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Snail Mail

Monday 25th. Having left Neko Harbour, we headed due west to Wienke Island and the small base at Port Lockroy (64′ 49” S; 60′ 30” W) Weather remained positively balmy. It’s probably colder in Dublin. A former British research base Port Lockroy is now a museum and post office operated by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust. We all participated in the mad rush to buy stamps and send off our postcards from the most southerly post office in the world. One of the Fearless Four had planned this particularly well (read the guide book, you see) by bringing Christmas card labels so no labourious writing of addresses was involved. Now which one of the four was that, do you think? Anyway, the labels were appropriate as we were told the mail was so slow that we might be best putting a Christmas greeting on the cards. In February!

It was also amusing to watch the ”Guests” (as we are now called) from the Fram
hoovering up the souveniers at the small shop on the base. Back on the ship we all looked aghast at our purchases and wondered what exactly we had got for our money. Tea towels for presents all round it seems!

The base is manned by three girls and a man who have spent four months maintaing the buildings with very spartan facilities. They leave for home next week as winter is coming. Applications are open for the posts for next year. A chance to get away from it all, perhaps..