I've just finished a week of pre-expedition field training at Bronte, a small town smack-bang in the centre of Tasmania which is famous for its local wildlife. According to the tourist information, 'local wildlife' means great trout fishing opportunities; for us, however it meant leeches, ticks, squawking birds nesting in the ceiling, rats scuffling endlessly in the walls, possums on the roof, tasmanian devils with facial tumors scavenging in the compost bins, spotted quolls prowling around, and, to our surprise, two horses in our wood shed when we got up one morning.

The training was brilliant. We rode quad bikes through the bush, lit fires and put them out, learned how to contain ship fuel spills, tied all manner of knots, camped in blizzard tents, learned how to survive in a white-out, learned how to rescue someone caught in a blizzard, learned how to pull quad bikes out of crevasses, navigated with compasses and GPSs, abseiled, used radios to practice doing situation reports from the field, and watched the fantastic auroras that have been happening over Tassie. We had presentations on the environment, on separation issues, harassment, occupational health and safety, meteorology, aviation, special secret female issues (and, since there are no secrets on Slush, these involved the ingenious contraption known as the Femi-Funnel), the GPS network, map and grid systems, and several station meetings. Somehow the message through all this was as follows: THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN ANTARCTICA IS TO ENSURE YOU ALWAYS HAVE ACCESS TO A NICE, HOT CUP OF TEA. For example: "Dehydration in the field is a serious issue. To combat this, always drink lots of tea." And: "If you detach the aerial from your VHF radio, you'll find that it makes quite a nifty tea-stirrer." And: "Always make sure you know which stove requires which fuel - kero, shellite or metho. If you are caught out in the field without a working stove, the worst could happen - you could be without tea until you are rescued." And: "Hot tea is a good way to warm yourself from the inside and prevent the onset of hypothermia." And: "The most important thing to know about a blizzard tent is how to make a cup of tea inside it without setting the whole thing on fire." And so on.

I collected my clothing kit the day before we left for the training. It is the coolest thing ever. It weighs 20 kilos and takes up two huge duffel bags. THE CONTENTS: 70s-fever lime-green-racing-stripe full-body quilted freezer-suit; tent-sized neon-orange fleece-lined huge-hooded "who-killed-kenny" jacket; neon-orange "I'm a hard-core Antarctic expeditioner like you see on the docos" overalls; fleece-lined slush boots; snow goggles that double the diameter of my head; sunglasses so hardcore it's illegal to drive in them in Australia they're so dark; Alaskan-style sheepskin sledding cap that needs only a flannelette shirt to make me into a lumberjack; several pairs of gloves and mittens in different styles and ratings; a 'neck gaiter' (a tubular scarf-thing, an awesome idea); thermal undershirts, thermal leggings, thermal fleeces, thermal jackets; and a light-blue padded bomber jacket that, again, seems to be from the seventies. Oh, and a ready-for-robbing-banks balaclava. We get to keep a lot of the gear at the end, but the heavy outer layers get returned.

We depart a day early - on Wednesday. The Aurora Australis arrives at the wharf early tomorrow morning. Wooooooooo! I consigned my cargo today, the stuff that goes into the hold. It was done in a rush and was taken away before I'd put all the details on the (rather flimsy at that stage) tags. I will let you know if my luggage ever reaches Davis or if it spends the next few decades lost and circling the Southern Ocean. NOTE TO SELF: next time you go to Antarctica, don't leave all your packing to the last HOUR. NOTE TO READERS: if anyone tells you last-minute packing can't be done, even for a three to four month voyage to a remote continent that requires half a year's preparation - they're technically wrong. But prepare to be a little stressed in the process.