The Falkland Islands




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The Falkland Islands

We had perfect weather all the way across the Atlantic so I was not prepared for the swell that hit us the day after leaving Monte. I was sitting in the FIDS mess when the ship started to tip and tip and all the fruit fell off the tables and rolled up and down. I spent a while chasing oranges before heading back to my cabin to clear up there.

A few days later we arrived at Mare Harbour in the Falklands. It was here that we picked up the other 50 people going to Halley. They had all flown down from Brize Norton with the RAF.

The Falklands has two main residential areas - the capital Port Stanley and Mount Pleasent Airport (MPA), the Army station. Everyone else lives in "camp" the farms around the two islands; West and East Falklands. There are very few trees in the Falklands. There are tarmaced roads in the towns but otherwise you get about by landrover on exceedingly bumpy stony tracks.

While I was there I visited the Stanley Museum where they have lots of information about the early pioneering lives of the first settlers and of course stories from people about the war. There are still many areas which are out of bounds because of mines like the beautiful pristine beaches which you can't step on.

In some ways it's very British like they have pound coins but then some things are unique to the Falklands; the roofs are made of corrugated iron, the local radio station annouces the arrival of cruise ships, there are many St Helenians living there and jack-ass penguins build nests on the beaches.

For more on The Falklands - check out www.falklandislands.com

Church at Stanley
This gorgeous photo of Stanley was taken by Mark Ryan the radio and computer expert at Halley. (Mark's a much better photographer than me!)

Rivers of Rock
The Falklands are famous geologically for their "rivers of rock" which are stones that are naturally arranged on the hill sides in such a way that resemble rivers.

The top most rocks are bleached and scoured white by the sun and the wind, but the underlying rocks are blood red.

During the Falklands war soldiers digging observations posts were caught out when their holes could be spotted for miles around by the red coloured rocks they pulled up.