At Last: CASEY

Well, it's been nearly two weeks since making the last post. In that time we left Hobart on the A319, and headed off for McMurdo station (US) on Monday the 26th October. We arrived on the ice runway, and got off the plane to air temps of about minus 20C, and in the days that followed had average air temps of between minus 12C to minus 20C, and wind chill temps of down to minus 42C.

A319 on the ice at McMurdo above, View over the sea ice right.

What a great place to have a look around. While on station there were over 1100 people there, and the place is big and busy.........very different to the population numbers at Casey, with around 100 expected during the summer.

During our spare time while at McMurdo we hiked over to Scott Base (NZ), out to Scott's Hut, up Observation Hill, and generally around station and the surrounds. One the great views was of Mt Erebus, the most southern active volcano, which on average erupts up to 20 times per week.

View to Mt Erebus from the ice runway.

C17 on the ice runway.

We were first scheduled to fly to Casey on Wednesday 28th October, but his flight was cancelled due to poor weather. The next couple of days was much the same, with flights cancelled due to poor weather at either McMurdo or Casey. But on Saturday the 31st October we boarded the Hercules for our trip over to Casey, but 3.5 hours into the flight we were advised that the weather had deteriorated at Casey and they were unable to land....so we turned around and took the 3.5 hour trip back to McMurdo. But it was the 31st of October, and we arrived back in time for the Halloween party on station.

The next flight for us was not scheduled until Monday the 2nd of November. Monday morning came and again we all boarded the Hercules, this time we reached the skiway at Casey, and landing on the snow in a Hercules on skis was a great experience.

Hercules C130

We then took the several kilometre trip down to Casey station, and as we first came over the hill and the station came into view, the first thing you notice is the 'red' shed. The red shed is the accommodation, meals and lounge building, among other things, and then there are numerous other smaller buildings in the surrounding area, all of different colours......green, blue and yellow. another great view was the bay which Casey station is built beside, there is still some sea ice in the bay, you can also see some rocky outcrops and many, many ice bergs.

View from the window where I sit at work!

clip on pictures to enlarge, you may need to zoom out when they open in a new window!

The weeks ahead should be good.