Day 1 in San Fran!
Early start today! 8am flight from JFK so up by 5.30am - ouch! Even more ouch considering had only got back in from the UK just before midnight yesterday! But managed to drag myself out of bed and onto my jetBlue flight for the 6hr coast to coast trek. Landed in San Francisco at half 11, then picked up bags and headed, via Airtrain and shuttle, to the car rental place. The weather was absolutely GORGEOUS - beautifully clear and sunny day and WARM, WARM, WARM!!! 60 degrees! Drove north along Highway 101, through SF and before i knew it, found myself crossing the Golden Gate bridge! Very cool indeed - was singing "Unwritten" at the top of my voice and it felt gooooood!! Felt very happy and content with life - as it should be. Stopped and took a few pics at the lookout point - was v lucky as it was a completely clear day. I remember the last time i was in SF, the bridge was almost completely shrouded in cloud, so this was a real treat.

Then, back in the car to start the Pacific Coast Highway adventure proper as i dropped onto Highway 1. Very windy, twisty road taking me through some of the most stunning scenery anywhere - LOVE IT!! Drove for about half an hour before stopping in Muir Woods National Monument and my first experience of the Redwood forest. Just a short 1hr trail through the woods - very touristy but still stunning to see some of these amazing trees at close hand. Am going on another, less busy trail tomorrow, through the Armstrong Pack woods - according to the front desk guy, a very moving, almost spiritual experience.

After Muir Woods, time to continue drive up to Guerneville. Stopped for coffee and pizza at this fab little restaurant - got chatting to the owner who was telling me about his problems with his starter dough! A rather different work-related problem to the ones i face in the office! The drive - with multiple photo stops, despite Sam not being around any more - took longer than anticipated, so it was well after dark before i reached my hotel. Staying at the West Sonoma Inn and Spa and its excellent! Got an enormous suite, with real working fireplace, kitchen area, massive bed and really nicely done out. Well - after the crappy couple of weeks i've had, i bloody well deserve to treat myself!!

OK - time for bed now - can't wait for tomorrow's adventures!! Goodnight!

Doing what I do best!!

Whoo-hoo! Its travel time again! Off to the UK tomorrow for a 3 day business meeting, so am in the throes of laundry, tidying and packing. It'll be fun to go back to the UK and see some old friends and colleagues again. Staying down in Ashford in Kent, back down in the area where i used to live. Already got an order in from my Mum to buy some Cadbury's Easter eggs whilst i'm there!

Am also very excited about my trip when i get back from the UK. Its President's Day weekend here in the US on Mon 18th, so i'm taking the opportunity for a few well-deserved days off. I get back from the UK on Weds, then fly out to San Francisco first thing on Thurs. Am then renting a car for 4 days and exploring the Pacific Coast Highway, from SF to Mendocino. Its been on my mental travel Rolodex for a while, so i cant wait! Still working out my itinerary, but on the list is horse-riding through the redwoods of Armstrong State Reserve, whale watching in Point Arena and champagne tasting at the Roederer Estate. BRING IT ON!!

Rudolph? Is that you?
Ugh! After a great start to 2008, have been waylaid by an absolute stinker of a cold that arrived from nowhere and wiped me out within a day! Started sneezing on Thurs, was off sick from work wrapped under a duvet on my sofa on Friday, and coughing like a terminal TB patient by Saturday. Goes without saying that my nose looks like one of Santa's quadruped helpers but I think the copious amounts of Airborne, Sudafed, Vicks cough relief syrup and Chloraseptic spray seems to be dong the trick today, as i'm actually feeling much better and less like the living dead. My good friend Rachel came round yesterday on a mercy of mission with the aforementioned vitals plus chicken soup, so obviously a good healthy dose of Jewish penicillin has also done the trick! Just as well am feeling better as i'll actually have to leave the apartment today (havent been out for 2 days!) as i need to pop back to Sam's to de-fur his sofa (!) and remove any residual Dylan and Izzie traces before he gets back from his holiday today...

