Wednesday morning – I think? – and at last I’m up and about after 48 hours in my bunk.

Our voyage leader Sharon posted this as part of her Aurora Australis ‘sitrep’ (situation report) for yesterday: “Most people have been up for meals but there are still alot of people catching up on some sleep and making the most of being able to relax and watch movies while they can.”

Ha. I think what Sharon really meant was a lot of people couldn’t get out of bed. The sitrep for cabin D19 was certainly less buoyant than the official one. Things were pretty grim for me and one of my roommates, as we both suffered seasickness from Monday morning. My other room mate spent the day running back and forward getting us cups of soup and dry biscuits. I’ve been taking lots of seasickness drugs which partly alleviated the worst symptoms. I must confess I did wish for an airlift back to Hobart. If there’d been one going, I would have taken it in a moment.

The best remedy for seasickness is to lie very still with your eyes shut, which eventually gets quite boring as well as unpleasant. Thank goodness I thought to bring audio books along with me. I’ve been listening to The Hunger Games, which is supposedly a young adult novel but has had quite shocking violence and ethical dillemnas for the main character. Plus several graphic descriptions of vomiting, which I didn’t need. It’s hard to skip over bits in an audio book.

I’m sharing cabin D19 with Karen and Louise, who are both weather forecasters, so I get the heads up on the weather outlook first thing in the morning, as they get up before breakfast to do their reporting thing. So far conditions have been relatively smooth, apparently, though some people who’ve travelled south before say they feel more crook this time around. There’s no logic to seasickness.

So – not a lot to report as yet. My upper bunk is comfortable but has no railings or handholds, so I’m a bit worried about how to stay in it if things get really rough. I had a tip from someone (my brain is pretty fuzzy) that I should shove things under the mattress on the outside edge to create a rise that will hold me in a bit. That’s about the limit of my problem-solving abilities today. Oh, and I’ve managed to get my email working. The thought of looking at anything electronic yesterday was hideous. And I’ve scrawled a few paragraphs about seasickness that I hope to fit into the novel somewhere…

I’m sitting in the ship’s library which is a very nice place with lounges and books, immediately adjacent to the mess, so the cooking smells waft in pleasantly (the food by the way is great and I’m looking forward to eating more than soup and yoghurt). There’s a few people reading and a game of cards starting up. In a quarter hour there’s some kind of training session and if I’m still feeling OK after that, I will do some writing. If not, another lie down will be in order.

Counting the days till we reach the pack ice and the ship stops rolling…

Love Jesse xxxx

PS If you’re interested in our daily voyage sitreps, one of the links on my blog takes you to a page where you can click on ‘sitreps’ and have a look at them. I can’t recall which one, but it will one of the aurora ones. Those of you with iphones can, for $1.99, download an app called ‘Antarctic Voyages’ and follow our progress on a map, and see the sitreps straight on the app.