This winter, why not become a polar explorer in your holidays?  2008 is International Polar Year, and Tasmania is buzzing with its annual Antarctic Midwinter Festival.

Nowhere is Australia’s link with the world’s coldest, driest and loneliest continent stronger than in Hobart. Where else could you berth a huge orange icebreaker right in the middle of the action? This year, the Aurora Australis will help set the scene at the Huskies Picnic, just up the road from the docks in St Davids Park. Children adore this event, with dogs galore, sled-pulling competitions, and the sheer exuberance of Japanese Taiko drumming.

Australian and international Antarctic researchers are a vibrant part of Hobart’s community, and they really know how to party. Now you can share the exhilaration, at a free solstice celebration in Salamanca Place, with music, ice carvings and fire performances.

A sense of fun is a prerequisite for overwintering on the ice. In the perpetual darkness of an Antarctic winter, the longest night of the year is a great excuse to kick up your heels. The winter solstice means the howling gales will start to abate and daylight will slowly return. One of the favourite solstice events on Casey, Mawson and Davis bases is a screening of historic and contemporary footage from station libraries. After Hobart’s solstice party, you can head to the Longest Night Film Festival at the State Cinema for just such an extraordinary program.

A highlight of the film festival is footage from expeditioners straight off the ice. Polar exploration didn’t finish with the race to the South Pole. For decades, Hobart’s scientists have been racing to unlock the secrets of climate change deep within Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. It’s a global enterprise, and these guys have enlisted some unlikely assistants. At the Science Show, you can meet scientists who attach cameras to the heads of seals in the name of research. When the seals plunge to the ocean floor, holding their breath for up to 90 minutes, they capture astonishing images and data. And never fear – the cameras are painlessly shed in spring when the seals moult.

The Extreme Environment Photographic Competition - including one of Australia’s biggest prizes for a single wilderness image, closed May 30, 2008, and winners will be announced on the final day of the festival. If you're an aficionado rather than an entrant, don’t forget to cast your vote in the People’s Choice Awards at the exhibition held at Mawson Place throughout the festival.

The Antarctic Midwinter Festival runs from Friday 20 June to Sunday 29 June. Check out the program and book your Tasmanian winter holiday today.