Mt Kosciuszko 2011

On Friday November 18 we boarded a plane to Melbourne where we landed on Sunday November 20th.
We stayed 2 nights with our friends Patty and Jono and their 3 daughters in Aspendale. Very nice to catch up!

Two days later we drove to Thredbo to prepare for the 'big climb'. We checked into the Denman Hotel and met friendly owners Judy and Ed.
Up early the next morning, November 23rd, for our climb to the top. Yes, 'our' climb: Mt Kosciuszko is 2228m high and Thredbo is at about 1400m, so nothing I couldn't handle :-)
We set off on Merrits Nature Track, which took us to the top of the chairlifts. From there it is a 13km roundtrip to the top, all the way on a boardwalk. Very convenient! The weather was cooperative, the worst being intermittent fog rolling over the mountains. When we reached the top we were totally fogged in, so no views, but that has been the story of most of Stephen's 7 Summits. After spending about half an hour including lunch at the top we headed back down and the fog cleared.
At Black Sallee's Bistro at the top of the Snowgums chairlift we enjoyed a well deserved latte before heading back down to the village. I took the chairlift down, Stephen ran down. Naturally.
Back in our room we enjoyed a bottle of Champagne, relaxed, put photos on Facebook and later went out for a nice meal.

Leisurely breakfast the next morning before setting off towards Sydney. There we stayed with Fiona and Phil and their 2 kids in Lilyfield. Took a couple of strolls down Memory Lane in Balmain and had Thanksgiving drinks with friends in our former local The London Bar. Caught up with lots of friends over 3 days, very nice! For our last evening Fiona cooked the most lovely dinner, and we got to invite friends as well.

All in all a very nice trip!!!!

Here are some photos:

Mt Kosciuszko Photos

Photos of Friends in Australia

I don't have any photos of Sasha and Jonty (Phil & Fiona's kids) or Liam and Max (Matt and Karina's kids). They were so well behaved during dinner that we hardly saw them!

Norway

On June 20th, one day later than planned due to our flights from Djibouti to London being cancelled on account of the volcanic eruption, Stephen and I boarded The World in Aalesund, Norway for a cruise through the Norwegian fjords with stops in Geiranger, Bergen, Stavanger, Kristiansand and Oslo.
Stephen stayed on till Stavanger, Caroline till Oslo.

Our thoughts are with the people in Oslo and Norway.

Norway Photos

7lows in Djibouti

On June 12, 2011, Stephen and I flew from London to Djibouti City for a 6 day adventure.

Upon arrival on June 13 we stayed the first night in the lovely Kempinski Hotel before going on a 3 day tour of Djibouti. We had contacted Dolphin Excursions and rented a car and driver with them for the trip.
Our first stop was Lac Abbé and its surreal landscape; overnight in a local camp.
The second and main goal of our trip was a visit to Lac Assal: at -155m/ -509ft the lowest surface point on the African Continent. Another overnight in a local camp, this time on the shores of the Bay of Ghoubbet, of the Gulf of Tadjoura.

Our short but fun adventure was shrouded in a very thick haze due to a volcanic eruption in neighboring Eritrea on June 12th. On all our photos the haze is very apparent.

Djibouti 7lows Photos

The end of an amazing adventure.

I arrived back home on February 8 and have been re-adjusting to life in the real world this past week! A quick trip to Yosemite over the weekend helped :-)

It has been the most amazing adventure with lots of highlights. Laguna del Carbón certainly was one of them (or should I say "low" point) for 7lows.com.
South Georgia was simply stunning and probably my (our) favorite: that first sunrise zodiac landing at St. Andrews Bay, the extremely friendly King Penguin chicks at Gold Harbour, The Shackleton Walk,...
Antarctica, what can I say: the 7th continent (and with having been to Argentina as well I could claim all 7!) where everything is on a scale that is hard to fathom.

Hope you all enjoy(ed) the blog and the photos. I will add some more albums about the Chilean Fjords.

Caroline.

Arrived in Valparaíso, Chile.

It was brought to my attention that it had been a while since I'd updated this blog so let me remedie that now! Been far too busy having a good time :-) On the 'at sea' days I am usually busy trying to ignore the pitching and rolling of the ship, so not a good time to blog, write or read.

