A variety of new itineraries and ways to see the frozen continent Antarctica, ranging in length from 26 days all the way down to 12.5 hours, have been released by expedition cruise operator Chimu Adventures for next summer, the 2017/18 polar exploration season.

Headlining the new selection is a one-day opportunity to experience Antarctica via a scenic flight where travellers depart from Perth, Melbourne or Sydney and fly south to spend around 4-5 hours cruising above the region, peering down and admiring from the comfort of a major airline. These experiences are renowned for being popular with travellers with a limited time and budget allowance.

The next new offering to be unveiled is the 11-day ‘Frozen Frontier’, which is a one-off fundraising itinerary hosted by prominent author and historian Peter FitzSimons. The former Wallaby rugby player will regale travellers with stories and expertise from his best-selling book ‘Mawson and the Ice Men of the Heroic Age: Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen’. The itinerary will depart on 24 February 2018 & is priced from US$6,712 per person twin share.

For those with a longer time window to travel, Chimu has chartered an expedition ship for an 18-day exploration of Antarctica in which it will follow in the footsteps of legendary polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and take guests to some of the most awe-inspiring sights on the continent. The ‘Shackleton’s Antarctica’ itinerary is priced from $18,050 per person twin share and departs on 05 March 2018.

The final new itinerary launched by the company is a mammoth 26-day retracing of the journey of Sir Douglas Mawson, put together in conjunction with the Mawson’s Hut Foundation. This itinerary doesn’t require an international flight at the beginning and will set sail from Hobart, Tasmania, covering the highlights of Eastern Antarctica. However, it’s on the pricey side at $24,160 per person twin share and departs on 14 December this year.

The expanded lineup comes in line with growing numbers of passengers eager to tick off that bucket list item and see the world’s southernmost region. Chimu’s new packages expand the number of ways travellers can sample Antarctica while still adhering to its mantra of being able to tailor itineraries to suit individual budgets.