Wildlife

And even wilder scenery...

From the window of the plane when I was lucky enough to venture further afield:

Happy Christmas and a very Merry New Year!

A 'Dingle Day' at last!

When the sun finally comes along and lights up this place after days spent under a giant white blanket of cloud and snow, it feels like the curtain has been lifted on a world inconceivable only hours ago. Days like today are beyond description in English but in Antarctican we call them 'dingle days'. When the snow sparkles and each face of a mountain is glowing in a different shade. The sea shimmers and, around the base of icebergs, takes on an incredible turquoise colour that could never be mixed. When everywhere you look, you find yourself staring transfixed and unable to take it in. When the thin strands of high ice cloud appear as if they are trying to frame the view. When nothing quite looks real. When the scene in front of you is so breathtakingly beautiful that you can't think beyond the present moment.

I set off from the base, below, to marvel at the raw beauty that surrounds it...

A lonely penguin dwarfed by the icebergs that act as a safe haven for it to escape the lurking leopard seal.

A seal sunning itself on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

After a day out enjoying the stunning weather, including carving some turns on my board at the local ski resort - Vals, I prepared for a night spent weather watching. The recent bad weather has left us with a back logs of field parties to fly out so today 24 hour operations were called for. I'm duty met tonight and it suits me just fine as I can enjoy a few more shades of magic as the light slowly shifts and the clouds start to roll in. Soon the splendour will be hidden behind a veil once again so I'm happy to catch every moment.

I'll try and write a bit more about my job here soon.