1. 2 | AWW.COM.AU JULY 2010 | 3
GETTYIMAGES.
UUU
inspireTRAVEL
Chill
T
he ice tinkling in our
glasses has been
carved from a glacier
earlier in the day –
100,000-year-old ice
cubes melting slowly
in 30-year-old single
malt. As we stand on
deck, the glacier in question sparkles on
the other side of Paradise Bay, a wall of
blue and white ice a kilometre wide where
it meets the sea. Slowly, it’s receding as
our Finnish-built ship, Akademik Loffe,
leaves the bay.
Antarctica, once described by British
polar explorer Robert Scott as “an awful
place”, is putting on its best face. Today,
the prevailing winds, known as the
“Screaming Sixties”, are still. It’s a balmy
6°C. The sun is shining over a placid
sea and a pod of humpback whales is
escorting us into the Lemaire Channel,
otherwise known as “Iceberg Alley”. Now
and then, a gentle thud rises from the
ship’s ice-hardened hull as it hits a mini-
berg. Tinkle, tinkle, thud, thud, tinkle,
tinkle. On deck, there’s even a young
Australian dressed in thongs, T-shirt
and shorts. It’s incredible to think that
this is the same place where Scott,
Douglas Mawson and Ernest Shackleton
endured such hardships.
Six days earlier, we had left the
Argentine port of Ushuaia for the two-
day crossing of Drake Passage – a
700-kilometre stretch of ocean with
a fearsome reputation.
“If it’s rough, you’ll never forget it,” says
the expedition leader. “That’s when we call
it Drake’s Shake. If we’re lucky, we’ll get
a Drake’s Lake, but don’t count on it.”
As it is, we strike it lucky – a perfect
Drake’s Lake. Above the gentle swell,
albatrosses and petrels circle the ship.
Inside, there are lectures on whales,
giant squid, polar expeditions and the
three species of penguin we will see:
adelie, gentoo and chinstrap.
On the third day, it’s much chillier.
Overnight, the ship has sailed into the
Antarctic Convergence, a frigid current
that circulates around the continent,
effectively sealing off Antarctica from
the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans.
That evening, a bird watcher on the
foredeck yells “landfall”. Is it land or an
anvil-shaped storm cloud on the horizon?
It’s land and our destination – a chain of
snow-covered mountains on the Antarctic
Peninsula, the great finger of land that
rises from the edge of the continent and
stretches north to South America.
Antarctica is twice the size of Australia
and contains about 70 per cent of the
out
Icebergs the size
of aircraft carriers
dwarf a Zodiac-load
0f visitors during a
cruise in Antarctica.
Apristinefrozenworldofsculptedice
populatedwithpenguins,Antarcticahas
beencalledthenextbestthingtovisiting
anotherplanet,writes Mike Dolan.

2. 4 | AWW.COM.AU JULY 2010 | 5
world’s ice and snow. With the geographic
South Pole at its centre, most of the
continent fits within the Antarctic Circle,
the line of latitude at 66 degrees south
that marks the limit of the midnight sun.
It’s a place so pristine that the
Antarctic Treaty, which was signed by
47 nations in 1961, declared it “a natural
reserve, devoted to peace and science”.
On the fourth morning, we wake up at
the entrance of the Lemaire Channel, also
known as “Kodak Gap”, one of the most
photographed places on the peninsula.
Snow-covered peaks, punctuated by
massive glaciers, tower either side of the
ship. Icebergs 10 storeys high drift by like
celestial battleships as flocks of adelie
penguins skim the water.
By 10am, the ship is at anchor and
we are climbing into Zodiacs (inflatable
craft) that take us to the shores of
Petermann Island and a gentoo penguin
rookery. Here, thousands of the birds
tend their chicks and squabble with their
neighbours. Rising above the rookery is a
giant cross, commemorating three polar
explorers who ventured into the mountains
beyond, never to be seen again.
Before returning to the ship for lunch,
we visit Academik Vernadsky Station,
formerly known as Faraday, where British
scientists discovered the hole in the
ozone layer in 1984. In 1996, the British
sold the station to Ukraine for £1 and left
their mock-Tudor bar for the Ukrainian
scientists, who now use it to welcome
visitors with shots of home-made vodka.
On day five, the 16 Australians on
board find themselves in the Zodiac of
Ray McMahon, 75, a fellow Aussie and
clearly one of the most popular members
of the expedition team. In 1963, after
completing a 1700-kilometre Antarctic
expedition, Ray was presented with the
Polar Medal by Queen Elizabeth – the same
award given to Scott and Shackleton.
Ray’s instinct for finding wildlife is
uncanny. As we explore the waters
around Pleneau Island, he leads us to
a giant leopard seal sunbaking on an
icefloe and a pod of humpback whales
feeding on shoals of the small shrimp-
like creatures called krill.
The six days in Antarctica pass
quickly. We track pods of minke whales
around Neko Harbour, kayak around
Dorian Bay, trek over ice sheets on
Wiencke Island, visit several penguin
rookeries and cruise through channels
full of icebergs, sculpted into incredible
shapes by wind and water.
On our last day in Antarctic waters,
there’s a morning on Deception Island, a
desolate volcano with black sand beaches,
where thousands of humpbacks were
massacred at the old whaling station.
Here, during a light blizzard, 26 of us
have a quick swim, where volcanic springs
warm the sea to a little above freezing.
Imagine the scene … snowdrifts on black
sand, where penguins take shelter within
the rib cage of a long-dead whale, as we
plunge yelping into the frigid waters.
That night in the ship’s bar, Ray
raises his glass of scotch and the last of
the 100,000-year-old ice and toasts the
continent we are leaving behind: “Long
may this precious place be protected”.
Until travel to space becomes
commonplace, Antarctica is the closest
most of us are likely to get to visiting
an alien planet. I
Above, from left: A gentoo penguin and her chicks; the expedition ship, the Akademik Loffe; adventurous visitors kayak in frigid waters.
PHOTOGRAPHYBYMIKEDOLAN.
ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME
JOURNEYS
ANTARCTICA: NRMA Travel and
One Ocean areofferingthreecruises
toAntarcticain 2011, departing from
Ushuaia,Argentina.A17-dayprogram
to the Antarctic Peninsula departs
January 24. A 24-day program tothe
Falklands,SouthGeorgiaIsland and
AntarcticPeninsuladepartsFebruary4.
A 19-day program to the Weddell Sea
and Antarctic Peninsula departs
February 21. For details, call 1300 273
972 or visit www.nrmatravel.com.au.
LAN flies daily from Australia to
South America. Phone 1800 558 129
or visit www.lan.com.
PERU: Trafalgar has launched an
11-day Land of the Inca tour, which
visits Lima, Cuzco, Machu Picchu,
Lake Titicaca, Nazca Lines and the
Ballestas Islands. It’s priced at $4750
per person, twin-share (land only).
For details, contact your travel agent
or visit www.trafalgartours.com.au.
SOUTH AFRICA:Adventure
World’s 17-daySouthAfricaPanorama
visits Kruger National Park on safari,
Swaziland and Zululand, Durban,
Port Elizabeth, the Garden Route and
Cape Town. Priced from $6168, it
includes return economy flight,
accommodation and some meals.
For details, phone 1300 295 049 or
visit www.adventureworld.com.au.
Forotheradventures,includingawalking
safariinSouthAfricaandtheNo.1Detective
AgencyauthorAlexanderMcCallSmith’s
Botswana,visitwww.aww.com.au/living.