22nd March
Our guide Darrian met up with us and we drove back up to the viewpoint overlooking Casablanca Volcano. Unlike yesterday the weather was perfect and we had stunning views over the Andes. Although we had been to Parque Nacional Puyehue yesterday, Darrian's local knowledge was invaluable. He showed us loads plants we had missed and put names to the photos of the alpines we had collected.
The Nothofagus were covered with seed, so out came the tarpaulin. After much shaking of branches we had a massive collection of seed for The Forestry Commission and the Millennium Seed Bank. Other good collections were made from Maytenus disticha, the climbing Hydrangea serratifolia, Embetrum rubrum and the small but very beautiful Viola reiche with its golden yellow flowers. That evening back at the Cabañas we had a session of squashing and mushing fruit in buckets of water (technically known as seed cleaning) before heading out for a bite to eat and a few well earned pints!
23rd March
Another long travel day lay ahead of us with a quick stop off to look at a Chilean Fire Bush (Embothrium coccineum). This plant is very special as it is one of the fabled yellow flowered forms. Even better, it had a few seedpods on. So we collected a small amount - fingers crossed that it germinates. The rest of the journey passed uneventfully until we got to just outside Melipeuco (our home for the night). Everyone was buzzing as we got our first glimpse of the Monkey-Puzzle Trees (Araucaria) on the ridges of the surrounding mountains. This was one of the plants at the top of our list of must-sees for the trip and we could hardly wait to see them up close and personal tomorrow.
