What an incredible 18 months.
I can't believe I am home. I am very happy to see my family and excited to catch up with everyone!
Yesterday I attempted to park my car, as soon as I pulled into the space my brother Dan was like ohhh no you've messed it up already, he couldn't be more accurate as it took me about 5 minutes to try and park the car blocking the Usk carpark...my brother almost walked off it was so embarrassing...I won't even talk about what happened in the shop after that!
I have had such an incredible experience. I have learnt so much from climbing to diving to cooking, medical training, fire training, supervising, dive coxing - thank you to everyone who has taught and mentored me along the way! Made some amazing friends and shared some incredible experiences that will stay with me in memories and the thousands of photos that I have finally sorted through! Being home I am already sneezing from my cat and the lush green grass. I have been astounded at home many more noises and smells there are. I am also very happy to not sign out and tell people where I am going, although it kept me safe whilst in the Antarctic I now feel free but weirdly worried that I should be telling people where I am driving or walking to ha!
A few of my friends summed up their time in a few selected photos which I thought was a great idea, so here are some photos that sum up this incredible experience that I was so privileged to have had! The photos don't summarise everything but things that I thought were important to the experience I had, basically I believe the people that I shared my 18 months made it a time in my life that I will always look back on in happiness.
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| Having an incredible team made our 2016 winter at Rothera even more spectacular, it has been described as a very harmonious winter-Ali Rose's photo!! |
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From the very start we were a team and this great group of people made our Antarctic Winter one incredible journey.
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| An incredible moment when Ben took a photo of Kate and I sampling off an iceberg whilst under the sea ice with his ROV named Debra |
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| Boarding the Protector and going around a few of the islands was very interesting! Generally enjoying all of the wildlife around Antarctica everyday from the whales to the giant petrels to everyone's favourite the penguin. My favourite Antarctic Animal was the sea lemon :) This penguin colony sounded like something from a David Attenborough documentary . |
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| When I talk about this event I get very emotional...seeing two twin otters land in the depths of our midwinter to evacuate people from the south pole was truly inspirational! |
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| Travelling up the full length of the Atlantic on the RRS Ernest Shackelton and then the captain allowed us to swim at the equator! I was terrified of sharks. |
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| The diversity of diving in the Antarctic struck me from my first dive. |
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Winter trips! I had an awesome breaks away with Ali Rose and Al Docherty before and after midwinter, a great way to have a true Antarctic experience and learn how to use tilley lamps and cook off a primus!
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| Oh this transport aquarium has been very emotional - It has been an awesome experience setting up an aquarium, collecting the animals and then travelling up the full length of the Atlantic on the RRS Ernest Shackelton looking after these Antarctic species but I will be honest it did not go through the tropics very smoothly. |
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| Simply enjoying the view..we were so privileged -photo taken by Steve Windross! |
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| Icebergs. I love icebergs. I will miss them a lot. Their colours, their shape the sound they make when they break up. |
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| Oh Fossil Bluff. If you read the book Silent Sound you will understand why I love it there, it's the most peaceful and quiet place I've ever been too. I was lucky enough to spend a few weeks there before and after my winter, flying in on the twin otter was amazing and then keeping this place going and refuelling the plane was a great break from Rothera. |
However...I am only home for 3 weeks as somehow I've got another job and guess where...ha yep the Arctic, no idea how I've managed it but at the end of June I am joining the BAS ship the RRS James Clark Ross as an Arctic Technician for the Scottish Association of Marine Science where I will be sampling all the way up the Barents sea! Amazingly I will be with lots of friends from Rothera so it will be great fun.
Here's a map of where we are going and some information on the project that I will be involved with. http://www.sams.ac.uk/diapod and https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-oban-times/20170126/281943132598787
I will keep writing this blog so that I can share my progress and hopefully a photo of a polar bear!
