Puerto Natales is the starting town for trekkers before they depart to Torres Del Paine. Torres Del Paine is one of South Americas best national parks. Full of green lakes, snow capped mountains and glaciers you can see it all by foot in only 4 days. So we decided to do the W trek.

We started early at the hostel with a great breakfast and then a 3 hour bus transfer to the park. We had to take a ferry the other side of a lake where the trek began. It was cold and within the first 10 minutes my nose was running and totally frozen but then after a little while I got into the swing of things and we were well underway. We were both carrying our big packs with about 14kgs each. Junior had the tent and I had all the food. On day 1 the walk was about 3.5 hours long with views of the snow capped mountains, glacier and icebergs. It was awesome as we had both never seen icebergs before. We were able to fill up our water bottles with fresh cold glacier water from the streams along the way. It was so fresh and clear it was amazing.

At the top of some mountains it was windy and so so cold we were trying to get photos and getting blown around all over the show. 

We got to the Grey Refugio camp site (named after the grey glacier that looks over it) after about 3.5 hours and 11km of trekking and decided that was far enough for the day. There is another camp site an extra hour or so on which is free but we decided that the $13000 pesos for the two of us, about $6 dollars wasn't too bad. We set up camp next to Zein, Ollie, and Ian who we had meet along the way. As well as a german couple, Louisa and Christov who were also going the same way.

At night we chilled in the shelter where they had cold beers, hot drinks and most importantly a wood fire. There was even hot rocks to hold to warm up your hands. We had to grit our teeth and head outside to cook dinner which consisted of soup with bread. Classic camp food. At night it was not as cold as what I thought I think because the wind had stopped. Although I did still steal a hot rock for my sleeping bag! There was even a hot shower there which we used to warm ourselves up before bed. 

We were really close to the glacier and woke up about 8am in the morning with views of icebergs floating past. We had coffee and 2 minute noodles for breakfast, which we had to adapt with chicken stock because the only flavour at the supermarket was prawn. Then we packed up and started our 3 hour walk back to the ferry point with our lovely new friends (happy Zein). It was a pretty good walk even though we were a bit tender from the walk the day before.

Had lunch at the bottom which was crackers with Vegimite (thanks Kath) and chocolate biscuits. After lunch we had a 2 1/4 hour walk to the next camp ground about 7.5km away. Five minutes into walk I was sore my hip was killing me I had to stop and take pain killers and continue on. Everything was hurting as we reached the next camp which was a free camp so even more simpler than the night before. I was pretty happy to get there. Junior was as well as it gave him time to rest his sore knee. I guess there's nothing like a few hours hiking to remind you you're getting old! Once we'd set up camp we headed down to the river where there were rock pools and amazing views of the mountains. The water was freezing but people were having a quick wash. I was too scared. We cooked up delicious spag bowl from the packet for dinner and then Junior had to wash the dishes in the river which was so cold that it hurt. We went to bed early with the sun still out. Which isn't hard down there because it seems to be out until about 10.

Day 3 we got up about 8am and had more chicken noodles for breakfast and a coffee. We had another 4.5kms to walk first thing in the morning to view the green lakes, mountains and avalanches. The boys were a bit quicker and took a bit of a lead while Zein and I took a more leisurely approach. We caught up with the boys as they waited for us at another free camp only to find Ian wasn't with them. They thought he was with us and we thought he was with them. It seems somehow our geography teacher friend from London had got himself lost and went back to camp which we found out when we got back.

The walk wasn't too bad on the way there as we had left our big bags down at the camp and just took a day pack with us, but then on the way back it seemed to take ages. We were still a bit sore but had to keep going. We saw heaps of avalanches which was best part of this leg. One was so massive we got it on film and we were wondering if it was going to make it over the valley to where we were.

We had lunch down where we had camped the night before and packed up the tent and bags and then left for the second part of the trek that day. This walk was only 5.5kms and mostly down hill which I was happy with but felt sorry for all the trekkers going the other way. We got to the lake and hit a stoney beach which was amazing. It starting raining a little bit but luckily we reached the camp not long after. This camp was supposed to be one of the best but it turned out not to be. There wasn't enough room for all the campers and the ground was full of rocks and tree roots. It had a good hot shower but that was about it. We could hardly get in to the Refugio to warm up near the fire because it was so busy. We had spag bol again for dinner. Zein and Ollie pulled out a cake for desert which was a spin out. They were well organised trekkers. They had the best food. They cooked up pasta salad for lunch and then for dinner they had a proper cooked spag bol. Also we must not forget the 45 bread rolls they brought along. Still eating them when we finished the trek. Lets just say it put our food to shame.


On day 4 the morning breakfast talk was if we leave early we could get the bus at 2pm and finish a day earlier as the weather was a bit s***. I was happy to hear this because eveything was still hurting. We all agreed we'd see how we went when we got to the turn off. When we got there we were feeling quite good so we decided to go to the top camp and stay one more night to finish the W. When we got to the camp and had lunch we were all shattered and the weather was really getting bad. So we made a group decision and yay it was time for the down hill home straight. It was pretty painful. It was supposed to take about 3 hours but we made it in about 2 and wow my feet were so sore and I could just imagine the blisters at the end of this.

There was an amazing hotel at the bottom where you got a mini van back to where the buses were so we wondered in for a seat out of the cold. As we sat down a waiter came over and told us it was ok to sit but could we please leave our packs outside.I guess the sight of half a dozen backpackers with their packs might have been a bit much for their up market guests. We sat down and had a hot chocolate and our first beer in 4 days. It was bliss. We waited 2 hours for the mini van and then took the bus the 3 hours back to Puerto Natales.

As we were back early we had to find another hostel because ours was fully booked. It was a bit of a pain but luckily the one just down the road (Lili Patagona?) had a double room with our own bathroom at a reasonable price. So we treated ourselves. The next day was recovery and clothes washing day. At night we caught up with all the other travellers for dinner at an amazing African restaurant. The food was delicious especially after camp food for 4 days. I had a great steak and Junior had the ostrich.