Antarctic Adventures

Goodbye Antarctica

2008-03-07T21:24:00.000-08:00

We are finally leaving Mawson (and Antarctica) today. We arrived on the first of March and after some very ordinary weather we will be finished the resupply sometime this afternoon. I ended up spending four nights on station after the ship had to leave in a hurry. It wasn't a bad thing though as I got to have a good look around, and also did some work. As pretty as Mawson is I am pretty sure that I wouldn't want to spend a whole lot of time there as the wind would just be too much.

For those of you reading this today or tomorrow (8/9th March) there is a feature in this weekend's Age magazine written by the journos who came down to Casey on the Airbus.

I am wondering if I should now write some big sign off piece about how amazing my time has been down here, but I just don't think that I have to. You have seen some of the photos and read some of the things that I have been up to so you know how much of a good time I have had down here. What I will say is a big, big thank you to Mum, Dad, Paul and Marney for all their support during my time down here - not only for the time on the continent, but also before I left home. Phone calls, emails, doing shopping for me, heaps of stuff to make things a little easier for me down here. Thanks guys, I really do appreciate it. And to everyone else who kept me informed of the goings on at home, thank you too.

Well that's it for me, I'm coming home. See you all very soon!

It's home time

2008-02-13T09:43:00.000-08:00

The time has finally come for me to head home. We are leaving Casey tomorrow (Feb 14) to head home, via Davis and Mawson. It has been a long time for me and I am really ready to be heading home. I'm not too sure when I will be back in town, but it will be somewhere in the vicinity of 5 weeks' time. This could very well be my last entry from down here, but I am hoping to be able to update the blog from Mawson when we get there.

Australia Day

2008-01-27T03:40:00.000-08:00

So another Australia Day has been and gone, and once again we celebrated in style. The highlight for me was the annual Summerers V Winterers cricket match. As the Winterers team was a little light on, I was recruited to play for them. We played to some very dodgy rules and some very dodgy umpiring decisions but a good time was had by all (except for the minor hamstring injury sustained by one of the expeditioners). In the end the Summerers just got over the line.

Due to the severe lack of grass (bloody drought!) the pitch had to be made on the gravel road. It just so happens that we have the resources to build such a strip. A few waters and a few runs with the roller and we had a pretty solid pitch to play on. It broke up a bit later in the match, but still was of no help to the spinners.

Jenn rolling the pitch

The game in full swing

After the cricket it was BBQ time, and this was held out on the deck of the Red Shed. After grazing for an hour or so, it was time to work off lunch with a few hotly contested games of volleyball on the helipad. After that, we all well and truly deserved a bit of quiet time so most of us headed inside to Splinters Bar for a wind down session listening to all the classic Australian hits.

Early Sunday morning we lost 17 people on the last "passenger" flight for the season. There is still one more flight to take people home but these are all going to be Airlink related staff. We are now back down to 43 people having lost all of the science teams.

During the week I was involved in batching and pouring concrete, giving the chippies a hand. Some repair works needed to be carried out on the wharf and the works had to be carried out at the lowest tide for the month as the section to be repaired was under the waterline at high tide. Fortunately for us, the low tides were at about 0900, so there were no early starts. At the same time we also poured a small slab for the Met guys to mount some new piece of weather recording instrument.

Down at the wharf Pouring the slab for the Met equipment

Only two weeks now till the ship turns up (Feb 10). Not long now...

The New Ice Age

2008-01-20T05:05:00.000-08:00

The Age newspaper have had a presence here at Casey during last week. Reporter Jo Chandler and photographer Angela Wylie were here from Sunday to Friday doing a series of reports on climate change and the environment down here. Follow the link below to read the reports and see Jo's video diary entries:

http://blogs.theage.com.au/newiceage/

And apparently there was also a photo of me in the weekend Age, with a few of the boys at the bar. Angela must have been very quick to get that shot, as I am hardly ever at the bar.

The first ever Australian passenger flight to Antarctica

2008-01-11T23:08:00.000-08:00

Airbus A-319

On Thursday evening we were expecting the landing of the first ever passenger flight from Australia to Antarctica. During the day we got word that there were going to be a few dignitaries on the plane for a visit, including Environment Minister Peter Garrett and the Director of the Australian Antarctic Division Tony Press, among others. In the vehicles going up to Wilkins runway there were 6 spare seats for anyone who was keen to go. Of course, more than 6 people were keen to go so a ballot was held. There were 4 seats in the CASA flying up there and 2 in the Hagg driving up there. I was lucky enough to be drawn out, and took one of the seats in the Hagg. We departed Casey at 1930 for the run up the hill. The highlight of the drive up was stopping to get photos as we crossed the Antarctic Circle - a sign has been erected to mark the spot. It really is in the middle of nowhere, there is nothing else to see except for miles and miles of snow and ice.

We were the last ones to arrive at Wilkins, at about 2145, only just beaten by the second CASA flight. It was -17 on the ground with hardly any wind so it wasn't too bad at all. The plane was due to land at about midnight so there was not much to do but wait. Just before midnight we spotted the plane as it turned to make it's approach to the runway. There was no messing around with a fly over, it was straight in to land. And a textbook landing it was.

On approach

Winding down the engines, just as the sun is setting (@ 2355)

Sunrise (@ 0146)

Mr Garrett walked out of the plane, showing off his trademark bald head, but this didn't last for long as he realised that -17 was a bit to cold to be without a beanie. After the official meet and greet session with all the important people they made their way across to us to meet and greet. I chatted with Peter for a while about life down here and what it is like to be away for so long. He was very generous with his time and was a real nice bloke. He was so happy to in Antarctica.

Me with Peter Garrett

After a bit of a tour of the runway, the official party then took to the skies again, this time aboard a CASA for a fly over of the coast, glaciers, icebergs and Casey itself (as it is about 70kms from the runway, this was the only real way they could see the station in the time allowed).

CASA pilots Dave and John, in flight with Peter Garrett in the cockpit (Thanks to Dave for the photo)

During this time we chatted with the scientists who came in on the flight, and also the media were keen to have a chat to us as well. I did an interview with the ABC TV crew, as some of you may have already seen. If you haven't seen it and want to, follow this link http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/ and scroll down till you find "Australia-Antarctic air link opens" posted at Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:13:00.

The CASA returned after 40 minutes and Peter was taken by ute (well actually an F-250) to the end of the runway to enjoy a few minutes of solitude away from all the noise and people. When he came back there was some more time for a chat before a group photo in front of the 319 was organised. It was at this time that Craig, one of the other plumbers, got out his guitar to be signed.

Craig getting his guitar signed, with Richard (one of our chefs) looking on

After a few last minute photos with people it was time for everyone who was going home to get on board. The take off was much more impressive than the landing with the amount of snow that was blown around. It almost looked like a space shuttle hurtling down the runway there was that big a snow cloud pushed out from behind the plane. Dave has also kindly given me a copy of this video so remind me to show it to you when I get home.

Homeward bound

After all the excitement was over, it was time for us to head home. It was 0630 by the time we got back on station with the Hagg unloaded - everyone was pretty tired. But we were also proud to be part of a little bit of Antarctic history.

Christmas, Casey style

2007-12-26T03:38:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-26T02:30:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-16T03:02:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-10T00:54:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-02T02:19:00.000-08:00

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

The end of winter

2007-11-08T18:09:00.000-08:00

Things have been very busy here the last week or so in preparation for the arrival of the ship. That is happening today. Winter is officially over as of today. We are expecting to see the 3 helicopters at about lunchtime, and the ship late afternoon/early evening. In one day we will go from 18 people to over 80 for the resupply. Tomorrow the resupply will start in earnest.

As the planes are still in Hobart I have no idea when I will be flying over to Casey. I'll get there one day. For the moment I have moved rooms, so I have a new phone number - my old number ended in 6552, now it ends in 6511 if anyone wants to call me.

Davis Winterers, 2007

2007-10-28T09:28:00.001-07:00

Top row (L-R): Luigi, Dave, Trevor, Glenn R, me, Paul, Colin, Barry, Matt
Bottom: Annette, Tony, Glenn M, Jason, Yogi, Cookie, Denise, Glen H, Didier

We took our group photo recently to go on the wall in the Living Quarters alongside all the previous wintering groups. The decision was made to take the photo down on the old station for a two main reasons - we are the 50th wintering party and the first group's photo was taken there, and this is the last season the old station will be here as it it being removed this year.

On a different subject we had a blizzard here on Friday night. We set a new record for the highest wind recorded at Davis - 97 knots which is 180km/h. I went outside at 90 knots (167km/h) to experience it and it was bloody hard work just standing up. Unfortunately for Paul and Barry there was a problem at the powerhouse which needed to be rectified just as the wind was at it's peak (around 0100 Saturday morning) and they came back exhausted, but safe, after fixing the problem.

Roadside Assistance

2007-10-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

Last week a group of 7 headed off to the Rauer group of islands for a bit of an extended jolly. As the trip involved crossing the glacier and the time it would take to get back a fair bit of organising was involved. After getting approval from head office they headed out on Wednesday morning singing "We're all going on a summer holiday". A little optimistic, but there you go. They were leaving at 0600 come hell or high water and anyone not in the Haggs would be left behind, so they left at closer to 0630. A well organised bunch except for one or two minor problems. At approximately 1230 we got a radio call saying they had a problem with one of the Haggs and were heading back to station. About half an hour later we got another call requesting a new track be brought out to them. This caused a bit of a concern for us as we had only recently put a new track on one of the Haggs in the workshop and it took 6 of us some time (and some interesting words that I have never heard before) to get it on. Now we were going to try one in the field?

Due to fire team coverage and the need to have at least one of each trade on station at all times Matt and I were the ones who volunteered (or were asked) to go. While some of the guys loaded the Hagg with what we needed (a new track, a new road wheel, tools, come-alongs, slings, shackles, chains, sledgehammers, fuel and a dictionary with bad words in it), Tony organised some food for us as we had no idea how long we would be. Matt and I got our personal survival gear together and headed off into the wilderness in what we dubbed "Thunderbird 4" due to it's colour.

When we met up with the group about an hour and a half later they had the stricken red Hagg jacked up and ready to strip the old track off. We gave them the saw to cut it off and it was off before we had the new track on the ground for them.

