Introduction

Thursday 9^th February, 2017

Both Krista and I have long had a fascination with Antarctica.

I was drawn to Antarctica when I was a kid by reading books of early Antarctic exploration. Then there was the 1955–58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition lead by Edmund Hilary and Vivian Fuchs. While in high school my interest in science grew and the 1957-58 International Geophysical Year grabbed my attention. This featured a range of Earth Science subjects, many focusing on Antarctica such as ionospheric and aurora physics, and cosmic ray research.

By the time I'd completed my BSc degree at the University of Tasmania I'd also developed a passion for mountaineering and skiing, which Patagonia and Antarctica clearly offered in abundance. But a PhD in Theoretical Physics specialising in optics was not a good CV for a stint in Antarctica! However, I continued to dream of visiting Antarctica, whilst recognizing it was simply that, a dream! I'm not sure how the young Krista, still resident in Finland, thought she could wangle a trip to Antarctica, as a degree in entomology and experience with leaf hoppers seems equally unsuitable as a CV as mine!

So a visit to Antarctica - along with Nepal and Patagonia, and a few other places - was on our bucket list!

Three friends independently made cruises from Ushuaia along the Antarctic peninsula in the summer of 2015-16. This encouraged us to think, "Well, why not us?", and having made that decision, it became "Why not also Patagonia?". It's a long flight across the Pacific Ocean, so we soon decided to break the journey by visiting Easter Island, and finally the vagaries of airline time tables suggested a couple of days on Tahiti. So an 11 day cruise became 4 weeks of travel!

So this blog documents our travels and travails, from Antarctica to the Tropics.