It was business as usual during the darkest days and no-one really seemed to mind living in perpetual twilight, but seeing the sun again over the northern horizon has perked everyone right up.
The first sign of the sun on the northern horizon.
With the return of the sun the Union Jack has been raised again, and once more flies proudly from the top of Rothera Point.
Rothera in the dark can be a pretty spectacular sight. Some of the buildings here date back to the 1970s, when the base was first built. Others, like New Bransfield House, only opened last year and are modern, 21st century buildings.
It is my job to maintain all of the buildings here. It is quite a challenge to repair a failed floodlight when the temperature is minus 21 degrees and it is dark and windy.
Although the sun doesn't rise above the horizon we are treated to some spectacular day breaks.
The temperature has continued to fluctuate throughout the winter, varying from a very mild minus 5 degrees (t-shirt and shorts weather) to a bone-chilling and incredibly painful minus 24 degrees. And we've also had a couple of nasty storms, too.
This is what happens when you take even a quick walk between buildings; everything freezes.
It's difficult to describe how it feels to live and work in these kind of temperatures. It can be so painfully cold.
Obviously, we wear high quality warm clothing, but if you should happen to venture out without a hat or gloves, within seconds you can feel the pain of the intense cold on your fingers and ears.
And when it is this cold, don't EVER touch a door handle without gloves on!!!!
The cold temperature means that the sea around Adelaide Island has frozen.... solid!!!
We are now fully frozen in!!
When the sea is frozen over we go out walking on it, wandering around amongst the icebergs. It feels very strange knowing that beneath your feet lies 300 metres of cold sea water.
But it wasn't just a jolly; it was work.
We trekked out almost 3 kilometres from base, drilling and testing the integrity and thickness of the ice every 100 metres. We recorded a maximum ice thickness of 50cm. All this information has been logged onto the sea ice database.
Just a few months ago you could only get this view of the base from a boat.
We amuse ourselves in many ways here. One such source of entertainment is making movies.
This weekend we've been filming our entry in the Antarctica 48 hour Film Festival.
Antarctic bases of all nationalities are invited to make a five-minute film in just 48 hours.
Every one's film must include a specified prop, character and line of dialogue. We don't find out these elements until after the 48 hours have started, then we must plan our story, script it, sort out our props, film it, edit it and submit it, all inside the 48 hour limit.
Each base will watch all the entries and vote for a winner. Rothera won last year, so we have a lot at stake.
I had a whole lot of fun acting my scenes, and I did all my own stunts, too.
I can't reveal too much about the plot yet, but my character suffers a grisly death at the hands of some fiendish ice-mummies!!!!
We also have a full-length feature film currently in production. I've already filmed a couple of scenes, with more yet to shoot.
And I have just finished writing the screenplay for a short documentary that Mike (our electronics engineer) and I plan to film soon.
Watch out, Hollywood!!!
I've got my midwinter dental check-up this week. There's nothing wrong with my teeth, I'm just not looking forward to having Dr Matt our base doctor/dentist rummaging around in my mouth. He's not well known for his sensitivity and gentle touch.
I'm off on holiday again in a week's time, on my second winter trip. This time I'm heading to the north of the island to see more snow, mountains and glaciers. I'm really looking forward to it. Living here on base is a pretty special experience, but more than anything, I love getting off base and living in a tent out in the Antarctic wilderness.
Don't worry, I'll let you know how I get on....
