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Penguin in Antarctica - Source: ONE News -
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We have had the most awesome day. It's been a long one. We didn't get back to Scott Base until around 10.00pm but we've done a fair big of travelling and seen some incredible sights.
It seems fitting that Mt Erebus was with us all the way. Every time we got out to look around, the mountain was there, dominating the landscape and looking majestic in the sunshine.
There was quite a team of us, enough to just about fill two Hagglunds. And we had so many bags you'd think we were heading for the Pole.
Our first stop was an ice cave. We slid down through a small hole in the ice into this chamber of white and blue ice. On one side it was sea ice so we all had a taste to check how salty it was. On the other side it was glacial ice.
Back out in the sunshine we had a cup of tea and checked out the seals lying around on the ice.
Our next stop was Scott's hut which is nearly 100 years old. It's being carefully restored. Their sleeping bags are on their bunks. There are tools for fixing things, tins of food, medicine, the darkroom where Herbert Ponting developed all his photos, the table, the chairs, even a dead penguin. Everything is there as though they're coming back shortly.
We met the three women staying down there doing the restoration work over summer. They have got three small, yellow tents for sleeping. Their dining room-kitchen is in one refridgerated container. It's cold on the outside, warm on the inside. They have a lab in another one. Sitting on the bench is a rusty wheel from a bicycle which looks like a major restoration challenge. Back then bikes weren't a popular transport option. They weren't very practical either. It was apparently abandoned after the guy riding it got hypothermia and its been lying around ever since.
After a piece of bacon and egg pie, a muffin and a hot drink, we hit the trail again. There are no roads of course. We're travelling on two metres of sea ice and following a line of green flags which indicate the way is safe. We have a million questions for the drivers. What are the red flags for? What about the black ones? What's this, whats that. They answer every query. Caro and Paul took us today, they're enthusiastic ambassadors for a place they clearly love and respect.
We all jumped out and photographed these enormous ice cliffs while the experts analysed the width of a crack in the sea ice. Hagglunds are many things, but they're not good underwater. Given the all clear to proceed we finally reach Shackleton's Hut and the penguin colony.
You have to admire these early polar explorers. They must have been a tough breed. Once again this hut looks as though they've just gone out for the day. All their gear and supplies are neatly stacked on shelves lining the walls. There are socks hanging up to dry. The beds look small and uncomfortable, but I guess if you're tired enough you'll sleep almost anywhere. And with stove stoked up, it's probably warm and cosy. It would need to be. Even today with the sun shining and enough wind to whip up some snow, we reckon it was minus 22.
The penguins didn't mind though and they were worth waiting for. Walking down-wind from a penguin colony is like walking down-wind from a seal colony - which is a bit like being under a shearing shed with a bit of fish thrown in for good measure. Anyway, they like it that way and it's not for us to complain.
The adelie penguins were there in their hundreds. We sat on a rock outcrop fascinated as one little group would head off across the ice to the sea. Then another would return. And so it went on. As one of our guides said, looking from behind it's as though they're running along carrying a tray.
There was one large and lonely emperor penguin standing like an old man watching all the comings and goings around him. This was not his home - his lot reside elsewhere.
Just as we were leaving, one curious little fellow came over to investigate us. He flapped his wings and looked around wondering what we were doing and why we were there. After a few minutes he casually turned around, dropped onto his stomach and headed back to his mates.
He'd won us over without a word.
