In 1911- 14, the great Australian explorer-scientist Sir Douglas Mawson spent two winters at Cape Denison, in Antarctica’s Commonwealth Bay, one of the most inhospitable spots on Earth. But as leader of the Australian Antarctic Expedition, he had come well equipped with a number of companions. Though tragedy struck during a foray onto the Antarctic icecap, he and the rest of his men fared well in the relative comfort of their hut. Could a privately funded and much smaller expedition winter as successfully?

That was the question in Sydney yachtsman Don McIntyre’s mind after he returned from a voyage to Cape Denison early in 1993. He decided to find out, and in the process experience the full cycle of the Antarctic seasons.

On 15 January 1995, Don and his wife Margie, together with a crew of five, reached the site of Mawson’s headquarters in their yacht ‘Spirit of Sydney’. Before the month was out, the yacht and crew had sailed home and Margie and Don were alone in the world’s last great wilderness. Only days later, the wind worked itself into a screaming fury and the first blizzard struck.

This graphic account of the couple’s year at Cape Denison, based on their detailed diaries and logs, is a study in grit and determination in the face of conditions that few humans ever encounter. Battered by winds that sometimes exceeded 240km/h, gripped by temperatures as low as –32 degrees C, their tiny prefabricated hut shook, creaked and grew a lining of frost as thick as any inside a freezer. As autumn gave way to lifeless winter, the psychological pressures were such that Margie suffered bouts of profound despondency, particularly when confined indoors for days on end. But foul weather sometimes gave way to days so brilliant that the stunning panoramas outside the hut inspired moods close to euphoria. And with the arrival of spring came life – killer whales, seals, penguins- and days of never-ending sunshine.

Margie and Don are two sides of a coin: they have their differences but they make a formidable unit. Their differences came to an extraordinary climax at the end of their stay, but their unity survived stronger than ever. The McIntyre’s year in Antarctica was a triumph of organisation, but without the will and strength to see it through, it would have failed. Perhaps disastrously . This book celebrates the human spirit in the face of adversity. It is a story of a grand adventure in the grandest of places.