The Race to the End of the Earth

view of harbour from window of Victoria museum

The Royal British Museum in Victoria has a special exhibit from May 17 - October 14, 2013 called Race to the End of the Earth.

 It recounts one of the most stirring tales of Antarctic exploration, the contest to reach the South Pole.

This exhibition focuses on the challenges that Norwegian and British leaders faced as they undertook their separate 2900 km journeys from the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf to the South Pole and back.

I thought I would take a quick circle through this exhibit on the day I went to the museum, but as usual I was trapped.

... The Wife ...
a sewing kit ...also home-made sun glasses

First of all there was a small sewing kit entitled “The Wife”.

I took a close look to see what the explorers felt was an appropriate alternative and it looks like in those days some needles, threads and buttons were a good substitute.

... electronic books ...

Then I got interested in the electronic part of the exhibit – an electronic book that you could scroll through, just as a person does with electronic readers.

I stayed longest at an underwater film of creatures that live in the Antarctic.

The person at the museum who was in charge of that room commented that it was too bad that there was no voice-over in the film.

But she showed me where there was text on a wall, so I went back and forth, examining the text and then seeing the film again to see if I could give names to the creatures I was seeing.

... a penguin keeping an egg warm ...

Reading the text that accompanies the displays slowed me down. I wanted to spend more time with the Salish exhibits.

But the text was so descriptive that I went back again and again to closely at what they were describing.

I had no idea I would spend that long in a place that talks about cold ... the very cold Antarctic.

Arta