I’m in Sydney with my parents for a few days and yesterday morning I was lucky enough to see Shackleton’s Antarctic Adventure at the IMAX cinema (extremely lucky, in that I happened to look on their website about 2 hours before it was on for the one and only time while I’m here).

What a magnificent movie! If you ever have the chance, go and see it! The photography is spectacular, and the story of Shackleton’s expedition must rate as one of the most amazing and inspiring in the history of man…seriously!! I’ll be getting it on DVD just as soon as I can.

It was Shackleton’s extraordinary story that first lit my desire to travel to Antarctica.

Back in early 2004 (I think it was) just before I left Canberra I went to the National Library to see an exhibition of a large collection of photographs from their archives from the late 1900’s to the 1920’s or 1930’s. It was an absolutely magnificent exhibition, with images from both famous and unknown photographers, chronicling the history of Australia at the time.

Amongst the exhibition was a section devoted to Frank Hurley’s photographs from Shackleton’s expedition to Antarctica in 1914. This was the first time I’d heard of Ernest Shackleton, and I was completely awe-inspired as I read about his ill-fated expedition. If you’re not familiar with it yourself, I’ll give you an overview now.

The plan was to sail his ship, Endurance, through the Weddell sea to the shore of Antarctica, where he’d attempt to be the first man to cross the continent of Antarctica.

His ambitions had to be put aside though, as Endurance became trapped in pack ice. The ice resisted all attempts to free the boat, and Shackleton and the other 27 men spent the Antarctic winter on-board, hoping she’d be free’d in the Spring.

Almost a year later Endurance had to be abandoned as it was crushed by the ice. The men tried to cross the ice to an island where provisions were stored, but were unable to. So they set up camp on the ice, trusting it would drift closer to where they wanted to go.

Some 5 months later the ice they were camped on broke apart and Shackleton decided they use their lifeboats to make for the nearest land, Elephant Island.

The first night they camped on a small ice flow, but the next 5 days and nights they spent in the lifeboats before finally getting to Elephant Island, where it took them another day to find somewhere to land.

Elephant Island was completely inhospitable and not a place they would be found, so Shackleton decided to risk an open-boat journey in one of the lifeboats to South Georgia. He had the ship’s carpenter strengthen the keel and build a make-shift deck and sails, then he and five of the men, including Endurance’s captain and navigator Frank Worsley, set off, leaving the other men behind to hope and pray.

For over two weeks the six men sailed through the rough seas before spotting South Georgia, thanks to Worsley’s amazing navigational skills. They could not land though due to Hurricane-force winds, so had to ride out the storm off-shore. Apparently the same storm sunk a 500-tonne steamer heading to South Georgia.

The next day they were able to land on the uninhabited south shore, where Shackleton decided to cross the island to the whaling station on the North-East rather than risk the ocean. He left three of the men behind and set out with Worsley and another man, Tom Crean, to cross previously uncharted parts of the island, over mountains, glaciers and crevasses.

After 36 hours the men made it to the whaling station. Shackleton immediately set off to rescue the three men on the other side of South Georgia.

It took another two months to rescue the men on Elephant Island due to ice, but they were all rescued in August 1916, almost 2 years after they set out.

All men returned from the expedition – not one life was lost!

Through the movie they often spoke of Shackleton’s amazing, positive attitude. How he never looked back at the past and what had happened, but just focussed on what he needed to do. And how he was always aware of keeping up the spirits of the men.

Shackleton never gave in, never gave up. From the time the Endurance first became trapped he set his intention to return all the men alive, and he did just that.

There was no-one to rescue them but themselves, and they showed just what we are all truly capable of.

It left me to think, “If they can do that, just what can I do?”