hickness of about 2,000 metres. Scarcely five per cent of this land mass is without permanent ice or snow, and only the coastal rock outcrops and highest mountain peaks project through the ice sheet. The Antarctic climate varies with altitude, distance from the sea and sea level. In winter the coastal temperature is between -15 to -30 degrees C. and -40 to -70 degrees C in the interior. The warmest weather visitors can expect during the hight of summer is zero degrees C. ( Bromley, 1985 p. 37).There are three permanent Australian stations on the coast of the Australian Antarctic Territory, Casey, Scott and Mawson, providing headquarters for the scientific exploration of Antarctica. The stations main research disciplines are biology, botany, earth and atmospheric sciences, meteorological and medical research (SCAR / COMNAP, 1992, introduction.).Historic developmentEric Lars Lindbland (cited in Luyendyk, 1995, p. 1) Stated that people search for challenge and education as well as relaxation on their vacations. This motive can be seen as the driving force behind the first tourism expeditions to Antarctica in 1958 aboard a Argentinian Naval transport vessel the Les Ecaireurs. Paul Dudley Hart in his account of the growth of tourism in Antarctica recounts the use of this and other government ships bringing tourist to Antarctica until 1969 (cited in Oceanus, summer, 1998, p. 90). From these beginnings a thriving tourist industry has developed including theme based educational tourism lead by the Southern Heritage Expedition Group entitled, In The Footsteps of Scott and Shackleton, (cited in Oceanus, 1988, p. 96) in which tourists retrace a route from New Zealand to the Ross Sea region and selected places throughout Antarctica. There is also the Mawson Voyage (cited in Oceanus, 1988, p. 96) which visits several subantarctic islands as well as locations on Antarctica including the Mertz Glacier, McMurdo Sound and Capr Adare. In 1993/94 the shi...
