Week One at Casey

Preparing for walk over to Shirley Island

Well a few more days have past, and plenty more has happened........most recently the blizzard!

For the past 2 days there has been a blizzard here at Casey station, with winds fairly consistently over 60 knots, and yesterday they had reached 96 knots, or over 170 kph. The best part was having to walk to and from the building where I work, which would be about 100 metres from the 'Red Shed', where we live and eat.

We had to work yesterday as there was a couple of aircraft flying from Hobart to the French Base-Dumont D'Urville, and in the next couple of days they will fly over to Casey (dependant on weather conditions).

It's amazing how the conditions change, just two or three days ago I could stand outside the 'red shed' in jeans and a T-shirt, and it actually felt warm in the sun.....it was about -10 to -12 C. I think it's because not only was there no wind, but it also has something to do with the fact that there is no moisture in the air. And then as soon as the wind comes up, especially as it had been over the last couple of days, you can't get enough layers on, and keep the wind and blizz out.

view over Casey Station, Red Shed to the left (living, meals, lounge etc). and the yellow building to the back right is the operations building where I work.

As a result of the blizzard, all the sea ice in front of the station has been pushed out, and it is currently open water, with some ice bergs.

Sunset from the front of the station, photo taken shortly after midnight

After dinner on Friday night a group of us set off for Shirley Island, where we spent some time walking around the island and looking at the penguin colonies. To get over to Shirley Island we had to go over an area of sea ice, which over the coming weeks will also disappear.

Sea ice near Shirley Island

It was amazing to see all the penguins. We are only allowed to approach wildlife up to set distances, which varies depending on which animal it is. But this does not take into account the animals then approaching you.......and in the case of the penguins, they seem to happily do so.

When I had got close enough to the penguins, I would either crouch or sit down. The penguins might just ignore you, but they quite often spend a few minutes looking at you, and then they walk straight towards you, stopping a metre or so away. They check you out for a few more minutes, and then just walk on by, and continue what they were doing.

In the coming weeks, the penguins will lay their eggs, and the chicks will hatch. It will be good to go back and see these changes.