Still on our "Antarctica high", we took the only road east at the bottom of Terra de Fuego to Estancia Halberton. Founded by an ex-Anglican missionary in the 1840's, it was the first non-indigenous settlement on the island. His descendants still live in the old farm house and most of the land is preserved as a parkland. It was very remote, especially in winter, and very beautiful. We had a tour around the old farm buildings and an impromptu anatomy lesson with the whale skeletons in the museum. That night on the Estancia's land we camped up overlooking the Beagle Channel, the trucks southernmost camping spot.
Yes, that is a Whale jawbone entrance gate, they get lots of skeletons washed up on the beach.
We crossed back into Chile the following afternoon, and after a night camped next to the Terra de Fuego ferry, we headed west to Porto Natales. I can imagine Porto Natales being a sleepy fishing port 10 months of the year but for the January and February the population explodes with goretex clad hikers heading for Torres Del Paine National Park. We got a proper taste of the famed Patagonian wind while parking on the sea front and getting stocked up for a week in the park. Even parked up with our back facing the sea, the buffeting gusts shook the truck. It felt like we were back at sea on the Drake Passage.
Of course being back in Chile we bought some of our favourite "lips" bread.
Parque Nacional Torres del Paines, is famous for its three iconic towers, surrounding it though is an equally impressive part of the Andes and some gorgeous wild scenery and lakes. Herds of wild Guanaco (from the llama family) and rheas (South America's flightless birds) roam the short, shrubby slopes. The lakes themselves would warrant a park, even without the peaks. The first night we parked beside Laguna Azul (Blue Lake) which was a stunning aquamarine, we stopped for lunch beside the alkaline Laguna Blanca (White Lake) and each lake we passed was a different jewel like colour.
Although you can see the famous towers from lots of places in the park, the best view is overlooking the turquoise blue lake at the bottom of the towers. The lake is a 9.5km walk from the nearest road. We'd walked up through the Lenga woods and scree slopes 8 years ago with Steve carrying Alisha on his back and knew it was full of stunning views. Our question was could the girls both manage the 19km walk there and back? They were game and we knew that getting to the top wouldn't be the problem, it was getting all the way back to the truck. The furthest they had walked before was 14km and that wasn't up a mountain, we had altitude on our side though as this part of the Andes isn't very high. Fortified with a big bowl of porridge we set off, as the most popular walk in the park it wasn't a solitary tramp but the vistas were first class. The girls managed so well and hiked to the top with aplomb. The other hikers couldn't believe that Lucy (6) had made it all the way to the top in time for lunch. The way back down was equally smooth until the last few kilometres. We've found both girls will usually hike for miles if they can talk about a topic of their choice, usually something about a pet they will own when (if???) we move back to England, or they are told a story. Alisha was a star and kept her sister entertained with stories when I ran out of new tales. At kilometre 16, there was a little flagging going on when Steve pulled out his secret weapon: a massive bar of chocolate. Thus fortified, we managed to make our way back to the truck, tired but happy, just 9 hours after we'd left it that morning. We couldn't believe it when we weren't able to have the early night we felt we deserved because the little monkeys were still playing around long after they'd gone to bed. If that didn't tire them out properly, what would?
We awoke the next morning still in the car park of the hotel at the start of the trail, to an amazing azure blue sky. Completely clear sunny days aren't very common here, it is more of the "four seasons in a day" sort of place: some rain, wind, burning sun and perhaps some snow before the days end. The day was glorious with such blue, blue skies and hardly any wind. We were almost tempted to go up to the towers again, just for the photos. We made the most of it though, pausing to gawp at the views as we drove through the park. Ready for another leg stretch we took a couple of hours to hike to mirador above another turquoise lake with the Cuernos del Paines mountain range behind. We could hear the glaciers high up, nestled between the peaks groaning and cracking. We saw several condors nearby circling, on the look out for dinner.
That night, tipped off by some other overlanders we met, we parked up at the top of Lago Toros. The view was stupendous, it was hard to get the more mundane tasks, like cooking tea and getting the girls to bed, done because my eyes were constantly drawn to the windows. At the moment, because of the changeable weather, the day usually ends with us all huddled inside reading or whatever, while the girls fail to go to sleep. However for once the day stayed as it had started, clear and wind free, so I could sit outside and enjoy the perfectly reflected mountains in the lake in front till it was time to go to bed.
