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Hello family and friends,

As I am writing this we are heading for the Antarctic which we will see in two days. My journey started from Copenhagen with a 36 hour flight to New Zealand, via London, Bangkok and Sydney. It was slightly difficult to get through immigration in New Zealand on a one-way ticket, but after convincing them that I was going on an expedition to the Antarctic and flying home from Chile in 6 weeks, they let me pass. The next hurdle was customs. I had two large suitcases, which they had me put through one of these x-ray machines. My first suitcase went through without comments, but my next, it was full of shoes and boots. They are very strict with boots and shoes down there. Next to drugs (and crumbs in the bed), they hate boots! I had to explain that they were all brand new, that I was going on an expedition, that I was a film producer and that I needed those boots to make a commercial for the sponsor! They finally believed me. You know, nobody brings a suitcase full of shoes unless they have a good reason!

I only had one night in New Zealand until the ship arrived, so I slept and relaxed and got rid of my jet lag. The next morning I was at the harbor ready to meet the vessel. More men in uniforms greeted me! It was a restricted area! 'But I am going to welcome the large warship entering the harbor right now'! Then they had to check all kinds of lists and make several phone calls. In the meantime, more and more people were gathering around the uniforms, all to welcome the ship, so finally they let me through. It was fantastic seeing the ship again, but this time with an entirely new crew. The only crew member I knew was the captain. Of course I knew most of the scientists, and we had many things to catch up on that day, since we last saw eachother in South Africa.

The following day I went on a tour with half the crew. We got to see some of New Zealand. It was definitely for boys! First we sailed in high speed jet boats up a canyon - really a lot of fun sailing 40 miles/hour close to the cliffs. This kind of boat only needs one inch of water, so it was up and down and around in the rapids. After that we ate BBQ at a sheep farm. Once our stomachs were full we continued up in the mountain in huge 4x4's. We came up to a peak 3000 feet above sea level with a great view. 2 hours later we were back on the road, heading home with sore butts.

The next day we rented a car and four of us started out at 6am to make a 600 mile expedition down south. We had heard about an albatros colony and places where we could get close to penquins and seals. It was rainy and cold and it became a long day. We saw the albatrosses, got few feet from a seal, saw many other sea birds, but no penquins (they are out to the sea during the day).

On my third day I went with a friend to swim with dolphins. I have always been against this kind of entertainment. Some people even get a spiritual experience out of it. Bul..hit. The reason I accepted this tour was that it was with wild dolphins in an open bay. We were simply dumped in the water and the animals came by themselves. I was a bit afraid. Dolphins can be very nasty and they kill more people than sharks. Anyway when they came over to the boat our guide asked who wanted to be first, and by then I was so hot in my wet suit that I just jumped right in. We were told to make funny noises or sing in order to get them to come close. There I was in the middle of the cold water singing and the dolphins came over very fast. At the first encounter I felt a burst of adrenaline rushing through my body. They swam fast and extremely close, actually just inches. We spend an hour in the water with them, it was fun and something to remember, but to be honest I was scared the whole time. They can be so brutal and I never trusted them fully. They are the bikers of the sea, not at all smart. They are just perfectly adapted to their environment. After this experience we went straight back to the ship and left New Zealand the very same evening. Yeah, I think I made good use of my short time there.

We were all excited finally going on the expedition of our life. You can buy trips to almost anywhere in the world, but not where we were going, and we all know and appreciate that. So far we have been lucky with the weather. When it is bad weather you want to cross as fast as possible to get through. When it is good weather you also want to cross as fast as possible because you know the bad weather will come!

The scientists on board have been doing research along the way taking many water samples and fishing where nobody else has ever fished. We made a short stop at the Antipod Islands, where we had received a very rare permission to go on land. Last time somebody was there was in 1999! The fog was dense and covered an area the size of Europe, so it was possible the whole thing would be cancelled. We were all dissapointed, but we just had to wait and see. I was in line in the second zodiac. Suddenly the sky opened and a hole was formed in the mist. We could sea this pristine island. It is the cleanest place on the planet, and the researchers were eager to go and get samples for compariosons. We knew that there were sea elephants, we could see them, and in the water around the ship the penquins were fishing and looking at us. Finally only one zodiac could go and I let my photographer do this. While wathcing from the distance I participated in the fishing and the research. We also used regular fishing poles and trawls to get as many samples as possible. The guys in the 1st zodiac came back smelling of penquin poop but so happy. On the ship we also got good results. We caught a fish that nobody has ever seen!

After half a day there we continued. We did a lot of filming and photographing there of course, and the news programs at home liked everything we made for them. These were very hectic days for us, the TVcrew. Since then we have been teaming towards the Antarctic peninsula and mainland. In two days we will reach our first stop there, an American research base called Palmer Station. From there we will try to go to Deception Island and then the mainland.

It's a long adventure. I miss Michelle and Nikolai and Frida and Freja, but it's great we have Skype so we can communicate every day. There will be some days, maybe in a week or so, where we will be so far south that we can't reach any satellites.

The best wishes from the Antarctic, Bo

Kreativ direktør Bo