During the darkest days of COVID isolation last year, when travel seemed both a distant memory and an impossible dream, the headline "Flights launched from Canberra to Antarctica" lit up my computer.
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The flight date was November 7, just two months hence. A burst of excitement had me fumbling for my credit card.
"I am getting on a plane out of Fortress Canberra!" I bellowed down the hallway to my husband. It was impossible to contemplate forgoing the privilege of flying directly from my hometown over the world's last true remaining wilderness.
Antarctica is the coldest, windiest, driest continent. So dry that 100-year-old wooden ship carcasses have hardly deteriorated.
Alas, my long-awaited escape was postponed until January 22, 2022 due to the vagaries and power of Antarctic weather.
I had no gripes with this as there is zero point flying if there is nothing to see except clouds, however pretty they may be.
A starter pack of brochures, COVID mask, souvenirs plus instructions of what to expect included a strong recommendation we pack sunglasses which I dutifully did.
Approaching our destination, our obliging captain of the Qantas Dreamliner Kookaburra dipped and turned.
As all on board gasped and jostled for photos, crowding the window areas, he gently admonished us that we could relax and enjoy the generous snack pack as there would be plenty of time and opportunity for all to see the splendours below.
Passengers are required to swap seats halfway through the flight to make sure everyone has a window view.
However, it wasn't just what I saw but what I heard that elevated the trip to a transcendental experience.
Two experts on board, the utterly charming Greg Fitzgerald and Peter Keage, provided thoughtful yet entertaining commentary which enchanted, inspired, and saddened me.
Being told a cluster of tabular icebergs hugging the coast, remnants of larger icebergs carved from fast moving glaciers and ice tongues, could each supply the ACT with water for a year, adds perspective.
After a sumptuous brunch and refreshing Mimosa cocktail, our captain explained our route. Qantas had prepared 19 different flight paths to enable our pilot to choose the best possible route on the day, taking weather conditions into account.
Listening to the anecdotes and scientific facts enhanced the views of fresh-water rivers flowing out to sea, miles of luminescent blue-white sea ice with fluffy white-grey clouds floating above like an arctic ballet.
There is an urban legend, in which I foolishly believed, that there are 50 words for snow, or white, in the Inuit language but cursory research revealed this is nonsense.
English, that most agile of languages, sorely failed me in my attempt to describe the subtleties of colour and texture of the "white" continent.
White became a concept, not a colour. Rose quartz, ice blue, glassy green, even shades of the palest yellow - citrine - were visible.
The large coffee-coloured smudge was the world's largest colony of emperor penguins, the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species reaching 1.1 metres - the rookeries we saw host between 14,000 to 20,000 chicks.
So, when asked after the flight whether I had seen penguins (yes, by several people!), I could truthfully say yes but from a distance - with my fingers carefully crossed.
Canberran Peter Keage, who worked in Australia's Antarctica Division until 1998, was delighted to be on Canberra's inaugural flight over the icy continent.
Keage's family moved to Canberra in 1928, a year after the opening of the Provisional Parliament House, now known as Old Parliament House.
"It was terrific to help guide the inaugural Antarctic day flight from my hometown. This is where high school teachers and university lecturers triggered my interest in every aspect of Antarctica," he said.
Keage was educated at Watson High School, then completed degrees at the Australian National University, Tasmania University and Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University.
His Antarctic journey began in 1976 spending the winter at Casey Station as a glaciologist where he led extended traverses south onto the Antarctic plateau, a seven-month mission in harrowing isolation.
The following summer he led a traverse in Enderby Lane which included aerial surveys covering an area almost the size of Victoria.
The valuable data collected during these projects contributed to significant international programs to enhance understanding of the complex dynamics of Antarctica's ice cap.
"Taking a day flight gives passengers a never-to-be-forgotten perspective on Antarctica's power and scale," he said.
"Sir Douglas Mawson called it 'Antarctica's sweeping grandeur' and sharing this with those aboard is terrific. This is a place where Australia has explored and researched for over a century."
Greg Fitzgerald, a former Qantas captain of 35 years, ran the Antarctica charter program and has made more than 20 trips to Antarctica by air.
His inside expertise about the impeccable planning and precise execution needed for a successful charter flight to Antarctica ensures the optimum (and safest) viewing.
His priceless experience and his deep-seated knowledge of Antarctica explorers made him the ideal "tour" guide.