Yogi and Glen H (under the Hagg)Matt and I unloading the new track

There were enough motivated people in their group to hook in and get the job done so Matt and I loaded the old track and supplied tools and gear as required. The new track went on very easily compared to the last one we did and in just over an hour after the old track was cut off the new one was in position. Everyone was very surprised and the dictionary wasn't required. We all packed our gear up and very soon the travellers were back on their way and Thunderbird 4 was heading back home after the mission was declared a complete success. We were back on station just before 1900.

Ready to roll

Happy campers back on the road thanks to the skill and determination of the rescue team.

Mount Boulder

2007-10-17T16:39:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week Annette, Yogi and I headed up to Watts Hut for the night. The big plan was to climb Mount Boulder, the largest in all of the Vestfolds. After dropping off some of our gear at the hut we continued on up Lake Druzhby and over the Tierney river crossing to Crooked Lake. Boulder is located at the far end of Crooked Lake.

Mount Boulder in all it's glory

After a harrowing climb in brilliant sunshine and almost no wind, we finally made it to the top. But Boulder wasn't about to give up it's summit that easily. At the last ridge we had to scramble over the top to safety.

It's lucky someone left a camera up here to capture this

And of course, once on top of the world it is obligatory to have your "hero shot" taken.

We returned to Watts after having a bit of a longer look around Crooked Lake. Behind the hut is a bridge that crossed where Lake Druzhby flows into Ellis Fjord. In previous summers this has flow very strongly but when I crossed the bridge during field training it was frozen. And as you can see below, it is pretty well frozen in at the moment too.

Yogi on the bridge behind Watts Hut

The plan for the next day was to head back to station in no real rush, cruising around the islands at the end of the fjord looking for some wildlife. We didn't have to look very hard as the adelie penguins are back now in their thousands, and the Weddell seals are everywhere too.

One of the many seals around the place

One of the reasons that we are getting so many seals so close to station is that the ice is starting to break out. Large tide cracks are starting to appear as the Sorsdal Glacier forces it's way into the sea ice. The ice breaks and moves, and then starts to re-freeze. The seals use these cracks to get onto "solid" ground to rest, and in some cases give birth. The picture below shows a recent tide crack, and you can see a hole where a seal had just come out of the water. When we were there another seal was using this as a breathing hole, helping to keep it open. The ice that I am sitting on is about a meter thick, but in the crack itself the ice is thickest where my feet are and is strong enough to stand on, but tapering down to nothing in the middle.

Sitting on a tide crack

Pretending I'm a seal

Further back towards station we came across another seal, but this one was with a new pup. This one was thought to be no older than 2 weeks.

Mum and pup

Seal pup nuzzling into the snow

The animals are back

2007-10-15T04:33:00.000-07:00

Over the last week or so the seals and penguins have started making their way back to the local area. A few seal pups have already been seen, with plenty more still on their way. The adelie penguins have started arriving at the local rookeries.

Today Barry and I went to Watts Hut and also to Marine Plain and Crooked Lake apples to check on the fire extinguishers and also for a bit of electrical work to be done at Watts. The trip was supposed to be only a few hours, but we encountered some mechanical problems just before we reached Marine Plain. Whilst investigating a sudden loss of power (found to be a broken accelerator link, fixed with a bit of string) we found the number two injector leaking fuel back into the engine tunnel. Whilst not causing us any major concerns, the only real alternative was to head back to Davis to swap over Haggs. Because of the delay we were going to be back later than first thought so we decided to cancel the rest of the day and drive around Gardiner Island to check out some of the wildlife. I've only got one picture below, but there will be more soon as Yogi, Annette and I are heading out tomorrow to stay at Watts Hut for the night so we will be finding a few more. Also on the trip is an attempt on the summit of Mount Boulder - the highest in all the Vestfold Hills.

Adelies on Gardiner Island

There has been some more snow around the place lately, leaving us with quite a clean-up job. Roads have to be cleared and we also have to clear around the areas where the summer crew will be working or as it all melts they will be working in slush and water. It's good fun driving the loaders around for a few hours, until you happen to get one bogged. Luckily I haven't done that yet. In fact, the only person who has is Glen H, our Plant Inspector (which is the head diesel mechanic). Luckily we were there to "help".

Glen showing off his handy work

Matt giving Glen some helpful free advice on how to use a shovel

The idea was right, it's just the power of the recovery gear that was the problem...

We have also been giving the place a bit of a clean up in readiness for the incoming crew. Over the last few weeks I have re-discovered some long lost talents: floor stripping and polishing. Oh, the memories it brought back for me (and most of them weren't good!)

A Brief Round-up

2007-09-23T02:36:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-11T02:37:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-09T07:29:00.000-07:00

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.

LIDAR Photo

2007-08-29T09:27:00.000-07:00

I was playing around with one of my cameras last night trying to finally work out how to use some of the functions and settings. With help from Yogi I was able to take some good shots. The picture below (on a 30 second exposure) is of the LIDAR building. The green beam is the Lidar itself, shooting off some 80km into the night sky to record what is occurring in the upper atmosphere.

Casey here I come

2007-08-23T07:58:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know already, I have been offered a contract extension to stay on for the summer. After careful consideration - about 2 minutes worth - I agreed to stay. But I am not staying here at Davis. I will be flying over to Casey sometime in November, or earlier or later. There are no guarantees here on the timing of anything to do with transport schedules. The only solid facts are that I'm catching a plane to Casey and will be back home sometime in late March. So please direct all of my Christmas and birthday presents to Casey :-)

Time for a shave!

2007-08-16T06:13:00.001-07:00

The time had finally arrived for me to have a shave. It was really starting to bug me, and I had been contemplating it for some time. So Wednesday night (being shower day) I decided enough was enough. I thought I would post a before and after shot to record this momentous occasion for prosperity, as it may be some time before it's this long again...

Before

After

Now, isn't that much better!

Sorsdal Glacier

2007-08-16T03:28:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was a glorious day (-16, light winds and no cloud) so Cookie, Glenn R and I decided to head out for an afternoon quad ride down to the Sorsdal Glacier. The last time I was at the glacier I went by helicopter to gather ice for our drinks, but didn't have much time to have a good look. This time we spent the whole afternoon cruising down the side it.

Travel is prohibited in front of the glacier due to the dangers of calving bergs, and also because of increased likelihood of tide cracks. To view the whole front of the glacier from the sea ice is impossible because of the sheer size of it. We discovered that our stopping point was quite clearly defined, as the photo below of a tide crack shows. You just wouldn't get a quad over a crack this size. Right in the middle of the crack the ice was only millimeters thick - I could push my axe straight through. That said, 24 hours later you wouldn't even know that there was a crack in the ice.

This next picture shows the crack running back towards the glacier. This is the front of the glacier, and as you can see it extends way off to the right of the picture.

Watts Hut Maintenance

2007-08-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday Trevor, Annette and I headed out to Watts Hut for a bit of maintenance work, and of course some sightseeing. We loaded up the bikes and the sled and headed out not long after smoko. The plan was to replace one of the heaters, change over at least one gas bottle, change out the jerry cans of fuel that are at the hut, install a new kick board in the cold porch and check all the turnbuckles on the hut.

Trevor and Annette packing the sled

The heater was the first job, and the sooner I got it done, the sooner we could boil some water for a cuppa and get the place warmed up. While I was doing that, Trev and Annette got to work on the new kick board. Some of the studs were a little difficult to locate to fix the board to the wall, leaving Trev to claim that all the extra holes were due to termites.

Trev on the saw, Annette acting as the wood vice

When we had finished all the work to be done on the hut, we made the decision to head up Mount Tarbuck. Trev wanted to head up to check out some of the rigging on the radio repeater antenna. It wasn't a great day for photos, but as it was not windy at all we went for it. This was to be my second time on top of Tarbuck, the first was in the summer when we landed on top in a helicopter. This was to be my first time climbing it. We made it up no worries, and Trev was happy with all the comms gear so it was a successful day all round. We got back to the hut pretty tired after a big day, but that didn't stop me winning two games of chess against Annette! (And drawing one and losing one, but don't worry about those games.)

Mount Tarbuck - the peak in the middle of the photo

Me on top of Mount Tarbuck

Annette and Trevor on top of Mount Tarbuck

The plan for day two was to head out for a spot of sightseeing. We headed up Lake Druzhby for a bit of a look, with the aim to head over to Crooked Lake to get to some of the gorges over there. Both Druzhby and Crooked Lakes freeze clear, allowing you to see straight through the ice which is an absolutely amazing experience. They also have the tendency to freeze completely flat which makes it hard to get traction on the quads at times. Usually this is a bit of fun, but when you have a strong head wind it can make it difficult to get where you want to.

The crossing point between the two lakes is known as Tierney River, and during the summer it flows from Crooked to Druzhby (I walked across this river when it was running during my field training trip). Of course at this time of year it has frozen, so you can ride up the river for part of the crossing.

Tierney River crossing

Just as we crossed onto Crooked, I looked back and saw that the sun was finally starting to peek out from behind the clouds. The following photo is just a gratuitous sunrise shot that I quite liked.

The three main targets of ours on Crooked Lake were the three gorges: Talg, Hidden and Grimmia. We did them in that order, and it turned out quite well, as each one was more impressive than the last.

Annette heading back down Hidden Gorge

The highlight was definitely waiting for us at the end of Grimmia Gorge - it contains a frozen waterfall. It is truly an amazing sight to see. It's very hard to imagine the fact that a running body of water can finally be suspended like that. Even in the photo it almost looks like the water is still running. It was a brilliant way to end a fantastic trip away.

Waterfall in Grimmia Gorge

Looking back down Grimmia from above the waterfall

Water Testing

2007-08-02T07:30:00.000-07:00

It seems that I am having trouble keeping my feet on the ground at the moment. Yesterday I was on top of one of our 600,oooL water storage tanks. Currently we are sampling and testing our drinking water for pH levels, and this involved taking samples from various places around station including the 600,000 tanks. Other samples were taken from our 68,500 tanks and at selected outlets in the SMQ and LQ. What I am holding in the picture is a highly technical piece of testing equipment - we call it "syringe on a stick". Like I said, highly technical stuff.

