Gosh hasn`t the year gone quickly! Its Dad`s Birthday today and we`re off to a tiny little place called Tortel - the road to it was only built last year and before that you had to take a boat to get to it! The last few days down the carratera austral have been excellent - the weather has been superb and we have seen so many things. Yesterday we went up to National Reserve Tamango to try and find some huemels (a deer on the chilean national coat of arms). They tend to go higher into the mountains during the summer so I really wasn`t expecting to see any but there one was stood in the middle of the path!! Really fabulous!! The walk we took was really brillant in another way too - we saw 7 (!) different types of orchids including the magellanic orchid!

After Tortel we return to Terra Luna lodge on Lake General Carrerra where we spent a couple of days. From there we took a tiny plane over the mountains to the San Raphael glacier. A white knuckle ride to say the least! The glacier was spectacular though and we landed nearby for a little boat ride through the iceberg filled bay. Another plane flew over the glacier while we were there and it was amazing to see just how big the glacier was. The six seat plane looked like a mosiquito above the ice!!

Have a wonderful celebration tonight