NORTH-EAST doctor Alistair Simpson lived and worked in Antarctica for 18 months, playing a vital role at a British research station.
He relished the challenges brought about by living in relative isolation, and said the only negative part of the whole experience was missing his girlfriend, Lydia.
Within days of his return he proposed and the couple are currently enjoying their honeymoon in the Highlands.
Dr Simpson, of Kemnay, Aberdeenshire, served with the British Antarctic Survey at Rothera, a research station on the Antarctic Peninsula.
He held clinics for the 22-strong expedition team as well as researching for his masters degree and working on a website for high-altitude medicine.
The 29-year-old said he felt privileged to have been able to call Antarctica his home.
He said: “From a personal point of view, it’s just been a tremendous thing to have experienced. It’s the most magical environment and so few people are fortunate enough to be able to really see it.”
However, he admitted it had been difficult to be so far from Lydia, 26, of Banchory.
“We spoke via satellite phone most days. It was important to both of us to be able to chat. It made it much easier,” he said.
“We would have survived with just e-mail but with phone conversations we were more able to continue a better quality of relationship.”
The former pupil of Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen proposed to Lydia, a doctor in the Army, days after returning home and the couple were married in St Ternan’s Episcopal Church at Banchory on August 23.
The couple, who also spent part of their honeymoon in the Maldives, now live in Edinburgh.
“Living in the same city is quite a novelty for us,” said Dr Simpson.