Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas to all! Here are a few pics from the last couple of weeks...

Gentoo penguin colony - if you look closely you can see their chicks nestling at the feet of some of those on nests.

Seal specialist Alastair looking down upon the bays and beaches of Maiviken with the entrance to Cumberland Bay behind.


Looking back towards the 2 Petrels & Mt. Hodges from Mt Narval during the day a group of us completed the infamous 7 Peaks Challenge in one breezy but gloriously sunny day a couple of weeks back...

Descending Number 6 - a deceptive number given that you have to descend to sea level and walk several kilometres to begin on the 7th and final peak - Mt. Duse...

The Last Few Weeks...

Blooming heck... time is currently moving faster than me, for the pictures below are taken up to (a number) of weeks ago! I am very aware that the photos are mostly of hills and some are even of me with other people in pretty places - and that readers may want some more meat on those bones. But right now I need to catch up. The boating trip that provided the pic below was for the dual purposes of training on the harbour launches and to take our plant expert and Government officer round to Stromness Bay to inspect the area around Husvik - one of 3 major whaling stations that used to operate in the fingers of the bay. Stromness (seen here behind me) is falling to pieces now sadly, and we are not allowed to approach it closer than 200 metres on account of the danger of inhaling airborne asbestos. But it was a pleasure to get to see it from the boats on such a beautifully clear calm day. This station is most famous back home as being the place where Shackleton's epic journey to self-salvation ended when him and his 2 companions arrived nearly dead at the Manager's Villa.

If you know where to look (and now I do!) you can see the last ridge crossing and descent made by the 3 toward the station where they heard the morning wake-up horn and knew they were going to keep their lives. It's actually a pretty powerful thing to think about when at the spot - perhaps the greatest story of human vs. world survival stories, made real by the immediacy and severity of the distance and nature of the nature involved.


Anyway