I desperately needed a weekend away, by Friday last week I was turning into a hater, there was not much empathy left in my heart and I needed a urgent recharge.  Six weeks on station in a row was becoming a little bit like ground hog day and I was running out of love for every-one, hubby and family at home included.

So on Saturday 4 of us packed the Hagg and headed off to visit the Auster penguin colony and have a night on Macy Island.  The Island is about 48kms from the station over the sea ice and the drive is spectacular past lots of ice-bergs and glacier edges.

The day started well with an amazing bright aurora directly overhead, it was moving quite quickly and dancing around the sky with big curtains of colour dropping like a blind and then quickly dancing away again.  Stunning but we had a mission so we set off.

At 0900 the sky was just starting to lighten and it was beautifully clear, we were hoping to get to Auster Emperor Penguin colony around 12, so that the light would be good for photo’s.

A couple of hours in a Hagg awaited us, now going on a road trip in a Hagglund is slightly different to a road trip in a normal car.

• Number 1 you have to wear ear muffs, which kind of limits the conversation and the shared sing alongs.
• Number 2 the heating takes about an hour to kick in so everyone is huddled in triple layers of down
• Number 3 the hagg has tracks not wheels and therefore it is a very bumpy trip over the sastrugi, so bumpy that you might bite your tongue off if you try to talk!!

It’s kind of relaxing though, you just plug in your headphones put on some tunes, in this case Illy, sing along to yourself and watch the alien landscape slowly come to life out the window.

About 30 mins from the station ice-bergs start to loom out of the dawn light, glowing blue and white as the sun hits them.  They are like majestic old buildings, just starting to crumble and decay, all different shapes and sizes and colours.  Some with big caves in the side, others with towering facades of ice that glitters like crystal.  They are beautiful and other worldly trapped in the sea ice like the pause button has been pressed.  The same ancient energy as Ubirr or the gorges in the Kimberley’s radiates off them, relaxing and calm.

Across the sea ice run large seams that scar the surface, formed by the currents underneath that have caused the sea ice to crack and then reform.  In some place they can be huge as the plates of sea ice have ridden over each other and in others a neat little seam running away to the horizon.  The sea ice is also covered in sastrugi which are made as the constant wind polishes the ice causing groves and piles of icy snow.

After about 2 hours we make it to Macy Island which is were the little hut we can stay in is located.  The Island is covered in snow and surrounded by ice-bergs that you have to wind your way around.  Jumping out of the hagg, I immediately sunk to my knees in fluffy dry snow, happy days.  I love snow, especially fluffy dry snow!!  Going to the huts is always fun, when you first scrap the snow off the door and open them up its like a little frozen time capsule.  Everything is suspended at -20, all the food is frozen, the water in the pot on the stove is frozen, even the inside walls are covered in ice crystals.  The routine is the same, plug in heaters and turn up to full blast, wait a couple of hours then remove first layer of clothing.  In this case though it was heater on and get back in the Hagg to head for the penguin rookery.

Auster rookery is about 15 mins drive from the hut, I was so excited.  This is one of the big tick items that I wanted to do.  The Emperor penguins return every year to the same place to mate, and lay a single egg which the males then balance on their feet to incubate while the females go to feed.  Around the end of July the eggs hatch and tiny little grey downy balls appear, the females return to feed the babies and the males go and feed.  This visit I was just hoping to see the penguins, that was enough.  The rookery is located in between ice-bergs and at first I couldn’t really see anything but the dirt snow were they had been standing but slowly the small black line on the horizon came into focus and there they were!!!!  Amazing just like I had pictured, all standing in a little huddle.  Tummies facing in to keep themselves and their eggs warm and all slowly moving in a circle rotating from the middle of the pack to the outside.

One of the best things about Antarctica is the way the wildlife is so unafraid, they are curious and inquisitive.  The privilege of sitting quietly and having a wild animal approach you so close that you can sit and just observe each other is amazing.  It was worth waiting 5 months to see this miracle.