Tierra del Fuego and Ushuaia - on land!

As mentioned in a previous blog, Tierra del Fuego, the ‘land of fire’ – actually doesn't have any fire to speak of.  Apparently it was once called the rather less appealing ‘Land of Smoke’!

We arrived in the smallish city of Ushuaia, the world’s most southerly city.  Half of the island belongs to Chile, but Ushuaia is in the right hand side which means it belongs to Argentina. Originally set up as a penal colony based on various models (including those noted successes Devil’s Island and Port Arthur), the gaol was closed in 1947 by Juan Peron.

Ushuaia , Tierra del Fuego

On this trip we've been in many places described by guides as having ‘four seasons in one day’ like Melbourne.  And Ushuaia is the only one to display it – this photo of the TDF National Park was taken whilst I had giant raindrops falling on me.

TDF National Park

 A few decades ago the government encouraged people to move here by offering higher wages and a tax free zone.  They manufactured electrical components and whilst some of these industries still exist, it’s really now driven by the tourism industry. 

'Penguin' and 'beaver' spruiking for business

Over the past few days we had been pretty much been the only tourists at our stops; this certainly changed in Ushuaia as it’s the main stopping off point for Antarctic tourism with more outdoor adventure stores than you can poke a stick at.

We're dwarfed by the giant Star Princess

It’s not that pretty a town but it certainly has a stunning backdrop.

Catamarans Ushuaia

Sea Lions and sea birds - Ushuaia

We did a very pleasant catamaran tour of the channel and then a rather dinky train ride on the way to the TDF National Park using the old route of the train used by the prisoners to collect the timber used to build the town itself.  In a photo above is a beaver with a penguin.  TDF had their 'cane toad' moment when they imported 16 pairs of beavers to examine the feasibility of a fur industry in the early 1900s.  As it's nothing like as cold here as in their native North American home, their fur was pretty useless as it didn't bulk up sufficiently.  So they released them into the forest.  Of course, with no natural predators they multiplied to plague proportions and there are now an estimated 100,000 beavers damming streams and chewing up the very slow growing forests. 

End of the World train - TDF National Park