This edition is long over due. Since I left Perth last month time has got away from me. The road to Antarctica, for me started with a drive from Perth across Australia to New South Wales to visit friends before going to Melbourne to catch the ship to Tasmania. After leaving Perth on the Tuesday morning I traveled the to Dubbo in just three days, the high light for me being the sighting of whales & a whale calf from the lookout at the Nullabor national park. In Sydney I was luck to stay with an old friend who took me to see the new Cirque Du Soleil, Varekai. This was both amazing to see but a little confusing, I guess getting me thinking about it was part of the show.

Now after three weeks in Hobart it would be good to tell you of what’s happening here. The Aurora Australis sailed from here on the 12th October on voyage one. This is the first South bound trip of the summer session, with about a hundred & twenty expeditioners on board. Some just for a summer stint & some to stay in Antarctica until 2008, I’m due to sail on V2 (voyage two) leaving the 1st December. This time in Hobart has been great, meeting new people & old friends. Then to have so many of them leave on V1, some I may never see again, some I will see at Casey when I get there.

My first few days at the Division were good fun, starting with two days of Skid Steer loader (Bob Cat) driver training then Front end loader. The following week I prepped twelve Quad bikes for the following week’s rider training that I helped with. On the non-working side of things, I walked from Salamanca where I’m staying to the top of Mount Wellington. There were still some small traces of snow near the top of the mountain but not enough to play in.