FOR Linda Beilharz, a celebratory gin and tonic with friends yesterday never tasted so good.
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Ms Beilharz touched down at Melbourne Airport after becoming Australia's first woman to ski from the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole.
Celebrating and catching up with family and friends at her home in Bendigo yesterday, the 44-year-old almost couldn't believe her journey had come to an end.
It has been three months since she took off to complete her 1110-kilometre trek. It was a welcome return home to some hot central Victorian 38 degree-plus weather, a dramatic change from the minus 53 degree conditions she has been used to in the Antarctic.
"It has been so good to enjoy some fresh fruit and actually taste what I'm eating," she said.
Conditions were so cold in the Antarctic, Ms Beilharz couldn't taste her food.
"Who would have thought nuts and sultanas actually freeze, but they do," she said.
She even had to endure 66 days without a shower.
"It is just so cold and dry you don't really smell," she said. Ms Beilharz reached the pole on Wednesday, December 29, after 56 days of trekking, covering about 28 kilometres a day.
Arriving home virtually unscathed, she said she was looking forward to a rest.
Her trek took her from the Hercules Inlet on the edge of the Ronne Ice Shelf to the South Pole, with a team of four international trekkers. She admitted there were times she didn't think she would get there, but self-belief kept her going.
"I had no choice but to go on and the group carries you on. Towards the end I just dug deeper and went a little further," she said.
Completing the trek without sustaining an injury made her journey easier than for some.
Days were long and the conditions tough.
"We would be up at 6.30 am, get going by 9 am and ski until about 8 pm. We would only get 15-minute breaks," Ms Beilharz said.
She says her training prepared for the trek, but nothing could get her ready for the conditions.
The group navigated its way across the Antarctic using the sun, and the wind on overcast days.
But Ms Beilharz said she grew to love the landscape.
"You're on the last bit of wilderness in the world. You really get to know the size and harshness of the land, it doesn't allow you to make a mistake," she said.
She is humble about her achievement, and said she was surprised no Australian woman had done the trek before. The St Luke's community development worker hopes to use her experience to inspire others.
"There are plenty of people who have to struggle hard to get places, not necessarily the South Pole, but need the mental strength to keep going," she said.
Her husband, Rob Rigato, always knew she would make it.
"People who know her are not surprised that she made it. "It is her quiet determination and willingness to persist," he said.
As for her next trek, Ms Beilharz said she is still undecided.
"When we were there we did talk about the North Pole, but I think I had better negotiate that," she said.
