Second vacation from vacation

We've been back home for a few days now, specifically: half of the vacation break is already over... Time to take a look back and a look forward.

In Australia, our favorite competition 'Kilometers vs. Photos' was won by kilometers this time, with 13,328 kilometers to 12,156 kilometers. Weather-wise, we weren't so lucky here, it was about 5°C colder than the long-term average, and it rained quite a bit. There were also some organizational problems (wrong rental car, impassable roads, canceled flights, etc.), but in the end, the good things outweighed the bad - amazing landscapes and a unique wildlife, with sightings of almost everything imaginable.

So far, the first two parts of the sabbatical year have been very nice and, in the way we could spend them, also new, but they were somehow 'normal' vacations. Now something very exotic is coming up: a visit to Antarctica - the actual reason for the sabbatical year (and firmly anchored in our minds for almost 25 years)!

On board a former research icebreaker, we will explore about one-third of Antarctica in approximately 4.5 weeks - from Argentina (Tierra del Fuego) we will head south and then westward until we turn north and disembark in New Zealand. And since we're already in the area, we'll stay a while longer - we don't know exactly how long yet, but the working hypothesis is about 9-10 weeks. On the way there, we also have something else in mind - if we're so close, we want to visit the Iguazu Falls on the border between Brazil and Argentina for a few days.

So the plan is: January 7th and 8th, 2023, travel to Iguazu. We'll stay there for 4 nights. On January 12th, 2023, we'll head to Ushuaia, all the way at the southern tip of Argentina, where we'll board the ship on January 14th. Finally, on February 16th, 2023, we'll be dropped off in New Zealand. There, after a little shaking, we'll spend about a week or so hiking in the Tongariro region, and we still have to figure out the rest.

By the way, this blog will be on hiatus during the boat tour - mobile data is extremely scarce in Antarctica. But afterwards, we hope to be well-prepared to catch up quickly...