I'm looking forward to the next two days because I'm slushy for Friday and Saturday. Not only do I enjoy working in the kitchen, it also breaks up the usual work week which is a good thing. Saturday dinner this week will be a little different than the usual sit down meal as we are having a BBQ up in the dieso's workshop, so it should be quite a laid back evening.

I'm going to bed now, I'm tired after another night of smacking my head against a wall (roughly translated as: losing another night at chess). I'm currently 1-17-4, with the four being stalemates. Conversely, Annette's record is 17-1-4. I'm sure one of these days I'll have another win.

Or not.

On the roof again

2007-07-29T07:04:00.000-07:00

On Friday, Yogi and I took advantage of the sunny conditions and minimal wind to get to a job I had been putting off for a while. A few weeks ago one of the exhaust cowls on the main power house roof froze up so we had to take it off to allow exhaust from the engines to escape. After a few modifications it was ready to go back up again. Conditions were excellent Friday at midday, so up we went. Looking out over the bay was pretty spectacular - all the icebergs were bathed in glorious sunshine. Not bad for just another day at work.

Yogi and I

Working on the exhaust cowl

Hydroponics

2007-07-25T03:23:00.001-07:00

This week is my rostered week on in hydroponics. Because I'm known back at home for my very keen green thumb, I thought it would be a good idea for me to offer my expertise and help out in hydro. On a daily basis it's a pretty easy job - you just have to top up the water tanks and check the water for correct nutrients and also pH levels, and harvest anything that needs to be picked. We have to grow our own veggies cause there is such a lack of fresh stuff down here. We grow tomatoes, snow peas, beans, cucumber, zucchini, capsicum and lettuce (various varieties). We also grow various herbs including sage, coriander, mint and basil - that's what I am cutting in the picture below.

By Popular Demand

2007-07-22T01:44:00.000-07:00

Because I'm such a nice bloke, and I care about what my readers want, here is a close up of my beard in all it's "glory". Good news for you guys, this pic was taken on Saturday, immediately after one of my two showers for the week so I'm all shiny and clean - that's why I look so happy. I also smelt pretty good too!

The theme for this weeks Saturday dinner was Chinese and it was bloody good too. I had some free time on Saturday so I got into the kitchen with Tony. I put the spring rolls together, made the chicken for the lemon chicken, got the ice cream ready for fried ice cream and cooked the prawn crackers. Apparently I made a few too many prawn crackers as we had heaps left over.

After dinner, Trev decided that he was going to put on "Young Einstein" on the 16mm projector. It's actually quite a funny movie, made all the more funny by Trev's attempts at seamlessly changing the rolls of film over. There were quite a few interesting phrases coming out of the projector room. After the movie some of us retired to the bar, some to bed and some others stayed on for another movie. During this time Tony found a novel way to get rid of the excess prawn crackers.

The door shown above is the entry to the cinema. Tony laid out the crackers and we turned the lights out in the bar as we went to bed to help hide them. As the movie finished, Didier opened the door to walk out and all he heard was crunch, crunch, crunch.

Well we thought it was pretty funny.

Stocktake

2007-07-19T03:07:00.000-07:00

Well things at work have certainly been very exciting here over the past three weeks. I've been counting things. Lots of things. Lots and lots of things. And spending hours in front of a computer entering data. The kind of stuff they don't put in the brochures...

It is currently that time of year when stocktaking has to be completed, to allow enough time to order, and have delivered, all the gear that next year's crew will need. The cargo cut off date for our resupply voyage is less than 10 weeks away so we need to get all the ordering done as soon as possible. We finished in the Green store today, which only leaves a pipe rack out the back to go. I will be a very happy boy when I can finally say that our counting is over!

Stocktake in the Green store

Bastille Day

2007-07-15T02:18:00.000-07:00

Bastille Day was celebrated here at Davis with a fantastic dinner of French cuisine. To start we had crayfish on potato rosti, and pate on toast, with the main course consisting of pork fillets, duck a l'orange, pepper steak and coq au vin and to follow for dessert was crepes Suzette (prepared by Tony at your seat) , creme caramel and chocolate mousse. And of course assorted cheese and biscuits to round out a fantastic meal. We even had a replica of the Eiffel Tower as the table centrepiece, and a few people dressed as artists (of the bullshit variety!) for a more authentic feel.

Sunrise

2007-07-15T01:51:00.000-07:00

Well I had really hoped to have a good picture of the return of the sun, but unfortunately the skies haven't been particularly co-operative. Technically we were supposed to see the sun for the first time in approximately 40 days on the 11th of this month. Cloudy days prevented us actually seeing the sun till Friday, and even then it wasn't great viewing. Anyway here is my first picture of the first daybreak we have had for quite some time.

The Age

2007-07-11T22:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's a bit late notice, but I just found out that an interview I did for The Age is in today's (Thursday) paper, in the Green Guide section if anyone is interested in having a look.

Coke!!!

2007-07-08T02:46:00.000-07:00

The traverse team got back during the week after nearly two weeks away. Unfortunately they weren't able to get to Amanda Bay to do the emperor penguin census as the sea ice wasn't deemed safe enough for travel by hagg. But by all accounts they had a great time visiting the Chinese at Zhong Shan and the Russians at Progress. The highlight for me wasn't the fact the traverse team were back (it was quite nice here with just 10 of us), it was that they had brought back a slab of coke cans from Zhong Shan. I haven't had real coke since I got on the boat. We have post mix down here, but it just isn't the same. Unfortunately most of them froze on the journey back so there aren't that many to go around, but I got one and I'm going to really enjoy it - when I finally convince myself that the time is right to drink it!

Coca Cola, Chinese style (at least I think that's what it says)

On a completely different note, the new Australian Antarctic Magazine is out (it's online only I believe) http://www.aad.gov.au/information/magazine. Check it out, there are a few interesting articles, including one about plumbing on ice featuring Jason.

Some more photos from Midwinters Day

2007-07-01T03:51:00.000-07:00

I still haven't managed to get any photos of me jumping into the water. I have plenty of before and after, and I do have it on video - I filmed it myself with my camera - but still no action shots. I am hoping that Jason has some shots, but the traverse team are still at Law base so I won't know until they get back. Anyway here are some more pics...

Matt on his way for a swim (with Annette and I in the background)The point of no return for Glen H

The table setting, with those bloody menus

Seafood galore

The dessert buffet

The bowl I got from Tony

The clock I made for Jason

Cookie is always in charge, even of a stacks on
I'm pretty sure we had a good night (from left: Yogi, Glen H, Trev, me and Matt)

Midwinter's menu

2007-06-24T02:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a copy of the menu and order of events for the Midwinter's Day festivities. More photos from the day to follow soon, especially from the swim at -15 degrees outside, and -1.8 water temperature...

Two weeks...

2007-06-17T06:47:00.001-07:00

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

Testing the Hagg

2007-06-03T07:49:00.000-07:00

On Friday, Paul had finished working on the blue Hagglunds and needed to take it for a test run to check for any further problems. He had to have someone go with him as a safety precaution, and I happened to be in the right place at the right time. The best bit was that the sun was up, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and there was a full moon - all excellent for photography. The first shot where I was playing with the night mode and self timer function. Let me tell you that tripods are a great invention, as this shot was taken without one - I had to lie on the ice to set it up and it was bloody cold (well, duh!).

This second photo was done with a tripod, and it is of Paul shooting the moon and station. If you look really closely you can see the station in the background. Trust me, it looks good full size!

Clothing

2007-05-31T07:21:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I mentioned that it doesn't feel all that cold down here if you are wearing the right gear (and of course it's not blowing a gale and below -20). Just to give you an idea of what I wear for quad trips at the moment, here is a list of what I wear, which doesn't include the extra gear I carry in my pack in case it gets really cold.

Start with a two pairs of socks, then two pairs of thermal pants, a pair of polar fleece pants, two thermal tops, a polar fleece top, a pair of Ventile overalls (these are the windproof orange pants you can see in the photos), a big heavy down jacket (that bright yellow number), a pair of glove liners, a pair of wristlets, big gloves if I feel cold, a neck warmer, a balaclava, a scarf and my big Glacier boots - these have very thick soles and come with liners. Add to all this a full face helmet with heated visor, heated handle bars and thumb throttle lever and finished off with mitts over the handle bars to keep the wind off your hands and you will be ready to tackle a quad trip down here.

Weekend at Platcha and Brookes Huts

2007-05-29T03:38:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Paul, Trevor, Tony and I got out for the weekend. As we left on Saturday morning the temperature was -18C, but as there was hardly any wind it was quite comfortable in all the right gear. We headed straight out to Platcha Hut to drop some of the food and drink off before heading out for a local ride. The main goal was to get to the Russian fuel drums up on the edge of the plateau (some years ago the Russians created this fuel cache for future use, but it has never been used). It was a rough old ride as the day was overcast which made definition of the snow surface very difficult. It was just a matter of riding slowly enough to react to the bumps as you rode over them. When we called in to let station know we had arrived safely, we were told that another group was on their way up to the drums, so we left them this message:

On the way back to Platcha we just did some local sightseeing before getting back in fading light to set up for the night. We got the heater on and the water boiling then settled in for a magnificent dinner of lamb stew.

Trevor and I enjoying a quiet ale before dinner

The next day was some more sightseeing, with our general direction being towards Brookes Hut. Once again definition was a problem but as there was no wind we couldn't complain. This first photo shows the edge of the plateau near Platcha Hut. The little black dot in the centre of the photo is one of the guys on a quad. The second is looking back down Long Fjord along the ice, and helps illustrate the definition problems we were having.

One of the things about this place is that there is always something interesting to take photos of. This next picture is simply of a close up of a rock face with some snow blown into it, but I just really liked the patterns in it.

Another place we stopped was at Ace Lake Apple ("apple" is the word used to describe some of the smaller huts, and so you know an apple is smaller than a melon!). This one is pretty basic - not even having a heater, unless you drag out a generator with you. I don't think I will ever bother using this one for a night away.

