Mint Slice Biscuits

So I was in Met the other day, changing some water filters and doing some other routine maintenance, when I was offered a Mint Slice biscuit. The guys there had found an old packet, and I had to give them a try. And they were awful. The photo below shows two packets - the top is the new(?) packet, and the bottom one is the old packet. Any guesses as to how old they are? The answer is in the next post down.

The New Library

V4 saw the arrival of the new overflow lounge/library. With the amount of people at Davis over the summers there is a need for more living space. This will be taken up next summer by the new lounge, which will be fitted onto the end of the LQ lounge area. It is currently sitting outside, and before it gets winterised, we decided to make use of it. And seeing as last night was the opening round of footy, what good timing! We had the game going on the radio which was good.

Some of us enjoying the new library (good camera work Matt!)

The only problem was that it doesn't have a door, and it was bloody cold inside - that's why everyone is rugged up. Annette even managed to grow herself some icicles!

Are those running spikes?

Just before half time, we all got too cold and headed inside. What fantastic timing, as it was also dinner time and steak was on the menu...

--The mint slice biscuits were best before 14 October 1987--

Catch up

Ok, its been a while so sorry if I am rambling on a bit!

Last Saturday was St Patrick's Day and Tony organised an Irish themed menu. And I was on slushy duty that day, lucky me, so I had plenty of Irish themed dishes to wash!

The menu from St Paddy's Day

The potted crab and prawns for entree

Dave and I dressed the mess up in green, but we had to use doona covers as table cloths as there was a severe lack of green table cloths. I also raided the dress-up store and got my hands on all the green balloons and streamers, and found a couple of Irish flags, and also some silly green hats. That's me in the green and gold stripes at the back.

Enjoying dessert

The weather has turned decidedly colder in the last week or so.The sea out the front is very close to being permanently frozen now. We shut down the reverse osmosis plant last week, and we had to use a crow bar to smash the ice up around the pump to get it out. This morning it was -19, and warmed to a maximum of -15, which is common these days. It's not surprising really, seeing that we have just had the equinox, and the days are getting shorter very quickly. It's starting to look a lot like Antarctica down here, which is a very nice change from rocky and dusty Davis. Blundstone boots just don't cut it anymore down here if you are outside for any length of time (especially if you are wearing shorts - your socks get too wet in the snowdrifts!).

Looking down towards the tarn (the saltwater lake we get our drinking water from)

With the weather turning cold, it is time to start "winterising" the place. This involves shutting down all the buildings and equipment we won't be using over the winter. All the summer accommodation has been shut down, the reverse osmosis building has been done and the summer ablutions block will be shut this week. The other building we shut down last week was the science building. We have no science program here this winter, other than atmospheric and space science, so the general science building has been shut down. We even go so far as to block all the exhaust stacks and air intakes into the building to stop them from blizzing up.

Working on a pair of steps on a snowy, icy roof. What could possibly go wrong?

The good news with this weather is that soon we will be able to take the vehicles out on the sea ice. So with that in mind, those of us who haven't driven a Hagglunds before got to take them for a spin today. They are noisy and rough buggers, but will be a hell of a lot warmer in the depths of winter than the quads will be. Anyway, it was still a fun way to spend a few hours this afternoon!

Me driving a Hagg

A visit from the Polarstern

Just when the dust had settled and we were starting to get into our winter routine, we received a visit from the German research vessel the Polarstern. It was so exciting to see another ship in the harbour, especially as we knew we were getting visitor. We weren't sure how many were coming ashore, but it would have been somewhere around 50. They came in by helicopter and also via the ship's two lifeboats.

