On my recent trip to Antarctica, my fellow writer and near-constant companion was Wellington poet and all-round writer person Alice Miller. We shared a bunk room together, made each other many coffees, bought each other many drinks, and went on daily excursions to visit historical huts and remote field stations and to have adventures like camping on the sea ice, cross-country skiing and ice fishing.  Best of all though, we walked. Sometimes with other new friends and sometimes just us, often walking close enough to each other to be safe in the case of sudden whiteout but far away from each other enough to have the sense of being alone in the Antarctic whiteness. I think it was in those almost-alone times that we each did the most writing.

Alice and Rebecca walking on the sea ice near Scott Base. Photo by Dr Nick Golledge.

While Alice was in Antarctica she kept an audio diary. I seemed to be constantly interrupting her while she was speaking but thankfully, that’s not on tape. Her Antarctic diary has been playing on Radio New Zealand’s Summer Nights. I’ve enjoyed listening to them over the last week or so. I’m fully immersed in my Wellington life now and it’s wonderful to be reminded of what we were doing just a month ago – to be reminded that it was real.

Here are links to her audio diary posts. Each entry is just a few minutes long:
Alice Miller Antarctica audio diary 1
Alice Miller Antarctica audio diary 2
Alice Miller Antarctica audio diary 3
Alice Miller Antarctica audio diary 4
Alice Miller Antarctica audio diary 5
Alice Miller Antarctica audio diary 6
Alice Miller Antarctica audio diary 7