Darwin - A Very Chilled Out Place to Visit

Last weekend, my friend Julia and I went to Darwin, a 90 minute drive from Stanley. We stayed overnight at Darwin House, the lodge, which was fantastic as it is such a relaxing place to stay and the food is delicious. We turned up to be greeted by smoko in the conservatory which was all very civilised and consisted of more cakes than even I could eat. We went out and about and explored the immediate area in the afternoon. The pictures are of Darwin settlement and corral and the memorial to 2 Para, most famous of whom was Lt Col H Jones.







We were the only ones staying there so had the place to ourselves and the room with windows on 3 sides for maximum views of Darwin Harbour and the snow capped mountains to the north. After more smoko, I learnt to do some cross stitch and spun untreated wool straight off the sheep for the first time. I asked Bonnie, the owner, if I could have some and she gave us a massive sackful to take back with us. I've just got to work out what to do with it all now. I have bought a spare second hand microwave and some dyes so I have in mind to make some felt things eventually.

On Sunday we went for a walk along the coast which was very scenic. It will be even more so when the gorse flowers in October/November so we will probably go back then.

San Carlos - Moulds, Meanders and Murders!

2 weeks ago, 8 of us spent the weekend in San Carlos, about a 2 hour drive away from Stanley on the west coast of East Falkland. It was great fun. To celebrate their birthdays, Elaine and Sylvia had arranged a murder mystery evening on the Saturday night.

4 of us arrived on the Friday and set to work to produce a face mould for Elaine's birthday. This involved placing dental alginate on various face parts (in my case, eyes) in order to make the plaster mould. One thing I can say - that alginate is very cold and very messy. Here are some photos of the process, and the finished product, which Elaine was very pleased with... The Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day so, in between eating breakfast, smoko (Australian derived word for tea break, usually involving lots of cake), lunch, and more smoko, we went for a meander around San Carlos Water. It really is a lovely spot...
So then it was time to get dressed up for our parts in the murder mystery evening. I was to play Penelope Pitt-Pony, a London It Girl from the 1920s. We had a delicious meal while acting out the various parts of the mystery. When it got to the end, several of the others accused me of being the murderer when I was completely innocent of any wrong-doing! I did manage to guess who the murderer was but it could have been any one of the characters. Everyone really played their part well and got fully involved so it was great fun.

Cape Pembroke Hash

It was time to visit Cape Pembroke again. This time it was to do a walk with the hash house harriers and not as part of a half marathon. However, it felt like I'd done half a marathon at the end of it as I was one of the hares setting the trail in the morning and then walked it again in the afternoon.

We had a fine day so it was very pleasant. It was the first time I'd been up the historic Cape Pembroke lighthouse which was first lit in 1855 and remained in service until 1982. It was built to warn incoming ships of the treacherous reefs of rock just off the coast. It was originally much smaller, being rebuilt in 1909. You need to use an enormous old fashioned key to get in and some of the steps inside are alarmingly steep. Still, it was worth the walk and the climb up for the surrounding views. We rewarded ourselves with hot toddy too.

In the area is the newly installed memorial to the Atlantic Conveyor, a supply ship sunk in 1982. The engraved propeller faces the point where the ship was sunk.

Birthdays Galore

I am birthdayed out! There seem to have been a lot of birthdays recently. Given that I am on the cusp of being a Leo Lion, that apparently makes me a wannabe FILF (Falkland Islands Leo Fraternity - which has a scarey number of members!).

Sylvia's been baking some fantastic cakes. Here are a couple of pictures of them. Steve got a carrot cake featuring an interesting shaped carrot courtesy of Government House and Elaine got a chocolate cake with a lion made from Government House carrot - what do they do to them there?!! Sadly, I do not have any pictures of my birthday - phew, that got me off the hook - but celebrated it with curry and tapas evenings.

West Falkland - Site Visit with a difference

I was very pleased to discover that an application for the extraction of calcified seaweed had landed on my desk at work as it meant a rare trip to West Falkland was on the cards. Phyl Rendell (the Director of Minerals and Agriculture) and I flew out on a beautiful clear and sunny day on one of the 8 seater Islander aircraft that are used here for getting around the islands. You can see so much from the air on such days. Luckily, the friendly pilot obliged my request to overfly the site so, after landing at Port Howard, we took a diversion over the west coast of West Falkland before landing in Fox Bay on the east coast. We took a drive with the applicant to the site and saw a bit of the scenery of the west. I vowed that I would spend a week there sometime, driving around to explore it more.

Close to the site, we saw evidence of an old fishing technique used here. Basically, some stones from the walls are removed before high tide. Then the water and the fish are swept in during high tide and the stones are replaced which traps the fish in the pools - simple and effective.

Fox Bay is the largest settlement on the west. Phyl and I stayed with some people there and had a look around the settlement. The picture is of one of the houses in the settlement. The school is not open at the moment but it does have a store and a post office.

Midwinter Swim Madness

What fool goes and dips themself in the South Atlantic in the middle of summer let alone the middle of winter?!! The answer to that question is...Moi!! I don't know how it happened (though there was probably some wine involved at some stage!!) but I was persuaded to do the South West Atlantic Midwinter Swim (SWAMS) which is an annual event here. As the water temperature is something like 4 degrees, there is not actually much swimming involved and it really is just a quick run in, a quick dip then a quick run out again. I think that there were more people watching than actually going for a dip - perhaps that is because they had learned from experience that this was definitely the best option!!

So along came the day and I had yet another cold. I could definitely have stayed in bed and nursed it but some friends from home had generously agreed to sponsor me and I did not really want to go back to them and say "sorry, I was far too much of a wimp to do it!" The wind was gusting and it was pretty cold out. Unfortunately it was too windy to light the big bonfire on the beach. At the very last minute, coats and layers were taken off and us mad ones ran in. Actually, I found that my body wasn't too cold in the water but the same cannot be said for my hands and feet which went numb. My feet actually hurt when I put them into a hot water bath very soon afterwards but I was soon revived by the mulled wine they served to the swimmers at the Vic (Victory Bar) afterwards. It was an exhilarating experience and I would definitely consider participating again. I raised £78 towards helping veterans visit the Falklands in November for Remembrance Sunday. Thanks very much to the friends who were so generous in their sponsorship.

25th Anniversary of Liberation - 14th June 2007

The weather was kind to Falkland Islands residents and visitors on this Liberation Day, the 25th anniversary year. There were all sorts of dignitaries visiting including Prince Edward, Rex Hunt (the Governor at the time of the invasion), Cecil Parkinson, various MPs, war veterans and relatives of those killed during the conflict. I met 2 of the couples whose sons had been killed on the HMS Coventry off Pebble Island and was amazed by their remarkable bravery, especially as they had just visited the island on the day that I met them.


There was a service held in the cathedral followed by the laying of wreaths at the Liberation Monument and parades by the military. This was all followed by a civic reception open to everyone and held at the FIDF (Falkland Islands Defence Force) Hall where food and drink was laid on and entertainment was provided by an excellent marine brass band.


14th June is normally a public holiday but we were lucky to get an additional day off this year on 15th June. This was just as well as it allowed for a much needed recovery period! At the weekend, events continued and there was an excellent Expo at the community school. Whilst not involved with this, I did volunteer to take part in the netball demonstration for the 2 minutes which Prince Edward visited the adjoining sports hall. This was tricky given that we only had one third of the court and very few players but some training exercises were set up and apparently we did look quite professional. This was followed by a fireworks display and then the Liberation Ball. More food and drink was provided and the marine band were back, this time acting as the Blues Brothers.