Ace Lake Apple, overlooking Long Fjord (Ace Lake is over the hill behind the apple)

After a good fun day, it was good to get to Brookes Hut and get ready for the night. Brookes is massive compared to Platcha (well it's twice the size - two rooms instead of one), and has a nice bit of decking out the front.

Brookes Hut

It was a bit warmer on Sunday night (we think about -10C) so we sat out the front having cheese and bikkies whilst watching night creep in around us. Dinner was a tomato pesto pasta, served with foccacia. Gee I hate roughing it...

Monday morning and the weather was fantastic again - still no wind. We were extremely lucky to have three relatively wind free days. We were a bit slower getting away this day, but it was all good, as we managed to see the sun rise as were were cruising around the bergs. It was a truly spectacular sunrise, one that I hope I never forget. Riding around on the sea ice on quads, dodging around icebergs and watching the sun rise after midday - really amazing stuff. After all this it was time to head back to station. It had started to get a bit chilly again (-22C) so when we got back we were all looking forward to a nice hot (three minute) shower.

Sunrise on the sea ice - this photo was taken at 1:03pm

Percy the penguin

2007-05-23T06:18:00.000-07:00

Percy the Penguin

For some reason, Barry decided to buy himself a giant blow up penguin in Hobart to bring down here with him. His name is Percy. Percy has just developed a really annoying habit of turning up in the most unexpected places. A common one is in your bedroom, in the dark, waiting for you to open the door and turn on the lights. He scares the living daylights out of you. Another favourite is in your toilet - sitting, waiting. He got me a ripper last night. So of course when you are lucky enough to find him in your possession, you naturally move him on to the next bathroom or bedroom. Childish I know, but bloody good fun too.

Percy ready to attack

Keeping an eye on things in the brewery

Totally Wild reminder

2007-05-17T02:08:00.000-07:00

Just a quick reminder that Totally Wild will be screening the remainder of their Antarctic stories starting tomorrow (Friday). The guys came down with us on V2 to film stories on board the ship, here at Davis and also at Casey. They will go to air every Friday for six Fridays starting 18th May.

Another trip to Bandits

2007-05-13T06:15:00.000-07:00

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

Trip to Bandits Hut

2007-05-10T05:54:00.000-07:00

Taking a breather from all the hard riding

After my last post, we got away not long after midday. The wind dropped dramatically enabling us to head off. The plan was to head to Bandits to get the hut ready for the night and then to try to get to Walkabout Rocks. But because we spent a bit longer getting to the hut, fading light stopped our attempt to get to Walkabout. The reason we took a bit longer was because of all the time stopping to look at all the icebergs trapped in the sea ice. There are hundreds, if not thousands of bergs in the ice all the way along the coast - some the size of a house, up to some the size of apartment buildings. And all different shapes and colours too. Some are your traditional white, some are different shades of blue (ones that have recently turned over) and then there are the jade bergs. These are amazing.

Jade berg - to put it into perspective, the vertical face on the right would be about 25 meters high

This one has a jade vein running through it - this one would be about 15 meters high

Some of the "plain" bergs are just as amazing, with the formations including arches and tunnels.

A berg with a clearly defined arch

On Thursday morning we tried again to get up to Walkabout rocks but again we were stopped, this time by poor visibility. The wind was driving snow straight off the plateau at us, reducing visibility to about 5 meters. The decision was made to turn around, and about 5 minutes later we were in perfect sunshine. The trip home was going to be via Tryne Fjord, but when we got there we found some areas of open water. We drilled to get the depth of ice, and it was 380mm. We walked on a bit further and drilled again and found the thickness to be 280mm so we turned around and took the same route back to station. The minimum for quad travel is 400mm. Over the two days we covered about 120km on the quads

Just a few of the bergs at dusk

Well that is what I have been up to the last few days. I had a ball, and I'm sure Tony had a (40th!) birthday he will never forget!

Trip to Bandits

2007-05-08T21:16:00.000-07:00

Well the plan was to leave at 1100 today for a quad trip to Bandits Hut for the night with Paul, Tony, Cookie and Glenn M for Tony's birthday, but it is snowing a bit so we have pushed our departure time back an hour or so. Hopefully it will clear soon and we will be on our way before lunch. Fingers crossed!

Dinner and drinks, Science style

2007-05-06T01:09:00.000-07:00

Friday night was dedicated to science support here. As there is no one using the science building this winter, we decided to support science by having drinks and dinner up there. Lab coats and protective glasses were mandatory - after all we had to be safe. Some interestingly coloured drinks were prepared in test tubes and served in beakers, and some similarly coloured food was served on petrie dishes. I'm sure all the food dye was why some of us weren't feeling too well the next day!

Trev and Glen with their empty beakers

Some of the drinks were stored in a fume cupboard for every one's safety!

Luigi trying to lose a finger, with Glenn looking on

Totally Wild

2007-05-03T01:53:00.000-07:00

Just to let you all know, Totally Wild will be screening the remainder of their Antarctic stories starting this month. The guys came down with us on V2 to film stories on board the ship, here at Davis and also at Casey.

Antarctica 101 and Human Transport went to air during April and Marine Animals will be aired on Monday 7th May at 4.00pm - it includes the elephant seal wallow core sampling story.

Originally there were to be about 28 Totally Wild stories to be aired over a twelve month period, however Network 10 have just received government approval to broadcast six special Antarctic half hour episodes. They will go to air every Friday for six Fridays starting 18th May.

Further Quad training

2007-05-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

Today, we undertook some further quad training - this time out on the sea ice. The training focused on how to get onto the sea ice across the tide cracks, riding on and around rafted ice, braking distances on blue ice and bike control on blue ice. It was all good fun, but of course the best fun was being told to do doughnuts on the ice to learn how they handle (or more to the point, how they don't handle). The wind was up a bit today, so the maximum speed I could get going into the wind was 61km/h, but with the wind was 81km/h. At that speed, stopping in a real hurry just isn't an option - but that was what today was all about, learning the limitations of these fantastic machines. Soon the sea ice will be open for all quad travel, meaning we will have far easier access to all of the field huts - just strap your gear on the bike and take off. I can't wait! The photo below is of Paul trying to bury Tony under a pile of snow.

Paul trying to create a snow storm

Anchorage Island

2007-04-28T23:20:00.000-07:00

During the week Trev, Glen H, Matt and I went for a walk over to Anchorage Island to watch the sunset. Unfortunately, when we climbed up the top, we saw that the horizon was covered in a low band of cloud, meaning we weren't going to get a good sunset. But it was worth it anyway, as we got some good views of the area. We also got to check out the three crosses on top of the island, in memory of three of the expeditioners who have died here. The crosses are the first thing you are able to make out as the ship makes it's way towards Davis. And it has quite a sobering effect on you after 10 days of fun and games at sea. Not only are they a memorial, they also serve as a reality check - reminding you of the dangers of the environment down here.

Trev, Matt and Glen

But it's not all doom and gloom. Like I said, we had some fantastic views. The shot below is form the top of the island, looking back towards station. In the background you can see part of the Vestfold Hills, and further on is the Sorsdal Glacier. And the shot below this one is similar, just with one of the locals posing for the camera.

ANZAC Day

2007-04-28T23:11:00.000-07:00

After the dawn service

ANZAC Day was celebrated here with a dawn service, conducted by Cookie. Good news is that dawn was just after 0930, so it wasn't an early start. I was helping out in the kitchen, so I was up early anyway. I made the ANZAC biscuits, while Tony and Paul were putting the finishing touches on the cake. And of course there was a game of two up.

Snack time on ANZAC Day

Bridges, Bread, BA and Bogans

2007-04-21T19:37:00.000-07:00

We went out on Friday to finish off the surveying on Heidemann Bay. All was good until we finished the job and decided to head home. Problem was, the tide had come in, creating a moat between us and the shore. We couldn't cross back where we left the ute, or anywhere at all for that matter. We had two choices - sit and wait for the tide to go down (it was still half an hour till high tide) or walk back around to station over the sea ice to see if we could get across. We decided to walk back to station. When we got there, we were faced with the same conditions. By this stage, a few of the guys on station had heard our radio chatter, so they knew what was going on. Enter Glen H with a pair of ten foot steps to use as a bridge. Once we tied the sleds down and found a safe place to set up, it was just a matter of scooting over the ladder to get to shore.

Glen, you're my hero!

I went back the next day to get the sleds, and it was a matter of walking straight across the ice (with boot chains on). The tide had gone down, and the shore line had frozen over again. The power of the tide is really amazing, considering the tonnes and tonnes of ice that it can move around seemingly at will. It was also a reminder that the sea ice really is floating beneath our feet no matter how solid it feels.

Frozen over once again

On Saturday morning I had a bit of spare time, so I went into the kitchen to help Tony out. I have found that I really enjoy making bread, so I made the bread and the rolls for the weekend. Now I think he wants me to do it all the time.

Fresh straight out of the oven

Thursday afternoon saw us get re-acquainted with some of the fire fighting gear during a training session. As most of us haven't had to pull on a BA (breathing apparatus) mask since the training back in Hobart, we all had a go. What some of the guys and I realised was that it is a bit harder to get a seal on your mask with a beard. But this is what the training session was all about.

Yogi and I - self portrait

But the highlight of the week would have to be last Wednesday night's dinner. Whilst checking out the Herald Sun website for news from home I stumbled across a bloke who's Fitzroy restaurant has started selling "Bogan Burgers". I printed the article off and gave it to Tony, thinking he would just laugh and throw it out - but no, he made us Bogan Burgers, bless his cotton socks. A Bogan Burger consists of a piece of steak, followed by a slice of cheese, a chicken schnitzel, a potato cake, egg, bacon and onion (optional pineapple and beetroot, which I didn't have) topped with tomato sauce and served with chips. Most of us got through the whole thing, and one bloke even going back for more chips. It was so big, I made the decision not to wipe my hands or face until after I had finished the whole lot, or it would have had to happen after every bite. Most did the same. It was disgusting and wrong, but so, so good!

Bogan Burger

Not a good day at work...

2007-04-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

Contrary to popular belief, we actually do work down here. Today Jason, Matt and I had the enviable task of replacing one of the pumps in the SMQ sewer tank. Because Jason had the job of getting into the grease pit (and cause it was his birthday) it was my turn to pull the waders on and climb into the tank to disconnect the old one and position the new one. Not a terribly good job, but one that had to be done and the good news is now it's done and dusted.

