Under Down Under - Epilogue

Before we left for the trip, there were 3 things I said, I was looking forward to –
1. Vast, uninterrupted, undulating, Snow all around
2. Life on an expedition ship
3. Setting foot on Antarctica

Well, looking back, reality exceeded expectations on all 3 fronts.

The snow in Antarctica is like nothing I had seen. It’s everything. Antarctica is snow, snow is Antarctica.

It announces its presence as the 1st iceberg, even before you see land. It gives meaning to the fact that white comprises all colors. It re-assures you by adopting familiar shapes. You can see the Sydney Opera House, the Suntec Towers, even a Yog Kutir in the million icebergs around you.

It threatens you by imposing glaciers. As glaciers, it dwarfs you with their size, lulls you with its apparent stillness and then shocks you by suddenly relieving a hanging block into the sea and causing huge tidal waves.

It reaches to the sky atop high mountains. It stoops to the depths as the Bluetooth of huge icebergs. It envelops you in a 360 deg blanket by giving the sky a white brooding tinge, the horizon a white hazy glow and the seas a white cover. Land, rocks and pebbles try to fight a losing battle with it. They peer at you by snatching small patches for short times but their apologetic protrusions acknowledge the imposing rule of snow in the southernmost, windiest, driest, coldest, highest, and most lifeless continent.

Life aboard an expedition ship took some getting used to.

The first thing that hits you is confinement. Your cabin is inspired by Japan’s capsule hotels. The corridors require a single file. Turning around while sleeping is a battle against gravity – you have to almost raise yourself on the same place and hop to the other side. Its an acrobatic feat when on ground – becomes more challenging when the bed under you is rolling along with the ship.

The second thing is the rolling. It was worse on the Drake Passage and subsided in the calm waters of the Southern Ocean as we neared Antarctica. Lets take Drake first. We were lucky that we got the Drake Lake instead of the Drake Shake! But even the lake was tough for us. I threw up once. Smita was horizontal most of the time we were on the Drake. Shalini needed a shot from the Doc. Shankar managed by keeping quiet all the while.

Two thoughts come to your mind – what would it be like in a Drake Shake. Have heard stories that everything comes falling down and its hard to stay put. Second, how would the early travelers manage. We had comfortable beds and carpeted floors, heating in our cabins, railings to hold on to but in those ships life would be truly miserable!
Well, apart from the claustrophobic interiors and the rolling world around you, life was generally quite pleasant aboard.

Food was a pleasant surprise. I tasted cuisines from different parts of the world over the 10 days. The Vegetarians had a main course designed for them each meal. Landings were well managed. The Bar was well stocked. Our room was cleaned everyday with a chocolate left for the night.

Ship language was interesting. The captain’s navigation room is the Bridge. The front of the ship is the Bow and the back is the Stern. Left is Port side and Right is Star side. Things are pointed out in the fashion of a clock – there is a whale at 11 o’clock. There are penguins swimming along at 3 o’clock. Then there were the tags. Every time you leave the ship you turn your tag from yellow to black. Everyone has a tag corresponding to his/her name on a tag board.

This is the only way for the ship crew to know who is onboard and who is onland. This turning tag was an interesting and important ritual at every landing. Even though everything is taken care of, life aboard the ship is infused with a sense of adventure and everyone thrives on it.

Setting foot on Antarctica was special.

We actually paused for a moment to take in the occasion. We had hand painted an Indian flag with crayons which we promptly displayed on landing at Paradise Bay (Almirante Brown). To think that if I just kept walking inwards, I would reach the South Pole! To think that so many explorers lost their lives getting to this place not even 100 years back!

To think that no one lives in this continent we are stepping onto! I was overcome with emotion even though all we had done was walk out of a comfortable ship, don 5 layers of warm clothing, walk down a gangway of 15 steps, step onto a zodiac and step ashore.

The glaciers and icebergs around us and beyond held 95% of the world’s fresh water. I was glad that it was this way because if it were to be thawed into water, the oceans will rise by about 60 metres submerging a lot coastal cities.