I was down at the wharf helping the boats tie up, and the first thing one of the girls did was to steal my bike! She brought it back a bit later, saying that she couldn't help herself after being on the ship for so long. It was very funny. After taking photos of the seals, they all wanted to see the station. Some of them wandered around alone, whilst we took other groups on tours. My first tour was a little boring, but the second one was much more fun. It was only through the inside of the SMQ, but somehow we managed to finish in the brewery. As we were heading down the hatch, Yogi figured out what was going on and joined us. We shut the hatch and opened the first sample bottle. This was at about 1300, and our bar wasn't going to open till 1700. Matt was wandering past and heard us, so he joined in as well. Next thing, the side door opened and Cookie and the ships captain walked in. We thought we were going to be in trouble. Matt even went and hid behind the sewerage tank. Cookie looked at us and said "well, where are our glasses?". We all breathed a collective sigh of relief and opened another bottle. It was then decided to open the bar earlier than expected.

The lucky recipients of the brewery tourA motley collection of Aussies and Germans enjoying the home brew

Amongst all of the Germans was one Aussie bloke, Josh. He was very happy to be amongst a group of Australians again. He told us he was missing Milo, so I gave him a container of it, and someone else gave him some Vegemite (and a few other jars of it were handed out as gifts to others). To show his gratitude, he drunk as much beer as he possibly could, with plenty of encouragement. Our last sight of Josh was of him in the lifeboat trying to put his life jacket on upside down!

In the course of the afternoon, we were also invited to go out to the Polarstern for a visit. We all headed out at various times for a look. The German chopper pilots are crazy! On our way back we buzzed one of the lifeboats - we wouldn't have been any more than 10 meters above them - it was hilarious.

Australian Ambassadors in front of the German helicopter- Glen, me and Yogi

Davis from the air

The Polarstern from the air

Our guides for the tour of the ship were Katharina (one of the scientist) and her father Helmut (one of the ships electricians), who were on the same voyage by chance. Katharina got the chance to come ashore, but Helmut didn't, so we took him out a bottle of beer as a gift. The Polarstern is older than the AA, but it is in immaculate condition. The one weird thing about it though is that smoking is allowed. When we went up to the bridge for a look, the captain was chomping down on a cigar. When we went into the bar/mess area, some of the crew were having afternoon tea smoking away. Quite bizarre.

Helmut, Katharina, Glen and Yogi in the bar of the Polarstern

There were gifts being given out all over the place. Yogi managed to get himself some pumpernickel bread, and we also got a can of coke. It may not sound like much, but after only having post mix, seeing a can of coke was exciting. I am still to drink mine - I want to see how long I can last. The only one not in a giving mood was Matt, who sold his vest with the Davis logo for $40 US. Had I known that, I would have sold all of my stuff!

Anyway, a great day was had by all, and it was a shame to see our new friends leave. I hope they had as much fun as we did, and I'm pretty sure they did. I doubt there was a completely sober person in the place!

Aurora Australis under the aurora australis

Over the past few night we have had a bit of auroral activity (not to be confused with Aurora activity. Dave Correll took this panorama three nights ago, and it shows the aurora australis, the Aurora Australis (the bright light) and the LIDAR (the green beam of light on the right).

And then there were 18...

We are alone now. The Aurora Australis set sail yesterday at 2000 after a very few days of resupply. I can't even remember when it arrived here, as all the days seemed such a blur. Everyone did a fantastic job during resupply, all working long hours to get the job done.We are pretty happy as today was declared a public holiday, allowing us to have a rest.

The Aurora Australis, with the AA2 and the jet barge alongside

It was a fantastic day out on the water

I had a variety of jobs over the past few days. My main job was to clean down any of the containers we were sending back to satisfy quarantine regulations. I also had the chance to get out in the boats transferring people from ship to shore (and back), and also got out on the AA2 to help with the unloading of containers. But my most important job was to help with the mail delivery. It was so exciting getting mail, it was just like Christmas! But the following photo is proof that not all the mail gets here in one piece (in fact some of mine that I had ordered didn't get here at all - not very happy).

Sorry mum, but because he turned up looking like this, he is now in a happier place.

All the passengers were sent out to the ship over two days. Those not directly involved in cargo operations left us on Sunday night, with the remainder of the crew boarding yesterday at various times of the day. So there was no big group send off, but I'm pretty sure I managed to give everyone a hug as they left (whether they wanted it or not!) . It has been a fantastic summer, and it was sad to see so many new friends leave. Thanks guys for the laughs (and for all the darts, no matter how crap they were!), I hope I will catch up with some of you in the future.

