Winter Solstice: The Longest Night, From Gippsland to Antarctica
The sunrose this morning over the Strzelecki Hills at 7:42am. By 5:18pm, it will be gone.
That’s our longest night.
Somewhere at the bottom of the world, the crew at Casey Station haven’t seen a proper sunrise in weeks. Wind chill at −29.3°C. The sea ice stretching out unbroken in every direction. And this week, someone carved a hole in the frozen ocean, dragged out a surfboard and two pot plants, and got in — because it’s solstice, and apparently that’s how you mark it at the bottom of the world.
We’ve been watching their winter from across the planet. We couldn’t look away.
Solstice in Gippsland
Winter in South Gippsland isn’t dramatic. No snow on the ranges, no ice on the road. But it’s genuinely cold, and genuinely beautiful — the Strzelecki Hills sitting low in cloud, frost holding in the paddocks until mid-morning, the orchard bare and still.
There’s a temptation to treat winter as something to get through. But solstice is worth pausing for. Today is the turning point. From here, the light comes back — slowly at first, then all at once.
From the bottom of the world
might remember we shared something earlier this year: Brewers Orchard cider made it to Casey Station, Antarctica. One of Australia’s three permanent research stations, 3,800 kilometres south of Perth, home to a crew spending months at the end of the earth.
Our cider is there. At −29.3°C. We’re still not over it.
The photos the crew sent through this week say everything. A man calm as anything, chest-deep in Antarctic water. Ice blocks arranged like patio furniture. A tropical surfboard propped against the wall. The most committed solstice celebration we’ve ever seen.
The rising sun
From today, every day gets a little longer. In Antarctica, that means the sun will eventually clear the horizon again after weeks of near-darkness. In Gippsland, it means the orchard is quietly on its way back.
Tonight we’re sitting with the dark — frost on the ranges, something cold in the glass, and a quiet nod to the crew at Casey Station who got in the water this morning.
Happy solstice. The rising sun is on its way. 🍏❄️