Our arrival here in Valparaiso signals that the end of my extedend trip is near: this is where I get off The World on February 7, back home on the 8th.

The Chilean Fjords have been a fantastic trip: beautiful scenery all around: glaciers, bays, weather good enough to do some zodiac cruising and calm waters.
On January 27 we anchored in Chacabuco. Besides going for a wander in the small township I also did a day trip: drive to and walk around a lake, visit to lovely falls which reminded me of Huka Falls in NZ, and seeing some of the area.

From January 30 till February 1 I went on an overland trip starting from Puerto Montt (where The World was anchored): a succession of buses and catamarans took us past and on some beautiful lakes and past spectacular looking volcanoes; we crossed the Andes into Argentina to Llao Llao (25km from the ski town of Bariloche) where we spent 2 nights. Went for a hike in the vicinity of our hotel (Llao Llao Hotel) and took a bus to Bariloche to have a look around. Back by bus along lakes and volcanoes, across the border into Chile and to the ship.

I had no idea how beautiful Chile was!!

Feb 2 was an 'at sea' day... nothing to report apart from that fact that I hardly left my bed.
On the 3rd we were in Concepcion and today around 3pm we arrived in Valparaíso. Will go and explore the city tomorrow.

Los Lagos and Llao Llao

Valparaíso

Greetings,
Caroline.

January 24: Chilean Fjords.

January 22nd was the official end of our trip to South Georgia and Antarctica. What an amazing experience that was! Very hard to describe the scope of what we saw in words.

Stephen left The World at noon to catch his flight back home; it was decided that I would stay on a wee bit longer. I will now fly back on February 7th from Valparaiso, Chile :-). Home on the 8th.

The World sailed from Ushuaia at 6pm that evening, which gave me enough time to do some quick shopping for warmer weather clothes. The choice in Ushuaia was limited but I managed to find a few suitable items.

Yesterday and today we have been cruising the beautiful Chilean Fjords and naturally our captain manages to find the scenic routes. We are currently anchored with our nose just about on the Skua Glacier.

Chilean Fjords

Greetings,
Caroline.

January 20: Cape Horn.

Stephen gave a well attended and well received presentation about his 2009 Mt Everest Expedition in the morning.

Around noon we arrived at Cape Horn and the expedition team decided that the weather was favorable to do zodiac landings at the Cape. This was simply the cherry on an already very well iced cake!! The weather was indeed nice, the seas not even rough and everyone got to set foot on Cape Horn. Very exciting!!!
The Albatross Sculpture is one of the most amazing works of art I have seen in a long time.


That evening we had the end-of-expedition cocktail party in The Plaza and later that evening was The World premiere of the expedition dvd we all get to take home.

It was also around that time that the decision was made that I would stay on The World till Valparaiso, Chile, another 2 weeks. Yihaa!!

Cape Horn Photos

Caroline.

January 18: Port Lockroy.

That morning we went ashore to Port Lockroy, a little bit of UK in Antarctica. In 1944 the British established 'Base A', first as a military base,; after WWII it was continued in a civilian capacity till 1964. It was rescently restored and is open in summer to visitors as a museum. Also did some souvenir shopping and had all our passports stamped :-)
United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust

Later we cruised towards Paradise Bay where the Captain gave a good show: he nicely pirouetted the ship around and then sounded the horn 3 times which gave an amazing echo, specially from Deck 7.

This was also our last day in Antarctica.

The next 2 days were sea days and not half as bad as the previous sea days.

photos


Caroline.

January 17: Booth Island and Chinstraps.

The Penola Strait was our scenic backdrop early in the morning. We anchored in Port Charcot off Booth Island around 9am and at 10:30am it was White Group's slot to go ashore.

We landed straight on rocks and walked about 15 minutes through deep snow to the local penguin colony. This is one of a few landing sites were the 3 brushtail penguins nest together: mostly Gentoos, some Chinstraps with chicks and one pair of Adélies with chicks. Very nice and cute! After quite some time just watching them I walked back to the landing site, Stephen went for a walk up the hill towards Charcot's cairn. Charcot was a French scientist who overwintered in the bay with his crew.
We have now seen all the local penguins except for the emperors which have left inland.

