The big day is getting closer! Today I moved from the Antarctica Hostel in town up to the Hotel Ushuaia which is my joining hotel for the cruise. The hotel itself is very nice and has lovely views over the town and the Beagle Channel but it's a fair hike down to the shopping and restaurant areas of town and a tiring one back up (about 20 minutes up steep slopes and stairs). Taxis are cheap but not that easy to find one when you want one in town.

I checked in up here this morning and met Sally my roommate. Not sure if we are cabin mates as well. She's a nice lady about my age I think, from England. She was heading out today with Judith ( 80 yo lady from Perth I met in immigration line in Buenos Aires) and Judith's friend so after a brief chat she left. I managed to get some washing done - Hoping it dries by the time I have to pack in the morning. I then headed down to town to find the place I'm hiring my gear. The lady there suggested it would be better to come back in the afternoon as they would have more sizes available and could send my stuff direct to the ship.

I then walked down to the port but couldn't see if the Expedition was in yet. 2 big cruise liners blocked most of the view which explains the excess of American accents I heard in town. I then walked out to the eastern end of town to the prison museum. It's actually several museums ( prison, historical, Antarctic, naval, and arts) all situated in the various wings of the old jail. There was even an exhibit on Australian jails for some reason!

I then headed back in to town and decided I really did need a fleece digit the shops. Wouldn't you believe it - it's as impossible to but track suit pants here as it was back in Sydney so I settled for just a fleece jacket. Hope my long johns can keep me warm enough!

After lunch I headed back to the clothing hire place at the western end of town. The English speaking lady wasn't there but the Argentian guy was very helpful and did his best. Unfortunately it seems that emailing and reserving your gear means nothing. You basically take pot luck and hope to find stuff that fits when you are there. I got a jacket ok but pants were a major issue. I was hoping to get a pair of the insulated waterproof ones. Unfortunately the ones they had either drowned me (and came up to my armpits) or fit perfectly everywhere but were just too small in the waist :(. I eventually found a pair of thin plastic over pants that fit and will keep me dry if not warm. Maybe if I double them up with the ones Karina gave me I'll be ok. Serves me right for being fat.

Seems the guy in the shop knew nothing about being able to send the clothes direct to the ship so I threw the bag over the shoulder and hiked back to the hotel. I figure the stairs were penance for the hamburger I had for lunch.

After 6 hours on my feet I'm a tad tired so will probably hang around the hotel tonight. (I think they count on that - I bet the restaurant here does a roaring trade!) hopefully they will get the pillow I asked for this morning in time for me to go to bed tonight. (you'd think when they made up the room this morning they'd have noticed that one of the beds didn't have one!)

I'm so looking forward to getting on the ship tomorrow! There was a photo of it in the place I had lunch which gave me a little thrill. We check out of the hotel at 10am and I then have until 4pm to wander around town and hopefully get some pics of the boat in port. There are a couple of excursions available for tomorrow but the only one that interests me is the beagle channel one which looks similar to the one I did yesterday.

After a few hours wandering