Hello 2008!!
First day back at work today after the Christmas holidays - it went sooo quickly! I'm looking forward to 2008 - 2007 was quite a challenging year for me, so i'm excited about whatever this year is going to bring! Have started as i mean to go on and am back working with Lacey twice a week and have also managed to get back on track with a healthy eating regime and have cut back on alcohol significantly, so hopefully 2008 will be the year i finally get back to my perfect weight! Bring it on!!

Final thoughts....
So now back in my apartment in Manhattan, finishing writing this, and reflecting on what was an absolutely amazing trip. It was an incredibly varied trip, with mountains, sea, steppe, glaciers and plains and wasn't always an easy one. Several times, i found the sheer physicality of some of the walks and climbs very challenging - both physically and mentally - but i made it and felt a real sense of achievement.

It was a privilege to be able to go away for 3 whole weeks - enough time to really leave the 9 to 5 behind and gain some fresh perspective and clarity. Not sure what i'll do with it, but I'm sure that will work itself out over time. The only question remaining now is ..... will i ever get the walking sock crinkles out of my legs??!!

The Sarah Clumsiness Index
So, dear reader, obviously if you made it through my blog of our Patagonian adventure, you'll have noticed that i have a tendency towards clumsiness. My prediliction for mishaps actually came as quite a surprise to me too, as i never realised i was quite so accident-prone! Anyway, just for Sam's amusement (so much for not laughing at the misfortune of others!), here's the Top Ten list of Patagonian mishaps and missteps:

10: Hitting my head on the overhead bin plus bashing my thigh on the seat armrest on the flight from Bariloche to El Calafate
9: Headbutting the lampshade in the Lizard Cafe in Puerto Madryn
8: Treading on Sam's feet whilst wearing crampons on Glaciar Torre
7: Pulling my leg muscle on the way to Glacier Grey
6: Falling over (and twisting my ankle) during the glacier walk on Glaciar Torre.
5: Walking into Sam's tripod at Punta Norte (even though i still blame Sam for this one!)
4: Twatting my head with my trekking poles as we dumped our stuff onto our bunks at Refugio Las Torres, right in front of the guy who was our host and had showed us to our rooms who then tried (not very successfully) not to wet himself laughing
3: Catching my foot on a branch lying on the ground, and going arse over tit whilst on my way for a last night time visit to the latrine at the Poincenot campsite; slammed into the ground and cut my knee, thus adding to the Triumvirate of Perfect Misery that i was due to suffer later during the Camping Night From Hell.
2: Almost knocking my teeth out with my trekking pole whilst trekking in Fitz Roy; it just got stuck in the step in front of me, which i didnt realise until my face slammed into it at full speed.
AND IN 1st PLACE: A full-on teeth rattling head twat on the ceiling of the catamaran across Lago Pehoe, minutes after having scornfully laughed at someone else who'd done exactly the same thing.

These, of course, were the edited highlights. Ones that didnt make the list include innumerable trippings over rocks, tree roots, branches, pebbles, my own feet, grains of sand, leaves, twigs, molecules of air and absolutely nothing at all. Also not included were the multiple finger burnings acquired during my active duty as camp chef plus injuries sustained during the descent of multiple bunkbeds of various heights. After the latest shin abrasion (resulting from a particularly evil bunkbed in El Calafate), i finally got smart and bagged the bottom bunk, leaving Sam to work out how to get down from the top, with no ladder, without sustaining personal injury.

The Sam Clumsiness Index
Feet slipped into river at Poicenot campsite whilst collecting water.

