Hengameh &Jim go and Winter arrives!

Hi All, I hope all is well with you.

April saw Jim and Hengameh visit me and then go back to the UK and has definately seen the begining of Winter as the mornings are now dark until almost 8am and the evenings draw in and the weather has changed dramatically with strong winds, cold nights and the first snow on the hills. As I write this blog it is blowing a gale outside and I can hear the house rattling!

While Hengameh and Jim were here we tried to do some things that were interesting for both of them. I arranged for us to go whale watching and we saw a pair of Sei whales, Very difficult to take photos as you don't know when or where they are going to surface- but if you get lucky you can follow the whale's 'footprint' on the surface of the water. Hengameh got some good video and I did manage to get some decent pictures....

On the way back the boat popped into Gypsy Cove where we were lucky enough to see some Comerson dolphins - they seemed to enjoy playing in the backwash of the boat.

Also while Hengameh anbd Jim were here we made our first trip to West Falkland and stayed at Port Stephens - which is about as far west as you can go on West Falkland. we travelled on the government air service FIGAS in a twin prop Islander plane. It was about an hours flight and on the way we saw some whales again from the air. Port Stephens is very pretty as you can see.

We went on a long walk to what is known locally as the 'Indian Village'which is an area with interesting rock formations that look a little like wigwams.

It was a long walk  - about4 hours in total and we got mobbed by Johnny Rooks on the way back - they are a very bold bird of prey that knows no fear. They hovered feet above us as we made our way down Mount Stephens and if we are honest they were quite scary.

I hope Jim and Hengameh had a good time here - I certainly enjoyed having them here and the house has been very quiet since they left.

I was so distraught when they left that I forced myself to go the the sheep and ram show at Fitzroy! I can honestly say that never in my life have I seen such good looking sheep.

And I found out what makes a good ram - see if you can guess!

Well April is almost over and May is upon us and on the 22nd May Jade arrives on the Falklands to stay with me for a few weeks and hopefully get some work experience. I am really looking forward to her arrival - only three weeks to go!

Work is fine, oil exploration continues despite the best efforts of our neighbours and the government's finances continue to do well. I love hearing from you so emails and comments are welcome.

Oh and I almost forgot - I have got two bantams to keep Dora company so we will see how they get on - so far - so good - but no eggs yet....

Love to you all.

Mark