Antarctic aviator safe in NZ

Jon Johanson denies being ill-prepared

An Australian pilot stranded in Antarctica for a week has flown back to New Zealand after a fellow adventurer gave him the necessary fuel.

Jon Johanson, who got stuck on the continent when strong head-winds cut into his fuel supplies, arrived back in New Zealand's southern town of Invercargill on Monday.

Mr Johanson, who became the first person to fly over the southern pole in a self-built plane, had hoped to fly on to Argentina.

He was able to refuel after a British woman, Polly Vachar, sold him some of the fuel she had pre-positioned for her own crossing of the continent, which she had been forced to abandon.

Mr Johanson's plight caused a diplomatic wrangle.

The US base he landed at, and a nearby New Zealand base, refused to help him because they were reluctant to encourage Antarctic tourism.

He was planning to fly on to Argentina, but was forced to turn back and land his RV-4 plane at the US McMurdo base when strong headwinds ate into his fuel reserves.

Both McMurdo and New Zealand's Scott base, a few kilometres away, refused to provide him with the required 400 litres (104 gallons) to return to New Zealand, reluctant to encourage Antarctic tourism.

Polly Vachar, who had stashed fuel at McMurdo ahead of her attempted flight there, then agreed to provide Mr Johanson some of her fuel.

Ms Vachar is at the British Rothera base in Antarctica on the other side of the Pole. She set off for McMurdo on 5 December, but was forced to turn back because of high winds. She now plans to fly back to Argentina