Strolling in Sunny San Telmo
Boo-hoo! Last day of holiday! Fortunately, was feeling much better this morning, so after a rather leisurely breakfast and check out (i love it - breakfast here in BA doesnt start til 9.30am - much more civilized than in El Calafate!), we headed out for a wander round San Telmo. Its like a cross between Soho and the East Village, i think - full of a gazillion little shops, most of them with enormous dusty chandeliers for sale, hanging in the windows. Sam managed to find the covered market, full of fascinating antique shops selling all manner of weird and wonderful old stuff - we found one stall which seemd to specialise in old telephones, of the type that had the proper round analogue dials and older, from when all calls used to have to be put through an exchange manually. We were both very very tempted as they were beautiful old pieces of engineering (apparently they were all in working order) but, in the end, the logistics of getting one back to New York won out, so we regretfully walked by. Went and had lunch in this fantastically dusty, atmospheric little cafe - Cafe G, right by a The walls were lined with cobwebby bottles and old coffee machines that looked as if they hadnt been touched for decades, and the wooden tables and floors also had this aged patina from years of use. After a "picata" lunch (mixed meats, cheese and bread) and coffee, we wandered around some more, enjoying the crisp sunshine, before reluctantly heading back to our hostel to collect our bags and catching a taxi to the airport.

Sam and I were on same TAM flight to Sao Paulo, before parting company - me on Delta and him on American, for the final leg back to NYC. From the window of the plane, coming in to land, the vastness of the sprawl of Sao Paulo was absolutely staggering - it looked chaotic even from 10,000 ft up!! It was equally chaotic in the airport too - long queues off the plane, through security before we were allowed to go and queue for our onward flight. Sam had bit of a scare cos he didnt get his boarding pass until moments before the flight was due to leave (not sure why) but he made it on board, as did I, for the long flight back to Manhattan and reality....

Phase 4: Complete. Phase 4b:i initiated!
Really sad our Patagonian adventure is drawing to a close but also profoundly grateful to have experienced such a fantastic place and to have seen so many awe-inspiring landscapes and natural beauty. Packed up and left P.Piramides mid-morning and drove back to Puerto Madryn where we stopped for lunch and banana milkshake at the Lizard cafe and had a wander round the shops and along the seafront. Then back in the car for the final leg of the journey back to Trelew airport (via some very straight roads!) where we returned to car to the lady from Budget (who probably wondered if we'd just directly shovelled several sacks of sand straight into it), checked in for our flight (which was on time) and then simply waited, rather despondently, for our flight back to the noise and bustle of Buenos Aires. I think both of us were in a fairly reflective kind of mood - the sheer expanse of nothingness and desolation of the Patagonian steppe allows your mind the freedom to wander and explore, unsnagged by distraction. I think both of us were wondering how jarring we would find it to be back in amongst all the commotion and the throngs of people.

Flight was uneventful and made it to Buenos Aires in plenty of time for Sam to retrieve his back from the Marriott before heading over to the hostel del Granados. Was a great place - right in the centre of San Telmo, where we had our own room (with a balcony) for only 90 pesos! Bargain! After we checked in, Sam took me to Cafe Tortoni, a very famous coffee house and tango place in BA - was fabulous, except unfortunately i wasn't feeling great (extremely bad back and stomach ache) which was a real shame. But am very glad i went - another one to cross off the 1000 Places list!! Despite being in the middle of Party Central in BA, we headed back to the hostel after Cafe Tortoni and had a quick supper in a place just down from the hostel before calling it a night and going to bed. Glad both of us had earplugs as the party carried on, outside our window, well into the morning!!

Fawlty towers, Patagonian style
Got up to discover there was no water in the motel, so Scottish showers for both of us this morning. Went and had breakfast in the roastingly hot glass conservatory dining room which, although very picturesque and looked out straight onto the beach, was absolutely baking and probably ensured both Sam and I smelled even riper than before! Was served breakfast of 3 tiny croissants by this old chap for who it seemed the highlight of his day was pouring the coffee into your cup, followed by the hot milk, French-brasserie stylie. He resisted all directions from Sam for just a touch of milk, as he was not to be denied his cofffee-milk mixing excitement. The other unique feature of the motel were the loos - absolute quality as, when you sat down, the door touched your knees and your feet poked out of the bottom of the door!!

