I didn't plan on blogging today as I expected nothing of interest to
have happened but as soon as I woke up, this changed. My routine has
been to get up, get dressed etc, and go out onto the heli-deck and
walk around a bit, getting some fresh air before the shift starts.
Today, I got an extra surprise...I saw something that I totally
didn't expect to see during this voyage, thinking it was too late in
the year. Any guesses as to what I saw...whales...no, dolphins....no,
any sort of wildlife....no...I saw the aurora australis, the southern
lights!!!
I say I didn't expect to see these as I thought there would be much
more sunlight than there actually is, but we still have a fair few 5
or so hours of darkness, and with perfectly clear skies (in
combination with bloody cold temperatures), we were treated to a bit
of a light display. It wasn't strong, but was amazing nonetheless,
and something I had always wanted to see (well the northern
equivalent anyway). It is extremely hard to describe what it was
like, but it appeared to be a white-green veil across the sky,
spreading out from one focal point in the distance, over my head and
way into the distance the other direction, with clear sections in
between (kind of like a stripy pattern). When I looked overhead, I
could see it shimmering. My goodness, it was truly magical. I had
plenty of opportunity to go and get my camera and ATTEMPT to take a
photo, but I thought I would savour the moment and actually enjoy the
beautiful sight before me instead of playing with the camera. In
addition to the aurora display, the skies were full of hundreds and
hundreds of stars, probably more than I have ever seen, and to top it
off, two shooting stars flew by. I stayed out on the deck for way
over half an hour, absorbing the wonders before me; The most perfect
start to a shift EVER (the sunrise that subsequently followed was
pretty damn awesome too), and the highlight of my trip thus far.
Fingers crossed we are treated to a stronger display with different
colours another time.
___________________________________________________________________________
Australian Antarctic Division - Commonwealth of Australia
IMPORTANT: This transmission is intended for the addressee only. If you are not the
intended recipient, you are notified that use or dissemination of this communication is
strictly prohibited by Commonwealth law. If you have received this transmission in error,
please notify the sender immediately by e-mail or by telephoning +61 3 6232 3209 and
DELETE the message.
Visit our web site at http://www.antarctica.gov.au/
___________________________________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment