End of Summer

Welcome to this occasional look at life in the Falkland Islands, from the point of view of someone who moved here 3 years ago from the UK.......

Huge luxury yachts visit Stanley

Summer (December to February) in the Falklands sees a lot of activity.  Not only do about 500,000 sheep need to be shorn, but about 50,000 cruise ship passengers arrive into Stanley Harbour,  Their ships are either shuttling round Antarctica or plying between Buenos Aires and Valparaiso, via Cape Horn.  .  Many head off by 4x4 to be driven across country to see the penguins.  I lead walking tours in and around Stanley - a very pleasant job when the weather is good, which it mostly was this year.

Small cruise ship doing handbrake turn through the Narrows

 We had one day of heavy rain, and at the halfway point of the walk, we take a minibus for 10 minutes to another location.  However, on that day, everyone was so wet we just headed straight for the penguin colony to at least see some of the Falklands' famous wildlife.

But, usually, most people are happy to walk for 3 hours and soak up the Falklands experience for the day.

Jiggers in the harbour

  And in February, about 100 squid fishing ships (jiggers) from the Far East, call in to collect their licences to fish in Falklands' waters.  Sadly, some crew decide this makes a great opportunity to jump ship, and 9 men tried to swim ashore this year. Tragically, only 7 made it.  They were repatriated to Vietnam.     The day after this photo (above) was taken, a fierce storm blew through the harbour and two ships had to be towed off the shore.  So, even the harbour can be very dangerous.

Memorial to scientists who died in Antarctica.

 Stanley has been the final port of call for ships heading South for over 100 years.  After the exploits of Captain Scott, Ernest Shackleton and others, the scientific research and exploration continued, leading to momentous discoveries such as the hole in the ozone layer, and climate change evidence stretching back millennia.

Recently, a party of (mainly) retired scientists from the British Antarctic Survey raised a memorial to 28 of their colleagues who left Stanley for Antarctica, and never returned.  The most recent to lose their life was Kirsty Brown, who was killed by a leopard seal in 2003.  It is a stunning, and moving,  memorial, and it is the southern part of an installation - the northern part being at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge.

Winner and 2nd place in the pot plant category.  Well done (and thanks to Edmonde).

March saw the last of the cruise ships come and go.  The next to arrive will be in November.  Life settles down to less esoteric pursuits, such as growing vegetables, and cultivating plants.  My wife won a prize for a spider plant in the Horticultural Show!  The vegetable entries were superb, and our crop of tomatoes stood little chance against competition from gardens which have been regularly fertilised by horse manure for decades!  (Many thanks to our ex-neighbours for leaving us their plants when they left at Christmas!)

The long straight of Ross Road

Last week. saw the very competitive and arduous Stanley Marathon -  the most southerly in the world.  Competitive, as two runners smashed the course record by about 7 minutes.  For a change, the weather was not too windy or cold, merely damp.  But the course is a hilly one and the wind did pick up towards the end, just as some runners were turning into it for the final section.

My shoes, powered by a Zimbabwean de-miner,  running up a steep hill

 It's also very competitive as many runners enter as teams, each of the 4 runners running about 10 kilometres (6 miles).  A group of Zimbabweans, over here to clear some minefields made a request for some running shoes on the eve of the race, and I was happy to hand my size sevens to the chap in the photo above, just prior to the start.

Tim Drew about to take 7 minutes off the course record

The military also enter many runners - the runner-up was in the RAF - and teams of Gurkhas were encouraging each other throughout the course.  None could get near local primary school-teacher, Tim Drew, who had an amazing run.

There were also about 17 Argentine runners, some of whom fly over every year in an attempt to steal the glory and the headlines in Buenos Aires.  However, I doubt the local conditions can be found in Argentina to allow them to train for this event.

As there is only one flight per week, we've had the unusual sight of these runners jogging around Stanley, killing time till their flight tomorrow, back to the South American mainland.

Gaucho...

I'm on that flight, too, as I am hoping to meet up with my wife who has just sailed across the Atlantic on a Royal Mail Ship to St Helena and Cape Town!  Anything to try and experience the golden years of the British Empire!

Hopefully, I can report on how she got on next time.   We are hoping to explore the Chilean Lake District.  We don't see much of Chile on the BBC News, but in the last month, I've watched the reports of huge floods in the Atacama desert, forest fires around Valparaiso, and an erupting volcano in Pucon, where we will be staying.....!!

Never a dull moment!  And, if you are interested in seeing more of life in the Falklands, there's a new series starting tonight of  the BBC2  "Island Parish" !  I'm not sure if it will be available online or broadcast in other countries, but worth looking out for, I hear.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006t6m6/episodes/guide

Peter

Bambi burgers! Plus the most southerly Marathon.......

[This is an occasional insight into the life of an expat in the Falkland Islands, 400 miles off the coast of Argentina.....]