After yesterday's storm, the weather was better than anticipated so we decided to go for it and take a whale-watching tour in the morning, whilst we could and before the weather got any worse. Was a very prescient decision as we ended up being on one of the very last tours to go out that day, and probably the one after too, due to the high winds and unmanageable seas. When the wind gets too high, they actually close the port down - we did feel quite sorry later on in the day for all the other visitors who arrived too late, and could do nothing but sit in their cars or buses, gloomily starily out of the window at the sea in disappointment.

Its Flipper and friends!
So, went out around 10am for our hour long excursion and, within 10mins of being on the water, one of the guides pointed excitedly alongside the boat - looked out over the side to see that we were being escorted by a dusky dolphin! Was my first time ever seeing a dolphin in the wild and i hadnt expected too, so i was absolutely delighted! Dolphin was joined by a few more, so at one point we had about 4 or 5 of them leaping and diving all around the boat! Absolute buggers to take pictures of, though - only managed to take one vaguely non-blurry shot! Boat was also bouncing up and down on the waves, big time, so it was a real challenge to get everything in sync, whilst not crushing your camera against the side of the boat and trying to keep it dry!!
After about another 10mins, we spotted the whale - a Southern Right whale mother and calf with an impressive load of barnacles on her snout! Got fairly close and again, it was a fantastic experience, although i already felt a seasoned whale watcher after our experience in Cape Cod earlier this year. Got one reasonable tail shot and then it was time to chug back into shore (clambered up into the crows nest lookout for some of the ride back - very wobbly indeed!), where we got towed out of the water by this rather nifty tractor. By this time the weather had really deteriorated and all the whale watching companies were packing up shop, so we were extremely lucky!

Flying Gloves and Tripods at Caleta Valdes
Before heading out for the afternoon's explorations, we checked in at Posado Piramides for the night (our room had about 15 beds, a kitchen and bathroom in it!), got Milanese sandwiches to go from Quimey (who had been inundated with a million schoolkids!), filled up the car with petrol, stocked up on anti-Sleepiness Coke and crisps and headed out of town. Sam initially directed me up this road which seemed to be almost entirely made out of sand, which made using the steering wheel a rather academic exercise before we rejoined the glorious ripio road system. We were heading first for Caleta Valdes, 45km south of Punta Norte in the middle of the eastern shore and which was reported to have huge colonies of elephant seals, which could be seen at close quarters. We were certainly hoping to be able to get a bit closer than the birds-eye view from the clifftops at Punta Delgada yesterday! When we got there, it was still very windy and high up on the cliffs, but we were able to see much better all the seals plus a number of Magellenic penguins, some very close indeed! Glad we had our tripods as the wind would have made it completely impossible to take good pics without, although I almost lost mine over the side of the cliff at one stage, as a particularly savage gust of wind sent it careening towards the edge!! Really did almost lose my hat and one glove, though, as we were packing to leave and the wind just whipped them out of the boot and sailing across the reserve. Fortunately they got snagged in a bush, giving Sam enough time to sprint across the penguin sanctuary, dive through the fence and retrieve them before they were lost for good! We were a lot more careful when opening the car doors and boot after that!! Also, saw this ENORMOUS Dutch mega-truck in the carpark - i thought it looked like a huge windowless fridge on wheels. Probably wouldnt have any issues with the ripio roads in that as the wheels were at least 6ft high! Wonder if i can get one from Budget?

