We could sleep in today! Breakfast at 10am. My roomie can’t keep still that long, he managed to pretend to be asleep until 8 and then shot off for a jog. Ah well, it gave me a chance to write up my notes.

It was more like 11 before we left, one of us usually isn’t ready or forgets something. The Brazilians would be catching us up at our night stop at the Hotel Baha (for once we actually booked ahead) in the town of Porto St Julian.

Next was a petrol station fill up and the usual crowds gathered and took photos, the people are so friendly. We did wonder, especially with a large memorial to the Falkland war dead close at hand.

Along Rn 3 we took a slight detour and stopped for a paddle. Chris, Ivor and Alan decided to go for a swim, but the locals warned us not to go in further than your waist as the currents are too strong. The water was so cold that the swim was more of a blur anyway! The beach was interesting, stretches were made of nothing but shells. Ancient hard mudstone appeared in patches full of large fossilised oyster shells looking like warts on skin, if you looked closer the whole of the mudstone was a mass of tiny shells.

Amid much waving and photos from the other beach goers we were off again. Today we completely forgot to visit the petrified forest, and so we resolved to check where we are going to pass in future! We drove through another oil town, Fitz Roy. A huge statue of an oil worker was being erected in the main thoroughfare. A giant turning a valve. Throughout the region we passed nodding donkeys pumping their oil day and night. Not a valve to turn in sight.

Our only other stop was for lunch about 150km before Porto St Julian. A roadside hotel/café/fuel station. A huge tour bus towing a hotel(!) was re-fuelling. About 20 Germans live on this bus as they are toured around South America, quite amazing, I have no doubt it is very expensive and certainly not as comfortable as the hotels we have stayed at. One side of the trailer it towed was a mass of little windows for each little cell/bedroom. Still, each to his own. A Swiss couple in a restored 1970s Landrover pulled in behind us, they were starting their round the world adventure.

A mining Geologist from Aberdeen came to say hello. He was working on the gold mines after they have been re-opened from a 100 year slumber. A keen car enthusiast, and in the past an owner of 2 vintage fire engines, he enjoyed spotting Vintage cars on the farms in the area. There is something about people who are a long way from home, or who are travelling the world – almost a sadness or loneliness. Sometimes so strong it is almost tangible, it manifests as a longing for a chat, for exchange with someone with a similar cultural background. One is always left wondering whether they are happy or somehow stuck in what they are doing.

Driving through this vast, flat country you can imagine you can actually see the curvature of the world. It all seems curved, and so logical that the earth is just one large ball.

When we finally reached St Julian it was supper time. A quick wash and out to a fish restaurant, but not before passing what looked like a full scale replica of a 17th C sailing ship. The amazing thing about these early colonial/colonisation ships (The Mayflower, the Golden Hind etc) is how small they are. This one looked to be open as a museum.

The fish restaurant was fine and had a good selection of wines and a very capable waitress who with excellent humour managed to handle the lot of us well. Matos showed us his party trick, it is amazing what he can do with a couple of forks and tooth pick!