Dec 09
Before Freddy could think what to say, Polly squealed ‘Surprise!.. Hi Clare!’ She broke into a smile and whisked Polly up and away into the tent. Freddy sighed with relief, wriggled out of the sled and then scurried into the tent after them.
While Pat got the water on the boil, Freddy and Polly helped sort out the tent – inflating the thermarests (mattresses), unpacking the sleeping bags and sorting out the evening’s dinner.
Everyone was excited because tomorrow we would pass the halfway point. Imagine – almost 600km skied already in 28 days! The following day would be a rest day!
Polly told Pat, Clare, Shaun and Jon her amazing story again; they looked at this amazing little penguin hardly believing what she had done. They chatted some more until by 9pm, everyone was getting sleepy and it was time to get ready for bed; Polly sqeezed in between Freddy and Pat so she was nice and warm.
Once Freddy and Polly were asleep, Pat turned to Clare and said ‘What will we do? – we don’t have enough food and fuel to feed an extra person; everything was worked out assuming there were 4 of us plus Freddy, traveling for 55 days.‘
’Don’t worry, Polly is small and doesn’t eat much; we all have a little food left over each day – we’ll manage.’ Clare replied.
Pat was still concerned – ‘We still have a long way to go. We need our energy, especially in the second half of the trip. If we don’t all eat well, we simply won’t be able to keep going.’ Clare knew he was right, but they had to look after Polly; things would work out – they always do.
Soon the tent was quiet except for the sound of Pat’s snoring. It was nice to think they had just a half day skiing before reaching the Thiel mountains; then it would be a rest day.
