Jumping whales, albino babies and absolute wonder in Peninsula Valdes, Argentina

Ever seen a mother whale feed her baby a few metres from shore? Seen a whale thrust itself out of the water to land on its back? Slap the surface of the water with its tail? And seen an albino baby whale up close learning to swim? If not, put Peninsula Valdes, Argentina on your bucket list and get yourself here to realise all your whale watching dreams!

Although we are supposed to be on the road to Buenos Aires to empty and clean the car before we hand her over to her new family, we can’t quite drag ourselves away from this magical place where it’s nursery season and mother Southern right whales and their babies are close in to shore as they give birth, rest and prepare themselves to hit deeper waters. It’s a constant show of giant antics in the bay – at breakfast we watch the mums as they do slow laps of the small bay, pushing their babies up to the surface to teach them to breathe. Later in the day it’s resting time and we watch them languidly roll over on the backs seeming to wave at us with their flippers and spending long moments with their heads out of the water. From the rocky platform on the shore we are just metres away; we can are sprayed with mist when they breathe through their blowholes, and we can see all the details of the shells stuck on the backs that the gulls like to come and feed off. They’re so close you feel like you could take a leap and land on their backs like Paikea :)

Their most active time of the time conveniently coincides with our pre-dinner drinks and as we sit drinking the last of our Brasilian cachaça we watch in awe as they throw themselves out of the water doing several back flops like a gymnast flic flac’ing down the mat. We are alerted to their activity by the noise of their tails slapping the surface of the water several times as if to get our attention.

When we get bored of the giants, we take a small trip to see a colony of Magellanic penguins just metres away from the viewing platform and some loud and noisy colonies of elephant seals. With the guanacos and mara on the roads, the Valdes Peninsula is THE spot for wildlife watching and a great way to finish our trip in absolute wonder!

We had prepared a blog post on the last few weeks in Chile and Argentina – but now those experiences pale in comparison to the last few days. For the dedicated few (ie. Mum J ), here’s our account of Chile!

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We’ve spent the last three fantastic weeks discovering Chile - a country of some of the friendliest people we have met on the trip and the most sublime countryside. The country is so thin that as we drive down the main highway south, it feels like if you put your right arm out the window you can touch the waves of the Pacific and if you put your hand out the other side, you can touch the snow on the Andes peaks. Our visits are suitably ‘mar y montana’ - themed and we get back into the rhythm we loved so much of camping and hiking in National Parks. We visit the surprising end-of-the-earth-like desert that reaches the ocean at the Pan de Azucar National Park, then replace the harshness with delicate beauty with a visit to the flowering desert where millions of bulbs lie in wait for favourable conditions only coming every 5-10 years creating a surprising explosion of colours and honey-like aromas in the otherwise arid and grey/brown desert.

After a short pause waiting for a delivery from DHL for a part to fix the water heater, followed by another imposed pause to fix part of the alternator (!), we hurry on south towards the famous Chilean Lakes District, itching to stretch our legs after ten days of frustrating wait camped in a carpark waiting for parts.

The kids were hoping for snow and their wishes were granted in Parque Conguillio where we hunt through the extra storage spaces for gloves, hats, waterproof pants and other accessories for some snowy adventures. The Llaima volcano is one of the most active in the area and long dark tongues of lava flows ribbon down the mountain from the almost perfect conic summit. We are lucky to find some of our most perfect campsites with old (and not so old) lava flows to explore, tree huts to be made, bonfires to warm us and cook our marshmallows, and more amazing night skies! Despite the chilly temperatures, these last weeks have a certain poignancy to them.

We are both speeding up, while slowing down. We’ve pretty much discarded the guidebooks and if we miss a “must-see” sight, it doesn’t matter. On the other hand, if we find an awesome wild camping sight with bows and arrows to be fashioned out of branches, trees to climb and tracks to explore, we much prefer to spend this time as a family than in the tiring pursuit of postcard photos of the top sights!

AND – Homeschool is over!!! We did it! We can soon hand them over to their teachers who are trained to deal with those challenges! :) The whole family can celebrate making it through the frustrating moments as well as the breakthroughs. The kids celebrate by burning their workbooks and the parents/teachers with what Chile does best - a good bottle of red and a tasty cheese :) T

he excitement for our arrival in New Zealand is also growing and the kids can’t stop talking about all the things they are looking forward to: “I’m going to unpack my Playmobil castle straight away and start playing”/ “Did you pack my big teddy bear? My rugby ball?” “Will I have my own room in New Zealand?” “Do we really have to wear uniforms at school?” “Will I have my own TV on the plane?”

The questions are endless but it’s nice that the sadness of the trip is masked by excitement of the next adventure to come!

Until next time – most likely for the last blog of the trip

- much love, besos, bisous,xx