The zodiac cruises back took a scenic detour between, again, some beautifully shaped icebergs teaming with wildlife (crabeater seals and penguins). These icebergs were mostly grounded which meant we could get really close (no dinger of them sudenly upturning and rolling). We were chased and stopped by the 'Antarctic Police' and cited for speeding; our punishment was a hot chocolate or ginger drink - the red zodiac again - very funny.

During the afternoon and early evening we cruised north through The Lemaire Channel. Around 9pm we arrived in Port Lockroy were 'The Fossils' (a band of on-board musicians) were literally perched on a rock-stage and performed life for the audience on Deck 7's helo deck!

photos


Caroline.

January 16: Pourquoi Pas Island and Polar Plunge.

This morning we were anchored in Marguerite Bay and went ashore to Bongrain Point, Porquoi Pas Island.

Here we saw Adélie Penguins and their chicks. The small colony was about a 15 minute walk from the landing site and there were also some Adélies gathered at the beach. There was penguin traffic between the beach and the colony in order to feed their chicks. We also saw a Skewer pair defending their 2 cute chicks. Some people didn't seem to get the meaning of 'walk from flag to flag'. On every landing our expedition leaders go ashore first to stake out routes for us to walk along, to avoid, or at least minimize, impact on the wildlife. Mostly people were very good at following instructions, but today for some reason some people seemed to think it was ok to crouch in on the birds. Luckily the team members always stayed put to guide everyone back onto the yellow brick road!
On our zodiac cruise between the icebergs with Rod we saw crabeater seals, blue-eyed shags (comorants) and Adélies.

We also reached our farthest point south: 67° 49' - a new record for The World - and most tourist vessel don't go too much further since there are no soundings further south.

With everyone back on board our captain cruised The Gullet (back north) in search for a favorable site for the Polar Plunge.
At 4pm he found it. We dropped anchor and 37 plungers-to-be and lots of onlookers gathered on Deck 5 where the back had been lowered. Our zodiac drivers first had to push some pack-ice out of the way and once that was done there was no turning back.
I was very early in the group. And I just... well.. jumped! The first few seconds (impact and surfacing) the body doesn't seem to realize what it has been subjected too. But shortly after that I knew beyond a doubt that it was very, very cold!!!! I scrambled for the ladder without any thought for the 'paparazzi' out in the zodiacs :-). Grabbed my bathrobe and made a b-line straight to the warm pool and liqueurs! Never thought I would do this and am very proud of myself!

photos

Caroline.

January 15: Antarctic Circle Crossing and Detaille Island.

Around 10am this morning we crossed the Antarctic Circle at 66° 33' 44''.
We had good and steady internet so I was able to catch up on the blogs and photos about South Georgia. At 13:30 we anchored off Detaille Island.

We had our turn around 16:00 to go ashore. It's a small island on which the British built a station hut 'Base W' in 1956. It was closed in a hurry in 1959. The re-supply ship picking the staff up at the end of the season couldn't get through the ice and told them, if they wanted to get off, to pack up their sledges and dogs and get to the ship. They did and apparently never went back. We got to see the remarkably well preserved hut just 2 weeks before planned restoration works are scheduled to start.
Cruised around the icebergs with our favorite zodiac driver Rob Suisted, and only one other passenger Tim Jarvis. Good fun!

That evening we had dinner guests in the apartment: Rob McCallum, Rob Suisted and Rod Ledingham; a good and relaxed evening was had by all.
After dinner Stephen and I went to Deck 7 for another sunset cruise, this time through The Gullet.
We also spent time on the bridge and it was good to see that the captain (and ice-captain, on board specially for this trip) avoided hitting any floating ice with animals on it; they were constantly adjusting course.

photos

Caroline.

January 14: Neko Harbour and The Lemaire Channel.

Mid-morning while on the bridge we spotted a humpback whale and her calf. They played along side the ship for a while before diving down.

TW sailed on through The Gerlach Channel and the views were stunning all day. Our captain really loves taking the ship through narrow channels and close to icebergs; I felt I could almost touch the bergs! Spectacular!

At 1:30pm we anchored in Neko Bay and White Group was scheduled to go ashore around 15:45pm.
And go we did! I set foot on the Antarctic Continent for the first time that day and I have now been to the 7 continents! Lucky I spent 8 days driving around in Argentina before this expedition :-). The weather was magnificent: absolutely stunning blue skies and sunshine.

