Another trip to Bandits

Dave, Denise, Luigi and I set of on Saturday morning for another trip out to Bandits Hut. The weather was looking much better so we were going to have a red hot crack at getting out to Walkabout Rocks and Sir Hubert Wilkins cairn. Once again we cruised out near the icebergs for a closer look, then decided to move on. Somewhere near the turn off for Bandits we came across this bloke. He would have been just shy of a meter tall.

A lone emperor penguin was out on the ice wandering around. We pulled the bikes up a few hundred meters short of him, shut them down and got off to sit down and wait. The emperors are very inquisitive, so it was no surprise that he made a bee-line straight for us, to check us out. He seemed to be most impressed with the quads, and showed no fear of us.

Me in front of the emperor and the quads

This was fantastic for us as we got a heap of good photos. As if fighting for our attention, a couple of snow petrels soon joined the party, swooping down very close to the emperor. As soon as he got bored with us, he just continued on his way, wandering off into the distance. When he left we decided to move off too.

With the weather still holding we aimed directly for Walkabout Rocks. It was a whole lot easier than my last attempt when we got turned back by near blizz conditions. When we got there we climbed up a pretty steep hill to reach Sir Hubert Wilkins cairn. At the cairn was a box with a few bits and pieces in it, and also a log book to fill out to record our journey. We were the first group this winter to reach the cairn (which is basically at the northern limit of the station operational area).

Opening the box at Wilkins cairn

Dave, Denise, Luigi and me posing at Wilkins cairn

After logging our visit and re-packing the box of goodies we made our way back to the bikes to get to Mikkelsen's cairn, about two and a half kilometers away on (funnily enough) Mikkelsen Island. This is also the site of an adelie penguin colony but at this time of year there were no (live!) birds to be seen - except for another emperor. Two single birds in one day is quite strange. Anyway this cairn isn't as interesting as Wilkins, but it was definitely worth the trip across.

Me at Mikkelsen's cairn

We then decided it was time to head to Bandits to get set for the night. Coming through some second year ice near the hut we were able to find some suitable ice to cut off to take to the hut for drinking water. All the huts rely on ice or snow for drinking water and it is easiest to gather it near by. I cut some ice and then transported it to the hut on the quad nice and gently. It is quite bizarre to be carrying your drinking water in one big piece on your lap!

Carrying our water

After a windy night (and that is outside, not inside!), we headed off down Tryne fjord and across Pioneer Crossing which links Tryne to Long Fjord. Pioneer is a stretch of land about 300m separating the two fjords so it is very easy to cross. We then headed up to Platcha hut for afternoon tea before deciding it was time to head home. In all it was a fantastic two days.

-Thanks to Dave C for some of these photos