Homeward bound at last!

The voyage north has begun. I left Halley on the 5th of Jan and have spent the past few days crashing and bashing through ice, back on board the big red taxi (aka RRS Ernest Shackleton) that brought me to the frozen land in the first place.

I hope you're not thinking " hooray, no more boring white pictures, perhaps we'll see people, colours and non frozen cheese products lining these pages from now on", alas you shall have to wait a little longer. Although nearly out of the ice, I have a 2 week voyage ahead of me, then three months of frollicking in foreign lands before I set foot back on British soil.

It is a gorgeous trip throught the sea ice, a fitting way indeed to end a stunning year in the ice. Us avid wildlife watchers onboard have seen penguins, seals and whales but ofcourse, I failed to capture them on film. Enjoy the photos, although it's hard to capture the big and small of it all...

The end of a big berg teeters on the point of collapse. Noone can resist getting up close for a good look!

Russian cargo ship the Amderma follows the Shack's tracks out of the ice. Strange to have company in such a lonely land.

Headed north - the sea ice gets thin but the ice bergs get bigger (go big or go home icebergs!)

The path opened up as we reverst to take another bash at a tricky patch

Can you spot the stripey annual layers of snow and ice on the berg...cool, eh!

Shack shadow on the sea ice

Kissing dinosaur icebergs...or is it just me who see's that? A gorgeous evening as the sun puts its hat on at last and lights up the pressure ridges as far as the eye can see.