Our first stop after landing was a Gentoo Penguin rookery: a couple of hundred sitiing on and feeding their chicks, while trying to stop others from stealing their pebbles. Gentoos use pebbles to build a nest on the rocks.
After walking up the hill we got amazing views over Neko Harbour. I caught a rather big piece calving off the glacier on film.

The evening was spent cruising through the very scenic Lemaire Channel where the sunset provided for stunning colors and views. Stephen and I were outside on Decks 7 (helo deck) and 12 (top deck) for most of it.

photos

Caroline.

January 13: Elephant Island and arrival in Antarctica.

This morning we arrived at and anchored off Point Wild, Elephant Island. We had now also arrived in the Antarctic.

The weather at Point Wild was nice so out came the zodiacs and off cruising around the bay we went, no landing this time, no real beaches to speak of. We got a very close look at the tiny little beach on which Shackleton's men survived for about 4,5 months. While cruising around the bay and in front of the glacier we were 'entered' by the red zodiac and subsequently offered hot chocolate and baileys - that went down well at 9:30 in the morning :-).

By noon all zodiacs were back on board and TW set sail towards the Antarctic Peninsula.

Around 8pm all residents (and social residents like us) were invited to 'White Out', a party thrown by 2 residents. There was lots of yummy food and drink, ice carvings of penguins and birds, and the whole venue had been covered in white. At the end of dinner the Captain gave a speech... and as he said: 'I give you White Out', all the curtains where pulled open and we looked upon tabular icebergs all around. Quite magical.

Caroline.

January 10: Prion Island, South Georgia.

We sailed overnight and anchored at Prion Island at 7:30am.
Prion Island is a tiny island and prime real estate for the Wandering Albatross, the largest flying bird, because the winds there are very favorable for them to take off. A boardwalk to the top of the island has been built and our zodiacs dropped us off at the start of it. The rules are very strict and one is not allowed off the boardwalk at all. The weather was steadily getting worse, with winds picking up and stingy hail increasing. As the winds picked up to 65mph operations were canceled, but we got lucky. We saw 13 albatrosses, of which 2 were only 5meters away from the top viewing platform. They were all sitting on nests and obviously it wasn’t windy enough for them to take flight. With a wingspan of 5m/15ft they do need strong winds to achieve lift-off.

Later on that day TW sailed to Elsehul Bay. The weather was good enough for zodiac cruises to be offered. Stephen went, Alison and I decided to stay warm and in.

This was also farewell to South Georgia. We left Elsehul Bay around 17:30 for 2 days at sea. And they were 2 rough days at sea. Not much to report on January 11 and 12 other than that I spent most of the time lying down and taking it easy. I hardly enjoyed Alison’s birthday breakfast on the 11th and except for a 10 minute appearance, missed her cocktail party (which I helped organize) and dinner. But with the spray of the waves coming over our balcony on the 10th floor I preferred to be in bed.

photos

Caroline.

January 9: Fortuna Bay and the ‘Shackleton Walk’, South Georgia.

TW left Grytviken at 4am and anchored in Fortuna Bay from 7am.
WG’s zodiac departure was at 8:10am so off to the beach we went.
What a morning it turned out to be again! Gorgeous weather again!
We saw lots of fur seals and pups close to the beach. This King Penguin colony was about 1,5km inland. We walked amidst very friendly and sociable penguins and chicks, specially the chicks constantly walked right up to us. Quite incredible to be so close to these gorgeous birds. The molting chicks provided a few laughs. It was as if they were trying to tell us ‘I’m beautiful too!!! Or at least I will be very soon!!!’
There was also a herd of reindeer running amongst the penguins.

If I have to pick a favorite landing in South Georgia, this one is it. The first one was special because it was the first one and because of the sunrise, but this one... being able to be so close to these amazing birds... takes the crown.

