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Published: January 31st 2014
Hello from Terra Australis.
I think one of the most powerful things about Antarctica is the idea behind Antarctica… It’s a place that early explorers believed to be there but could never find it. It’s so pristine and so untouched and it’s never been inhabited. It’s a place where humans have never lived, a place where crops cannot grow… It’s whiter than white – glistening white - a colour of purity and perfection, of peace and tranquility. The hostile environment is beautiful beyond imagination, vast beyond comprehension and it’s empty… Its silence is interspersed with ferocious katabatic winds and mighty glaciers calving and collapsing into the icy waters. It’s an amazing place and I feel so privileged to have been given this opportunity to see it…
It’s an Eden, a Utopia. Somewhere all civilizations have fantasized about – everyone in the world has their own image of the frozen world whether they’ve been there or not…
It’s a crystal desert dominated by ice and it really is an absolute gem of a continent inhabited only by the hardiest of species…
I have begun to know these species quite well and have gotten to watch their interactions quite
closely. Especially the penguins. They are just like us. They squabble and steal rocks from each other, they peck anything that approaches their territory and they attack their neighbours.
They are little people! They are the icons of the Antarctic and we all love them and make fun of them.
They walk like us and they have personalities. They are curious and inquisitive and have a never ending fascination with us… The penguins are amazing and they make Antarctica even more magical.
The more time I spend down here the more I understand it and the more respect I have for it. Everything about this continent is of epic proportion! The ice, the rocks, the wildlife and the climate… And I am here in amongst it experiencing the best of what the Antarctic has to offer…
During this trip, my second trip to the frozen south, I spent much of the time reflecting on the previous trip. I spent a lot of time just sitting with the penguins and sitting alone in the Zodiac on the water. I did not take my camera out as much and took very few pictures. Just to be down here
and absorb it all is a truly moving experience, and I really cherish the time I have spent in this remote corner of our wonderful planet… I also spent a lot of time at the onboard lectures and spent some time in the ship library studying up on the various topics... Geology, glaciology and penguins...
Enjoy the few pictures I took...
These are pretty much the only ones I took on this trip…
D…
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Well said my friend
It is a land like no other. Pure.