A very belated happy new year to you all and my apologies for not posting for a while. Its all been very busy and continues to be so with the run up to the referendum - which I am sure you must have heard about. Lots of preparation work to do along with the projects to update the criminal law and application of English law and a two week inquest about a death in South Georgia - along with all the normal work!
But I did have a lovely break over Christmas when first of all jade came down and then for three whole days I had Hengameh, Jade & Jimmy and then Jade went and I had Hengameh and Jim for a while.
I took the famliy to Kidney Island which is a small island about 40 minutes from Stanley by boat. It is packed with wildlife.
I took Jade on one trip before H & Jimmy arrived for a up close encounter with sealions, rockhopper penguins, macaroni penguins, elephant seal, sooty shearwaters and lots of tussac grass. I think she enjoyed it.
Then everyone was here and we had a traditional christmas with turkey and all the trimings. The weather was a bit rubbish over Christmas but we all managed to stay cosy. We went to a friends house near Darwin and played pitch and putt and had a BBQ which made a lovely afternoon.
We also saw some other strange animals in the Falklands - I think this one might be a rare breed as I had never seen one before. It had strange eating habits and seemed to like taking chocolates off the Christmas tree.
Then once Jade had gone I then took Hengameh and Jim to Kidney Island as well. Hengameh really likes Rockhopper Penguins and there are loads of them on the island many with chicks. I still think that they look slightly sinister and I still don't want to meet one in a dark alley.
The islands also have a good number of king cormorants and blue eyed shags which like the rockhoppers allow you to get really close - so you can get some great pictures.
The stars on Kidney Island are the sealions which are noisy, and constantly playing and fighting and playing king of the castle on the rocks on the shore. I have some great video and so does Hengameh. The bull on the right probably weighed a metric tonne or two and was definately top dog!
However for me the cutest are still the elephant seal pups - they have such lovely eyes!
We played lots of board games - the famliy gave me the 'Settlers of Catan' game and the seafarers expansion pack and we spent a lot of time playing this game and eating good food and just being together. It was lovely and I really loved having them down and miss them now they are gone. Hopefully I will see H & Jimmy at the end of March. I am still keeping my fingers crossed to get down to South Georgia and if I do get there I should have some lovely photos to share with you.
Keep safe and well and love to you all.
