Christmas, Casey style

Christmas has been and gone for another year, and it was my second in a row on the continent. Unlike last year, we actually had Christmas celebrations on Christmas day which was quite nice (at Davis last year the ship was still in, and when that is the case, everything else is put on hold until the ship leaves).

The day started off a little slowly for some as the Christmas eve celebrations were fully embraces. We had breakfast at around 1000, followed by a video hook-up with Davis and Mawson which was pretty cool. Then the Casey Choir performed 7 songs, including Green Christmas (I'm dreaming of a green Christmas, with every iceberg that I've seen) and a very topical Twelve Days of Christmas.

Casey Choir

Santa managed to find his way down here, arriving on a tracked quad instead of the sleigh pulled by reindeer. Lunch followed and as usual it was an extravagant affair, with an enormous range of hot and cold meats, and enough seafood to sink a battleship. Add in the bread and salads, not to mention desserts (with the best homemade ice-cream I have ever tasted) and everyone was fully satisfied. After lunch most of us headed outside to either throw the frisbee, kick the footy or the hacky sack - or all three. The late afternoon and evening were spent grazing on leftovers and relaxing in the lounge with a glass or two and some excellent conversations. All in all it was a fantastic day.

Michael had been a good boy obviously

Enjoying lunch

Wilkes

Last week I went out on a day trip for local area familiarisation, which basically meant going for a ride on the quads to see some of the local sights. The place I am most keen to see while I am here is the old station, Wilkes. It was originally an American base, but was handed over to Australia in the late 1950's. It was used until the original Casey was built (now know as Old Casey) which was used until the current station was built in the 1980's. When Wilkes was abandoned, almost everything was left as it was - from machinery and rubbish, to the station itself. The main part of the station is now almost completely buried, and some of the outbuildings are in a very bad way. We are not allowed to remove any items from the area, even if the items appear to be old rubbish, as the whole station is considered a heritage area. It is really interesting to have a look around the place, and I am hoping to get back there soon for a much better look around.

The only currently used building is the old radio operators hut, which has been named the Wilkes Hilton. It has six beds and is large enough to accommodate twice that number. It is the biggest field hut I have seen, and I can't wait to spend an evening or two over there.

Wilkes Hilton

Wilkes Station, almost completely buried under years of accumulating snow

Dave, one of the pilots, leaning on the roof

Some old building housing something (a telescope perhaps), with no door and missing a wall.

Casey

So after a few weeks waiting I have finally made it to Casey. I'll post again soon more about the station itself, but for now I will concentrate on the flights over.

The first flight is the one in a helicopter to get up to Woop Woop, the Davis skiway. After a round of farewells, I headed up to the helipad to get my ride. At this point I was experiencing mixed emotions - I was excited to be finally going to Casey, but was sad to be leaving my home of the past 12 months. I got myself into the helicopter flown my Chris, who had previously spent time down here as a plumber. He very kindly allowed me to get some final shot of Davis from the air. Then we took the long way around to Woop Woop, flying up Ellis Fjord to Trajer Ridge. We came across a group doing field training so gave them two low passes to say hi.

Davis from the helicopter

Up at the skiway the two CASAs were being refuelled. I was in the first plane with Bri and Michelle and we left about 45 minutes before the second plane. John and Rod were our pilots. The first leg of the flight to Bunger Hills was very white. As we were flying inland there wasn't much to see for the majority of the trip. About the only thing you can see is the massive amounts of crevasses scarring the landscape, and the odd glacier or two. As we got closer to Bunger Hills there was a bit more to see. This first leg of the flight lasted about 3 and a half hours.

Glen Hoger at work refuelling the plane I was in

Bunger Hills is an area similar to the Vestfold Hills, where Davis is situated. Except there are only two apples and two melons there (these are the names for the different sized living huts), instead of a station. We were there to refuel, and to remove some of the stuff that has been there for some time. We picked up 10 ration packs from on of the melons, all dating back to 1986. When the work was done we took a short walk up a nearby hill to watch the other plane come in to land.

