Five humpback whales in Paradise Harbor

Happy Australia Day! We’ve managed to celebrate inadvertently over the past two days in several ways. Today we went to Winter Island and Vernadsky station, a Ukraine base that is also known as the southernmost bar in the world, and serves only vodka. The things you go through to get a drink on Australia Day – knee deep snow, horizontal sleet, and freezing zodiac cruises with the Antarctic wind blowing for good measure. Once there it felt like a normal bar with a pool table, only you could see icebergs and Gentoo penguins out the window. Plus a cameo from a Canadian T-Rex, who somehow snuck back on the boat also with two American pirates. Never a dull moment on the Europa!When we got back to the boat, dinner was a BBQ!!!! Very Australian, who’d of thought! I don’t think it was planned on purpose but there was a full blown BBQ on deck, along with a beetroot salad amongst others. Haven’t had dessert yet, but will be interested to see if they’ve stuck in a lamington, chocolate crackles or maybe a Pavlova??? The guys from Vernadsky station have joined us for a drink so we will see how the night pans out. And they have just bought out lamb chops and all the Australians are full!!!!Yesterday was very interesting; we finally made our first continental landing at Neko Harbour. It was different to the others, it was the first time I’ve seen sand, it was pebbly sand, but still sand. All other beaches have been pebbly rocks, or volcanic ash so this was quite different. Seth and Jamie were playing zodiac ice hockey with the oars to push some of the small icebergs out of the way on the way in. There was another climb to the top for a view across the peninsula with the local Gentoo’s watching us as we went whilst listening to the calving of the ice and waiting for a fresh iceberg to drop into the ocean. In the afternoon we were to take a zodiac cruise around Paradise Harbour. The weather was not the best so we couldn’t see the harbour in full glory, but to make up for it we were chasing five humpback whales around in Paradise Harbour.