Around 13:00 Stephen and I joined the hikers for the ‘Shackleton Walk’, the last leg of his heroic journey to save his men, from Fortuna Bay to Stromness. We were dropped ashore and watched TW sail off – to Stromness where she would be waiting for us. I, like many others, left in my rubber boots for the landing and changed into my sorels for the hike. The 6km/4m hike was great: another opportunity to really stretch our legs, the weather wasn’t bad at all (bracing winds and some stingy sleet, but mostly sunny), the scenery was fabulous. Having Jonathan Shackleton with us added some extra meaning. At the view point over Stromness, about 1,5km from the latter, we saw The World sail into view. I am convinced it was ‘on cue’ as I overheard Rob McCallum talking to the Captain on the radio, telling him that we were in position. Very nicely done! And when TW sounded her horn 3x, to mimic the whistle from the whaling station that Shackleton heard, we were all clapping and laughing and waving.
Stephen then joined Alison on a shorter walk and I went back to TW. And when I got to the beach my rubber boots were waiting for me to change into.

Fortuna Bay photos

Shackleton Walk photos


Caroline.

January 8: Hercules Bay, South Georgia.

That morning we woke up to our captain parking TW in Hercules Bay. And what a job he did! We felt like we could almost touch the rocks; jokes were told about being parked just about on the beach.
WG’s adventures started with a zodiac cruise at 8:10am. We cruised around in some high swells (of which I am not a big fan), but it was really worth it to see the Macaroni Penguins! Back on TW around 9:30am.

During lunchtime we sailed to Grytviken, the capital of South Georgia, where we anchored in the bay. This time we could go ashore by tender (so no wet landing).
The 3 of us went on the afternoon hike from Grytviken to the overlook to Maiviken. It was nice to be able to stretch our legs for a while. Nice views and good weather yet again.
After the hike Alison went back to TW, while Stephen and I looked around some more. We visited the cemetery where Sir Ernest Shackleton is buried and had a look around the museum and shop.

photos

January 7: Gold Harbour, South Georgia.

As mentioned the weather took a turn for the worse earlier that day in St Andrews Bay, so we left towards better weather in Gold Harbour.
When we arrived there it was stunningly sunny so zodiac landings were organized.
WG landed on the beach around 16:15 between the elephant seals, much less ‘aggressive’ than the fur seals.
Here we saw lots of King Penguins again, many of them sitting on their egg. In between them ran some quicker moving Gentoo Penguins, quite funny to watch at times.

The crew of TW are just amazing. They are the ones waiting for us at the landing site, in the water (in the appropriate gear, but still..), to pull the zodiacs as far up the beach as possible before they help us get out. When we get back to TW after our adventures, they take off our boots (to avoid getting the whole ship dirty, but still..) and a few hours those same boots magically turn up at our apartment door cleaned and dried! Next we see the crew doing their usual jobs on board. Truly great groups of people!

photos

January 7: St Andrews Bay, South Georgia.

Yesterday we sailed passed a rock formation called 'Shag Rocks', which signaled our official arrival in South Georgia. Quite a remarkable little rock formation if you think about it: they are not very big at all and stick straight up out of the water.
That morning everyone had to attend a mandatory expedition briefing on zodiacs, safety, behavior, environment, decontamination, and general rules for visiting the fragile eco-system that is South Georgia.

TW reached South Georgia proper around 7pm on the evening of the 6th and anchored in St Andrews Bay at 2:30am on the 7th.
Everyone on board had been given the option to be woken up around 3am, should the weather be favorable for a sunrise zodiac cruise ashore. When we got the call, we dressed up in our warm and waterproof layers, including rubber boots as these zodiac landings are 'wet landings'.
We all gathered in The Plaza and although it looked like chaos we all were on shore in St Andrews Bay before the first rays of sunlight hit the beach. On the way over in the zodiac you could really smell the penguins. The sun brought out spectacular colors in King Penguins and their chicks!!!! As a first zodiac landing this was just amazing!!! And gorgeous weather! There were also lots of fur seals and pups.
Around 5:15am we were back on board where one of the restaurants had opened early so we could enjoy breakfast before going back out again.

All residents and guests aboard had been divided into color coded groups, which will be our call signs for the duration of the Expedition. We are in White Group (WG).
WG got to go out again at 8am for another landing. This time the wind had picked up significantly and the landing and waters were much rougher.
The expedition team had staked out a route for us to follow. It was (and always is on the outings) very important that we stick to these routes as they minimize the impact we have on the wildlife.
We got to a small rise and from their truly realized how big this colony was: we looked out over about 200,000 pairs of King Penguins and their chicks. Twenty minutes into our trip we were told that operations had been canceled and we headed back to the zodiac. WG was the only group that made it out this time. Winds had picked up to 65mph (73mph is considered hurricane strength) and the biggest issue becomes docking the zodiac with TW and getting everyone out of the zodiacs and on TW safely.

