Yes, I am still down south. I have been a bit slack, and its been a while since I last posted something on the blog site. But in saying that, it has also been a bit busy here over the past week or so, with the movement of several different planes, and the coming and going of numerous groups of expeditioners.
The Twin Otter aircraft that has been here for most of the summer season left last week. With thier scheduled work completed, they took advantage of a good weather window, and flew out to the
South Pole station.... the first of many ferry flights before that get home in Canada.
After the
Commemorative Voyage to Commonwealth Bay, celebrating 100 years since Sir Douglas Mawson's Antarctic voyage, a group who had sailed south on the Aurora Australis, were transported to the French station of
Dumont D'Urville. They spent about a week there waiting for weather conditions to improve. They were then flown by Basler aircraft over to Casey station... arriving on Australia Day. The Basler aircraft, having completed its work here at Casey, has flown over to the Australian station of
Davis, and then onto the Australian station of
Mawson... before also beginning its ferry flights home to Canada.
This week we have also seen the first scheduled flight of the A319 (airbus) from Hobart direct to
Wilkins, which is about 70klms from Casey station. This flight saw 12 people depart from the station, but also another 11 people arrive. Many of these people who arrived are down here working on infrastructure, or science projects, but also arriving is a crew of 3 people from the 60 minutes program. While here they are putting together a piece that I believe will air in late February or March.
With the arrival of this first airbus flight, it also means that the end of the summer is getting near. There is only another three scheduled flights, and I am due to head back to Australia on the last of these flights (in just over 2 weeks time).
The weather here at Casey this year has been a bit different to the previous season that I down south. After our arrival in late October, we had a stretch of days/weeks, where the days were clear blue skies, with very little wind. Then just before Christmas we experienced a couple of blizzards, with one reaching 109knots (202kph) a new record for the month of December. Since new year, we then saw weeks of overcast days, there was still very little wind.... but also not too much sun.
The warmer weather has also not lasted for very long, nor has it reached the temperatures that would normally be expected. Through the month of January, the days would normally get above 0c, and reach as much as 5 or 6c. These temps would also present some problems with travelling off the station due to melt streams, and very soft/slushy ground. This year we experienced about 4 or 5 days where the temps got up to about 2c, and travel off station was a little difficult in some areas, but no significant melt streams formed around the station as normal....... and after only about 5 days the temperature has again dropped, and the ground is again very hard and icy under foot... with the temperature at about -10c in the mornings when we get up, and rising to about -4c during the day.
After such a long stretch of overcast days, it was great that the sun returned for Australia day, it was a clear sky day, with temps getting up to about -2c..... and like many back home, Australia day is no different down south. Before lunch, those keen enough headed down to the wharf for the Australia Day swim (which does not last that long) in water that is also around the -2c mark. After the swim there is the Australia day cricket match, and BBQ.... a great day was had by all.
Below is a bit of video from Australia day... enjoy!
Another recent trip that I had off station, was a ski trip. It was a quiet Sunday afternoon, and a group decided to head out on cross country skis for a few hours...... maybe it was a mistake.
I decided the ski trip would be good, and an opportunity to improve my skiing skills. As we were heading off stations limits, there was also a requirement to carry our survival packs (which weigh about 15kgs)... we set off under a overcast sky, with some light snow falling, and started the climb up the plateau. We reached a specific marker along one of the travel routes (A08), which is about 7klms from station, and an uphill climb all of the way... then for the 7klm trip back to station... it was a great trip, and I do not regret doing it, but I must say that I was a bit sore over the next few days, and I'm not sure it improved my skiing ability any.
