There comes a time in every Winter Expeditioners life when you have time to think and reflect upon this journey that we are all on together. Now that mid-winters day has come and gone, the frantic pace of preparing gifts for one another has eased, and all the party remnants are cleaned up or pushed under the carpet, you can relax. Well, actually no you can’t. Because now your brain has to think about something else, and with the weather having kept us inside quite a bit in the last few weeks, my brain has been active in some interesting ways. Please read on to see what I have been contemplating lately.
- How is it that the outside of a packet of Iced VoVo biscuits can show such fluffy, tall marshmallows on the obviously crispy, crunchy and undoubtedly tasty base of buttery biscuit, when the truth is that said Iced VoVo biscuits are decidedly stale, deflated things barely worth dipping into your cup of tea to try and revive them to something like their advertised glory? Disappointment abounds.
- Whilst I am sure that the Chippies do fantastic work and are very efficient in their use of time, just why is it that they do need so many files? After all, they only have two hands each. In the words of Fox Mulder from the X-Files... “There are some files here… lots of files… lots and lots of files...”
- Why is it indeed, that when I decide that I should get very creative and knit my wife a scarf, and after I have gone to the trouble of collecting wool, knitting needles and come up with a design, the best I can do after several days is the unproductive (although kind of cute I must admit) creature below?
As you may have gathered by now, winter can leave us with a little bit of time on our hands. The reality of the severe cold outside, lack of sunlight and limited recreational activities does test out our patience and ingenuity. But this is all part of the Winter Expeditioners life and on its own is a unique experience. But this part of our journey will not last forever. The sun rose for the first time in a couple of weeks the other day bringing with it some beautiful sunrises and sunsets. It’s a waiting game but as in most things… we just have to be patient and the good stuff will eventually arrive!
And arrive it did last week when several trips were made out to the Auster Emperor Penguin Colony. It never ceases to amaze me that in such an inhospitable place, where you can travel for hours seeing nothing but a frozen whiteness, that life can exist here. I was describing this harsh but beautiful place to a friend and he said it sounded a bit like a lion… beautiful and awesome but if you aren’t careful and pay attention it could kill you very quickly!
The colony is set amongst a backdrop of huge icebergs and white icy plains and is awe-inspiring in itself. But then there are these penguins dressed in their tuxedos waddling out to see what you are doing and say hello with real enthusiasm as if they have just been waiting for you to arrive. How they survive and thrive here is beyond me. The air temperature when we visited was around -30°C and that was with no wind!
