Trekking in Tierra del Fuego

Welcome to the land of fire and the southernmost national park in the world.

Sounds impressive, right?

On our last day in Ushuaia, we jumped on a little shuttle bus that took us 40 minutes away from town and deep into the national park nearby.

Apparently when Europeans first arrived here they saw many campfires of the natives and hence named the area 'Tierra del Fuego', meaning 'land of fire'.

A little bit ironic because Ushuaia seems to be caught in a never ending winter.  We rugged up in our best trekking gear for a hike around the forest.

Golden leaves paved the way for us like the yellow brick road.

Emerald city, anyone?

We followed the scenic route along the lake.

Stopping by occasionally to admire the beautiful reflections in the water.

And to marvel and all sorts of weird things hidden in nature.

Like mussels (really wish we could have taken these away for dinner!)

Little crustaceans.

Flowers.

Wild mushrooms.

And wondered what the hell happened to these trees.

Later on, someone was feeling a little daring and kicked their hiking boots off to go for a dip in the lake.

Being Danny, of course.

Not me - it's bloody freezing here for a Queensland girl!

Happy to stay warm and safe on land.

Convinced Danny to join me back on land too.

Then again, who could resist those persuading eyes of mine?!  ;)

It was such a beautiful day to spend the day hiking around Tierra del Fuego.  My only regret is that we should have stayed there longer to see more of the park.  But you've got to leave something to come back for next time, right?