Category Archives: News

I’m starting this post sitting up on my bunk in cabin D30 – one cabin mate is snoozing, the other is typing. It’s Thursday 28 Feb and we’re chugging across a flat, calm ocean, just a day outside Hobart. We’ll … Continue reading →

I’m in classic Antarctica, where the phrase to live by is ‘Hurry up and wait’ and controlled chaos reigns. Station work programs theoretically wrapped up on the Australia Day weekend, with celebrations including the summer dip (in sub-freezing sea water), … Continue reading →

Everyone says the Antarctic summer at Mawson is short – and now I know why. The station celebrated the end of summer last night by transforming into a casino and festivities went on until the wee small hours. Field travel … Continue reading →

Antarctic summer peaked last week, with daytime temperatures reaching five degrees. In front of the station, the sea ice is still cracking up and melting, especially at the tidelines. On the hottest days, turquoise melt streams gushed down the ice … Continue reading →

I’ve been at Mawson for a month, during which time we’ve got to 24 hour sunlight – the photo above was the last sunset. I’m hoping not to count days and weeks until I leave again, but it’s hard to … Continue reading →

Twenty three hours of sunup today, 18 minutes more than yesterday. When the sun’s below the horizon it isn’t dark, just less bright. In a couple more days we’ll be in round-the-clock Antarctic sunlight. Time feels at once endlessly stretching … Continue reading →

My alarm bleeps at 6am and I open the curtains and peek out. It’s been light for half a day already, which can really wreck the sleep patterns… I hop up and pad down the hall to the galley to … Continue reading →

What a two-week Antarctic voyage does: Shakes you up Lays you out Slows you down Turns you in. It was a surreal fortnight, carried across 5000km of ocean in the belly of the great metal beast – the Aurora Australis … Continue reading →

Going to Antarctica is one big roller coaster. Arrived Hobart Sunday. Two days of training at the Australian Antarctic Division, which mostly consisted of graphic descriptions (with illustrations) of the various ways you can hurt yourself or die. Have now … Continue reading →

It’s now official – together with screenwriter Jane Allen, I’ve been awarded the 2018/19 Australian Antarctic Arts Fellowship.  This is the journey of a lifetime – setting out on one of the final trips of the Aurora Australis icebreaker from Hobart on … Continue reading →