Postion: 54:48.819S 068:18.375W
Ushuaia
Date: 17 December 2011
We
had a lovely two day stay at Harberton. Tim’s e-mails to the family were
eventually picked up and when we went ashore, we were introduced to Tommy
Goodall, great grandson of Thomas Bridges, the founder of the Estancia, and to
his wife Natalie who has done considerable research into all the family history
and has published a beautiful book on all the flora and fauna of the area. Her
passion is for cetaceans and she now runs a museum and research centre on the
site, staffed by keen volunteer students. When they are not escorting guests
around the museum, they are to be found in the ossuary, picking the flesh off
boiled bones. The smell is pretty indescribable.
Because of the family connection, we were invited to
lunch by Tommy and Natalie who are now both well into their 70’s. They have
abandoned sheep and cattle ranching, mainly they said because of the wholesale
theft of their animals. They now devote their time to tourism, receiving people
from Ushuaia by boat and coach. Again, we were shown round by very enthusiastic
volunteer guides who told us all about the history of the estancia, showed us
all the antiquated sheep shearing equipment and machinery in the old shearing
shed and told us all about the local plants and way of life of the Yamana indian
tribe who lived in the area only 100 years ago and who are now tragically
extinct. On our walk around the peninsula on our second day, we found curious
remains of their encampments, large rings of discarded mussel shells which must
have built up over possibly hundreds of years. They used to build circular huts
from branches and twigs, forage for mussels, and when they had eaten them, just
threw shells out of the front door.
On
our walk, we also went up a small river to find the beaver dams. What a sight!
The beavers have constructed three water tight dams and a large round home –
whatever a beaver home is called. The trees all around are all dead – it looks
as if an atomic bomb has gone off in the area. There is considerable evidence of
on-going activity however. Higher up the banks we found recently felled trees
with very obvious teeth marks. They are fantastically destructive
animals.
Our
journey up the Beagle Channel to Ushuaia was uneventful. The weather was
incredibly benign, no wind at all, so we had to motor all the way. We tied up
behind Dawnbreaker, who had been in port for a few days and were immediately met
by Roxanne, the local RCC representative, who immediately whisked Tim and John
off to go and look at replacement batteries. Our fears about difficulties on
entering Ushuaia from the Falklands proved to be unfounded – the prefectura and
the customs were all perfectly polite and formalities dealt with quickly. The
temperature continued to climb during the day and reached an incredible 28
degrees – the hottest day of the year. The temperature is now down to a more
normal 14 degrees.
John
and I became tourists yesterday, visiting the museum in the old prison which was
excellent and visiting the small but beautifully put together museum devoted to
the Yamana and Ona indians, who as I have said no longer exist. They have some
old film footage of these people which is fascinating to see, having read so
much about them in Lucas Bridges book The uttermost part of the
Earth.
An
easterly storm went through last night, leading to a very bumpy night on the
jetty – no protection from the East! All is calm now however, and no damage
done. Looking forward to a walk today in the National Park.
