Having just posted "Road Trip Finale" yesterday, saying it was my last penguin post, I realised I have a few unfinished posts which had suffered from the fact that I am not a "completer/finisher" type of person.
So, here are a few photos from a midwinter trip last year to Pebble Island. It was snowing in Stanley when we took off, but brilliant sunshine on Pebble. Much to our surprise the pilot decided to land on the 4-mile beach, something we'd always wanted to experience.
The islands's residents act as a ground crew, with mobile fire-fighting kit and wind sock.
Unfortunately, the pilot decided to land about 500 metres from where they were waiting, so they had to race down the beach to greet us.
Afterwards, we explored the island, climbed a hill; got caught in a small snow shower; and experienced frozen pipes for the first time in decades.
A great place to visit at any time of year.
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| Snowy Stanley airport |
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| Freight |
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| Stanley harbour |
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| Snow lying in the trenches dug by the deminers. In other words, former minefields outside Stanley. |
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| The main road traversing a huge stone run |
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| Not snow, but sand! |
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| The ground crew approach |
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| Arrival lounge, Pebble Island |
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| Dot the Dispatcher |
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| Wind sock on a sled. |
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| Taxi! |
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| Gunning it down the runway |
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| Takeoff |
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| Fence posts! |
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| Impressionist Oystercatchers |
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| Snowy Sheathbill, Antarctic resident |
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| The SAS blew up 13 planes during a raid in 1982 |
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| Lichen grows on aluminium |
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| Frozen ground is covered safely with nordic walking poles |
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| Not just sheep |
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| Airstrip, but waterlogged, so we used the beach |
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| HMS Coventry memorial |
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| Shelter from the snow |
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| West to Saunders Island, Keppel and more. |
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| Looking west from a World War 2 observation post. |
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| Looking east to the settlement |
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| Easy navigation |
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| Our transport back to Stanley |
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| Frozen sea |
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| Stanley runway |
Hope you enjoyed these,
Peter
April 2018
Great pics! How did were the trenches used by "deminers"? my
ReplyDeleteThey physically dug the trenches to find the mines. Then took them out and put them in a pile. Then blew them up. Incredible men, and very humble. When they worked on that minefield, it was right beside the main road, and some drivers thought it would be a sign of support if they peeped their horn as they drove past. Well, when you are up to to your elbows in mud looking for a mine, you don't really want idiots banging their horn at you.....
Delete:-DDDDD Oh dear!! Oh so the mines were laid in trench formation? No minesweeping tools to detect them? I think we discussed the mine-detecting trained rats used in Cambodia before but they wouldn't work there/
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ReplyDeleteLove this place. Thank you Australia.
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