Feeling Lucky

We had an interesting conversation with someone recently about what is an appropriate amount of time to spend here in the Falklands; one argument seemed to be that, wherever you go, when the abnormal became normal then perhaps you’d been too long in one place. I’m not sure how I feel about that. One the one hand, it’s true that there is a danger that your world view can be warped by living in such a small and isolated community (an occasional reality check can be necessary), especially when the main news outlet is the Penguin News and it doesn’t stretch to international affairs. On the other hand, there are places and things here that we are beginning to take for granted. Yesterday, for example, we nipped ten minutes down the road for one of our staple walks: a wander around Gypsy Cove. It’s a walk we’ve done a thousand times, but I was remembering that discussion we’d had and I don’t think it has yet become normal. When I really think about it, we’re pretty lucky to live somewhere where our everyday walk near our home turns up such a wealth of wildlife and beauty like this:

Yorke Bay, sadly mostly still mined

Moulting Magellanic

Sunbathing

Falklands Thrush

Rock Shag

Turkey Vulture

Emma chilling with the Rock Shags

Falklands Flightless Steamer Duck

Upland Goose – makes good paté

Picking teaberries for a light snack on the move

Berkeley Sound

The old WWII gun guarding the Sound

Sea lions basking

Looking West toward Two Sisters

(Apologies for the lack of focus in some of the photos, I was carrying the wrong lens).