A Brief Round-up

OK I have been a little slack about posting lately, so following is a bit of a round up of my activities of the last week or so.

With the recent blizzard dumping quite a bit of snow around the place, the diesos decided it was time to get the skidoos out for a test and service. There was no shortage of willing volunteers for the job. The skidoos are a bit faster than the quads - especially over snow - but are a bit of a handful when it comes to turning them. Still very good fun though.

The increased snow around station has made it a bit more difficult for some vehicles though. I took one of the utes down to the beach to pass on a message and realised on the way down that I had no chance of getting back up. I gave it a go though, getting bogged on my second attempt about half way up the hill. I went to get the JCB to pull it out and found Trev on the way so I enlisted his help to extract the vehicle. His only condition was that I pose with the ute before he helped me, so we can all thank Trev for this photo!

Last Sunday Annette and I headed out to Deep Lake for a day trip to measure the depth of the lake. Deep Lake lies about 9km WNW of Davis in the Vestfold hills at an altitude 50m below sea level. It is about eight times saltier than sea water and therefore has such a low freezing point that no ice forms on it over winter. A depth gauge pole in the lake is inspected once per month. The depth of Deep Lake has been monitored continuously for several decades, and scientists now have an excellent record that allows study of snowfall vs evaporation rates during the year, as well as longer term local climate change. We had a fantastic day weather-wise with no wind and no clouds. The water surface was as smooth as glass (till someone couldn't help herself and threw a heap of snow into the water sending ripples off across the lake).

On Friday, Matt and I headed off north of the station to test and tag the fire extinguishers in the field huts. With the Hagg loaded the day before we set off just after 0830. The first stop was Rookery Lake Apple, followed by Bandits Hut. Then it was up onto the plateau to go to the Davis skiway, officially known as Woop Woop. At this time of year the Davis domestic terminal isn't quite a thriving airport, but that definitely changes during the summer.

Woop Woop consists of two building, the living van with four bunks (left) and the workshop.

After Woop Woop it was back down to Platcha Hut, then Ace Lake Apple and finally Brookes Hut. We were only at each hut for about 10 minutes, and only stopped briefly for lunch between Woop Woop and Platcha and got back to Davis just before 1700. Quite a big day of driving around in a noisy, rough Hagg - but it sure beat working!

Looking back over the Vestfold Hills from the plateau, in the direction of Davis

Emperor Penguins

Just before smoko on Monday, word got around that there were a pair of Emperor penguins on the sea ice just near the Met office. A few of us wandered down to have a look. As we got close we could see that they were making their way around the coast so we got into a position in front of them and waited. As soon as they saw us they headed straight over to check us out. They are such an inquisitive animal they can't help themselves (just like us I guess, only without the cameras). The braver of the two was straight over and the other one was a little reluctant but curiosity soon got the better of it. It was really amazing to have these guys come up to us, and at one stage I had one less than a meter in front of me. Paul was a bit funny though - he had put on his big zoom lens and complained that they were too close. We all loved it though. You know when they get bored with you, they simply just turn around and head off.

The one on the right was the bolder of the two

They really do like getting close for a look

This was taken from about 1 meter away

Blizzard at Brookes Hut

Friday afternoon saw Matt, Tony, Annette and myself head out to Brookes Hut for the weekend. The big plan was to shoot straight across to Brookes and settle in for two nights to do absolutely nothing. The trip in the Hagg was to take no longer than half an hour. How wrong we were.

I was driving and noticed a smell of fuel. As I have had not much experience with driving the Haggs I thought I might have left the choke open, only there wasn't one. We pulled up and Matt got out to have a look, coming back with the report that one of the tanks was over full and the other was running right down. We called in to Davis to let them know we were having some problems and started to try and hunt the problem down. Both breather vents appeared to be open, but it seemed the return line on one of the tanks wasn't working. After getting some advice over the radio from the diesos we tried to transfer fuel from tank two to tank one but when this didn't help the situation we knew for sure it was a problem with the return line. We tried for an hour or so to locate the blockage but without success. The decision was made to call in the cavalry, and Glen H and Jason were soon on their way.

Matt trying to work out a solution to our problem

While we waited for help we unloaded our Hagg in readiness to swap over Haggs with Glen and Jason, who would return to Davis with our sub-optimal, but still drivable, vehicle. Once that was done all we could do was wait. It didn't take them long to get to us and after about 20 minutes we were on our way again (in a blue Hagg this time) and our rescuers returned to Davis.

Annette and Tony killing time

Me looking concerned at our very dangerous and life-threatening situation

"I'll swap you our red Hagg for your blue one"

L-R: Jason, Tony, Matt, Glen and Annette

We arrived at Brookes at 1740, after leaving Davis at 1445. Not bad for a half hour trip. We unloaded and got into the hut, really ready now to begin our weekend of doing nothing. How wrong I was. The heater in the bedroom wouldn't stay alight. So I pulled it apart trying to get the thing to work properly. After making a few adjustments here and there, and after a few choice words were said, it was operational. Not ideal, but operational nonetheless. Now it was really time to settle in to do nothing.

We awoke on Saturday morning to the first blizzard of the season. The maximum wind gust was about 75 knots (140km/h), but was averaging about 60 knots (115km/h). Visibility was horrible, at times less than 10 meters. The Hagg was parked about 20 meters away in clear sight of the windows, but at times it was invisible. It was really amazing - bottles were rattling, the hut was shaking and we were as snug as bugs in a rug in our hut. Until it was time to go to the toilet (or in Tony's case, have a smoke). After a few interesting trips to the loo (including one where I was blown off the end of the deck) it was decided we should make things easier by bringing the pee drum to us, leaving it in the cold porch. After that three of us basically didn't leave the hut for 24 hours. Tony still had to go outside for a smoke the silly bugger. We finally found the time to do absolutely nothing. Books were read, games were played (including chess, where I beat Annette without losing a piece. I'm still gloating about that one!) and much crap was spoken. In all it was a really good day.

Sunday morning and the wind was still blowing a bit, making us wonder if we were to be blizzed in for another day, but unfortunately it wasn't to be. Around midday the wind swing around and dropped right off meaning it was time to start thinking about going home. The Hagg had to be dug out as the snow had built up all around it, and it also had to be plugged into a generator for an hour to warm the block sufficiently to get it to start. Loading it wasn't terribly easy as some of the area was covered in snow up to thigh deep. We got everything together and set off for home.

Still partially buried. At this point the front windscreen had been cleared. The snow was used to make a snowman right in front, which died in suspicious circumstances not long after the Hagg was started. I swear, I thought I was in reverse...

When we arrived we saw how much snow was dumped on Davis. Jason and Glen H (busy little beavers that they are) were already using the loaders to clear roads and uncover vehicles. A lot of the work had already been done by the time we got back, but we did help get one of the utes uncovered. Below is a picture of it with it's tray full of snow, even after the sides and tailgate have been dropped.

In all, quite an interesting weekend for everyone.