Punta Norte and finally a sunset!
So, back in the car for our final drive to Punta Norte, which is at the northern end of the peninsula, about 97km from the park entrance. Not visited quite as often by the big tour companies, it also was said to have colonies of sea lions and Magellenic penguins plus also sightings of orcas, who come here to feed on the sea lion pups at high tide. We timed our day to arrive at around 5pm, high tide (we thought) and - although we did see what looked like a whale a couple hundred metres out from shore, we weren't lucky enough to see any orcas. It would have been an incredible sight, but i dont think it happens very frequently, so we couldnt be too disappointed really. We thawed out at the little P.Norte cafe with a nice cup of tea first before heading back home to P.Piramides. After 3 weeks of absolutely bugger all, we were FINALLY rewarded with a half decent sunset, so we stopped and took lots of pics on the way home. By this stage the wind was really blowing, so we were driving through a dust storm for most of the time - God knows how long its going to take to get the dust and sand out of everything!!! After some great sunset and guanaco pics, finally got back to town around 8.30pm - to find we had no electricity!! Started the day with no water, ended it with no power!! But in true hiker fashion, we simply stuck our headlamps on (set to "flashing mode" for maximum visibility and personal amusement) and headed out to La Estacion for supper instead. Was a great little place that was absolute stuffed full of people, so this nice Brit couple let us share their table. Food was fantastic - i had lemon sole in a lemon sauce whilst Sam had cod, with fries and salad, and washed down with a very nice Chablis! Went back to the hostel via the ATM - lights (and heating!) were still out so just dove quickly into bed to warm up - Sam didnt appreciate my attempts to use him as a hand-warmer!

Phase 4: Off on our Peninsula Valdes Adventure!
Slept pretty well - better than Sam who got bashed on the feet with a pair of shoes by the guy in the bunk opposite who was trying to stop him snoring! Obviously doesnt know the cardinal rule of hostel survival - always travel with earplugs.

So up early and left P.Madryn by 10am for the drive to Peninsula Valdes. We'd changed our itinerary and decided to stay in P.Valdes for the next couple of days, rather than original plan of staying in P.Madryn - good plan, as it happened, because the distances were longer than both of us anticipated!! Took about an hour and a half to get to P.Valdes and were lucky enough to get a room at Motel ACA. So dumped bags and went to get lunch down by the beach - Sam won the lunchtime challenge with an absolutely heroic Milanese sandwich!

Tyring to spot the sealions at Punta Delgado..
Then set off for Punta Delgada and more ripio road excitement. Took a couple of hours - had Turkey Vulture equivalent of Condor Alley, so of course multiple stops for photo-ops. Finally arrived at P.Delgado - and, to be honest, it was a bit of a disappointment. Were really high on the clifftops, looking down at the elephant seal and sea lion colony below, so were so far away it was almost impossible to take any really good pics. Added to the distance, it was incredibly windy (even more so than usual!) so we only stayed for about half an hour. Tried to have a nice cup of tea at Faro Punto Delgado but it was closed, so had to content ourselves with exploding alfajores instead.

Drove back to P.Piramides and chilled out in our lovely green motel room for a bit until this massive thunderstorm with lots of rain, lightening and scary clouds swept through town. So obviously we took this as our cue to fly around town with our tripods, taking HDRs of the glowering sky!! I think the locals (the few there were around in this most ghostlike of towns!) must have thought we were absolutely insane!! Finished off the day with an enormous pizza at La Posta, before waddling back to the motel to bed.

Penguin frenzy!!
Up bright and early to go back to Trelew airport and collect the car. On road heading towards Punto Tombo by 8.45am, so great start to the day! Had about an hour on normal roads, before my first real taste of "ripio" road driving - very basic gravel roads which provide an ..err.. interesting driving experience. More surfing at times, than driving, i think!! Another rather curious side-effect of ripio road driving is its ability to induce an almost instant somnolence in both driver and passenger. Dubbed the Sleepiness Index, it tended to kick in about 5km after setting off, and build to an almost irresistable eye-closing crescendo within minutes. The only known cure we discovered was leaping out of the car at regular intervals for wildlife photo-ops! ("Gaunacos!!")

After about another hour of such excitement, we finally arrived at P.Tombo - the largest colony of breeding Magellanic penguins in the world. It was absolutely amazing - there were penguins absolutely everywhere! There were no fences, only a trail which you were asked to keep to - and you quite literally were stumbling over penguins everywhere! Close?!! Wow. Sam almost got his head bitten off when he was lying down taking pics of this penguin - literally inches away from his face and camera! The highlight of the day (and i think a highlight, full stop) was being lucky enough to see a penguin actually hatch and emerge (very large pink foot first) from its shell, carefully tended by its penguin mum. It was just incredible and was a real privilege to be there and to watch.