Halfway through the trip, we swapped seats and I found myself with my own window and quickly donned sunglasses that shut out the overpowering glare, allowing me to gaze undisturbed at the details of the vistas below.
The seat change was an actual sea change, transforming the experience, my own view of the most remote and challenging place on the planet.
Tears came with an unexpected surge of deep love for this beautiful earth.
Without doubt the memory least likely to be consigned to the inevitable oblivion of the human mind was the thin black line that had our experts chattering with excitement.
We spotted a 30km-long by 10km-wide iceberg previously the Shipley GI ice tongue.
"To see a break-up so fresh is amazing," Keage said.
"We also had an incredibly rare glimpse of the quiescent volcanic Balleny Islands. In 28 years of doing flights this was the best view of this remote and amazing part of the Antarctic."
Kookaburra flew at about 35,000 feet to get to Antarctica and then dropped to between 10,000 and just 2000 feet above the highest ground.
The air is so clean that visibility extends for hundreds of kilometres and at one point we could see landforms 400km away.
Kookaburra gave us a superhero's view of Rennick Glacier, one of the continent's most active glaciers with a gaping 90km-wide mouth and gigantic ice tongue protruding 40km out to sea.
As Keage pointed out, these coastal ranges with their well-defined massive ice tongues and well channelled glaciers are rarely seen, yet we enjoyed perfect conditions.
It made it just that much harder to finally say goodbye as Kookaburra turned north.
As we rose above the clouds, gathering height and speed for the flight home, I was again grateful for the sunglasses which hid the tears as I quietly saluted the brave explorers and scientists who have battled and rejoiced in this surface.
And those thousands of plucky penguins, oblivious to their uncertain future.
Australia in the Antarctic
The Australian Antarctic Territory covers nearly 5.9 million square kilometres, roughly 42 per cent of Antarctica, making it the largest territorial claim and nearly the same size as Australia.
Argentina, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom also share Antarctic Territories.
Australia was one of 12 original parties to the Antarctic Treaty, which came into effect on June 23, 1961.
Australia has three permanently manned stations, Mawson, Davis, and Casey. These are mostly too far west to be seen on the flight.
This year the Australia Antarctica Division will embark on one of the most ambitious and challenging scientific projects ever undertaken in Antarctica.
The team, using the latest technology, will drill 3000 metres through the ice, seeking a one-million-old ice core which will serve as an archive of Earth's climate change.
Don't kill the krill
Krill is a small crustacean and a keystone species which feeds most Antarctic animals such as seals, whales, seabirds, fish, and squid. Antarctic krill is one of the most abundant and successful animal species on the planet and krill swarms can be as dense as 30,000 individuals per cubic metre.
Surprisingly, krill usually live for five to 10 years but can transition from adults in juveniles (lucky them) and back.
This "downsizing" allows krill to use their body protein as a fuel source for survival in extreme conditions.
Krill are vital for humans to flourish because they and their predators absorb, process and deposit carbon on the seafloor through their feeding cycle.
When they die, their carcass carries a lifetime of carbon to the seabed for reabsorption back into the Earth.
The flight
Why now? 2022 is the 75th anniversary of Australia's post-WWII Antarctic program. Join a once a season flight during the Antarctic summer, from November to February, from Canberra. Or one of the 10 flights a year from most Australian capital cities.
Who with: Antarctica Flights.
Aircraft: Qantas 787 Dreamliner. Passengers are afforded optimal views to the vast white wilderness thanks to windows 65 per cent larger than any other vessel of its size. Its lower cabin altitude mitigates the discomfort passengers may sometimes experience during and after a long flight.
When: Next flight From Canberra, December 4, 2022. For a full schedule from other capital cities head to antarcticaflights.com.au
Length of flight: 12-14 hours; time over Antarctica, four hours
Prices: $1199 to $7999. On the next Canberra flight: explorer economy, one seat left, $1199pp; standard economy, sold out, $2199pp; superior economy, available, $3199pp; premium economy, nine seats left, $3999pp; business class, sold out, $6,499; business class deluxe, sold out, $7999.
Includes: International Qantas service: Two full service Qantas meals plus in flight snacks and full bar service.
Special event: Welcome 2023 with style on a New Year's Eve flight departing from Sydney on December 31. From $2199.
Details: For more information and bookings head to antarcticaflights.com.au
- Diana Streak travelled at her own expense.
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