I'm in Antarctica!!!!!

After three weeks on the ship, our Orange Splendour Aurora Australis, we finally arrived at Davis station on Sunday evening. We didn't get to the station straight away but were allowed on the sea ice to watch the penguins and stretch our legs. I am HAPPY....so amazing to be here again, not only have I been lucky to have seen Antarctica once but now I'm back and will spend a minimum of 14 months here (and 18 months if I get an extension!). We are busy with the resupply right now, offloading cargo and refuelling the station with around 80 people onsite at the moment. Mawson fly off people are staying at the ship waiting for the CASAs to fly to Mawson but the weather has not been co-operating so they will have to wait. We walked to the station across the sea ice in the morning of Monday 7 November which will be my very special day.

The trip down here was absolutely fantastic - a slow transition from "civilisation", warm weather and many colours to relentless wind, icebergs and sea ice and an endless nearly monochrome world. I feel the same amazement I felt last time but even more so perhaps as I experienced the anticipation and excitement of seeing the first ice lumps in the sea, the first emprerors, adelies, seals, petrels and skuas. I could go on forever about how I love the adelies, the cheeky little darlings, waddling along and waving their flippers and displaying a plethora of behaviours from ecstatic displays to apprehensive poses or what I could swear is the guilty look of someone who has just stolen someone elses nest rock.

The official changeover will be in a couple of days and I will then move into my permanent room in the main accommodation building, which means unpacking all the unaccompanied personal effects boxes. Right now I am doing postal agent duties and it is great to see how many people still send "proper" mail. Email has made a big difference though - I can just imagine what it would have been like back in the early days of exploration when it could take up to two years to hear from the loved ones.

Will write more later once I get settled a bit more - here some pikkies from the trip for starters (have taken about 2.5GB worth of photos before even getting to Davis!)