I certainly didn't see this in the brochure!!

On a side note, how good is the beard coming along? Should be looking good by Mid-Winters, and really good by the time I get home. And as for the hair, I haven't had it cut since the boat ride down, in the first week of December. It just really doesn't want to grow down here which is a good thing.

Another sunset and sunrise

2007-04-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

OK, I know, here we go again. Another sunset and sunrise picture. But I just can't help myself. The colours down here are amazing, and I don't think it is just because of the lack of other colours in the environment. I figure I am lucky enough to be seeing these amazing sights, and I want to show them off, so I hope you guys aren't getting sick of seeing them.

Sunrise Friday 13 April, looking past the Helihut (left) and the EVS (right)

Sunset Saturday 14 April, looking out over the sea ice

Bloody fire alarms!

2007-04-13T19:31:00.000-07:00

We have had an interesting few nights here this week. It all started at 2300 on Wednesday night when the fire alarm went off. I was still awake reading my book when it went off, and the best thing was I was still fully dressed in my work gear so I was ready to respond. I was the first one to the muster point in the LQ foyer, and it was quite fun to see everyone making their way down. As they were coming over the stairs, I was giving running commentary- "You were asleep, you were asleep, you were awake, and you were definitely asleep!" Anyway I thought it was pretty funny. Till the next night. Thursday night it went off again (after also going off during the day), but this time it was 0330, and everyone was asleep. Trying to get your brain instantly into gear is not all that easy. I thought I had done a good job getting dressed and down to the foyer, I had even managed to put undies on (it was a line ball decision - do I save myself 5 seconds by not wearing any? In the end I went for warmth), which can't be said for everyone. Then when it was all over and I got back to my room, I realised I had them on inside out. Ah, close enough. The worst part about a night time alarm is that it is really hard to get back to sleep afterwards. There were a few tired people on Friday morning.

Another sunset

2007-04-08T06:56:00.000-07:00

I guess I just can't help myself. I took this one tonight, and I liked the way that it turned out. The sunlight being picked up on the lens created this illusion. I thought it was cool, and had to show you guys. I would have had more, but my batteries went dead. I'm sure there will be more to come...

Happy Easter

2007-04-08T06:49:00.000-07:00

Here's some good news - the Easter bunny found us all the way down here. Late last night, or early this morning, we had a visit from our very own wascally wabbit. Outside each bedroom door was a small bowl of eggs. I'm positive that everyone opened their door with a smile this morning. Thank you, mystery rabbit, your gesture was much appreciated!

Early morning photos

2007-04-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

I have taken a load of sunset pictures, so I decided it was time to start taking sunrise pictures. It's quite easy at the moment as I don't have to get up early to do it. Sunrise is at about 0900, which is quite a civilised hour for photography really. Currently, our days are getting shorter by about 11 minutes a day!

Now, this isn't exactly a sunrise picture, but I like the way that the first rays illuminate the big berg, whilst giving the smaller ones a blue tinge. I also like the optical illusion of the bergs floating above the ice.

Whilst taking photos from the wharf, I looked down and saw on of the seals in one of the breathing holes. This allowed me to get some close up shots. This big bloke couldn't have cared less that I was taking his photo.

An elephant seal having a breather

There aren't too many of the ellie seals left now that the ice has started to grow. We are down to less than 50, and by the end of the month they will all be gone for the winter.

Surveying Heidemann Bay

2007-04-07T22:02:00.000-07:00

I learnt a new trick on Saturday - how to drive a theodolite. A theodolite is the thing that surveyors use to take measurements and levels over large distances. What we were doing was gathering information for an accurate chart to made of Heidemann bay. We were taking depth measurements of the bay at 50m intervals and I had the job of making sure the measurements were in a straight line, and at 50m apart (or very close to it plus or minus 0.05m). At the right points, a hole was drilled through the ice and the depth was measured and recorded. Then a GPS mark was taken for later transfer. A thorough chart of Heidemann bay has never been done before, and the data we are providing will be used to make a new chart, so it will be pretty cool to see it when it is finished, knowing that we did it (the difference between a map and a chart is that a map is on land, a chart is on the water). At the same time, we were measuring the thickness of the sea ice on the bay, which has froze to about 300mm thick. We are only about one third way through, so we are heading back out again tomorrow to do some more.

Me using the theodolite

Out on Heidemann Bay, dragging some of our gear around

Magazines

2007-04-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

This month's edition of Bicycle Victoria's magazine. "Ride On", features someone we all know and love - me! A few of us (two from Davis and one from Casey) were asked to be involved in a lead up article for "ride to work day" which is in October. They were looking for some quirky ride to work stories. I believe there will be a follow up article around October to coincide with ride to work day.

I am also currently working on some responses for an article in a national careers magazine called "The Station", which is aimed at school leavers to give them some idea of where different jobs can lead you. This one won't be out for a few weeks though.

I hope everyone has a safe, happy and fun Easter, especially those going to Mornington races on Sunday!

On the sea ice

2007-04-01T05:57:00.000-07:00

During the week, the some of the guys went out onto the sea ice to take measurements to see if we could start getting out on the ice. The minimum depth of ice for travel on foot is 200mm, and the measurements came back at 210mm. Cookie made the decision to "open" the sea ice, but with the precaution of only opening the area directly in front of station. A few have tried a bit of skiing, but the ice is too slushy for any decent results. Mostly we have been heading out for a bit of a walk. And waiting for the depth to reach 400mm, so we can get the quads out on the flat stuff!

Me on the sea ice in front of station

While we are enjoying the growing ice, it isn't such good news for the elephant seals wallowing on shore. If they can't find an easy way through the ice near shore, they are forced to make the trek over the ice till they find a way in. What that has resulted in is the seals leaving "snail trails" heading out to sea for well over a kilometer.

No, he's not moving backwards - he has turned around to check us out

The guys (they are all male) still wallowing are now in various sizes, from pups only months old, to some very grumpy old buggers. The one thing that they have in common though is that they smell pretty bad. They spend their days burping and farting (not unlike some of us really) and lazing around. Occasionally they get the urge to attack each other, but it doesn't usually last too long before they are sleeping on top of each other again.

One of the big lads, surrounded by a few pups

There are a few holes in the ice that the seals have managed to keep open. Even though the ice is 210mm thick, these guys have managed to punch breathing holes through, and keep them open enough to come up for air. It is quite cool to look out over the expanse of white to see a few of the ugly noses sticking up at various breathing holes.

Two seals using the same breathing hole

Now it should only be a few weeks till we can get the quads out. Today was quite warm (-1) compared to last week (-25), so we want the temperature to cool back down so the ice grows nice and thick, nice and quick!

Mint Slice Biscuits

2007-03-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-30T17:18:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-26T03:21:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-13T01:59:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-03-13T01:25:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-03-07T19:56:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-06T05:33:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-02T08:04:00.000-08:00

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

Solar Pillar

2007-02-24T23:28:00.000-08:00

Last night as the sun was setting, we looked outside and noticed that the icebergs were a strange colour, almost a translucent blue.

We decided to go outside to investigate further, and discovered that a solar pillar had formed. It has something to do with the atmospheric conditions, and is seen as the sun is setting. The light from the sun seems to shoot up into the sky, like a pillar (hence the name). It is very beautiful thing to see. The colours that are caused by it are amazing

Come as someone else

2007-02-24T22:54:00.000-08:00

Last night we had a "Come as someone else" dress up party. Some got dressed up as famous people, whilst others decided it would be funnier to dress up as someone else on station. Matt was coming as Chopper Read, till changed his mind and came as one of the Village People. I came as Yogi, our wintering chippie, and one of the geologists, Chris, came as me (Happy Birthday Chris!).

Matt doing the Y in the YMCA

Yogi looking a little confused

I will call him Mini-Me

More Quad training photos

2007-02-24T22:43:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are some more photos of me from the quad bike training (thanks Tony!).

Who needs all four wheels anyway?Blue ice= no traction= great fun!Ready to get into it

My new room

2007-02-24T22:33:00.000-08:00

I have finally moved from my temporary accommodation into by room in the Sleeping and Medical Quarters (SMQ). As you can see from the photo, the rooms in the SMQ are much larger. They also have thicker walls, so you can't hear your neighbour. Come next week though, I will have no one on either side of me, which will make it quieter still.

The other advantages of living in the SMQ are the fact that I don't have to get all rugged up to go to the bathroom, or for a feed. And I also now have my own phone, so email me if you want the number.

Birthday time

2007-02-24T02:07:00.000-08:00

Check out this cake! I was asked earlier this week what sort of cake I wanted for my birthday, and obviously I responded with chocolate ripple cake. This is the result (of Noolie's twisted mind! Thanks Noolie, it was very well done and very funny).

Yogi doesn't want to look!The sign says "out of order", and yes, they are real pieces of corn in the poo

Also thanks to everyone who sent messages and for the pressies!

SAR & Quad training

2007-02-24T01:13:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been a while since my last entry, we have been flat out with training and work. The Aurora Australis left Hobart yesterday, due to be here on the 6th of March, and things are really getting busy here.

We finished our SAR training during the week, finishing with stretcher raises and lowers over rock cliffs. We then had a 'surprise' scenario, where one of the guys slipped down an ice embankment, suffering from a fractured arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding. SAR team to the rescue! All went well, we patched him up then got him into a stretcher and pulled him up the hill. So after the day was finished, we officially took over the reins from the interim SAR team.

From left: Me, Paul and Jason, with Richard in the stretcher

Today we also went quad training, which was brilliant. Riding on snow and ice is really good fun. Especially riding on blue ice, and being told to get into it. Brakes don't do a thing for you, unless you want to throw the bike into a spin, which may have happened once or twice. I will have some more photos soon of the quad session, but here is one of Hully riding up a melt stream. Note the hole in the ice on his right - I did that! That was where I dropped my bike through on the first run, making it a little harder for the rest of the time. I didn't fall off, but I know a certain motorbike instructor who did (hi Jude and Em!).

SAR Team

2007-02-15T05:04:00.000-08:00

Even after the bivvying fiasco, guess who made the SAR team? That's right kids - me! I have been chosen as one of four 'first responders'.

