Travel Journal

For me, it’s the deep blue colour of the ice that keeps drawing me back. There’s an incredible sense of humility you feel when you see just how massive the continent is.

It sounds like a cliché, but it really is ‘the trip of a lifetime.’ Once you’ve been, you come back a passionate supporter of the ‘Ice’ and the need to keep it just as it is!

We were woken up at 4 am today by our expedition leader, Graham. Since we were already well south of the Antarctic Convergence, it was broad daylight. The weather was fair, with light winds, and not too cold. Perfect for a brisk walk. By 5 am, we had landed on South Georgia at the beach at Fortuna Bay, and our small team of Kiwi explorers was ready to follow in Sir Ernest Shackleton’s footsteps. Our goal was to walk the last 2 hours of his epic 1916 traverse of South Georgia, the final leg of his marathon rescue attempt to save his crew stranded on Elephant Island.

Compared to what ‘the Boss’ had achieved, our task was just a stroll around the Bay, up a gentle snow slope to a ridge, and then to a Pass. We’d then slide down an easy snow slope and walk down a valley, from where we’d be picked up by a Zodiac and back to our ship in time for breakfast!

But reaching the Pass was something special. From there, we could look down at the ruins of the old whaling station at Stromness Harbour. The story goes that when Shackleton, Crean, and Worsley heard the whistle from Stromness that morning, calling the men to work, they knew they had completed the first-ever confirmed land crossing of the South Georgia interior. Standing on that same spot and imagining the relief they must have felt was amazing. Goosebumps don’t even begin to describe it.