Oh boyo! Tea and history in Gaiman
Spent about 3hrs there, taking pics and just enjoying how close we were able to get to these incredible animals, before it was time to head off and drive to Puerto Madryn where we were staying the night. Again, more high SI-driving on the ripio roads, before heading towards Gaiman, where we visited an authentic Welsh tea-shop (Ty Nain) for tea and cakes. Is the oldest surviving building in Gaimain, built in 1870 and still run by the descendants of the original pioneers. Was yummy - 6 or 7 different types of cake (including a very tasty lemon tart!) with bread and cheese plus 2 massive pots of tea! We rolled back in the car, very very full for the final leg to P.Madryn (did not help with the Sleepiness Index!). Were staying in Hostel Gaulicho - very cool place, good value and with free wireless internet. After checking in (unbelievably, in room 8 again!! For about the 5th time in a row!!) , went out for supper along the seafront (was getting flashbacks to Margate!) at a restaurant called Cacceros. After a little help deciphering the menu, Sam had the local specialty of Arroz con Marisco (an Argentinian version of paella) and i had some rather tasty black cod (yes - not steak!) before heading back to the hostel for a spot of photo-uploading, blogging and into our respective bunkbeds! I snagged the bottom one this time as i'd incurred a bunkbed descent injury on our last hostel visit - well, you try getting out of a top bunk with no ladder, first thing in the morning, without skinning your shins!!

Transfer to Trelew
Wow. Cant believe we´re into our final week already! Is going so quickly! Was first person up from our 6-person dorm this morning, so went and got breakfast at 8am. We fly to Trelew today for the last bit of our trip - am really looking forward to seeing all the wildlife, especially the penguins! Already have the Happy Feet CD all ready to play in the car for the drive there! Also is one of the best places in the world to watch the whales too, so that should also be amazing!
So today just pottered about (bit of a holiday admin day!) - got laundry done in town, did a bit of souvenir shopping and updated my blog whilst waiting for Sam to come join me in town. i left him back at the hostel uploading the latest set of pictures from our trip - they look fantastic (click here: http://www.samchadwickphoto.com/expedition-patagonia.html).

After another steak and fries lunch, headed back to the hostel for a while before our taxi back to the airport. The flight to Trelew was a couple of hours delayed but it was very smooth once we finally got on board. We landed around half 11 and made it into Trelew to check in at Hotel Galicia just after midnight. Ran round and had a quick nightcap at the Touring Club hotel bar (according to all the guide books, was a must see) before calling it a night and crashing into bed, ready for Penguintasia tomorrow!!! whoo-hoo!!!

Upsala Glacier cruise
Another early start at half 6 to be ready for our pick-up at 7.15am to go on our glacier cruise. Our transfer picked us up and a few more folk before going on to Puerto Banderas via Condor Alley! Took about 40mins and had to pay a National Park fee of 30 pesos to enter the park. Then on to the Catamaran Quo Vadis - pretty big boat with 3 decks, the top one being open for viewing. Wather was v. windy and was also raining a fair amount when we set off, but it started to brighten up as we got further way from port, sailing along Lago Argentino. Our route first took us up Brazo Norte and into Brazo Upsala where we saw our first icebergs. They were absolutely amazing - simply beautiful and with so many shades of prussian blue. The catamaran got surprisingly close (set you wondering about the 80% of the iceberg thats hidden under water ' its like ¨watch out!¨). After gazing in awe at these incredible ice sculptures for a while, we carried on to Lago Onelli where we had to disembark and walk 20mins through the forest to see the lake and our first glacier, Gl. Onelli. After all the walking we'd done over the last 2 weeks, 20mins was nothing!! Hardly worth lacing your boots up for!! The lake was very bleak, windy and with some very big chunks of ice floating around in it! Hardly conducive to you wanting to take a dip! We left the maddening crowds behind for a bit and wandered round the other side of the lake as far as we were allowed to go. We then found a spot relatively sheltered from the wind and hunkered down for lunch. The empanadas I'd bought in my grocery dash yesterday were much appreciated! Also had some bread and an "interesting" mix of various meats, cheese chunks and pickled onions! Mmm....