The First Responders head off asap, ahead of the team in most circumstances, to stabilise patient, or do a reconnaissance search in most likely area. Basically what we do is jump on a quad bike and get to the area as soon as is safely possible. The idea is to perform any first aid that my be required. We will also be the first teams out to do a primary search if the position of the person/people is unknown. The Second Responders follow once all equipment is sorted and might perform the technical extraction eg stretcher raise, hagglunds recovery.

So Thursday and Friday of this week, and Monday and Tuesday of next week are being spent doing further training, including further first aid, stretcher raising and lowering, search techniques and procedures and more cliff work with ropes and pulley systems. Monday should be some good fun as we are heading out to jump off cliffs. Tuesday will be 'surprise' SAR incidents all day long to test us out. Looking forward to it. (And the good news is that there are no overnight stays, so there will be no bivvying!)

Oscars and Bowls

2007-02-15T04:47:00.000-08:00

So last Friday night we had a movie night. The idea was to show the videos made by the expeditioners on Voyages 1 and 2 on the way down here. Some of the videos are brilliant. The theme for the night was to dress for an Oscars award ceremony. A few of us got dressed up in our 'best' clothes. Well at least Richard did...Me, Richard, Glen H and Cookie

And some of the guys simply used it as an excuse to get into the dress-up department and find a lovely frock for the evening...

There are two real women in this photo. Can you guess which ones they are?

Even Noolie (summer chef) got into the spirit of the evening by supplying the popcorn and making a load of choc tops to be served during intermission.

After a big Friday night, Saturday was always going to be a little subdued. A group of us got a hankering to play some carpet bowls, but unfortunately the pool table was being used so we couldn't move it. The next best location we found was at the top of the stairwell between the LQ and the SMQ. Amazingly, not one ball was lost down the stairs during the night. We got some very strange looks, but we didn't care, we were having fun.

Nice form, Brendan

Catherine and Jim bowling from the SMQ end

Field Training

2007-02-11T06:59:00.000-08:00

Well I finally got out to go field training last week. It has been a bit hard watching everyone else go first and then be able to go out on overnight (or longer) field trips. But my turn finally came. There are two reasons we go field training. One is to learn skills to enable us to survive the harsh conditions down here and the other is to determine who might be suitable for the SAR (Search and Rescue) team.

The first day is spent both on station and out in the field. In the morning we made sure we had all our gear ready to go, and we also did a bit of rope work. After lunch we jumped into choppers to take us out to where we would be camping for two nights. Once we had set up camp, it was off to an ice slope to learn how to stop yourself sliding down a hill using your ice axe, and also how to traverse ice and snow slopes. After dinner it was off for a bit of a sightseeing walk.

The campsite for nights one and two

One of the "skills" we had to learn was what is known as "bivvying out". This is the most stupid idea I have ever heard. The idea is to get into your sleeping bag, worm your way into another thin wind proof bag and go to sleep. In theory this is fine, until you realise that you are sleeping on ice, the bag is really hard to get into comfortably, you can't have your head inside the bag because of the condensation build up, and you can't have it outside because it's snowing. Stupid. I think I got about 4 minutes sleep for the night. When I got out in the morning, I had ice hanging off me. The overalls I had stuffed down the end of the bivvy bag were covered in ice. my water bottle was half frozen. Stupid, I tell you. Given the choice between bivvying again and dying in a blizzard, bring on death. And as for people who say "ooh, I love bivvying" and actually do it by choice, they must have some mental problems. Did I mention bivvying is stupid?

This looks like a great place to sleep, doesn't it???

Anyway, the next day was spent learning about ice and snow anchors, and rope and pulley systems for crevasse rescue. This was really good fun, because later in the day we went over the edge of an ice cliff and the guys who were left on top worked out how to pull you back up. It was a long day, we got back to camp some time after 2000 hours.

Kirkus (Field Training Officer) making sure Tony is good to go

When we got back to camp, we had dinner and went for a walk up one of the hills to watch the sunset, which was quite stunning. The following three photos were taken all on the same night.

Me waiting for the sun to set

Sunset number 1Sunset number 2Sunset number 3, taken while doing number 2's on the outside dunny

The best thing about night number two was that I got to sleep in a tent, which was relative luxury compared to the damn stupid bivvy. Day three was our hike day. From our campsite to Watt's Hut is about 12kms as the crow flies, but of course the hike was a bit further than that. All these bloody hills and valleys and lakes kept getting in the way. It took us about seven and a half hours to complete the walk, breaks included. The best break of the day was smoko. Just after 1030 we heard a chopper heading our way. After confirming they were looking for us we directed them in. The pilot called Cookie (our Station Leader) over and handed him a plastic container. In it were sausage rolls, savoury scrolls and cake. The SL had ordered in smoko for us. It was fantastic! Certainly better than the dehydrated food we had been eating.

It was very satisfying to finally get to Watt's, dump the 20 kg packs and have a good night's sleep in a real bed. Almost 5 star accommodation!

The final day was spent doing some first aid work, till the chopper came and took us out to Rookery Lake. Out there we did some ice drilling work, and also practiced throwing our throw bags (used if anyone falls through the sea ice). Also on the agenda was a visit to the penguin colony. There were thousands of birds. Most of the chicks are in the process of moulting, getting pretty close to being able to fend for themselves. They are at an age where they are big enough to seriously annoy their parents for food, and are quite aggressive about it. The most common site was adolescent chicks chasing adults, trying to get a feed. And it is as funny as all hell! Penguins just aren't built for running. We could have stayed there all day, but our chopper was booked for a 1430 pick up, so we had to leave.

After four days in the field, I don't know who smelt the worst, me or the penguinsI think I shall call him "Happy Feet"

All in all, I had a great time, except for bivvying. Did I mention that it's stupid?

Davis Beer Garden

2007-02-04T06:28:00.000-08:00

Just a quick one to tide you all over for a week or so, because I'm heading off to do my field training this week. We head out Tuesday, and don't come back till Friday evening. I am really looking forward to it. I still haven't moved into the SMQ because the planes are still here, so it looks like I will be moving next week. Saturday night saw us shooting darts and playing pool again, just for something different. So a few of us decided to head outside into a makeshift beer garden. Ok, it wasn't really a beer garden, we just took some beer and chairs outside for something different. It really was quite mild, that's why I'm in without a jacket. This shot was taken at about 2300 and it was about 3 degrees with no wind, so quite pleasant really.
Here are Tony S, Trevor, Colin and Barry enjoying the fine weather.
This shot is proof that darts ability, alcohol levels and the time are all proportionate. It's just a matter of getting the levels right. After shooting quite badly for most of the night, the planets aligned and I hit 3 bulls from 3 throws. If I'm this good at 0400 and after an unknown quantity of bourbon, I should be bloody brilliant at 0600 and even more bourbon. Unfortunately though, sleep got the better of me, so I guess we will never know...

Main Power House shutdown

2007-01-31T07:09:00.000-08:00

Me testing pressure relief valves in the MPH

Paul and Glen H doing whatever it is diesos do, which is obviously easiest to achieve sitting down on the job

Barry and Glenn M trying to not electrocute themselves

One of the annual jobs undertaken here is the MPH shutdown. It is probably the main job for the diesel mechanics and electricians to do over the summer. We also have some work to do, including testing pressure relief valves, automatic air bleeds, cleaning strainers, servicing the boilers and also the heaters. The MPH should be out of action for about a week. The good news is that we have an Emergency Power House to take over during this time. The bad news is that I have the closest possible room to the EPH, and the bastard is currently roaring it's head off not 3 meters from my window and wall. Makes it very hard to sleep. But the other good news is that I'm moving into the SMQ and my room for the rest of the year very soon, hopefully this weekend. When the planes (and of course the pilots!) leave to go to Casey, I'm straight in. I keep asking Dan, the pilot currently in MY room, if he needs a hand packing his stuff and when he's leaving. Go on, hurry up and bugger off!

Triple M

2007-01-29T02:21:00.000-08:00

Hey Mum, at last I'm famous...

Well almost. Triple M have a program called the Shebang and they are running a segment called "Shebanging the World". Basically, they want people to send them photos from every country of the world holding a Shebang sign. Technically, Antarctica isn't a country, but I though I would give it a go anyway. And guess which photo I found on their website today???

http://www.mrock.com.au/shows/shebang/world/index.php?continent=pacific

Australia Day

2007-01-28T03:03:00.000-08:00

The Australia Day festivities here kicked off with a fun run (two words previously thought to be mutually exclusive) out to Dingle Lake. There were two separate starting categories - runners and walkers. I was neither. I was posted to the roll of "support driver" and "second official photographer". Unfortunately, during the week I had done myself a damage with a sledgehammer (one lazy swing, one trip to the doctor and zero bruises to show for it), and was unable to participate in this event. The group running really had it tough, with fierce headwinds slowing them down, but allowing record times for the trip back. The walkers came back in a conga line, so God only knows how much they had to drink for breakfast.

From left: Rod Mac, Tomo, Alex, Tony S, Karl, Dave P, Catherine, Annette, Mal and Roger Tony S was very relieved to reach the turnaround point

Following the run was the much anticipated swim. A few of the braver (read: dumber) ones amongst us decided to brave the icy waters. And it was bloody icy! I lasted a whole 31 seconds. I know because I took my camera in with me - caught it on video. Then it was into the back of one of the Haggs to be transported up to the services building, which is where the spa and sauna are, to thaw out.

From left: Troy, John L-S, Stewart (the lifesaver), Tony M, Glenn M, me, Shane, Karl, Catherine, Annette, Jim and Alex

Photo: G Oakley

I'm 5th from the left - head just out of the water, holding my camera

Photo: G Oakley

After the thawing was complete it was off to lunch (meat pies, sausage rolls and lamingtons) followed by a game of cricket in the green store. The Number Ones got beaten by the Number Twos by two runs, and cricket was definitely the loser on the day. Dinner followed, which was a spit roast and bbq in the dieso's workshop. A few of the guys got into the spirit of the day by wearing patriotic clothing, which lead to the following photo.

