Who’s watching who in this ANZANG contender from Antarctica?

WHAT’S going on in this unusual meeting during last year’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition?

Passengers from the Akademik Shokalskiy photograph a lone Emperor Penguin.. Australasian Antarctic Expedition. www.spiritofmawson.com TWAM 140524

THESE animals can’t help but bring a smile to your face.

They’re kind of weird-looking, with a gentle and inquisitive disposition that’s strangely at odds with this harsh, frozen world. And the way they squawk as they shuffle around clumsily on the ice, it’s adorable! I’ve seen them before, once or twice; they’re called humans.

It’s impossible to really know what’s going through the mind of an emperor penguin, of course, but the curiosity certainly cut both ways in this scene captured by Andrew Peacock during last year’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition. He and his fellow travellers had left their ship, the Akademik Shokalskiy, to wander around on the sea ice in Commonwealth Bay when this emperor – 1.2m tall, with an appropriately regal bearing – suddenly flopped out of the water to take a break from hunting. The bird seemed fascinated by the strange interlopers, and stayed for a good half-hour. “It was like a fashion parade,” says Peacock. “There was a semi-circle of oglers, with the penguin in the middle happily posing for the cameras.” His shot is a contender for this year’s ANZANG Nature Photographer of the Year award.

The Antarctica trip was an unusual gig for Peacock, 47, an emergency medic whose locum work takes him all around Australia. He joined as the expedition doctor, responsible for the wellbeing of 74 people – scientists, paying passengers and Russian crew – on board the ship. Happily, that involved nothing worse than treating seasickness on the nine-day voyage south.

The purpose of the expedition was to repeat some scientific observations taken by Douglas Mawson a century earlier – but dramatic events overshadowed all that. The Akademik Shokalskiy got stuck in the ice and, awaiting rescue, they all spent 10 days – including Christmas and New Year – marooned. There were none of the hardships endured by Mawson and his men, though; the ship had a well-stocked bar and Kiwi chefs. Says Peacock, tongue firmly in cheek: “We knew we were in trouble when they started dropping entrées from the dinner menu...”