THE FALKLAND ISLANDS

It was news to me that the number 38 bus stops at Stanley, the Falklands, made me feel right at home. I also saw a stretch limo full of lasses in army camouflage gear on a hen night, so it really is just like mini Britain.

I saw my first penguin! Hooray. As we sailed into the Falklands, I saw this little black and white thing, much smaller than I'd expected, gliding along by the side of the ship. That was it. Yesterday though, I went for a walk to a beach called Gypsy Cove, across the bay from the main town of Stanley, and there I saw loads of the buggers, waddling about in happy oblivion.

These ones are Magellenic (I think), different from the ones I'll see in Antarctica, they live in burrows:

The water looked so inviting we had to go for a swim, this is Rob and some new found feathered friends...


It was bloody freezing. Colder than the north sea in January, so needless to say, our 'swimming with penguins' experience was somewhat short lived.


The Falklands looks like a cross between the Carribean (the beaches) and the cheviot hills of Northumberland, but with land mines. It was quite eery walking in the hills that were so recently battle fields. A lot of the beaches are inaccessible because they're still mined too. On one trip, we found an old British Army canteen, with powdered vegetable soup dated 1982.

This ship was built in Sunderland, but ended up at the other side of the world. There are loads of relics like this in the bays, and the local pubs have maps of the ship wrecks over the years.