The end of the World ...

Keeping up with the Joneses - boyo!
After a luxury overnight bus, big leather seats that recline into beds, dinner, drinks, dvds, breakfast and on-board Bingo (why don't we have these in Europe?!), our first port of call was the breezy seaside resort of Puerto Madryn. Famed as being the sight of the first Welsh landing and named after the birthplace of Jones Parry, it was a welcome relief after 2 months in a big city, with its fresh sea air, seafood and welsh afternoon teas (all you can eat/drink tea, cakes and sandwiches for about GBP2!).

He's behind you ...
From Puerto Madryn we took a couple of excursions:

Peninsula Valdes - renowned for its amazing array of wildlife - in search of Sea lion-eating Orca. Whilst we were disappointed on that front (the Orca were there but just weren't in a 'grab a pup from the beach so Steve could take a photo' mood), we did get to see Sea lions teaching their pups to swim in a 'training pool', Elephant Seals basking in the sunshine, Guanacos (like Llama), Rheas (like Ostriches), grey foxes and Armadillos - though there's one less of those since Steve accidentally trod on him!

Punta Tomba - one of the largest breeding grounds for Magellanic Penguins (around 500,000 of them). A very cool place, you're completely surrounded by penguins, especially as when we were there they were shedding their feathers so couldn't go in the water. As always though there's a downside, and getting up close to penguins means getting up close to the smell of penguin poo - little did we realise this was a smell we were going to become very accustomed to ...

The end of the world
A few looong bus journeys later, our Patagonian adventure led us to Tierra del Fuego and the end of the world. Staying in Ushuaia, the Southernmost city in the world, we spent a few days chilling (literally as, despite being summer, it was snowing - brrrrr!) and appreciating the stunning backdrop of snow-capped mountains mirrored in the Beagle Channel. We did attempt a couple of treks around Tierra del Fuego National Park and the top of Cerro Medio, but the weather made them a bit difficult!

The most exciting part of our stay however was a spur of the moment decision and a last minute bargain ...