The ship made record speed yesterday with speeds in excess of 13 knots! A light southerly breeze, calms seas and bout a 2-3 m swell.

The last few days have been occupied with lectures and discussions as we steam north towards Campbell Island across the mighty Southern Ocean. It is remarkably calm and the ship is barely moving up and down – long may it last!

We awoke at 8am to be advised that the tides and wind had pushed enough ice into the Cape Adare region to prevent us from being able to go ashore there. As a result a decision was made to head south again to the Possession Islands to see if it was possible to go ashore on one of the islands.

We were woken at 3.30am this morning to venture up to the bridge to see the Ross Ice Shelf. It was a truly magnificent sight – an ice cliff some 30-40 metres high and extending from Ross Island to the east some 800 miles.

The Our Far South crew have prepared a wonderful short video, showing some of the highlights of the Our Far South voyage thus far.

Another day at sea. Last night the winds rose to about 45 knots and a 3-4 metre swell developed. The ship pitched quite a lot, with waves breaking over the bow and spray pounding the bridge windows. This was enough to send a number of the people on board to their bunks!

We awoke to find the ship weaving its way through icebergs, eventually to break out into the clear waters of the Ross Sea at about mid-day. The seas look cold and uninviting. As with the previous days, many of the icebergs are enormous, and the ones on the horizon almost look like space ships.

The Southern Ocean and Antarctica have high levels of primary productivity for three months of the year, based on the growth of phytoplankton. These microscopic plants are highly adapted to this unique environment and survive despite the lack of iron – a key nutrient – in these waters. 

Rob Murdoch is gving a few talks during the Our Far South voyage, and his talks will include a number of videos which help to contextualise his presentations.

Today we got to sleep in until 8.15am after a good night's sleep.

The seas are remarkably calm and the sky is blue! There is only a light wind and the ship feels like it is hardly moving. As a result we are making great headway to Macquarie and expect to arrive late tonight/early morning. Not a lot of wildlife here – very few seabirds about.