Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Main Power House shutdown

Me testing pressure relief valves in the MPH
Paul and Glen H doing whatever it is diesos do, which is obviously easiest to achieve sitting down on the job

Barry and Glenn M trying to not electrocute themselves


One of the annual jobs undertaken here is the MPH shutdown. It is probably the main job for the diesel mechanics and electricians to do over the summer. We also have some work to do, including testing pressure relief valves, automatic air bleeds, cleaning strainers, servicing the boilers and also the heaters. The MPH should be out of action for about a week. The good news is that we have an Emergency Power House to take over during this time. The bad news is that I have the closest possible room to the EPH, and the bastard is currently roaring it's head off not 3 meters from my window and wall. Makes it very hard to sleep. But the other good news is that I'm moving into the SMQ and my room for the rest of the year very soon, hopefully this weekend. When the planes (and of course the pilots!) leave to go to Casey, I'm straight in. I keep asking Dan, the pilot currently in MY room, if he needs a hand packing his stuff and when he's leaving. Go on, hurry up and bugger off!

Monday, January 29, 2007

Triple M

Hey Mum, at last I'm famous...

Well almost. Triple M have a program called the Shebang and they are running a segment called "Shebanging the World". Basically, they want people to send them photos from every country of the world holding a Shebang sign. Technically, Antarctica isn't a country, but I though I would give it a go anyway. And guess which photo I found on their website today???

http://www.mrock.com.au/shows/shebang/world/index.php?continent=pacific

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Australia Day

The Australia Day festivities here kicked off with a fun run (two words previously thought to be mutually exclusive) out to Dingle Lake. There were two separate starting categories - runners and walkers. I was neither. I was posted to the roll of "support driver" and "second official photographer". Unfortunately, during the week I had done myself a damage with a sledgehammer (one lazy swing, one trip to the doctor and zero bruises to show for it), and was unable to participate in this event. The group running really had it tough, with fierce headwinds slowing them down, but allowing record times for the trip back. The walkers came back in a conga line, so God only knows how much they had to drink for breakfast.

From left: Rod Mac, Tomo, Alex, Tony S, Karl, Dave P, Catherine, Annette, Mal and Roger Tony S was very relieved to reach the turnaround point

Following the run was the much anticipated swim. A few of the braver (read: dumber) ones amongst us decided to brave the icy waters. And it was bloody icy! I lasted a whole 31 seconds. I know because I took my camera in with me - caught it on video. Then it was into the back of one of the Haggs to be transported up to the services building, which is where the spa and sauna are, to thaw out.

From left: Troy, John L-S, Stewart (the lifesaver), Tony M, Glenn M, me, Shane, Karl, Catherine, Annette, Jim and Alex
Photo: G Oakley

I'm 5th from the left - head just out of the water, holding my camera

Photo: G Oakley

After the thawing was complete it was off to lunch (meat pies, sausage rolls and lamingtons) followed by a game of cricket in the green store. The Number Ones got beaten by the Number Twos by two runs, and cricket was definitely the loser on the day. Dinner followed, which was a spit roast and bbq in the dieso's workshop. A few of the guys got into the spirit of the day by wearing patriotic clothing, which lead to the following photo.

Look mum, I'm a hooker! The Davis front row, consisting of Yogi, myself and Dick

Photo: M Ryan

Just for something different, we ended up at the bar for a few refreshing ales, and also to enjoy the open mike session. Once again I couldn't help myself and I got up and sung a few (how many??) songs, highlighted by my guest appearance as the Devil in Tenacious D's "Tribute". The worst thing about the day was that we had to be up for work the next morning. The best thing about the day is that I have rediscovered my ability to function on just over three hours sleep...


Thursday, January 25, 2007

Happy Straya Day!!!

Happy Australia Day, you little Aussie battlers. Just a quick one to wish everyone the best of luck in getting drunk today. For a little bit of home comfort, the comms guys are streaming in JJJ's Hottest 100 for us from 0800. And for a bit of fun later in the day, there are rumours of a swim at Australia's most southern beach, followed by a warming ale at Australia's most southern bar. Photos of the day to come over the weekend. Have a good one, patriots!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

A Mixed Bag

Thursday saw me in the kitchen for the day. It is just like school camp here, we are all rostered on to help out with common duties. Being in the kitchen is referred to as being on 'slushy' duty. It is the longest work day of all. Start time is at about 0800, and you keep going through till about 2000, cleaning, washing dishes, prepping food etc. You really don't stop all day. The best thing about being slushy is the fact that you get to pick what is played on the station radio all day. Needless to say, there was plenty of Pearl Jam (and a lot of The Waifs) played. Here I am stirring the goulash for dinner. Friday night is usually a chance to kick back and relax, but not last Friday. I was playing pool at about 2200 when my pager went off. There was a problem down in the R/O building. It turns out a pump had given up the ghost and had to be replaced. The picture above shows (L-R) Doug, Jason and Barry working away feverishly, whilst I slack off taking pics!

