20-March - Return to Wellington.

20-March - Return to Wellington.

Weather calm and clear sky, - we are all busy scrubbing down the ship to get it looking good for arrival. A nice wallowing swell in the Cook Strait and up ahead are the green hills of the Wellington heads again. It’s always great to see your homeport again.

The end is nigh for what has been an epic voyage. It has opened my eyes to a corner of the world that I had never dreamed of getting to or really shown much interest in but for which I feel as if I have a special connection with now. This last wilderness frontier is truly a magnificent place. After experiencing the magnificence of this last wilderness on earth first hand, learning about and realizing the delicate balance of life that exists there, I have fears for the future of this land. There are serious threats that overshadows this magnificent wonderland and the iceberg sculpture garden, global warming, mans greed for natural resources as well as threats to ecosystems such as overfishing of Toothfish. All efforts be made to ensure sustainability and to ensure that the Ross Dependency will very soon not be another national park of New Zealand but actually part of the Antarctica International nature Park.

19-March –An Exhibition At Sea

19-March – An Art Exhibition At Sea

Somehow I had invited the whole ship into my cabin for a pre dinner drink tonight - the last night at sea. (Someone had overheard that my cabin was the largest cabin next to the Captain’s and somehow talked me into thinking this was a good idea).

The big problem to deal with today - how would I get 46 scientists and crew into my cabin? At lunchtime I had one of those bright moments - I would have an exhibition opening of the Antarctic paintings that I had completed on the voyage. So at afternoon smoko I taped them up in my cabin, + down the alleyway outside, had a nice chat with Brian, the cook and he agreed to bring in some nibbles in at about five-ish. I bribed the ‘Dutch club’, Else and Doc Jen to act as doormen, and spread the word that the official opening would be 1630 hours.
It all worked out great, I think the whole ship just managed to cram in somehow with the overflow in the alleyway gallery just outside. Then right on schedule, bang on 1700 hours, Cookie turned up with big plate sausage rolls and a plate of - you guessed it - smoked toothfish. It was a neat event - an enjoyable evening and a neat relaxed way to spend the last night of the voyage together. My fridge was empty once again ready for arrival back home.

18-March Camel Awards Night

18-March Camel Awards Night

The Big night tonight – the Camel Awards night- official dinner, awards and dance. I still hadn’t made a tie yet so got my paints out and quickly knocked one up, sort of did one in a Kandinsky abstract flavour and paper clipped it ton my shirt collar.

Started off with a pre dinner drink in the voyage leaders cabin, but there were too many of us to fit in so this spilled over into the Captains cabin. Someone then blurted out that my cabin was just as big and someone else decided that this being the case, pre dinner drinks would be in my cabin tomorrow night.

The galley laid on a specials dinner and this included Bryan's special Haggis, (I think it was the first time I tried it). The mate read our the Robby Burns rendition that goes with carving up a haggis and Captain Andrew piped the Haggis in playing Scotland The Brave, jazz style, on his sax.

After the official dinner came the awards, (each award being a special Ross Sea Erratic Stone mounted on a plaque stand. Of course the awards were mainly for bloopers and funnies, lots of laughs and some clever thinking for these.

Of course I had pulled the short straw though and is my day on duty - on the gear until 7am so must stay serious.

17-March - The Voyage home

17-March - The Voyage home

Sea still rough but we are heading north, not so cold today.

16-March Yet another storm brewing & rusty spotted kiwi.

16-March Yet another storm brewing & rusty spotted kiwi.

Yet another storm is brewing and heading our way but we have now changed course to head directly north to try and get out of it’s path. As we steam north I watch the huge waves from the stern and follow the royal albatross gliding on the air currents behind us, truly magnificent to watch. I spot a rusty spotted Kiwi on one of the stern trawl doors – we are heading home.

15-Mar Frozen Equipment

15-Mar Frozen Equipment. The ships side door wouldn’t go down this morning , was completely frozen with layers upon layers of sea ice. Sea spray that had washed over the area and frozen on impact during the previous day’s storm had built a healthy layer. So after our toolbox meeting, it was out with big sledge hammers and big ice picks to break the layers of ice off. Hanging over the side and swinging the hammers and picks with near frozen fingers.

14-March And Still More Snow

14-March And Still More Snow and storm - Deck covered again – there is now a heavy layer of ice all over the deck and is quite slippery in places.