Rick, Stewie, Dick and Steve (standing) on the way out to the boat

The final four to leave - Trev, Jibba, Richard and Steve

The AA disappearing from view

It's here!

As I write this, the Aurora Australis is in sight, heading straight for us. It will be anchored within the hour, and then the fun and games will begin. It is going to be frantic here for a few days, and then once it leaves, winter begins. Gotta shoot, plenty of things to be done!

The Last Supper

Last Saturday night was billed as the Last Supper here at Davis. With the Aurora Australis due to be here early this week (but now most likely won't be here till Friday morning, meaning everyone will be here for one more Saturday night) a special night was planned. Every Saturday night is more of a formal occasion down here, but this time we went one step further. To say goodbye and thank you to the summerers about to leave, we decided to run dinner like a restaurant, with table service and an a la carte menu, with all the work being done by the winterers. Tables had to be booked in advance, and you got to choose your waiter for the evening. I wasn't a waiter though, having decided I'm too far above serving people directly, and opted to work in the kitchen. We all had a ball, and the summerers loved it.

One of the jobs I set for myself during the day was to collect ice for the drinks that evening. I was out with the Geoscience Australia boys anyway on a jolly while they were doing their final lake level measurements (more photos to come) so it wasn't too hard to organise. I took a bucket and ice axe with me, and after the final lake we asked the chopper pilot Ric to take us to the Sorsdal Glacier to collect some thousands of years old ice to put in the bourbon. Life's tough down here!

Intrepid Antarctic explorer gathers ice for spirits

Later in the evening (after the final of the darts comp which the bloody seppo Dennis won) the band fired up for one last time which was quite a sad time, as the musical talent of the wintering crew has nothing on the guys here now. And once again I couldn't help myself, and up I got and had another sing.

Me singing with Jim (check out his blog, link on the right)

As the night went on, a few of us decided that we would stay up for the lunar eclipse that was due to start at 0400 on Sunday morning. What a great idea! To fill in time, we decided to ring someone a long way from here. So we dialled international information and asked for A. Jones of Main St, Anchorage, Alaska. And there was one! Andrew is his name, and he runs his own 'auto repair shop'. He thought it was hilarious, and so did we, after a few too many glacial bourbons! We've got his number now, so we told him we would call him during the year, just to see how business is going. He gave us another number to ring, but they didn't answer so we kept changing the last number till someone else answered. In a bizarre coincidence, we got the Iditarod Association (for those who don't know, the Iditarod is a 10 day husky race across Alaska). They really were thrilled to hear from us, given our past association with the huskies. And the other weird thing was that the race was underway, and the last two teams had only left an hour before our call. (As a side note, our bar down here is named after the last Davis husky, Nina. The reason she was the last is that when it was time for the last group to go home, Nina somehow managed to 'disappear' from station till after the boat sailed). We also called Chris's mum, and allegedly Mum got a call too, but I have no recollection of this...

So after all that, it was finally time for the eclipse. It was quite stunning too, with the moon taking on quite a reddish glow. And it was -11 degrees at that time of the morning, which added to the whole experience. I finally got to bed sometime after 0615, woke up at about 1215 feeling fantastic, adding weight to my theory that hangovers don't exist down here, although some people would disagree!

Lunar Eclipse, Sunday 4th March

Vampire at Davis

Earlier this week we had to have our monthly medicals, and this time we had to give blood to check our suitability for blood transfusions. Except that the doc didn't take enough! So we had to have more taken. What the hell I thought, why not let one of the medical team have a crack at it. So when I offered Annette the chance she jumped at it. A little bit too keenly I might add... But when it came to the crunch, I think she was more nervous than I was. With the doc looking on, away we went. Final score - me minus 12mls of blood, Annette plus 12mls of blood and a grin from ear to ear.

Smiles all round - Annette, me and the Doc