with a little mettle and a handy stone or two. Once the two-hour repair was completed, we drove the rest of the way to Rio Mayo, one day ahead of schedule. It was quickly decided to use that extra day to tend to the care of the cars, especially now that Vince had noted the front spring on his car was severely broken. No dissension was noted from the team, who were now fully aware of the toll the ripio had exacted from the Baby Austins.

Cueva de las Manos

Monday, February 9th: A long, hard drive over even more challenging ripio paid off in big dividends as we reached Cueva de las Manos, a world heritage site located in a spectacular canyon. With a setting reminiscent of the Grand Canyon as a backdrop, we viewed the very interesting cave paintings, with an estimated age of 1000-9000 years. In such a nice setting, and with the Chummy still showing some "hiccups" from the previous day´s roadside repair, another 2 hours were committed to resolving its remaining steering issues. Finally, in late afternoon, we started the grueling drive to our next destination. On the way out, we stopped at a small shack for the advertised coffee. (Our only commercial choice in an otherwise barren land.) Due to our late start after the tour and the rougher-than-expected conditions of the road, we finally pulled in to Estancia Telken well after 9 p.m. for a night of "campio" (as Stan calls it). After setting up our tents, we sat down to a stellar meal prepared by Chef Jack, who (unfortunately for him) has demonstrated his cooking prowess, with even the most rudimentary of ingredients. Exhausted, but well fed, we all slipped into our sleeping bags well after midnight under the bright luminescence of a near-full moon.

Chummy on the Rocks

Sunday, February 8th: The day started innocently enough: A bit more ripio to cover before reaching Bajo Caracoles, a windswept blip of civilisation in an otherwise austere Patagonian desert. All was going well as we found ourselves on freshly graded ripio from time to time, in anticipation of asphalt (which will surely change the character of this famous route). The only contentious element was the fierce wind, which often slowed us down to a crawl and also forced us to seek shelter under the alcove of an abandoned roadside hotel--the only building for miles and miles--to brew up a pot of coffee. Within striking distance of our final destination, however, the Chummy suddenly skidded on its front axle, coming to a grinding halt. What had happened? With a sinking feeling, we looked around the front of the car to see the right wheel lying almost flat under the car, with the front suspension having taken the full force of the nose dive into the hard ripio rocks. We were done for---or so we thought. In short time, the calvary arrived, and, with the aid of everyone pitching in, we were able to pick up the pieces (literally) that had fallen off the car and put "Chummy Dumpty" back together again. The king pin had somehow worked its way out from the suspension, causing the near-disaster. Vince commented that this was apparently a fluke, but we checked the rest of the nuts and bolts, just in case, and slowly limped to our hotel, still smarting.

Austins Meet Ruta 40 Ripio

Saturday, February 7th: After leaving El Calafate, we sped along a paved portion of Route 40, only to be slowed later by the ripio that has made this highway infamous. We stopped for a welcome repreive in Las Leones for "cafe con leche " (we can ALL say that now) and some delicious desserts. There, we learned the same hotel/cafe had been used previously by none other than Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, who used the hotel in the late 1800's to lay low for a month after a bank heist. Then, it was more ripio to cover before we arrived in Gobernador Gregores. The plan to camp was quickly altered by the arrival of rain and we luckily found ourselves a house to rent, which we quickly sullied with fresh mud as we once again trundled all the essentials (Read: "luggage and G and T mix") inside.

El Calafate

Wednesday 4th February: We arrived in El Calafate after a day of mostly ripio roads, our last border crossing between Chile and Argentina, with Torres Del Paine in our rear-view mirrors. El Calafate is full of more wonderful scenery, which we are experiencing for the next two days of rest.

Friday 6th February: The team headed out for a scenic drive southwest of town. Our destination: the famous Perito Moreno glacier. After a very enjoyable drive along a winding and hilly country road, we were treated to spectacular views of the glacier ahead. We arrived at the approach road to the glacier, only to find it was closed to all traffic except tour buses. After pleading our case to the local authorities, the Austins were given special dispensation and we happily churned up the hill to the parking lot at the top, with jaw-dropping views of the world´s most famous glacier.

We took the handy foottrails to get even closer to the mass of indescribably blue and white ice and to hear it serenade us with creaks and groans as the ice field slowly advances into the fjord. We were even treated to thunderous crashing of icebergs calving from the forbidding ice face. A very humbling experience for all of us.

Glaciers

Tuesday 3rd February: We entered Torres Del Paine National Park and saw the most amazing scenery of glaciers and snow-capped mountains. Words, and even our pictures can't do it justice but here is a sample.

We discovered the local drink of Chile - pisco sours - and they are very good!

Punta Arenas, Chile

Saturday January 31st: A 4:30 am alarm began the day enabeling us to leave San Seastian by 5:40 am as dawn was bearly cracking. With estimates from previous experience that we would only be be able to travel at 15 mph along the 95 miles of ripio road between us and the only ferry to Puntea Arenas, we left with only a 2o minute buffer for things to go wrong. Although the road was treacherous in parts, we were able to average just over 20 mph and made it to Porvernir to catch the ferry with over an hour to spare.

It took 2 1/2 hours for the ferry to cross the Magellan Strait to Punta Arenas where we found shelter at a hostel with lots of character!

The End of the Road

Friday January 30th: A quick 2-hour drive before breakfast saw us at the end of the road, as far south as we could drive along Route 3. Stopping only for petrol and breakfast, we left Ushuaia to begin the second leg of our journey back to Buenos Aires.

Our goal for the day - cross the Border into Chile, stay in San Sebastian, and get an early night so as to be ready to leave at dawn the next day for Porvenir to catch the daily ferry to Punta Arenas. All was going well until Vince's rear wheel bearing went. Another roadside repair adding two hours to the plan.

