Not many people get the chance travel to Antarctica, one of the most remote and hostile environments earth. So when the opportunity arose to cover the first crossing of the continent by two women attempting to ski across the Antarctic, I jumped at the chance. I imagined beautiful icebergs, killer whales, penguins and seals, days on a 37-metre ship pitching through some of the roughest seas in the world.

As I wandered around Sydney on a sweltering summer's afternoon, I felt slightly absurd buying long johns and thermal underwear. In my mind I was already in the ice, with little thought the 2,000 or so nautical miles I had cross before I got there. In fact, I failed to appreciate the kind of distances involved we were midway through the journey.

A large map stretching from Tasmania to the Antarctic adorned the wall of the saloon at the front of the ice ship, Sir Hubert Wilkins, but after three days we had progressed only an eighth of the down it. We seemed to be travelling incredibly slowly, possibly because the ship seemed to be moving up and down and side to side instead of forwards, even in what the crew assured were calm waters. That sounds impossible, but when you appear to be standing upright while actually lying flat in your bunk anything becomes logical.

Apparently the ship's movement is due its unusual, rounded hull which stops it getting caught in the ice, but does to prevent the bucking and rolling. One night my cabin mate's face actually made contact with the roof while he was lying in bed.

For the first few days I manfully fought all thoughts of seasickness, but soon I too was on a diet of water and crackers.

The Huey itself is a relatively small ship Antarctic waters, but the cabins are comfortable, the food and crew both excellent. Originally built a small cruiser for the President of Finland, the Huey played a small part in the history of the Cold War, hosting meetings the Americans and the Russians. But cruising around Finland's lakes and fjords is very different to crossing the southern ocean in blizzard conditions.

Eventually we reached the ice and the water became incredibly smooth as new ice formed among the floes.

Not many people get the chance to travel to Antarctica, one of the most remote and hostile environments on earth. So when the opportunity arose to cover the first crossing of the continent by two women attempting to ski across the Antarctic, I jumped at the chance. I imagined beautiful icebergs, killer whales, penguins and seals, not days on a 37-metre ship pitching through some of the roughest seas in the world.

As I wandered around Sydney on a sweltering summer's afternoon, I felt slightly absurd buying long johns and thermal underwear. In my mind I was already in the ice, with little thought of the 2,000 or so nautical miles I had to cross before I got there. In fact, I failed to appreciate the kind of distances involved until we were midway through the journey.

A large map stretching from Tasmania to the Antarctic adorned the wall of the saloon at the front of the ice ship, Sir Hubert Wilkins, but after three days we had progressed only an eighth of the way down it. We seemed to be travelling incredibly slowly, possibly because the ship seemed to be moving up and down and side to side instead of forwards, even in what the crew assured me were calm waters. That sounds impossible, but when you appear to be standing upright while actually lying flat in your bunk anything becomes logical.

Apparently the ship's movement is due to its unusual, rounded hull which stops it getting caught in the ice, but does little to prevent the bucking and rolling. One night my cabin mate's face actually made contact with the roof while he was lying in bed.

For the first few days I manfully fought off all thoughts of seasickness, but soon I too was on a diet of water and crackers.

The Huey itself is a relatively small ship for Antarctic waters, but the cabins are comfortable, the food and crew both excellent. Originally built as a small cruiser for the President of Finland, the Huey played a small part in the history of the Cold War, hosting meetings between the Americans and the Russians. But cruising around Finland's lakes and fjords is very different to crossing the southern ocean in blizzard conditions.

Eventually we reached the ice and the water became incredibly smooth as new ice formed among the floes.