The picture above is of the base I will be at in Antarctica from November 2009 through April 2010.

Dickie (winter base commander Rothera) commented on someone ‘he had an uphill paper round’ – A very funny expression for commenting that someone looks older than their age.

It was a 12 hour day of sitting inside listening to one interesting talk after another. At the end of the night I ended up at the bar drinking orange juice and lemonade (really pushing the boat out!) with the people I will be going south with to Rothera and we got onto age. It was obvious the diving officer was the age of my little brother! So I am now feeling old!! The Dr, winter base commander and the dive officer are all younger than me with only the base commander being 3 years older. I am certainly feeling like I have not done much in my life seeing as everyone but the Dr is going back for their second, third and maybe fourth time! I am getting excited that I have a great group of people to work with.

If you want to check out some pictures of the boats I will be looking after click here.

The day consisted of talks on the history and structure of BAS, the science that will happen down their this season, all about the base how it runs, about the other bases and also environmental issues, personnel policies, photography, internet and last but not least recreation down there. Unlike many other countries BAS encourages recreation down south and getting out into Antarctica within certain limits. I think the thing I like the most about the organization so far is how everyone ‘chips in’ to get the job done. The guy who interviewed me last year and who runs the logistics for South Georgia base drove the minibus the take us to kitting out and then turned around to give a speech on the base down there etc.

Anyways I am off to bed for a few hours before meeting for an early morning swim with the base docter and the base commander. Night.