Ushuaia-The Southernmost City in the World

Monday January 26th: We made it!

Tuesday January 27th: A chair-lift and brisk walk up to the glacier gave us all the justification we needed for coffee and doughnuts.

Wednesday January 28th: We took a boat tour of Canal Beagle.

...Out of Chile

Sunday, January 25th: The team arose early to tackle what lay between them and the Argentinian border: 5 hours of bone-jarrring, nut-shaking travel over ripio, which we speculate means "Devil´s washboard" in Spanish. Slowly, but slowly, we covered one kilometre after another on the dirt and gravel surface on a typical summer day in the Antarctic circle. (Read: "Cold and windy.") Back into Argentina without a hitch and, after yet another infamous ham and cheese sandwich, we were on paved road again. The little cars thanked us by cranking out the remaining miles blissfully until we arrived at our lodging in Rio Grande. We got there with enough time to prepare for tomorrow´s run to Ushuaia, the end of the road.

Into Chile...

Saturday, January 24th: Valuable lessons were gleaned at the Chilean border, as the team naively waited in a long queue of cars waiting at the Argentinian checkpoint, only to discover we were not even "in the system." Eventually, by watching the locals, we learned one had to queue up in person inside the Customs Hall. Four hours later, we had mastered the process with few scars to show (unless tedium leaves a noticeable mark). We were finally in Chile. Another hour of driving and the cars boarded the ferry to cross the Magellan Strait. While Jack mused about how the original explorer must have felt in the beautifully jade green waters, we were entertained by a pod of Commerson dolphins, the smallest dolphins in the world, who played in the ship´s wake as we crossed to the other side. Tierra del Fuego at last!

River and Diana Lose Their Bearings

Friday, January 23rd: A lo-o-o-ong day, interrupted by an "unplanned tea break" in very windy rain to pull the engine out of the Chummy (yes, the engine). The cause of the problem was the clutch release bearing, which failed, luckily enough, at the entrance to a roadside cafe. Some 3 hours later, we celebrated a successful "transplant" with hot tea and yummy scones and were back on the road to finish the 225 mile day. And the irony? The sun appeared only as we were finally pulling out, thawing most of our frozen bits as we rode on. Diana and River say "Many Thanks" to the "Awesome Austin 7 Pit Crew!" (You know who you are.)

Dolphins

Thursday January 22nd: We were able to sleep in today and after a leisurely breakfast we went on a boat tour of the bay. We saw more penguins, some cormorants, oyster catchers, and the highlight - dolphins.

Puerto San Julian

Wednesday January 21st: After several days of camping, dust, severe head and cross-winds, penguins, dirt roads, large rabbits, road-side repairs (blocked jets, timing, removal of an engine head, steering column, plugs, and dynamo), vast landscapes and coastal views, we arrived in Puerto San Julian where we'll stop for a rest day and catch-up on our laundry, sleep and supplies.

Sunday January 18th: At the half-way point between Buenos Aires and Ushuaia, we posed the four cars across the road for a photo (seen here).

Penguins and Such

Friday January 16: We all went on a tour of Peninsula Valdes today where we were treated to views of guanacos (llama-type creatures), sea lions, seals, and Magellan penguins. The weather is still hot but it is windy now, which makes it a little cooler. Back in the saddles tomorrow to explore the Welsh towns.

Spare Parts

Thursday January 15th: Spent the morning visiting car shops to buy spare petrol cans for the long stretches ahead of us where petrol stations are too few and far between, cement to fix the Chummy's door hinges, and other miscellaneous 'must haves'.

Spent the afternoon doing maintenance on the cars. The rough roads and wind have shaken all sorts of screws loose.

Don't forget to view the other website for a more detailed account and pictures.

Lots of Sand, Wind and Miles

Wednesday January 14th: We decided to drive straight to Puerto Madryn today, a 286-mile trip. Despite very strong headwinds that had the Chummy reduced to a top speed of less than 20 mph in second gear at times, it was a successful day of driving. For the last half an hour of the drive as we approached Puerto Madryn, we drove through sand storms that had us driving like bandits - bandanas covering our noses and mouths. We washed away the sand with a refreshing cold beverage and settled in for the night.

Tomorrow is a rest day. We'll maintain the cars and do some laundry.

Viedma

Tuesday January 13th: Left Bahia Blanca at 8:30 this morning and made it the 150 miles to Viedma by about 2:30 pm, stopping only for petrol and a puncture repair. Coffee-stop opportunities were sparse so we gave up and kept going. Off to explore the town after a quick beer and coffee.

Greetings From Bahia Blanca

Friday 9th January: After a brief visit to the British Embassy we left Buenos Aires in 90+ deg heat and drove the 125 miles to Las Flores. We stayed at a very nice motel where we dined on pizza, wine, and bread pudding. life is good.

Saturday 10th January: Getting a relatively early start to avoid the afternoon heat, we drove a further 174 miles to a very remote farm (21+ km down several dirt roads) belonging to our friend, Axel, near to Benito Juarez. We quite happily set-up camp for the night and the farm caretaker very kindly killed and cooked a lamb for our dining pleasure (River and Diana were extremely content with the lettuce and tomato sandwiches provided).
Sunday 11th January: Breaking camp, we journeyed 214 miles through countryside of sunflower fields to Bahia Blanca. Our hotel, Hotel Muniz, is like a film set from Poirot and quite a welcome relief from the heat and dirt of the road.

Monday 12th January: Bahia Blanca is a lovely town of older shops and wonderful service. We are having a rest day today and taking advantage of the local laundry service although some of us (first name beginning with "C" and last name with a "P") reluctantly surrendered his

 clothes from the challenge of seeing just how dirty they could get!