When I reached Waitomo, I was really looking forward to taking photos of glow-worms in the world-famous caves […]
Photography
Yes, I know there is a distinct lack of images in the posts at the mo. Apologies about […]
Missing pix?
All too soon we’ve left the lack ice and are heading back to New Zealand, at the end […]
Campbell & Enderby – NZ’s Peri-Antarctic Islands
Christmas and Boxing Day pass in a bit of a blur. We get our first chance to walk on water (oh, ok, it's fast sea ice - that mean's it's stuck to the land rather than floating freely in the ocean - but it's still water, even if it is frozen!) at Cape Washington, where we have an awesome day with Emperor Penguins and their chicks.
Fluffy Emperor chicks and mountaineering Adelie Penguins ...
We get a chance to see round a couple of bases the following day - Mc Murdo and Scott Base - one America and one New Zealand. The contrast in many ways couldn't be greater - 1200 people spend summer at McMurdo compared to roughly a tenth of that at Scott. Hillary's hut is a fascinating museum piece which feels very modern compared to Scott's Discovery Hut at Hut Point by the American McMurdo base.
McMurdo Sound and a visit to Scott ...
First of all a Ross Seal decides to interrupt our lunch - it's such a rare sighting that the captain very kindly and adeptly manoevers the boat for the best position at a really close range (for a 400mm lens that is!). To put the rareness of this sighting into perspective - Sue Flood, our expedition photographer, says that in 35 years of working in the Antarctic, her husband (film-maker Doug Allen) has never seen even one Ross Seal, and now we've seen two!