What you see in this photo are know as dykes. Geologists think they are very exciting. To the rest of us they are just black lines of rock. On Sunday I went out with a group of geos (Chris and Catherine) to help them take samples of one of the dykes near station. So off we set, beginning to walk the length of one of these dykes taking sledgehammers with us to break off samples.
This is about the only time that Jim actually picked up a sledgie to swing it in anger (with Glen and Chris looking on), so it had to make it on the blog! He spent more time taking photos than taking swings. We managed to break two of the three sledgehammers during the day. After taking samples we then had to lug the bloody rocks with us to a convenient point for helicopter collection. It was hard work, but was really good fun day with some really good fun people.Our stopping point for the day was marked by our arrival at the Ellis Narrows. You can see on the other side of the water where the dykes continue to cut their way across the continent (as Chris is showing Glen. Tomorrow the geos will continue along the same dyke on the other side of the narrows. And good luck to them too, I'll be busy back on station working on not carrying rocks around all day!

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Happy Birthday Davis

Last Saturday, the 13th of January, marked the 50th anniversary of Davis. Dr Phillip Law landed on the site of the station on the 12th January 1957, and the first building was erected on the 13th. On this date a dedication ceremony was held to officially open and name the station. The name chosen was in honour of Captain John King Davis. To kick off the festivities, a phone conference was held with a few of the ANARE club members closely associated with Davis. The guest of honour was Dr Law himself. It really was such a privilege to have the chance to hear him speak, especially as he is only a few months shy of 95. His stories of the time he spent here were amazing, and his memory has not faltered one bit.

Cookie speaking during the hook-up


Ivan Hawthorn, Bill Bathurst, Dr Phillip Law, David Dodd, Alex Brown in Melbourne

Next on the agenda was a photo of the whole crew down here, with most of the mechanical gear we use to get around and work with. They even landed a chopper in the middle as a kind of centerpiece. This was followed by a recreation of the original station photo, which was taken in the same place - the donga line of the old station. When I get a copy of both of these photos, I shall be posting them here. After the recreation photo, Cookie read out Dr Law's original speech which was fantastic to hear. The links back to the past really made us proud to call this place home

Santa reading out who has been naughty or nice

Me on top of the old station. Note the short bloke who dressed in his tux for the occasion

Once the formalities were over, a treasure hunt/trivia contest was held, and then it was on to the Emergency Vehicle Shelter (EVS) for the spit roast/bbq for dinner. Then it was time to retire to the bar for a few quiet ales before an early night for all... Or maybe that's what I should have done! The band kicked up not long after 9, and the surprise guest vocalist was a smash hit with all the punters.

Jim, Roger, Trevor and Tony

Bet you didn't know I was talking about me when I mentioned the surprise guest vocalist!!! From left: Me, Noel, Jim, Roger and Tony's left arm.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Boating Induction

On Friday arvo, the boating team had their induction. As one of the boat drivers, I had the privilege of heading out on the water. What an awesome way to kill a few hours. It was a serious training session of course, it just so happened that it turned into a berg cruise.
Me, water, icebergs. Simple - the explanation, not the subject, oh forget it...
Two penguins and an iceberg

Penguin, iceberg, water

Follow the leader

OK, I think I'm out of captions now
So just enjoy the photos

This damn berg tried to bite us, so we pulled some teeth out...


...and ate them! Hully, one of our Field Training Officers, enjoying an icy treat. Of course we went no closer than the prescribed 100m of the bergs...


Noel attacking Matt after a disagreement about the cab fare. We took the training very seriously...

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

The Davis Bottleshop


Nowhere have I ever seen so many people work so hard. OK, that's a complete lie... But tonight was bottling night. As always, there were plenty of willing volunteers to help get the brew bottled. One of our brewing drums holds about 250 long necks, so the production line was set up. Tonight's batch was a lager. We needed to start building up our stocks again after the Christmas/new years period.
Unfortunately, stocks will probably take a big hit this week, as it is the 50th Anniversary of the Davis station. You are all invited to come, we'll provide the food, booze (we also brew draught, black and tan, ciders, ginger beer, stouts - Guinness for St Pat's day was started this week) and accommodation, you just have to make your own travel arrangements. Please RSVP ASAP.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Saturday night seal


So it's Saturday night (technically Sunday morning), the darts are over and you are getting bored. What do you do? Go and visit the local wildlife. I mean, I was just standing there, and this very inquisitive and active seal approached me. Luckily I had my camera with me. And a beer. Just think though, apparently this bloke is just a pup. In a few months we will see the really big guys.

The Dart Machine

See Alison, she really is busy!
Here's a tip for young players. Do not play darts against this woman. Jim and I were in front (quite comfortably too) then Rod and Annette hit back. Rod hit a Shanghai then Annette had to hit 2 double bulls to win the game. Bang. Bang. Game over. Crowd goes wild. Jim and Brendan go and cry in their beers.

