What a crazy few weeks. Exactly 1 month ago I was told I was to get the enderby trust scholarship to travel to the Sub Antarctic Islands and Antarctica. I was both shocked and excited to find that one of my biggest dreams was to become a reality.
However, on Christmas day the Russian ship Akademik Shokalskiy the vessel that was to take us on the journey become stuck in ice on an Australian scientific expedition. Two icebreaker ships from Australian and China were called on to help get the boat freed however the ice kept building up and the distance to open water became greater and greater. After a few days of bad weather and failed attempts to rescue the Russian ship the Chinese rescue ship also got stuck. It wasn’t looking likely that the ships would get out anytime soon so a call went out for a grunty US breaker to start its trip to clear a channel to Mcmurdo base earlier than scheduled and rescue the trapped ships on the way.
I was stuck on edge for several days not knowing what was going to happen and unsure as to whether I should finish booking flights and buying all the gear I needed.
Luckily 10 days before my expedition was to start and before the US ice breaker arrived the wind direction changed causing the ice to develop cracks and then break up. A couple of hours later both boats were on the move heading for open water.
That was the best news I could have heard and the next day unofficially it was all go again. With a few trips to Macpac and a few extra hours at work last week getting all my last minute projects tied up I was all packed and ready to go.
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