After lunch, was time to hop back on board the boat to see 2 more glaciers - Glacier Upsala and Glacier Spegazzini. Gl. Upsala is supposedly bigger in square footage than all of BA, even though both glaciers have retreated dramatically over the last decade. On the way to one of the glaciers, we saw a condor launch itself off the side of the mountain - hopefully Sam got some good pictures as i completely messed it up! We got back to P.Banderas around 5pm, so it was a long and tiring day, but also very enjoyable. Came back along Condor Alley and so Condor Watch resumed, although many condor candidates eliminated due to a too high flappiness index. Slowly dawned on us that the best condor shots we'd got all trip were the ones in Bariloche where we thought they were vultures!

Got dropped off in town where we bought some food for supper - steak (what else?!) and potatoes and veg. Really getting to know the supermarket very well! Then back to hostel (10min walk out from centre of town) where Sam and I sprawled across the whole table and set up the computer and various charging devices! In total, Sam has already taken over 2000 pics (and i've taken nearly as many!) so there's just a little bit of photo editing to be done! Also finally started to update my blog, now that we're back in the land of the internet! The hostel was showing The Shining on DVD so i sat up late and watched that and finally went to bed around 1am. Probably woke everyone up when i went to bed, but its impossible not to make any noise at all!! Good night!!

Not a happy bunny this morning...


Survived one of THE most miserable nights of my life. In addition to the pain in my knee caused by last nights tumble on the way to the stinking latrine, Sam decided last night that he'd practice snoring for England yet again, so it was like having a sodding jackhammer pounding away next to my head. Add to that the fact that it was UNBELIEVABLY cold, despite my sleeping bag's claims to go down to -7C and my wearing absolutely every item of clothing i'd brought with me. The camping mats we'd hired were utterly shite and provided absolutely NO insulation against the cold seeping up through the ground, so I actually became increasingly concerned through the night that hypothermia could be a real issue. Sam was utterly useless as - every time I went to snuggle for warmth - he'd move away to protect his knee which was killing him. Cant blame him but didnt particularly love him for it either. The cold was so intense, my earplugs didnt work because they didnt get warm enough to soften up in the ear and block out the sound, so Sam's snoring was unmitigated in its loudness. AND to add final insult to injury, because I obviously couldnt sleep a wink because of all of the above, after about an hour of misery, my bladder decided to join the party and tell me that it would like to be emptied, thanks very much. Just brilliant. Of course, there was no sodding way in hell i was getting up and going outside into the freezing cold night and losing whatever tiny bit of heat i'd managed to generate in my sleeping bag. So, i just lay there - all frigging night, knee hurting, desperate for a pee, colder than i ever remember having been in my life before and listening to my delightful BF snoring his sodding head off. I was not a happy bunny. Come the first inkling of daylight, i was up and out of that miserable tent and thinking extremely murderous thoughts towards Sam. I was soooo mad with him, I could barely look at him for at least an hour.







After deciding that the only real reason not to murder Sam slowly and painfully using blunt camping cutlery was the effort involved in having to dispose of the body, we set off on the sodding walk we'd come out to this godforsaken place to do anyway. After absolutely BUGGER ALL sleep, I did remarkably well in terms of the ascent of the mountain itself and we kept a good pace up. Got to the top and - unlike TdP - unfortunately the top of Mt Fitzroy was still shrouded in cloud. So the views were good and still mightily impressive, but not as completely stunning as we'd hoped for.

So then time to scamper back down the mountain, break camp and walk back into town for our last night at the hostel . When we got back, i rewarded myself with the largest mug of hot chocolate possible and an early night.