Look mum, I'm a hooker! The Davis front row, consisting of Yogi, myself and Dick

Photo: M Ryan

Just for something different, we ended up at the bar for a few refreshing ales, and also to enjoy the open mike session. Once again I couldn't help myself and I got up and sung a few (how many??) songs, highlighted by my guest appearance as the Devil in Tenacious D's "Tribute". The worst thing about the day was that we had to be up for work the next morning. The best thing about the day is that I have rediscovered my ability to function on just over three hours sleep...

Happy Straya Day!!!

2007-01-25T08:36:00.000-08:00

Happy Australia Day, you little Aussie battlers. Just a quick one to wish everyone the best of luck in getting drunk today. For a little bit of home comfort, the comms guys are streaming in JJJ's Hottest 100 for us from 0800. And for a bit of fun later in the day, there are rumours of a swim at Australia's most southern beach, followed by a warming ale at Australia's most southern bar. Photos of the day to come over the weekend. Have a good one, patriots!

A Mixed Bag

2007-01-21T05:08:00.000-08:00

Thursday saw me in the kitchen for the day. It is just like school camp here, we are all rostered on to help out with common duties. Being in the kitchen is referred to as being on 'slushy' duty. It is the longest work day of all. Start time is at about 0800, and you keep going through till about 2000, cleaning, washing dishes, prepping food etc. You really don't stop all day. The best thing about being slushy is the fact that you get to pick what is played on the station radio all day. Needless to say, there was plenty of Pearl Jam (and a lot of The Waifs) played. Here I am stirring the goulash for dinner. Friday night is usually a chance to kick back and relax, but not last Friday. I was playing pool at about 2200 when my pager went off. There was a problem down in the R/O building. It turns out a pump had given up the ghost and had to be replaced. The picture above shows (L-R) Doug, Jason and Barry working away feverishly, whilst I slack off taking pics!

What you see in this photo are know as dykes. Geologists think they are very exciting. To the rest of us they are just black lines of rock. On Sunday I went out with a group of geos (Chris and Catherine) to help them take samples of one of the dykes near station. So off we set, beginning to walk the length of one of these dykes taking sledgehammers with us to break off samples.
This is about the only time that Jim actually picked up a sledgie to swing it in anger (with Glen and Chris looking on), so it had to make it on the blog! He spent more time taking photos than taking swings. We managed to break two of the three sledgehammers during the day. After taking samples we then had to lug the bloody rocks with us to a convenient point for helicopter collection. It was hard work, but was really good fun day with some really good fun people.Our stopping point for the day was marked by our arrival at the Ellis Narrows. You can see on the other side of the water where the dykes continue to cut their way across the continent (as Chris is showing Glen. Tomorrow the geos will continue along the same dyke on the other side of the narrows. And good luck to them too, I'll be busy back on station working on not carrying rocks around all day!

Happy Birthday Davis

2007-01-17T07:16:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, the 13th of January, marked the 50th anniversary of Davis. Dr Phillip Law landed on the site of the station on the 12th January 1957, and the first building was erected on the 13th. On this date a dedication ceremony was held to officially open and name the station. The name chosen was in honour of Captain John King Davis. To kick off the festivities, a phone conference was held with a few of the ANARE club members closely associated with Davis. The guest of honour was Dr Law himself. It really was such a privilege to have the chance to hear him speak, especially as he is only a few months shy of 95. His stories of the time he spent here were amazing, and his memory has not faltered one bit.

Cookie speaking during the hook-up

Ivan Hawthorn, Bill Bathurst, Dr Phillip Law, David Dodd, Alex Brown in Melbourne

Next on the agenda was a photo of the whole crew down here, with most of the mechanical gear we use to get around and work with. They even landed a chopper in the middle as a kind of centerpiece. This was followed by a recreation of the original station photo, which was taken in the same place - the donga line of the old station. When I get a copy of both of these photos, I shall be posting them here. After the recreation photo, Cookie read out Dr Law's original speech which was fantastic to hear. The links back to the past really made us proud to call this place home

Santa reading out who has been naughty or nice

Me on top of the old station. Note the short bloke who dressed in his tux for the occasion

Once the formalities were over, a treasure hunt/trivia contest was held, and then it was on to the Emergency Vehicle Shelter (EVS) for the spit roast/bbq for dinner. Then it was time to retire to the bar for a few quiet ales before an early night for all... Or maybe that's what I should have done! The band kicked up not long after 9, and the surprise guest vocalist was a smash hit with all the punters.

Jim, Roger, Trevor and Tony

Bet you didn't know I was talking about me when I mentioned the surprise guest vocalist!!! From left: Me, Noel, Jim, Roger and Tony's left arm.

Boating Induction

2007-01-14T05:12:00.000-08:00

On Friday arvo, the boating team had their induction. As one of the boat drivers, I had the privilege of heading out on the water. What an awesome way to kill a few hours. It was a serious training session of course, it just so happened that it turned into a berg cruise.

Me, water, icebergs. Simple - the explanation, not the subject, oh forget it...
Two penguins and an iceberg

Penguin, iceberg, water

Follow the leader

OK, I think I'm out of captions now
So just enjoy the photos

This damn berg tried to bite us, so we pulled some teeth out...

...and ate them! Hully, one of our Field Training Officers, enjoying an icy treat. Of course we went no closer than the prescribed 100m of the bergs...

Noel attacking Matt after a disagreement about the cab fare. We took the training very seriously...

The Davis Bottleshop

2007-01-09T07:29:00.000-08:00

Nowhere have I ever seen so many people work so hard. OK, that's a complete lie... But tonight was bottling night. As always, there were plenty of willing volunteers to help get the brew bottled. One of our brewing drums holds about 250 long necks, so the production line was set up. Tonight's batch was a lager. We needed to start building up our stocks again after the Christmas/new years period.

Unfortunately, stocks will probably take a big hit this week, as it is the 50th Anniversary of the Davis station. You are all invited to come, we'll provide the food, booze (we also brew draught, black and tan, ciders, ginger beer, stouts - Guinness for St Pat's day was started this week) and accommodation, you just have to make your own travel arrangements. Please RSVP ASAP.

Saturday night seal

2007-01-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

So it's Saturday night (technically Sunday morning), the darts are over and you are getting bored. What do you do? Go and visit the local wildlife. I mean, I was just standing there, and this very inquisitive and active seal approached me. Luckily I had my camera with me. And a beer. Just think though, apparently this bloke is just a pup. In a few months we will see the really big guys.

The Dart Machine

2007-01-06T21:38:00.000-08:00

See Alison, she really is busy!

Here's a tip for young players. Do not play darts against this woman. Jim and I were in front (quite comfortably too) then Rod and Annette hit back. Rod hit a Shanghai then Annette had to hit 2 double bulls to win the game. Bang. Bang. Game over. Crowd goes wild. Jim and Brendan go and cry in their beers.

Jolly!

2007-01-06T21:20:00.000-08:00

I got out on my first jolly on Friday. I got a message from Cookie to be at the helipad in half an hour, so I dropped what I was doing and hightailed it. Trev and Glenn were going out to a field hut and also to an antenna site to see what was out there, and I got the spare seat.

It was fantastic to get the opportunity to see some more of this place, especially so from the air. The scenery from the air was genuinely breathtaking. Up in the hills, there are so many lakes (some frozen, some not) and fjords it gives a completely different aspect of Antarctica, compared to the dustbowl that is Davis. And to see the plateau rising in the distance, taking up all of the horizon is surreal.

That's Watts, on the right

We first went to Watts Hut, then on up to Tarbuck Crag. Kudos to Dave, our chopper pilot, for actually landing on top of Tarbuck - there is literally only enough level ground to just fit the skids, and it was also quite windy. That was going to be it for the day, but the boys requested a trip out to Platcha Hut, which was approved. Platcha is in an amazing spot, right on the edge of a lake, and right on the edge of the plateau. The icecap starts growing from here, and continues on rising all the way to the middle of the continent.

Nice parking Dave!

Me on top of Tarbuck Crag

Platcha Hut

What did you see on your way to work today?

2007-01-04T06:35:00.000-08:00

This is what I saw. I was walking down to start work in the "waterboy business" this morning, when I was confronted with this little bloke. The last two days have been very windy - up to 48 knots - and all the sea ice has blown out. Literally one day the bay was covered in ice, we woke up the next morning and it was all gone. Almost immediately the wildlife has started to come in. What is most surprising though is that this fella had to wander up through the station about 400m to get to where this shot was taken.

Later in the day 3 elephant seal were spotted wallowing about 150m inland. I have a photo of the seals, but it just doesn't show how big they are. These things are massive - easily 750kg each. I need to get a shot of them with something to scale them against.

My Room

2007-01-04T06:18:00.000-08:00

OK kids, here is the next enthralling installment of the "My...." series, imaginatively titled My Room. My room is quite small, as the photo shows. Just so you really get an idea as to how small, go and sit on your queen size bed and then build four walls around it. Add a door, desk, chair and bookcase and there you have it! Cupboards, I hear you ask? My what a luxury that would be. All my storage is in drawers under the bed.

OK now that that is over and done with, it's not as bad as I am making out. Yes, it's small, but as you can see in the photo, I have made it my own. And it is my own. A lot of other people are sharing rooms, I think the most in a room is 4 which really wouldn't be good. And I also have an Internet connection, so just picture me at the desk above slaving away on this blog, underneath my boxing kangaroo flag. Later in the season (when all these bloody tourists go home) I will be moving into the Sleeping and Medical Quarters which will be a lot more comfortable - IE shower, toilets, running water etc.

***As a side note, I want to say hi to Annette's mum. Annette is waaayyy to busy to send her mum emails and photos, so she just gave her mum my blog address. Everyone say hi Mrs Annette!!!

