So…. no call last night about the sighting of the Aurora Borealis…. we both woke up quite a few times each in the night and had a look out the window, but what was going to be a clear sky clouded over…. *sad face*

To add insult to injury – it has not stopped raining today – at all, so we rugged up and set off on our way around the peninsula stopping at all the little 2 building villages we could find.

The end of the peninsula is a national park to protect the big volcano and glacier that’s there.  We turned off the main road towards the volcano and our GPS said “Is your car suitable for this road?”  We thought, well, yes, we’ve driven on worse roads than this in the past couple of days…. so we drove about 100 metres when we came across a sign that said “Warning – large chasms appear without warning”, so we pulled her into reverse and headed back onto the main road – crisis averted.

The first town we came across offered some lovely eating establishments…

But even better scenery…

The houses are so simple.  There are not many fences and hardly any outside covered areas which seems a little weird in such a wet/cold place.

The whole peninsula is a volcano belt and so there are lava fields everywhere you look

We got to the western most point of the peninsula where there was a lovely little golden sand beach….

… and a lovely picnic area.

We are discovering that waterfalls are a dime a dozen here… One town we came across was surrounded by them – I’m sure the kids who play here couldn’t care less about them!

Another wonderful find in the driveway… I’m not sure I’d like to be here when this is a necessity.

We have wondered what the hell people do in most of the villages with only 2-3 buildings, but this town definitely had a bit going for it.  There was a harbour and heaps of boats, a school and a public swimming pool!

It even had a different design of church!  All the churches thus far have been the exact same design and colour (besides the black one from yesterday!)  And we wondered if maybe Mike Brady had something to do with selling his one design.

This one however was something slightly different.

I’m in love with the horses here – their wind-swept manes blowing in the 40 knot breeze… their short, yet strong stature, the variety of colours….. none have been close enough to the fence near a pull off the road zone for me to stop and chat to…. but not to worry, as we are staying at a farm stay tonight with horses, so I’ll have a little chat there.

So, you know how I just said that we were staying at a farm stay?  What did you imagine the lodgings would be like?  Did you envisage a farm house?  A cabin perhaps?  A renovated stable?

We’re staying in a donga.

Were you thinking we’d be welcomed by the farmer?  or somebody hired to welcome the guests?  We arrived to a note on the notice board letting us know which room would be ours for the evening.

There is a lounge area with some comfy couches and lovely artwork and a breakfast area.

On our drive today Me Jenny and I were discussing what was going to be on the menu this evening…. what would we feel like…. maybe soup?  There’ll probably be something with lamb due to the amount of sheep they have here….

So when we arrived at our donga and there was nobody there to meet us we rang the main farmhouse where the owners live and let them know we’d arrived…. her reply “Yes….”  (I know she wanted to add …. and?) I asked her if they offered a meal for dinner….. “No, we don’t do that at this time of year.”  And that’s fine if that’s your policy, but a little heads up would have been nice.

As the closest place for dinner was going to be in the nearest main town we decided that we’d crack open the cheese and bickies that we’d purchased in Amsterdam.

I also asked if any of the horses were nearby for a little chat and a pat and she told me that there were a few in the stables that I was welcome to go and visit.

So we visited 4 of the saddest horses that you’ve ever seen in these tiny stable pens.  One of the horses could have even been a donkey – we’re not quite sure.  Anyway, it was underwhelming and a little bit sad after seeing so many horses roaming free in their fenced paddocks.

I had wanted to see horses like this with the wind in their hair and not a care in the world, except for maybe being freezing out the in rain having to stand and sleep on marshy sodden ground.

Anyway – time to move on….. back to our donga we went to prepare the evening cheese and bickies…. then maybe watch a little TV on this brand new, state of the art JVC TV…..

… or perhaps head to the common area lounge room for a bit of light reading?

Small mercies – it’s warm, it’s dry and there’s nobody else here – yet….. there were two more welcome letters on the noticeboard, so there’ll probably be two more lots of guests tonight, but at 7pm they probably knew that there would be no dinner here and have gone in to town.

I’m pretty sure we won’t fade away.

This post sounds like one big whinge fest…. I apologise – I’m probably hangry.

Note to Lyn Tyson – Travel Manager extraordinaire – please don’t be concerned – we’re fine.