deadly_photo

Hello folks - I'm looking out the window at the coast of New Zealand again - Fjordland to be exact.

It's been a crazy few weeks. First, the ship we were looking for, the Japanese whaling factory ship the Nisshin Maru, went on fire in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. So we went to its... rescue! One person died in the fire. It end up drifting with its sister ships for 10 days, amongst the ice, towards a major penguin colony. Instead of our ship arriving to confront the whalers, we ended up offering assistance. Bizarre situation, and too complicated to get into here - more about it .

We just crossed the Southern Ocean - I've now crossed the roughest water in the world *twice* without getting seasick! The weather was so rough that one of my colleagues was thrown across her cabin - and is all cuts and bruises with her arm in a sling. One of the portholes broke from the strength of a wave...

So many memorable things - Orcas, hourglass dolphins, the Southern Lights... ice so blue it hurts!

Now we're en route to Sydney, where I'll be hanging out for a few days - maybe travelling up or down the coast a bit. Australians - who wants to drink beer with an Irishman fresh out of Antarctica?

Then it's off to NYC again, and then Ireland. Phew!