Penguins are pottering around in their colony. A lot of them warming their eggs, some feeding their chicks and a lot engaged in pebble stealing. Pebbles are the Penguin’s currency – they need them to create a place for their eggs to thatch in the snow. They guard it more zealously than man does money. They steal them with more guile than petty thieves do. Looking at them brought to mind all the petty neighborhood fights so common in small towns. You feel like an intruder yourself – walking into a world that is not yours.

The serene surroundings command deference, they impose a responsibility on you to respect its purity. Being a responsible tourist in Antarctica is not difficult because even the tiniest infringement stands out in relief. The pottering Penguins, the unconcerned Seals and the blanket of clean white inspire you to keep it that way for others. Antarctica brings out the best in you.

There are also 2 things that were running at the back of my mind:
1. Sea sickness.
2. The Cold.

Sea sickness was an issue over the Drake Passage. We survived while going to Antarctica with medication. On our return it was a bit rougher. But overall, it was less of an issue than I had feared.

The cold was not a factor. We were well prepared. The thermals from Meters-Bonwe held on quite well. We could have done with a neck warmer – a scarf or something – but this was not a big issue. The parka from Quark was more than adequate. If I had known that our bottoms need to go over the rubber boots, I would have bought a couple more with side zippers. The Thinsulate gloves and cap stood up to the Antarctic chill. We actually cocked a snoot at the Cold with Polar plunges – one was soft while the other was hard.

I had expected the detour to Iguazu Falls and the stop over at Cape Town to be the icing on the cake. But it turned out to be a really thick and tasty icing!

Iguazu Falls are massive. Nothing in the Iguazu river betrays what its going to do as it winds its way in Brazil. It is just a small, non descript, river turning on itself from Brazil and suddenly dropping all its volume into this gorge. As you near the falls, you are engulfed in gusts of mist and between protecting your camera and securing your step on the wet railings, you just try to take it all in. You can’t even see the bottom as the water falls into the gorge – the mist hides it behind its veil. Peering down doesn’t help because you just get more waters on your sun glasses. Have you ever tried seeing through water droplets – it can be amazing, you can even spot a rainbow on your eyes! The Aventura Nautica that takes the boat right under the waterfall was exhilarating! Returning back to the hotel all wet is not pleasant but small change for the great experience. Being able to drive to Foz do Iguacu in Brazil for an evening of shopping and Mojito was the cherry atop the icing.

Cape Town is a place that reminded me of Sydney so much. They are on the same latitude. V&A waterfront is like Darling Harbor. Camps Bay is like Manly. Hout Bay is like Bondi Beach. The roads are similar. The cars are similar. The sea is as blue.

There are 2 differences. People are more friendly and helpful in Cape Town. Food is of a different kind – although Sydney has an equally amazing variety, the constituents are different here. You get Carribean, African, Brazilian in addition to the usual Chinese, Indian, Lebanese, Mediterranean that make up the numbers in other cities.

Cape Town is also a city that evoked the emotion – ‘I would want to live here someday’ from Smita at least 10 times. Prettier than the city – even though it’s a tough act to beat – was the Cape Peninsula and the drive around False Bay all the way to Cape Agulhas.

We went to South Africa thinking Cape of Good Hope would mark the southernmost point of Africa and where we’ll see the Indian and the Atlantic Ocean meeting. We returned educated that Cape of Good Hope had, well, no hope of being that. That credit goes to Cape Agulhas which at 20° East, is the point where the two oceans meet and Africa’s southern extremity exists.

The drive from Cape Town to Cape Agulhas and back was spectacular and reminds you of the Great Ocean Drive from Melbourne. Both bring up the bottom of their respective continental mainland and both combine rocky outcrops, sandy beaches with blue water to make a dramatic landscape. And driving around at night through small towns like Kleinmond, Gansbaai and Simon’s Bay looking for a place let us experience manufactured excitement.

Being able to watch India play South Africa at Newlands on the 1st day of the 3rd Test match was the cherry atop this icing. Here again, the denouement was similar to what happened in 2004 when we watched India play Australia on Boxing Day in Melbourne.

The trip to Antarctica was the high point of our Southern Hemisphere vacation. Till the next one comes along, we’ll be driven by its sweet memories. The next one, the next big one I mean, is a land trip from Singapore to Lisbon. It will take us to Beijing, Istanbul among other places and promises to be another exciting one. When? Well, 2012 seems like the right year for it.