My Office

2007-01-02T02:50:00.001-08:00

Well, now all the Christmas/New Year festivities are over, it's back to the land of work. Here at Davis we make our water through a process known as Reverse Osmosis. Basically what we do is turn sea water into drinking water. This is done by first finely filtering the sea water through the Continuous Micro Filtration plant, and then passing that water through the Reverse Osmosis plant, and finally through a calcite filter to regulate the pH levels. One of my jobs is to monitor the quantity and quality of the water being produced, and to undertake any maintenance required on the equipment. The biggest task is to chemically clean the CMF units, which generally take a day each (there are two), at least once a week. So I spend a fair amount of time each week in the RO building. It's not all bad though, no one bothers me - it's too far away from anything - and i just put the iPod on and sing away to myself all day long.
This is my desk, where I do all the tests on the water samples. Note the erganomically designed stool.These are the two CMF units, which do the initial filtering of the seawater and then send it to...

the two RO units, which remove the salt from the water, leaving us with drinking water. Now isn't this the most exciting blog entry you have ever read???

Midnight Sun, Midnight Moons

2007-01-01T00:37:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year. May this year be everything you want it to be. I want to take this opportunity to wish all the best to the families and friends of all the people who are down here at this festive time. We all miss you, and know that you miss us too. Stay safe.

We saw the new year in by doing something different. We had a few drinks. Paul, Nick and I decided to watch the clock tick over to 07 by taking a few drinks outside and enjoy the midnight sun. The band was playing for most of the night (loudly), so we wandered out to enjoy the quiet of Antarctica. It was a very pleasant way to see in the new year.

This is a photo of the sun at midnight on December 31st, taken from the front of the Met building. The biggest shock of the night came not too long after this photo was taken, when the two moons of Antarctica made their first appearance. Not too bad considering we haven't had a sunset in many weeks...

Not surprisingly, there are a few sore heads wandering around the place today, none more so than a certain Met tech who got the award for best on ground last night, and then was up at 5.30 and straight off to work. Well done Colin!

Photos

2006-12-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

Apparently some of the photos can't be opened in a larger size by some people. If you particularly like a photo, email me and I'll send you a larger copy. I have to make them small due to the limited bandwidth down here (there's no place like broadband, there's no place like broadband...), but I can send larger photos. All you have to do is ask.

The Journey part 2

2006-12-28T02:33:00.000-08:00

OK so now I have had a change of plans (read: I'm getting lazy). Here are a few of my favourite shots, followed by a short explanation of each. Aren't I just the cleverest thing?

Here are some penguins on an iceberg. Bet you didn't guess that one! This shot was taken on the trip through Iceberg Alley. Jump you little bastards!!! One day I was looking out of one of the bedroom windows, just watching the world go by, when I heard an "oi, Brendan" call. Figuring it wasn't a mermaid or penguin, I looked around to see Jeremy about 10 rooms down also doing the same thing, except with his you-beaut camera. Completely unplanned, but now much copied, this is my favourite photo of me.

This may be one of my least favourite. Nah just kidding. This was after I had paid homage to King Neptune. As we crossed the 60 degree south line, we had to ask for permission from His Highness to enter his realm. First we had to kiss his fish which was presented to us by his lovely wife (who looked alot like the deputy voyage leader in a grass skirt and coconut shell bikini), and then kiss his foot, whilst being stamped, covered in Vegemite and penguin poo (which was a whole lot of flour, water, food colouring, baked beans and god only knows what else). The showering afterwards was interesting - no water pressure, no hot water and being covered in what turned out to be glue. I pity the people who had long hair...

like these two. Bonnie and Lisa (along with everyone else with long hair) spent the next couple of days picking it out of their hair. Some of the guys were OK, as the charity head shave had been done the night before!

Once we hit large amounts of ice, the conditions calmed down incredibly. This shot was taken on a particularly good day, showing the clarity of sky and sea.

The calm conditions also allowed for some other interesting photo opportunities. This is me hanging out of the bow, the hole only big enough to squeeze and arm and my head out, so I found a bigger hole...
so I could fit more of me out! This is on the starboard side, just behind the pointy bit. This was much more comfortable, so much so that I figured I should take a photo whilst hanging out, and here is the result...

Here you see Nigel, Chris, Kate, Lisa, Brad and Nick trying to figure out what the hell I am doing. Jump you little bastards!!!

I guess this is why we went down in an icebreaker.

The pointy bit is also the strong bit.At the end of a long trip, I had some very mixed emotions about arriving here at Davis. On one hand I was very excited to finally get here. On the other, I was very apprehensive as to what the next 12 months had in store for me. I was also sad to be leaving some of the guys who I had spent the last 2 months training with in Hobart who were going on to Casey. It was also very sad to be leaving some wonderful people who I had met and spent a lot of time with on the ship. What made it even worse was the fact that I was well down on the fly off list, and assumed that I wouldn't be getting off till after going to the Chinese base, but of course things went very well with moving people on station and I barely had time to grab my bags, let alone say a proper goodbye to everyone I wanted to. So to everyone who was on board with me - GOODBYE! I wish you all the best for the coming seasons, be it the summer or the winter, and I really hope to catch up with some of you again - especially the other members of the cool kids gang. I'll see you again someday. I'm trying to talk Cookie into letting me hitch a ride to Casey with one of the planes, but I'm not holding my breath!

Once I had gotten into the chopper, I was very excited about my first flight. Unfortunately it was too short, as the AA had managed to park very close to station. It only took about 2 minutes to get on land, and this was probably the best aerial shot of Davis I managed to get. Where's all the white stuff???

After a few hectic days of change over the AA had returned from the Chinese base, to finish cargo ops, deliver the rest of the summer team, and take home the previous winterers. As a send off, a few of us found some out of date flares (my, that was convenient!) and waved farewell to our friends on board. That's it Mum, I'm locked in now, the ship is gone. The next time we see this sight (March), that will be it for the winter team, all 18 of us, until about November. This time was some fun, not too sure about next time...

The journey part 1

2006-12-27T04:35:00.000-08:00

well dressed for a trip south???

After many delays, we finally got underway. The first night heading down the Derwent river was a most pleasurable start. Almost immediately the hacky sack came out on the helideck and was just about the most common past time on the ship. With the smooth start, everyone had high hopes for the rest of the journey. It wasn't to be. Some of the guys were taken down the next day with sea sickness, some weren't to be seen until a week or so later. Some even spent time with the doc on IV fluids - but not me! I had an absolute ball on the ship. I only ever missed breakfasts, cause i was always up too late from the night before playing cards, darts, spotlight, indoor soccer, trivial pursuit, pictionary, twister (quite difficult in 6m side swells!) or just chatting to many wonderful new friends. A few of us decided to take over the disused bar (it's a dry ship now...) and we turned it into our personal entertainment area, playing tunes and dvds and just hanging out. There was a group of us who were dubbed the cool kids gang (by ourselves!) and if there was anything fun happening we had usually caused it. Hi Bonnie, Lisa and Nick! You crazy cats are a fantastic bunch, you really made the trip as good as it was. Thanks trendsetters...

Me, Bonnie, Nick, and Lisa, with Chris

One of the more entertaining things that happened was a good old fashioned cabin stuffing. On walking into my room one day I was confronted with four people (a little squashy for a three berth cabin), so decided to see just how many people we could get in there. Unfortunately, it was just on dinner time so we struggled to get all the people I wanted. After we all took photos from various vantage points, we all filed out. The final count was 43 people. I estimate we could have squeezed in 60ish as we didn't utilise the bathroom (lack of people), but the bar has now been set, and the rumour is that a well organised attempt will be carried out as the ship heads over to Casey.

Alright, who farted?!?!

When we saw our first iceberg, i think we nearly melted the poor bugger, so many flashes were going off. The iceberg sweep hadn't even started yet, and conveniently the berg wouldn't have counted anyway, the crew declared it too small. We didn't see another one for two days, but then it was on. The few hours of twilight gave us some interesting colours to backdrop some of the bergs.The most amazing time was on the final approach into Davis, through an area known as Iceberg Alley. A few of us got up at 0530 to see this and we weren't disappointed. Words just can't describe how fantastic it was.

Paul in front of our first berg

One of the stars of Iceberg alley

That's all I have got time for at the moment, I really need to sleep. We had Christmas yesterday, the 26th, because the Aurora Australis was in port unloading cargo and picking up people, and i didn't get to bed till 0730 this morning....

*Some of the photos for the next couple of posts may not be mine, thanks go to Nick, Lisa and Bonnie for kindly sharing some of their brilliant shots with me (and each other).

I'm here (or there)

2006-12-20T08:55:00.000-08:00

Brrr its cold. No, not really - quite mild today. I have finally made it to Antarctica. When i get a chance I will post some photos and a bit of info, but now i'm going to bed for my first night on a new continent....

Let's Away!

2006-12-07T15:42:00.000-08:00

Ok trendsetters, it finally looks like it is happening. Sailing today at 1730...

We had send off drinks last night at Custom's House, and it was a good opportunity for those who didn't already have a Hawaiian shirt to get one. The Hawthorn footy club were in town having a bad shirt night, and most were willing to give us their shirts when we asked (some were free, others cost a beer!)

Now we are just killing time before we head down to the wharf for all our final pre departure briefings. I want to say thanks to everyone who has left a message on my blog, please continue to do so - I'm still waiting for Keryn to leave me a message though :-)...

For the next 15 days there will be no updates as we don't have web access on the ship, but we do have access to emails. My email address when we are on the ship is slightly different to the one I am using now - instead of @aad.gov.au, on the ship it is @aurora.aad.gov.au (the first bit of the address is still the same). Please feel free to mail me.

Ok that's it for now, next post will be in a few weeks!

Another delay!!!

2006-12-05T16:06:00.000-08:00

Voyage 2,
Unfortunately the repairs done to the fuel tanks on Aurora Australis failed to hold when the tanks were filled and the ship needs further work. Voyage 2 will not depart until Friday morning at the earliest. A further update will be given by 1700 tomorrow.
The briefings scheduled for 0800 on Wednesday will proceed as planned so that we can update all expeditioners on the situation and so that the briefings are out of the way. Any issues with accomodation can be raised at this meeting. Those Davis expeditioners that have fly off unaccompanied personal effects (in excess to the 30kg cabin baggage) will be asked to consign it on Wednesday.

Departure

2006-12-03T16:03:00.000-08:00

Final confirmation has just come through, we are now sailing on Wednesday 6th December, leaving at 1730.

Fun with the family

2006-12-03T13:22:00.000-08:00

Some of the Davis crew and families

Dad, Mum, Daniel & Marney

Mum at the top of Mt Wellington