On approach to land at Bunger Hills

Two melons (L) and two apples (R)

Both planes on the sea ice. I was in the one on the right

The second leg of the flight was a bit shorter, at about one and three quarter hours, and a lot more picturesque. This time we had icebergs and ice cliffs to keep us entertained. We also got our first glimpse of Casey before we turned towards the skiway to land. We touched down at about 2100 to start the next phase of summer, and so far I am having a great time. Everyone is really nice, and quite eager to hear more about life at Davis. Soon I will put up some more about Casey itself, showing some of the local sights.

The view from my window

My first glimpse of Casey

My last post from Davis

Hi all, this should be my last post from Davis as the CASA's are on their way over from Casey as I write this. The plan is for them to overnight here and then tomorrow head back to Casey with a stop at the Bunger Hills (which is about 2/3 of the way between here and Casey) to do a bit of clean up work. I am so excited about going to the Bunger Hills, so few people are lucky enough to get the chance to have a close look at the area. I would have been very happy just to fly over them. But of course with all things Antarctic, any of this is subject to change at short notice but fingers crossed this is how things will pan out.

We have been working on replacing the ageing sewer outfall line, and late last week we installed the third 100m plus section of pipework. What we do is prepare a section of pipe, then cut it out and install the new pipe all in one day. The job is going really well at the moment, but the biggest problem is securing the exclusive ute for the day. Till a novel solution was thought of.

No one will ever find it in here

Friday night saw one of the expeditioners here put up their hair for a charity head shave. Somewhere in the vicinity of $10,000 was raised in about an hour. This was more than enough for the shave to proceed. Well done Sharon, and everyone who donated to the cause.

Sharon before

And after

Saturday night was billed as an "open mic" night, but basically turned out to be a karaoke night. And as some people might know, I'm not entirely shy when it comes to getting up an having a bit of a sing myself. So anyway I had a great night.

With Matt, singing "Hotel California" - voted best song of the night

A touching moment with Tony, singing "Suspicious Minds"

Some of the guys got together to sing me a farewell song, "Leaving on a jet plane", but unfortunately it wasn't working on the machine so I got "California Girls" instead. Go figure.

From left: Paul (plumber), Yogi, Ken (chippies), Ben, Mark and Joe (plumbers)

So that's it from me from Davis, the next post will be from Casey. Just a note that my email address will change, as will my phone number, but I will send that info out soon. Or you can always leave a message on here.

Still at Davis

So it's now December and I am still here at Davis waiting for the CASAs to turn up to fly over to Casey for the summer. I know it has been quite a while since my last post, but things have been very busy here. The transition period in going from winter to summer, saying goodbye to some good friends and making some new ones, has been quite an emotional roller coaster leaving me somewhat disinterested with the blog. But the good news is that I'm back now, and things will definitely pick up if I ever get to Casey!

I thought I would start with a few pics of when the ship was here.



At this time of year the sea ice is thick enough for the ship to park right up into it. It just smashes it's way in till it can't go much further then stops. It keeps the engine running to nose into the ice for stability, and also to keep a pool of open water behind it to get out. For safety reasons you are not allowed to walk any further aft than the bunker door - which is the open door you can see with the gangway coming down.

One of the big moments for me was the handover ceremony at which time the station is officially handed over to the incoming crew and the old crew are no longer responsible for the day to day running of the station. This is when we are awarded our Antarctic service medallions. When receiving the medallions you know that you have finally made it through an Antarctic winter which is a really good feeling. Here is my medallion:



And this is a pic of the AA departing for Mawson. The ship is due to dock back at Hobart tomorrow (Monday 3rd) at 8am, and I know there are some very excited people both on the ship and on the shore ready to greet them.



Back here at Davis the works programs have been going gangbusters. Summer is a very busy time and there has not been a dull moment yet. But easily the best thing I have done so far this summer is being involved in moving pipework for the new outfall line - with a helicopter. Because of the rocky and uneven ground we are moving the pipe into groups near where they are to be installed. Then the old sections are also removed after we have cut them out. Moving pipe has never been so easy, or fun. It gets bloody windy and noisy when you are working near a helicopter though.

Glen Hoger slinging the new pipe lengths

Glen unloading the old pipe with Sharon up the hill ready to sling the next length

Just an artistic shot of the helicopter at work