Sadly I have no other pix of The Snares but there’s always tomorrow or .......
It was a rough old night - we were now travelling in the Roaring 40s having survived the Furious 50s and the Screaming 60s. We thought we were seasoned sea travellers - but not quite!
I rather like the name of this island group - The Snares. They were so named by George Vancouver in the 1700s because he considered them a shipping hazard. And indeed they are forbidding bordered as they are by steep cliffs - and then there are the winds!
Unlike other Subantarctic Islands, that were greatly affected by the whaling and sealing industry in the C19th, The Snares remain one of the last pristine areas in New Zealand. As a result, access is only allowed for research purposes and tourists are only allowed to view the wildlife from a boat. There are a few birds and marine mammals endemic to the islands but I didn't see them unfortunately - a return trip is the only thing for it I guess.
We set sail northward early that afternoon to try to outrun an approaching weather front. I'm glad we did because sailing was rough enough without 'bad' weather! The following day at sea was occupied with end of voyage matters - cleaning our gear and returning boots, settling accounts, packing, etc. It was a bitter sweet day! We berthed at Lyttelton, the port of Christchurch, early the next morning - we got our wake-up call at 5:15 AM! After brekkie, it was customs, border control, etc (on board which was nice) before teary farewells and boarding a bus into the city, or in our case to the airport where we were staying at the newly-opened Novotel Airport hotel - 3 minutes walk from the airport. Wonderful. We spent hours that afternoon at the excellent International Antarctic Centre, along with half of the passengers we had just farewelled - there was a reluctance to leave Antarctica behind us!
There were a few tearful farewells. Samuel, our expedition leader, had red eyes but he had had little sleep the night before so the poor man was quite exhausted. A darling and very competent leader. We loved him.
This is the Laura Bassi, an icebreaking research vessel operated by the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale flying the Italian flag. Prior to that she was the British Antarctic Survey logistics ship, primarily used for the resupply of scientific stations in the Antarctic. What a fascinating place. If I could rewind the clock ......
Christchurch airport at 4:00am. A terrific and very well run airport. We stayed at Novotel Airport the night before. Excellent! We had a 6:00am international flight and this place was a 4-5 min walk away. Totally convenient. And the food in their roof top restaurant Food Exchange was excellent.
Clouds and snow. One has to wonder about the forces that create our beautiful world. It gives me pause for thought and great delight!
A William Turner masterpiece! Next time you look at a cloud, particularly if you are flying, try to determine just how many colours there are in clouds. To me it is almost infinite.
(I had a chuckle at the sign on the wing!)
The end of an amazing journey I still have to edit a couple of videos but this is me signing off until ........ the next time from wherever. We will visit this magnificent frozen continent again - in less than 2 years all going well! We will spend Christmas and New Year in West Antarctica on the Peninsula and surrounding Subantarctic islands in this the last frontier on earth.
No comments:
Post a Comment