After all the excitement of the Referendum into the Falklands political Status, and the new Pope, it was back to basics - eating, driving, quizzing, running (not me, but some fit people with good knees).......More below.

Although meat is readily-available and reasonably-priced, beef and lamb tends to dominate, so it was with some relief that we heard that venison was to appear in Stanley....organic, low-cholesterol....

Penguins and reindeer!  Where in the world?

I took the above photo a couple of years ago on South Georgia, one of the few (if not the only) places in the world where you could see penguins and reindeer together.   I say, "could", as most of the reindeer have just been culled in an effort to restore the original habitat of the island and allow native birds to thrive.  The reindeer eat the grass that birds use as nests.

Sami herdsmen from Scandinavia and marksmen from Norway, have been part of a team to eradicate the  descendants of the dozen which were introduced by Norwegian whalers about 100 years ago, in order to provide fresh meat.

Safely in Stanley.  A pet reindeer.

Despite having their seasons reversed, (think how difficult it is for an animal to be born in Autumn!), the reindeer thrived and around 3,000 were living on the sub-Antarctic island, 700 miles east of the Falklands.  To help offset the cost of the operation, many of the carcasses were expertly butchered, frozen and shipped back to Stanley for sale.  I joined a queue last Saturday morning outside the house of a representative of the South Georgia Government.  As I moved inside, some delicious venison stew was offered by the ladies taking the orders..... "A leg, some shoulder, and some steak, please!".    Can't wait for it to defrost!

For more information on what's happening on South Georgia, try the following site.

http://www.sght.org/welcome-sght-website


 Although deer might elicit some sympathetic reaction, the next target species is rats.  They eat the eggs of ground-nesting birds, so are a high priority.  There's no word about whether we'll be able to supplement our diet with any more novelty meats.....
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Running up Rowlands Rise, heading out of town.

Sunday saw the annual running of the Stanley Marathon, sponsored by a local bank (no names, no ATMs).  It is the most southerly marathon in the world, and, for a change, the weather was kind to the runners: light winds, and about 16C.

Head to head, with 10 miles to go.  The man on the right sold the venison!

I don't think there's 26 miles of tarmac in the Falklands, so some of the Stanley roads had to be covered more than once.  Also, several teams of runners participated in relays along the course.  This had the effect of a small convoy of cars leapfrogging the runners to wait at the next relay change-over point.

Heading out to the airport for the first time.

So, despite the sparse crowd, every so often, the runners would pass large groups of enthusiastic supporters cheering their man (or woman) on.

Some lovely new tarmac at the edge of town.  The eventual winner pulling away.

 As the race progressed, runners became isolated from their nearest rivals as different fitness levels became apparent.  The hilly course tested everyone, even the military guys from the garrison at Mount Pleasant.

Governor Nigel Haywood, passing Studio 52 gift shop at 24 miles.

 After 3 hours, the leading runners returned to the seafront in Stanley.  I think the RAF pilot who flies the VC-10 tanker (remember them?) won in a fast time.  But, I think most people would agree, it's the taking part that is important!

http://www.studio52.co.fk/

The Governor, on his birthday, nearing the finish...

For full details of the results please see the online or paper version of Penguin News.  However, if anyone is interested in a particular result, please let me know.
http://www.penguin-news.com/

This competitor, left, took 9 hours.....

One of the competitors felt the hilly 26-mile course wasn't enough of a challenge, so decided to walk the course wearing a suit of body armour, weighing 45kgs, used by bomb disposal experts.   Running wasn't a sensible option, so this meant setting off at 4am, so that he could finish along with the rest of the field.

Air Force runner, with Royal Navy spectators.

Still smiling after 26 miles! (And the Governor walking home  in background!).

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I tried smoked toothfish (a local delicacy)  the other day.  Similar to kippers - delicious!  It may be marketed as Chilean Sea Bass, but if you find it, do try it!  It's caught in well-managed fisheries in the South Atlantic.
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A small team of friends and I won the (very competitive)  Archery Club Quiz at the weekend.  This was held to raise funds to send archers to the Island Games, to be held in Jersey in 2014.  Small island communities around the world compete against each other away from the "big" events like the Olympics.  The Isle of Wight and Anglesey also compete, as well as some more far-flung locations, such as the Faroes and Bermuda (where a team of Falkland golfers will be going this year!).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_Games

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Before Christmas, I noticed my car tyres were badly worn.  They had been new when the car arrived last March, but, in less than 5,000 miles of driving here, have had to be replaced.

However, I could find no new tyres (of the right size) in the islands, so had to order them from the UK.  They arrived last week.  I never thought I would miss Kwikfit tyre fitters, but I was dreading getting a puncture on the rough roads here.  Next week, with new tyres,  I'm venturing out of Stanley for the first time for a while.  Elephant Beach beckons!
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Peter