June | 2013 | The Clark Family's Amazing Adventures

Naked at the end of the world!

27 Jun 2013 4 Comments

by Zoe in Adventure, Family Gap Year, Kids Stuff, Videos Tags: Argentina, Selknam people, The end of the world, Tierra del Fuego, Tierra del Fuego National Park, Yamana people

In Ushauia – we found out all about the Yamana people and the Selknam people. They lived at the bottom of the world in Tierra del Fuego in South America. The Selknam lived inland and hunted guanaco. The Yamana lived along the coast.

The Yanama with their canoes - where they kept a fire burning all the time and didn't wear clothes!

The Yamana with their canoe – where they kept a fire burning all the time and didn’t wear clothes! At the Maritime Museum, Ushuaia. This canoe was made trying to copy the traditional methods before they are forgotten and lost!

The Yamana lived further south than any other people in the world and although it was cold they didn’t wear clothes but always had a fire burning even in their canoes and put animal grease on their skin to help stay warm. More

Exploring the end of the world

24 Jun 2013 4 Comments

by Mo in Family Gap Year Tags: Argentina, Beagle Channel, Punta Arenas, Tiera del Fuego, Tiera del Fuego National Park, Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia

19-23 March 2013.

Ushuaia. The most southerly town in Argentina. The pretty port looks south over the Beagle channel and the West, North and East are surrounded by imposing snowy peaks and the Martial Glacier and ski runs can be seen looking back from the town.

Ushuaia and Tiera del Fuego, the end of the world, just a few hundred km from Antarctica and showing Malvinas as (Arg) owned

Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego, the end of the world, just a few hundred km from Antarctica and showing Malvinas as (Arg) owned with Pt Argentino as the capital instead of Stanley!

Tierra del Fuego is the most southerly inhabited land and closest place to Antarctica, with exception of South Orkney with its Argentine naval base, another territory claimed by both Argentina and the UK! Cruises to Antarctica leave from Ushuaia. The museums, shops, trips and restaurants are called Fin del Mundo This or End of the World That. Strictly speaking, the town of Puerto Williams is the most southerly town, across the Beagle channel in Chile but it’s expensive to get there! In Ushuaia, they don’t split hairs and are happy to claim end of the world fame so we decide that’s good enough for us too! More

Journey to the end of the world

21 Jun 2013 1 Comment

by Mo in Family Gap Year, Travelling Tags: Magellan Straits, Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia

Perito Moreno Glacier was our final stop on the road south to the end of the world! After spending the night in Rio Gallegos, we get up early for yet another long 11 hour bus, this time by day, down to Ushuaia.

Early start to leave Rio Gallegos....glued to the TV in reception at the hotel and waiting at the bus station

Early departure from Rio Gallegos….glued to the TV in reception at the hotel and waiting at the bus station

Luckily the kids are entertained by movies. Gotta wonder who selects the movies for these journeys? Today it is Abraham Lincoln and the Zombies! More

Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina

19 Jun 2013 3 Comments

by Mo in Family Gap Year, Top Experiences, Videos Tags: Argentina, El Calafate, Patagonia, Perito Moreno Glacier

Nature served up another remarkable highlight in South America when she created the Perito Moreno Glacier in the south of Argentina, up there with Iguazu Falls and the Bolivian Salt Flats as one of the most spectacular places and is a must visit, worth every hour of the long journey to get there!

Colours and Patterns of Perito Merino Glacier Patagonia, Argentina

Colours and Patterns of Perito Moreno Glacier Patagonia, Argentina

Hairy Armadillos on Peninsula Valdez

11 Jun 2013 3 Comments

by Ben in Family Gap Year Tags: Argentina, Armadillo, Killer whale, orca, peninsula valdez, Peninsular Valdez, valdes peninsula

13th March 2013. Today I went in our car to see some Orcas and Elephant seals on the Peninsular Valdez in Argentina but we didn’t see any!

Just a board to tell us about them! The Orcas are also called Killer Whales but are actually members of the dolphin family. They are also called killer whales but they haven’t killed humans except when they are captive. They are the worlds largest predator of warm blooded animals – they hunt seals and penguins and we could have seen this on the peninsular. They launch themselves right onto the beach to catch them!

We just read the sign! 😦

Watch this amazing YouTube video to see what we missed More

The 1907 Iquique Massacre and my continued awe of the world wide web!

07 Jun 2013 2 Comments

by Mo in Family Gap Year Tags: Chile, iquique, La Serena

In La Serena, Chile, we found this attractive looking memorial and were interested to see it was in memory of a massacre on 21-12-1907 (it happened to be 100 years to the day before Lara was born) of workers, women and children at a school in Iquique, further north between La Serena and Arica where Erika had visited. We wondered why it was here in La Serena and what happened?

The Iquique Massacre memorial in La Serena

We made a mental note, took the photo and planned to Google it. More

Puerto Madryn and the Valdez Peninsular, Argentina

06 Jun 2013 2 Comments

by Mo in Family Gap Year Tags: Killer whale, Peninsular Valdez, puerto madryn

The day after Ben’s birthday we leave Buenos Aires for the second time and take along overnight bus south to Puerto Madryn, the main coastal town on the edge of the huge Peninsular Valdez.

The Peninsular Valdez, Argentina, towards Patagonia, renowned for amazing wildlife and sealife - especilaly, penguins, whales, elephant seals and orcas.

The Peninsular Valdez, Argentina, towards Patagonia, renowned for amazing wildlife and sealife – especially whales, elephant seals and orcas.

It’s an especially tiring day for everyone, usual packing dramas, Martin suffering with a nasty bout of man flu, More

Breaking News

05 Jun 2013 18 Comments

by Martin Clark in Family Gap Year Tags: Marmite, round the world family

It’s decision time, do we head home as planned in August or do we indulge in a second year of travels? More

Ben 10 in Buenos Aires

04 Jun 2013 7 Comments

by Ben in Family Gap Year, Foodie Central, Kids Stuff, Top Experiences

I had my 10th birthday in Buenos Aires. My family thought it was very funny to call me Ben 10 and give me Ben 10 gifts. My little sister Lara gave me a Ben 10 toothbrush!

Luckily I persuaded them to buy me a finger skateboard and not the cuddly Ben 10 at this toy shop in Buenos Aires!

Before my birthday, I wrote a To Do list that looked like this:- More

A quick hop across to Uruguay

03 Jun 2013 3 Comments

by Mo in Family Gap Year Tags: Buenos Aires, Buquebus, Colonia, hostel el Viajero, Montevideo, Río de la Plata, Uruguay

5th-8th March 2013

We arrive in the beautiful town of Colonia in Uruguay, mid-morning, on a Buquebus ferry from Buenos Aires. It takes about 90 minutes to cross the Rio de la Plata – claimed to be the widest river in the world – it’s 200km wide at its mouth, though considered more an estuary by some. The crossing isn’t cheap and ideally we’d come for longer but we’re really running our of time now in South America! Our original 5-6 month plan is already stretched to 9! We justify the short trip because we can draw out a stash of US dollars that we’ll exchange back in Buenos Aires for the dollar blue rate – now over 50% more than the official bank rate. Incredible isn’t it?!!

We walk along the waterfront road of this lovely Unesco World heritage site to where we’re booked for the night, Hostel el Viajero, the kids being troopers with their packs in the heat. El Viajero has super friendly staff who work hard to get a room ready for us to have an early check in and give us heaps of information…