Once everyone was back on board TW lifted anchor and sailed for calmer pastures.

photos

January 3 - January 6: at sea.

Our lovely luxurious ship The World (TW) sailed from Ushuaia during dinner on January 3rd.
We were on the Beagle Channel until about midnight when we hit the open seas and the rolling began. TW rolled her way all through January 4th, 5th and 6th towards South Georgia. But thanks to some very efficient pills here on board I was actually more or less alright during those days. The only thing that didn't agree with the rolling motion was reading and writing, hence no blogging or processing photos during those days. We did however manage to update 7lows.com with photos and a write-up about our visit to Laguna del Carbón.

We enjoyed drinks and dinners with a variety of people, and attended lectures with a ton of information about our upcoming time in South Georgia.
Let me tell you about the wealth of information we have on board in the form of the members of the Expedition team!

The World contracted EYOS, a company specialized in Antarctic (and other) Expeditions and they in turn contracted experts for our particular expedition.

- Rob McCallum: Co-Expedition Leader.
- Tim Soper: Co-Expedition Leader.

- Jonathan Shackleton: Historian and General Naturalist (cousin of Sir Ernest Shackleton).
- Tim Jarvis: Polar Explorer.
- Rob Suisted: Marine Biologist and Photography Expert.
- Geoff Renner: Geologist and General Naturalist.
- Rod Ledingham: Logistics and General Naturalist.
- Eduardo Shaw: Historian, General Naturalist.
- Martin Enckell: Logistics, General Naturalist and Photographer.
- Paul Lazarski: Kayak Leader, Photography Specialist and General Naturalist.
- Matt Drennan: Omithologist, Historian and General Naturalist.
- Jim Napoli: Videographer.
And they all double up as zodiac drivers.

Hello from the vicinity of the South Shetland Islands!

Finally some time and favorable seas for blogging!

Currently sailing form Elephant Island towards the Antarctic Peninsula. Our Captain just adjusted course to try and avoid a heavy weather system to the south.

The 'at sea' days that we were going to use to blog and do photos were a tad too rough to comfortably do so; our 4 days in South Georgia we were kept so busy with activities, lectures, drinks and dinners that we simply didn't have time!

So I will quickly get this post out and will follow up with almost day to day accounts of the last 10 days.

Also, we have now published our first album in the post 'Enjoying Buenos Aires'.

Caroline.

Getting ready to sail from Ushuaia.

Well, here we are, on board of The World, probably the most luxurious way possible to sail to Antarctica!!! We leave port in about 3 hours. First stop: South Georgia (UK). Penguins here we come :-)

On December 31st we were on the road by 10am; Stephen was impressed. Stopped for fuel and to buy lunch in Cmte. Luis Piedra Buena and continued onto Parcque Nacional Monte Leon. Best stop there was the Magellanic Penguin Colony. It involved a 2,5km hike in puma-infested territory (at least to me); after all the ranger did say: "Si, si!! Muchos pumas!!!". Which to Stephen was the wrong answer for me to hear. And there were warning signs everywhere. Luckily a) there were lots of cute, slow little penguins - very yummy to pumas, and b) it was the heat of the day and pumas prefer early morning and late evening meals. So not a puma to be seen.
And then we saw our first penguins - in their natural habitat that is. They were so close we could have touched them but we nicely stayed on the designated path. There were thousands on the beach. Apparently there are some 75,000 pairs of them there (according to the Lonely Planet). Definitely worth braving puma country for!

We drove up to our hotel in Rio Gallegos around 7pm and got ready for New Year's Eve dinner and champagne.
On New Year's Day we flew from there to Ushuaia where we were joined by Alison. We spent one night in a hotel and the next day joined The World. We've now had 2 days to get ready before departing on our Antarctic Expedition at 6pm.
I have stocked up on motion sickness medication.

Monte León National Park

Greetings from Ushuaia,
Caroline.