Two weeks...

Is too long between posts. Sorry folks, things have been a little bit busy here lately. With Midwinter's day this week, and the traverse team heading out two days later there has been plenty to do.

Just to make sure everyone knows what I am talking about, Midwinter's day is the winter solstice, meaning it is the shortest day of the year (which doesn't really mean much here, as we technically haven't had a "day" - ie sunrise or sunset- for about 15 days now). It is a celebration to mark the middle of our time here, and to start thinking about the return of the sun, and also start thinking about coming home. It will actually be 6 months and 1 day since the majority of us set foot on the continent. It really is our biggest day of the year. The menu that Tony has written is just amazing. The thing I am looking forward to the most though is the traditional swim. This is not a typo. A hole will be cut in the ice and those of us who are brave (read: stupid) enough will be jumping in. I can't wait. After the dinner extravaganza will be an evening of homegrown entertainment.

The traverse is a group of 8 heading off for 10-12 days in the Haggs to Amanda Bay to perform an Emperor penguin census. This is done by photographing the male emperors with their eggs in the big huddle and counting them later. Also on the agenda is a stop at Law Base which is a summer only base, and a night with the Chinese at Zhong Shan and also a night with the Russians at Progress. Basically those who were interested put their names forward and a team was picked out of the hat. I didn't put my name in the hat. I like my nice warm bed too much to want to spend 12 days putting up polar pyramids.

So with these two big events happening so closely together there has been plenty to do. I have been giving Tony a hand in the kitchen most nights to get some of the food organised. I am also spending the next three full days in there helping with the food for midwinter's day. We have also been working on the actual menus themselves, and boy these have taken some work. First off Glen H and Matt made a brand to burn into the front cover. Yogi cut up all the timber to make the front and back covers and also the framing work to go around them. Yesterday and today Didier, Annette and I got the fun jobs of sanding and putting the satin finish on all the timber work. Still one coat to go on the frames, and then they can all be put together. They should be finished by Thursday! Tony was also up in the workshop, working on some top secret stuff for Thursday. Another traditional part of Midwinter's is the exchanging of home made gifts, secret santa style. I haven't done this much woodwork since I failed woodwork in year 10, making Mum that nest of table (maybe one day you will get the other two that were supposed to go along with the small one!)

Working on the branded front covers

Didier and Yogi on the framing

Annette on the sander

Tony getting up to no good in the workshop

As well as all this, we have actually had our normal work to do as well. Two weeks ago we had another sewer block, causing another break in the pipe so that was fun to fix. Then last weekend we had some pretty strong winds on the Sunday night (I think we peaked at 94 knots), which caused some damage. A hole was punched in the outer wall of the SMQ, a roof vent was blown off the roof of the field store and a 45kg gas bottle was sucked out of the kitchen gas manifold, so all that had to be repaired.

Fixing the roof vent on the field store

So all in all, it has been a pretty busy two weeks, with another week still to go. All the last minute organisation will be keeping us on our toes for the next few days. As busy as we have been, we have also had time for a bit of fun too. Friday drinks last week was up in the tank house, and some of the crew made use of the spa. And last night we had an Aussie outback theme, so some of the guys set up a campsite in the lounge so we could eat around the campfire. It really is amazing how a replica campfire can be made with timber, some tin foil, an orange flashing light and a smoke machine. A big pot of stew, kangaroo sausages, damper and some spuds really hit the spot. Of course later on the smoke machine got a bit too much of a workout, and things got a little too smoky. No prizes for guessing who is in the photo below doing the ZZ Top impersonation!

Drinks in the tank house

Just a normal smoky Saturday night at Nina's