I'm back!!!

Hello all! 

My sincerest apologies for never actually getting back to this after my latest update in February. As some of you might be aware, I have since not only returned to civilisation and fresh fruit, but circumnavigated the Australian continent alone, living in a beat-up station wagon.

I have been present at three absolutely fantastic weddings

Laine and Zach got hitched!!!! 

Got to attend a stunning Indian wedding for Shreya and Prushottam. Not to mention this obnoxiously beautiful bridal party and wedding :P I love you Ema and James! 

I also got some quality time catching up with friends in Hawaii,  Seattle, France and a few English cities

High-school reunion 

Family reunion! 

Hawaii holidays!  

Spent my birthday with these crazy kids 

I could most happily write a few novels on the incredible road-trip throughout Australia for three months, but this blog is focused on my time in Antarctica. And since I presume that is why you are so kindly lending me your eyes, I will stick to that narrative (but give you a few bonus photos nonetheless).

Rainforests 

Red earth roads

Coastlines 

Skies and sunsets galore

Bushfires

Incredible cultural history 

Wicked rock formations 

Mines

And forests 

Oh, and the most fascinating wildlife! 

But really, the reason I am back here is because I also accepted a job returning to the frozen land for some more diving!!!!
On that note, I am incredibly flattered and proud to tell you I have started my role as the Field Diving Officer for the British Antarctic Survey station of Rothera.  This is an 18-month contract,  of which I spend about 15 continuous months in Antarctica, working to maintain safe diving practices to collect data from underwater year-round.
As you can imagine,  this work involves a lot of training and responsibility.  As such I am in the middle of a two-month period of pre-departure training,  travelling throughout the United Kingdom to various cities to learn different skills that will help me over the course of the next year and a half.

This all started with a chance to meet everyone newly employed by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS)  for a week at Girton College in Cambridge,  hearing about what to expect on a British base and mostly meeting these expeditionners with whom I will be spending such a long time living.
Here we exchanged stories of previous lives, anticipation and fears for the one on which we were embarking,  and got many answers to questions we had not even thought to ask yet. We spent three days doing advanced first aid, and learned in the process that we really could trust each-other.

Following the initial week, the winter expeditionners were siphoned off and taken to camp in the countryside,  learning to use ropes, stoves and teamwork to solve many problems.

I am clearly in good hands being rescued

High ropes course 

Blizzard navigation training 

This was our first time truly meeting the team with whom we would be isolated for winter (7 months!!! With only them!!!).  In my case, it was meeting the 20 others with whom I will be cooking,  diving, cleaning, eating, and most importantly enjoying Rothera station.  And what a great team!

I just wanted to at least begin to get you up to speed on my life, and the fact that the outstanding adventure that first motivated me to write to you has actually manage to perpetuate itself into a much longer and  even less believable story. As this new adventure has officially begun (the season of summer has officially begun at Rothera a few days ago) I will be updating you before I depart for Antarctica - a date planned for November 21 2015 - to let you know a bit more about the training I have been doing.



For now, thank you for being so patient with my blogging lapses.

I am just incredibly grateful and feeling like the luckiest woman on earth to have the chance to have lived these adventures and shared in these lives and cannot wait to see what comes next!