Evans Heaven

Cape Evans was next up on our Antarctic field trip – we spent seven busy days here.

Scott’s Terra Nova Hut is set in a lovely location; under the shadow of Mt Erebus, with a view to the Royal Society mountains in the distance across McMurdo Sound.

The hut is a large gable-ended structure, with a lean-to off the side, which was the stables for the Expedition’s ponies and mules. The interior of the hut is divided up into different spaces to suit the needs of those on the expedition, including: darkroom, bunks, kitchen, Officer’s dining area, and laboratories for the range of science research done.

We had a range of tasks to do while at Cape Evans, including similar monitoring as with Cape Royds, but also a couple of different jobs such as fixing a leaking flue issue, and re-wrapping and hand stitching the ponies’ fodder bales with new hessian (a great experience for all!).

When reading Scott’s diaries of his Terra Nova Expedition one gets a real sense of the hive of activity the Cape Evans hut must have been. It’s easy to imagine the men sitting around the table with the acetylene lights illuminating the hut and listening to lectures and discussions on a wide range of topics from each other, or playing football outside during the mid-winter twilight.