Ice Diaries

What is an Antarctic community?

There’s a rawness and honesty in human interactions, as if the clear air won’t sustain the contrivances of characters that distance people in the real world.

There is a sense of common purpose. In the mess, over meals, the chef will sit down with a biologist to discuss the condition of the rare mosses she’s come to monitor; the diesel mechanic (and part-time coxswain) is briefed on what the penguin team he ferried across the bay have found; the pilots and the meteorologists discuss getting the whale surveyors into the air. The skills they bring you here are your ticket – to respect and equality as well.

Jo Chandler, Sydney Morning Herald, Good Weekend, March 8, 2008, p.29-35

Read more from Chris Wilson, Station Leader, Casey, 2007-2008