Home!

I am home! The journey was really long and really dull, but it is so nice to be back. Robert and Phoebe met me at the airport which was lovely, and I enjoyed eating fruit and chocolate cake in the car on the way home. I have missed fruit a lot. Phoebe is very happy to see me, and was excited to show me her Christmas presents and to open mine (!). She was smaller than I remembered, and more articulate. Also her drawing has improved massively and she can now draw people that actually look like people!

It is odd that it is snowy here. But nice not to need to cover myself in suncream every time I go out. I have noticed things like the birds singing, and am looking forward to going to the supermarket. Spending money is a strange concept too - I didn't have to delve into my wallet at all whilst I was away. Now I have to face a massive pile of washing (not mine, but what has stacked up over the last few weeks) and some washing up from last night. Antarctica seems a very distant memory now, even though I was there only 5 days ago....

This will be my last post on here, so thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it and learned lots of things. I enjoyed updating it, and want to thank Francois for his assistance when I had a very limited email connection.

Departure

The time has nearly come for me to leave Antarctica. I fly out of Rothera on the Dash-7 tomorrow morning, and then get the commercial flight from Punta Arenas at 5am on Tuesday morning. It is going to be a very very long journey (getting to Heathrow on Wednesday morning), and that is quite daunting. With the added prospect of getting stuck because of snow in the UK, I can't say I'm looking forward to it. This last week at Rothera has been great - it's been nice to have time to relax with friends and to get a little bit of work done, as well as getting out to enjoy the outdoors. Unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worse after I went to the island, so we've had lots of snow and poor visibility ever since. I didn't make it back there for the weekend, as we had planned.

I have spent much of the last two days doing household chores and helping with cooking. We all have to take a turn at 'gash' which involves spending the day emptying bins, washing up (I did 8 loads, which was mind-numbing) and cleaning toilets. On Fridays we have 'scrub out' at 5pm, where we all have a job to do to keep the base clean. I had to help clean the bar - which wasn't too bad. I pity the person having to do cleaning today after a Saturday night!

I will be sad to leave tomorrow, but I am ready to go home. It's just that I don't know if I'll come back to Antarctica again, and it's such an evocative and beautiful place that that's a sad thought. But then I suppose not many of you have been or ever will, so I am also struck by how fortunate I am....

It would be really nice to know who is reading this blog, so it would be great if you can all add your name and location in a comment.

See you on the other side of the world in a few days time! I can't wait :)
Jo xx

Need I say more?

Islands

Relaxing on Lagoon Island

Today I was very lucky to be able to take a day off work to go on a boat trip. I went to Lagoon and Anchorage Islands, which are only a few kilometres away from base. It was really fantastic going in the boat, riding through the ice and out into the open water. Lagoon Island has a lovely old-fashioned hut on it, and on Saturday night I am going to stay overnight there with some of my colleagues. The islands both have elephant and fur seals living on them, and lots of birds. I went with a scientist who is looking at springtails and mites - two invertebrate groups which live in melt pools and mosses here. We didn't do much work - it was more of a look and see trip, and for me a time to relax and enjoy the stunning scenery here. I loved it! Here are some pictures- I hope they convey a little of the beauty of this place, and the peace that is to be found on these quiet (except for the elephant seal growls) islands.

On the boat

The refuge on Lagoon Island

Elephant seal