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And so it came to pass that King Neptune and his court were received onboard yesterday afternoon to welcome around twenty newbies into his Antarctic Circle paradise. Adorned with green food colouring and armed with a vile smelling fish his "bears" made all present kneel before his greatness and be initiated. Once homage was paid, the group kissed the royal foot, were smothered with the royal salmon, and then anointed (?) with a foul smelling and looking gloop. Sadly for your cub reporter recognition of prior learning could not be granted for those who had met his greatness at the equator previously. On the off chance that our two old hands Graham Mills and Dave McCormack might not be returning again (having first met Neptune in this location 40 years ago) they were "done again". Overall the Aurora Australis crew did a great job and all who attended enjoyed themselves immensely. This rolled on into a very relaxing BBQ and topped off another enjoyable southern ocean day. The number of icebergs is now on the increase as are whale sightings. The ship is now regularly altering course to avoid the bergs which seem to be increasing in size. As flagged in yesterday's SITREP the Mawson weather forecast for the weekend is looking very bleak, with high winds and blizzard conditions. This means that the ship will now be seeking shelter in the vicinity of Prydz Bay and may not now be able to moor in Horseshoe Harbour until the weather improves late on Sunday afternoon or later. Due to the requirement to seek shelter the current CPR (#4) will be the last deployed this voyage.
Regards
Andy, Sharon and Chris
Map
A map showing Australia and Antarctica. The map shows the journey of one voyage that has occured in the season, with each route highlighted in a distinct colour.