A riveting true adventure of a year in Antarctica, from the first woman to lead an Antarctic research station. Illustrated with 16 pages of colour photographs.

Antarctica calls to people. They often cannot articulate why. It’s a place where the temperature ranges from -15 in winter to about 2 degrees in summer. It’s windy, too, with prolonged periods of 50-knot winds. Yet people are drawn to it.
When Diana got the job as station leader at Mawson in 1988, aged 36, she was the first woman to have lead this isolated community. This intimate account of her year as manager is full of adventure and the challenges of working with a mostly male team of glaciologists, botanists and tradies, as they unite to deal with life in the face of what they call the 'A Factor'. We read about what it’s like to work and live in an isolated community for many long months; about the excitement of being in such an amazing place, observing the wildlife and gathering essential scientific data; and the incredible team of dogs that were so integral to their life. There are some pretty hairy life-threatening situations to boot. It was a tough but amazingly rewarding experience, which Diana brings to life in her wonderful, captivating story.
As Diana says, “What Antarctica means to me is a feeling of living for the moment, a feeling of incredible contentment and inner peace. A feeling, once experienced, you want to live it again and again.”

About the Author

Diana Patterson is a management consultant who was the first woman to manage an Antarctic research station at Mawson and maintains an involvement in Antarctic tourism. An alpine and cross country skier, bushwalker and mountain biker, she is also a well-known conservationist and environmentalist.