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