Greg's trip to Antarctica
WWF-Australia's CEO Greg Bourne travelled to Antarctica to see for himself how one of the Earth's most beautiful environments is adapting to the changing climate.
Post one - Antarctic arrival
It was late at night, still light, and a snow storm was blowing over the massive icy heads when we arrived.
I sat on the deck of our sailing boat wearing ski-goggles and searching for icebergs as we motored carefully into the cove on Melchior Island.
When we woke the next morning, the storm has cleared. There was the most brilliant sunshine I've ever seen. The colour and clarity of the water, the icebergs, the sky - the brilliance of the colours - was an extraordinary sight to see.
Polar regions like Antarctica and the Arctic reflects a large part of the sun's heat back into space, regulating the Earth's temperature. This is known as the 'albedo effect'.
I knew it would look amazing but I had wondered what it would sound like when I got to Antarctica. The sounds echo - you hear lots of cracking ice and sometimes a splosh of water as it reached the water, sometimes it's a huge crash. You can hear whales blowing waterspouts and lots of busy penguins.
Penguins smell. Their rookeries have that unmistakably pungent guano smell of ammonia and fish.
Motoring through the labyrinth of icy passages we came across a party of Wilson's storm petrels. Party is the only collective noun that suits – these beautiful little birds dance together on the water; courting, mating and slapping for krill underneath. As big as a sparrow, the black and white birds can be seen far into the ocean dancing on waves. Petrels were named after St Peter because they can walk on water.
Eventually, after hours of exploring, we leave the 30 metre high alleyways of ice and head for our Christmas anchorage.
