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29.12.09
Happy Birthday Sophia
The goal is in sight. Literally. They can see the South Pole and I can think of worse ways that Sophia could have spent her birthday.
A quick practical bit before we let Steph (Cyprus) give us the interesting stuff. Firstly, they are roughly 6 nautical miles from the South Pole. The map on the Progress page is approximate so might look a bit off on the last day or two.
Second, they are taking the day off to prepare for this evening's live lecture at the National Geographic Store via satellite phone. So, despite being a stone throw's away from the finish line, there will be a slighy delay in the arrival. The tension mounts!
Anyway, over to Steph for today's update...
Stephanie (Cyprus)'s PodCast:
Link to Podcast
Stephanie's PodCast in writing:
"Hi everyone. We're on Day 37. We've made it this far which is absolutely amazing.
Sophia's birthday today so I think Antarctica's given us the greatest gift of a perfect day. It's been absolutely perfect for traveling. It's been quite cool, obviously for temperature wise, because we're close to the South Pole and there was no wind whatsoever. Sunshine throughout, it's just been absolutely perfect. I mean, we covered 13.7 nautical miles which is really good and you know we just, we're just ecstatic because we can actually see the South Pole Station.
I don't know if you're aware of this but the Americans have a research station, The Amundsen-Scott Station which is on the South Pole and we can actually see the buildings now and it's been a case of so close yet so far for the past few days. Now we're just so close and so very excited about reaching the South Pole, I can't even begin to describe what the feelings were today when we spotted this building for the first time, it was just unbelievable.
If you think about it, it's the first time that we've actually seen anything in 20 days since we've left Thiels so I think it's been a really good birthday present for Sophia and the team as well. We're going to take the day off tomorrow so even though we're quite close to the South Poke now, just a few hours away, so we can focus on our National Geographic talk which is on tomorrow.
If you're in London, then I think you should get yourself down to Regent Street and listen to us because it sounds like it's going to be really, really good one. We're preparing for it and we want to hear all your questions. We'll be on at 6:30 England time so the more the merrier. Please come down and hear our stories and ask us questions.
Apart from that well, you know we're all heading to bed now and looking forward to a nice long line for a change. Hopefully none of us are gonna wake up at an obscene hour, otherwise we're going to be very disappointed. So, until tomorrow. Take care. Bye."
Photo by Robert Hollingworth