It is now 100 years since the ''heroic age of Antarctic exploration'' of Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton and an Australian geologist, academic and explorer called Douglas Mawson.
Theirs are stories of endeavour, endurance, bravery, hardship, skill and sometimes miscalculation. They were at the mercy of the elements as winds howled, the air froze and life was unthinkably inhospitable.
Yet, here we are in the 21st century with ice-breakers, helicopters, satellite navigation and an astonishing array of mod cons ... and still nature has us in its grip.
More specifically, wind buffeted the MV Akademik Shokalskiy before ice closed in. Numerous attempts were made to rescue the passengers over more than a week and, finally, they were lifted off late last week.
First, a Chinese icebreaker attempted to come to the rescue as the ice spread and thickened. Then an Australian ship tried to force its way through, before foul weather thwarted its efforts.
Then it was the turn of helicopters from the Chinese ship to ferry all but the Russian crew to the Australian vessel before the Chinese were stuck, with a United States icebreaker coming to help.
On Wednesday, the Russian and Chinese ships took advantage of a break in the ice and worked their way clear.
On board the Shokalskiy were the Australasian Antarctic Expedition led by a University of New South Wales climate scientist and several New Zealanders, including a chef from Omakau.
They were following in the wake of Sir Douglas Mawson, who landed in Commonwealth Bay in January 1912. The scientists were repeating many of the original measurements to see how the Antarctic has changed over 100 years.
Sir Douglas is famous in Australia and his image was on the $100 note from 1984 to 1996 and in 2012 on a $1 coin issued within the Inspirational Australians series.
Sir Douglas brought the first plane to the Antarctic and was the first to climb Mt Erebus and trek to the South Magnetic Pole. On his next expedition, he was the sole survivor of three from an horrendous and unimaginably difficult journey.
While his exploits are not so well known on this side of the Tasman, the events of the past fortnight have given us the chance to learn more about the capable, resourceful, tough and brave man.
A small glacier at the head of the Butler River just west of the divide in the Central South Island is named after him. Nearby is Shackleton Glacier.
Compared with the hardships of Sir Douglas, the travails of the Australasian group were but a picnic. Nevertheless, their plight showed the Antarctic can never be taken lightly.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the United States is experiencing the so-called ''polar vortex'' as temperatures dive and much of the country freezes up.
And close to home nature puts on another awesome show of a different type as a relatively slow-moving slide blocks the Dart Valley, causes a new lake - albeit temporary - to form and change the nature of Lake Wakatipu.
Humankind, despite its engineering, organisational and technological feats, often has little choice but to adapt to what the world throws out there. Ironically, perhaps the greatest changes of all might be coming.
If, as predicted by most climate scientists, temperatures continue to climb, sea levels will rise, the weather will change and societies will face massive challenges.
Although some in the modern world, particularly the wealthy, can insulate themselves from changing environments, the scale of adaptation required across most of the world's 7 billion people appears impossible without serious and widespread consequences.
People are modifying the planet in all sorts of significant ways, deliberately or otherwise. But, in the end, the earth will carry on in some form or another long after our species eventually dies out. After all, when all is said and done, nature is all powerful in the end.
Fundamentally, we in the 21st century, just like the explorers of 100 years ago and the expeditions of today, must accept nature on its terms, always respecting its power and its complexity.
