Fran Solly gave an informative talk on Antarctica at the recent Charlton Women in Agriculture and Business group meeting.
She and her husband had a 28-day trip by ship starting from New Zealand last year.
They visited that continent and sub-Antarctic islands down to the Ross Sea.
It proved an unforgettable experience, as they were able to land in numerous places.
The route was chosen because it travelled through a much less visited area.
There were more than 100,000 visitors to the Antarctic last year, mostly to the peninsula.
Fran expressed her concern for the environmental impacts people and ships could be having on the ecology and environment while acknowledging the strict biosecurity measures in place.
These include the requirement to take out everything that is taken in, and to prevent soil, mud, and all plant materials going in on boots or clothing as nothing decays in that environment.
Visitors must only walk on the designated walkways on all the islands that allow tourist access.
The islands visited included Enderby, Macquarie, Campbell, Snares and Patch.
Other points of interest were that several of the early explorer huts are now maintained by the Antarctic Heritage Trust and can be entered a few at a time.
Many countries, such as the United States, New Zealand, China, South Korea, Australia, Argentina and Germany, have buildings used for ongoing science.
People can spend a maximum of 18 months living down there and any scientific information must be shared within 12 months – under a treaty signed in 1961 which states that the Arctic and Antarctic are owned by everyone to be used for science and world peace.
The group learned a little geography and history of the continent, its wildlife – especially the birds, whales and seals – the flora on the islands and the weather.
Being experienced local sailors, and with patches behind their ears, they avoided sea sickness in some periods of very rough 12-metre high seas.
Some were amazed to see there were so many different species of each bird or whale.
Fran is a keen photographer and shared many of their photos.
