On February 17th, 2019, after 480 days on the road and 47,370 kilometres, we arrived in Ushuaia, affectionately known as El Fin del Mundo, the end of the world. It is the farthest south that one can drive, farther south than Cape Horn in Africa, farther south than the island of Tasmania, and about 1,000 kilometres from Antarctica.
Derek and Piper give each other a congratulatory “high five” at the gates to Ushuaia.
Well, that’s not exactly true. There is a road outside of Ushuaia called the “J” Road that goes a bit further south than the town itself, so after spending a night in a parking lot along the Beagle Channel in Ushuaia, we headed out for a couple of nights of wild camping.
The border crossing into Argentina on Tierra del Fuego.Celebrating with some artesanal beer, poured from the mouth of a penguin pitcher.Hmmm…I wonder if it gets windy here? On the “J” Road we drove through historical estancias that are now wildlife reserves. There were numerous small herds of semi-wild horses.Some kind of cormorant or gannets, we think.
The furthest south you can drive. Even though the latitude is similar to that of Edmonton in the northern hemisphere, it was quite cold here considering that we visited in the equivalent of August in the northern hemisphere.Our camp along the Beagle Chanel…you can see Seymour up on the bank.We had a drift wood fire, a bottle of Mendoza champagne and some Argentine beef to celebrate.
The large island of Tierra del Fuego (land of fire) was named by sailors going through the Beagle Channel who saw the fires of the indigenous peoples who lived mostly unclothed in this cold place. The sailors could see small fires everywhere. It seemed so fitting to have our own drift wood fire, and as the sun set we could another fire across the channel, on the Chilean island of Isla Navarino.
Piper celebrates by “killing” some seaweed on the beach.Sunset over the Beagle Channel. This body of water is where Captain Fitz Roy sailed the Beagle with Charles Darwin on board.Some people see whales in the Channel….we kept watching but didn’t see any.
We spent another night in Ushuaia, went out for a nice dinner to continue the celebration, and then for the first night in many, many months, we started heading north.
Driving back into Ushuaia we went through a late summer snow storm. Higher up the pass there was accumulation of snow on he ground.Old wrecked tugboat in the harbour in Ushuaia.
Felicitaciones!! 🥂🎉. We have trully enjoyed your adventure, and look forward to your northward journey. Buen viaje!
Diana y Pedro y Medley 🐾🐾🎋
Gracias Diana, Pedro y Medley! Esperamos que todo este bien en San Miguel!
love love love the photo of Derek and Piper high fiving at the Ushuaia post! So cool.. Congratulations to you guys! So stoked you made it.. <3
Thanks guys. It was a pretty special moment for us…not Piper understood the significance, but she is always up for a photo shoot.