The morning brought the more normal grey clouds, drizzle and a lot of wind. Not put off we embarked on a very windy walk to view Glacier Grey behind Largo Grey was, well as you'd expect rather grey. Even the bright blue icebergs looked grey but it was fun battling the ridiculously strong winds along the way. Is it possible to turn a small child into a kite? Quite possibly.
That evening the clouds blew away and the gorgeous evening sun came out, Steve and I took turns to brave the hurricane to walk back down to the lake and enjoy the fantastic views. That night, parked in the trailhead car park, the truck rocked and rolled all night in the gale force winds.
For our last walk in the park we decided to take a 12km jaunt up an escarpment and then through some gently sloping hills. It was a good leg stretch but didn't give us the jaw dropping views we've been so spoiled with this week. We left park after a great week really impressed with how far and how well both girls hiked.
After a night out in the wilds camped beside a small stream with just guanacos, foxes and lots of sheep for company, we headed to the small town of Porvenir. Patagonia has its own wild, desolate beauty but the island of Tierra de Fuego feels even more remote. The long distances of rolling plains covered in scrub and grass were occasionally punctuated by sheep estancias (farms). Several had been abandoned, farming must be very hard out here. We'd passed one on the mainland and the girls and I had taken a wander around. We peeped into empty buildings full of uncured sheep skins and abandoned wool bales, the rotting ship hulls on the shore gave it an even more melancholy feeling. 
Getting closer to town and in range for a cellular signal, we had an email from the local delivery company guy, Mario, admitting that his Santiago colleagues had messed up yet again. After assuring him on Thursday that the tyres were already on a truck south, a 5 day journey, they had just admitted to him that infact they had been lying and the tyres were still sat in their Santiago warehouse. We were doubly frustrated as we'd paid for airfreight but we had been told, only once they were in Santiago, that they were too big. So we felt we were being quite patient last Thursday when they told us it would be another 5 days...then to hear it would be another 5 days. We were absolutely spitting!
Porvenir felt like a frontier town, even though it was established in Victorian times. It was full of painted corrugated iron houses. Parked up on the front, we decided that we deserved Saturday night out. Bizarrely, especially contrasting with the outsides, all the four restaurants in town went for the huge fancy napkin arrangements and fake flowers. We pumped for the Croatian Club which had the most elaborate napkin fans and had a couple of excellent steaks. It must have been a slice of home for the Croatian immigrants who came to the area for the gold rush 135 years ago. 
Crossing the ferry back to the mainland alongside the sheep transporters we were treated to several pods of black and white Commerson's dolphins larking about in the waves in the Beagle Channel. With no need to rush back to Puenta Arenas we took a detour to Pali Aike National Park which has several low extinct volcanoes and extensive lava fields. There was a couple of great walks but the wind was ferocious in the campsite that night,however they'd thoughtfully built three wild breaks at the edge of the lava field so overnight visitors actually wouldn't get blown away by the gusts. The scenery was stunning though with my favourite South American photography combination: some sort of llama in front of a volcano, cue much eye rolling from Steve at the number of shots I was taking. 
Back in town the next day, we had some good news at last. Mario, who appears to be the delivery company's only competent employee, told us that the truck south with the tYpres had been making good milage and it looked like it might be a day early. Hooray our first bit of positive news from them in 2 weeks. We motored to get all our jobs like washing and shopping done, in the possibility that the tyres "might be" with us sometime the following day.
It got even better the following day when we got even more good news, the tyres had arrived early that morning! We hightailed it to the local delivery company office where Mario personally delivered the tyres to the tyre fitters.
What a beautiful sight....just waiting for a local mutt to christen them with a quick pee as always happens.
We were so glad to be getting out of Punto Arenas, we had been there for 15 days and the "Groundhog Day " sensation was getting stronger every day. We'd been lucky enough to escape both weekends but returning three times a day, day after day to get our contact, Victor, to phone The delivery company in Santiago and getting absolutely nowhere was incredibly frustrating. We know delays are part of the overlanding experience and we are very lucky it wasn't something far more serious like a health matter or a mechanical breakdown. We've been so lucky so far and I'm sure we'll have many more delays along the way. But we were SO happy to leave and be back on the road! 
