An Antarctic Adventure

So I thought i'd write a little blog about my trip to Antarctica. I've never blogged before so be kind. I was lucky enough be selected by my lovely PHD supervisor to go to Antarctica and collect samples for our research group: the Southern Ocean Persistent Organic Pollutants Program (SOPOPP). I kept a diary during the trip and intermittently I have thrown in direct quotes of how i felt at the time. Hopefully it will be interesting and maybe a little informative, but mostly I wanted everyone to share in the amazing things i have done and seen over the past 7 weeks. So here we go...

The lead up to the trip was overwhelming and, for the most part, to intense to be excited. The amount of medical hoops I needed to jump through was exhausting. Approval to board only came through at 3pm Friday and I needed to be at the Australian Antarctic Division (The Division as it is known to the cool kids) on Monday for kitting. But it was all worth it in the end.

Boarding the Aurora Australis, my icebreaking home for the next 7 weeks, with my fellow expeditioners was a flurry of excitement. By the time we left port, my heart was in overdrive with nerves. We cruised down the Derwent for a couple of hours and headed south.

Enjoying the last bit of warm weather and Australia

We were expecting rough seas and the Southern Ocean did not disappoint. The swell was 6 meters by the next day, which for Southern Ocean standards isn't too bad, but for a girl who only been on liveaboards in Moreton Bay it was rolly AF. So to ward off the seasickness we had phenergan and avomine, which worked like a charm. The trip became informally known as 'Bergs and Nergs'. The Southern Ocean seems to be a great joker, 'lets continuously tip those sleeping people upside down, so that the blood rushes to their head while trying to sleep, and makes them slightly paranoid about sliding backwards and hitting their head on the wall'. Needless to say the first few nights I did not manage my fatigue very well. One morning I was so tired when I got up, that I got in the shower and halfway through realised I still had my knickers on! Not a great start to the day.

Our trusty stead taking on the Southern Ocean, taken through the Bridge window

"I still can't believe I'm in the southern ocean on a ship going to Antarctica ahhhhh!!!!"

I took my first seawater samples on day 2. Basically the whole reason I was on this trip was to collect seawater samples to look for perfluorinated compounds, which are POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants). Teflon is one of the most famous examples of a perfluorinated compound. I needed to take a sample every time we crossed a latitude going south, with the first sample happening at 44°S. Sampling is really easy. It goes like this:

Step1 turn on seawater tap

Step 2 let tap run while you go get a bottle

Step 3 label bottle and write out GPS coordinates

Step 4 fill bottle

Step 5 go back to bed.

Anytime day or night we crossed a degree I needed a sample. Luckily, I had a little help. Firstly, from the onboard data intranet, which allowed me to check our location from bed on my phone in the middle of the night - very helpful. Secondly, from my volunteers: Kate, Madi, and later Ella. Who helped me get a solid sleep without needing to get up every 5 hrs. Thankyou!!!!

In the first week, we also had had our first muster, which basically means everyone gets in their Antarctic gear and grabs their survival bag and heads out on the heli deck for a role call. It was funny becasue we all knew it would happen, everyone got dressed early, it takes a bit of time to put on thermals, trackies, socks, boots, jumper and the fisherman overalls. Luckily we never needed to muster for real, I don’t think I would make it. It took me like 10 mins to dress myself. 

Muster time Image by Matt Corkill

Quite the hobo Image by Matt Corkill

The southern ocean did bring plenty of amazing wildlife. First was the Wandering albatross, who circled the ship with a juvenile for a few hours. We had more birds in the next few days. Big flocks of shearwaters, a few birds I didn't identify. But most of the spectacular wildlife encounters happened after my first day of snow, 6 days into the trip. The day i danced around on the deck in not nearly enough clothing, in a mini little blizzard of snow, laughing and smiling to myself, trying to catch it in my fingers.

"Honestly being outside in the cold watching the waves makes me so fucking happy; I can’t contain it most of the time. We will reach 60°S tonight at 11:15pm. This is it. The official start to Antarctica. Icebergs become more likely; Krill swarms could be anywhere, my fingers freeze every time I take a sample…."   

Wandering albatross, but im no albatross expert, if you tell me this is a Southern Royal albatross I'll believe you
Image by Amanda Dawson

A true polar expeditioner: wind swept hair, cosy socks and a snazzy beanie. I expect the style to be on all the runways soon  

Our position as of 12/12/16

Overall the first 6 days past in a flurry of excitement, after which the notable experiences came thick and fast.
Last of all a shameless plug for our SOPOPP research, which if you are interested can be found here . There is lots of stuff about our current projects, including mine, on microplastics in the Southern Ocean biota.