Jolly!

I got out on my first jolly on Friday. I got a message from Cookie to be at the helipad in half an hour, so I dropped what I was doing and hightailed it. Trev and Glenn were going out to a field hut and also to an antenna site to see what was out there, and I got the spare seat.

It was fantastic to get the opportunity to see some more of this place, especially so from the air. The scenery from the air was genuinely breathtaking. Up in the hills, there are so many lakes (some frozen, some not) and fjords it gives a completely different aspect of Antarctica, compared to the dustbowl that is Davis. And to see the plateau rising in the distance, taking up all of the horizon is surreal.

That's Watts, on the right

We first went to Watts Hut, then on up to Tarbuck Crag. Kudos to Dave, our chopper pilot, for actually landing on top of Tarbuck - there is literally only enough level ground to just fit the skids, and it was also quite windy. That was going to be it for the day, but the boys requested a trip out to Platcha Hut, which was approved. Platcha is in an amazing spot, right on the edge of a lake, and right on the edge of the plateau. The icecap starts growing from here, and continues on rising all the way to the middle of the continent.

Nice parking Dave!


Me on top of Tarbuck Crag
Platcha Hut

Thursday, January 04, 2007

What did you see on your way to work today?


This is what I saw. I was walking down to start work in the "waterboy business" this morning, when I was confronted with this little bloke. The last two days have been very windy - up to 48 knots - and all the sea ice has blown out. Literally one day the bay was covered in ice, we woke up the next morning and it was all gone. Almost immediately the wildlife has started to come in. What is most surprising though is that this fella had to wander up through the station about 400m to get to where this shot was taken.
Later in the day 3 elephant seal were spotted wallowing about 150m inland. I have a photo of the seals, but it just doesn't show how big they are. These things are massive - easily 750kg each. I need to get a shot of them with something to scale them against.

My Room


OK kids, here is the next enthralling installment of the "My...." series, imaginatively titled My Room. My room is quite small, as the photo shows. Just so you really get an idea as to how small, go and sit on your queen size bed and then build four walls around it. Add a door, desk, chair and bookcase and there you have it! Cupboards, I hear you ask? My what a luxury that would be. All my storage is in drawers under the bed.
OK now that that is over and done with, it's not as bad as I am making out. Yes, it's small, but as you can see in the photo, I have made it my own. And it is my own. A lot of other people are sharing rooms, I think the most in a room is 4 which really wouldn't be good. And I also have an Internet connection, so just picture me at the desk above slaving away on this blog, underneath my boxing kangaroo flag. Later in the season (when all these bloody tourists go home) I will be moving into the Sleeping and Medical Quarters which will be a lot more comfortable - IE shower, toilets, running water etc.
***As a side note, I want to say hi to Annette's mum. Annette is waaayyy to busy to send her mum emails and photos, so she just gave her mum my blog address. Everyone say hi Mrs Annette!!!

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

My Office

Well, now all the Christmas/New Year festivities are over, it's back to the land of work. Here at Davis we make our water through a process known as Reverse Osmosis. Basically what we do is turn sea water into drinking water. This is done by first finely filtering the sea water through the Continuous Micro Filtration plant, and then passing that water through the Reverse Osmosis plant, and finally through a calcite filter to regulate the pH levels. One of my jobs is to monitor the quantity and quality of the water being produced, and to undertake any maintenance required on the equipment. The biggest task is to chemically clean the CMF units, which generally take a day each (there are two), at least once a week. So I spend a fair amount of time each week in the RO building. It's not all bad though, no one bothers me - it's too far away from anything - and i just put the iPod on and sing away to myself all day long.
This is my desk, where I do all the tests on the water samples. Note the erganomically designed stool.These are the two CMF units, which do the initial filtering of the seawater and then send it to...
the two RO units, which remove the salt from the water, leaving us with drinking water. Now isn't this the most exciting blog entry you have ever read???




Monday, January 01, 2007

Midnight Sun, Midnight Moons

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year. May this year be everything you want it to be. I want to take this opportunity to wish all the best to the families and friends of all the people who are down here at this festive time. We all miss you, and know that you miss us too. Stay safe.

We saw the new year in by doing something different. We had a few drinks. Paul, Nick and I decided to watch the clock tick over to 07 by taking a few drinks outside and enjoy the midnight sun. The band was playing for most of the night (loudly), so we wandered out to enjoy the quiet of Antarctica. It was a very pleasant way to see in the new year.

This is a photo of the sun at midnight on December 31st, taken from the front of the Met building. The biggest shock of the night came not too long after this photo was taken, when the two moons of Antarctica made their first appearance. Not too bad considering we haven't had a sunset in many weeks...

Not surprisingly, there are a few sore heads wandering around the place today, none more so than a certain Met tech who got the award for best on ground last night, and then was up at 5.30 and straight off to work. Well done Colin!