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Ho Ho Ho!
It’s Christmas onboard Aurora Australis! Santa has been and everyone has had their awesome presents (thanks elves – you know who you are!). This afternoon we gathered in an elaborately decorated restaurant for a sumptuous Christmas lunch. As good as the food always is on the AA, the catering team of Bec, Bob, Cassie and Tanya worked even harder than usual to produce one of the most memorable Christmas lunches most of us have ever seen. The spread was simply amazing, and we all enjoyed feasting on all of the best of the usual Australian Christmas fare. Lunch was followed by a relaxing afternoon of conversation, punctuated by a Christmas song (“Deck the Decks”) from Chris O’Meara, our resident bard, and a hilarious visit from a somewhat irreverent Santa (aka Peter, one of the ship’s IR Team) assisted by Favel, our resident elf. Everyone is now relaxing and kicking back after a really enjoyable and special day in the Southern Ocean. If you have to be away from home from friends and family at times like this, it has been a great group of genuine people to share it with. Christmas AA style would not have been possible without the planning and hard work of the AA Crew, and the willing participation of volunteer expeditioners who have gone the extra yard to make sure we have all had a great day.
In other news, the ice berg sweep went off last night – about half an hour after yesterday’s sitrep was sent, we sighted our first berg. The sweep was won by Steve Paine, who has generously donated his winnings to Camp Quality, the ship’s charity. During the night a Bureau of Meteorology Argo Buoy was launched as we passed 60S, and we are now towing CPR #4.
We should meet the ice edge sometime early tomorrow morning, and all things being equal we will arrive at Casey Station on Tuesday morning (25 December). But for now we are just kicking back and enjoying a bit of post lunch bliss and thinking of home. Work and resupply is tomorrow’s problem!
Until tomorrow, shipmates,
Regards
Chris, Leanne, and the V2 Team
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.