boat cruise, and our late Christmas

As mentioned in the last blog, I recently spent some time out on the IRB's cruising between some of the islands..... all in the name of science! My boss had told me that he needed someone to go out as crew on one of the boats..... so I headed out for my day at work! Below is some video from that trip... enjoy.

Due to the delays experienced with resupply, we did not celebrate Christmas until Friday 30th December. We had a pretty quite day, with a huge spread put on with all the trimmings..... roasts, seafood and the usual huge amount of deserts.

Santa arriving at Casey station 

Time for presents!

Casey in Ginger bread with a ginger bread man for everyone

With Christmas delayed to Friday, it meant that not only did we celebrate Boxing day on the Saturday, but it was also New Years Eve, which was a fancy dress...... 'Cowboys and Aliens'.

Down in Antarctica we have many things that we would also have access to back home.... but in saying that, there is also many things that will be made up or recycled from what ever is found around station. One such thing was the punch bowl on New Years Eve. Cut straight out the ice, there would not be many around that could say their punch bowl is thousands of years old!

Midnight New Years Eve

Some time after Midnight New Years Eve

Before we sat down to our Christmas dinner a few of us headed out for a couple of hours on an 'iceberg' cruise. It is amazing to get up close to huge bergs that we can see day after day from the station, and of course along the way, you always see plenty of penguins.

Below are a couple of pictures, but I will hopefully get some more pictures and video up on the next blog entry.

Adelie Penguins there to see us off at the wharf

The chef who was on station when I arrived at the beginning of this season... and was also here when I last came down in the 2009/10 season is Rodney (Rocket) Charles. Not only is he a great chef, but he is also a talented artist. At Christmas he makes sculptures of penguins out of butter, draws pictures of all the wildlife down here, much of which he has had printed onto clothing. Below I have added some video (time-lapse) of his work......

Christmas, and resupply continues......

Merry Christmas...... from Casey station Antarctica.

 Although I will probably write exactly the same thing in the next blog entry, and in fact post some pictures of our actual Christmas celebrations. This is because today.... the 25th December is going to be a normal working day for us here at Casey station as the resupply ship, the Aurora Australis is still here trying to complete resupply.

Resupply has been quite drawn out this year due to poor weather conditions, in particular high winds. As a result of these winds it has been difficult to move cargo and fuel from the ship to the shore, and all opportunities of good weather windows need to be taken, so that the ship can leave and head back to Tasmania.

At this point Christmas for us will be delayed, and it is likely that we will celebrate Christmas some time later next week!

One of the reasons that resupply has taken so long, is due to the blizzard that came through last weekend. In the last blog I posted some video which I took while at work, but below is a few pictures from the Casey skiway. At the moment only have one small aircraft here... a Twin Otter. There is always a bit of work required to keep the skiway up and running, but as a result of blizzard, there is now many days of work required to re-prepare the skiway, and dig the aircraft out.

Twin Otter before the blizzard

Twin Otter after the blizzard

Twin Otter after the blizzard

Some of the people who have arrived on the ship are what we call 'round trippers'. These are people who sail down on the ship, and have a small task or project to complete during resupply, and then return to Tassie when the ship leaves. A couple of those 'round trippers' on this voyage needed to get out to some of the penguin rookeries/islands to complete projects. So last week, before the blizzard set in a few of us set of in the IRB's to the islands around Casey for a few hours.

Adelie Penguin

Emperor Penguin

 

Below is a short video/tour of the operations building, which is where Comms, BoM, and the station leader spend their hours at work....

Below are some links to articles published over the past week or so... with most of the articles this week being in relation to the Mawson Centenary voyage, and the icebergs that are blocking passage into Commonwealth Bay, and Mawson's Hut.

SMH newspaper article.
The Australian newspaper article on the Mawson commemorative voyage.
Vancouver Sun newspaper article on Mawson Centenary voyage.
The Mercury newspaper article.
Canberra Times newspaper article.
AFP article.

Aurora Australis, Resupply and the Blizzard

Well the past week has been busy with resupply. The icebreaker Aurora Australis arrived last weekend, and a steady movement of cargo has then followed.

Here at Casey station, all cargo that is taken off/on the ship, needs to be moved on the water, (barge etc). At some of the other stations, resupply can be done over sea ice, with the ship positioning itself in solid sea ice, and then everything is offloaded onto the ice for movement predominantly by truck, and sometimes by helicopter. It means that you will see all sorts of things loaded onto the barges/floats for the trip over to the wharf at Casey......

Quad track being offloaded from the Aurora  

As a result of everything going over the water during resupply, that means that a fuel line needs to be run from the ship, over Newcomb Bay to the station, so the station can receive enough fuel to last for the next year.... there will be about 750,000 litres of diesel pumped from the ship to the station. It will take about 36 hours for this amount of fuel to be pumped, and a good weather window is required for the fuel line to be put out, as it cannot be run across the bay if there is poor weather.

Given the fact that a good weather is required.... and we do not have that at the moment, the Aurora has pulled up anchor and moved offshore until the wind eases. At this time (Sunday18th Dec), most on station are tucked up warm in the 'Red Shed', with a blizzard blowing outside. The winds have been up around the 80-90 knot mark, and earlier this morning it peaked at 109 knots, which is 202 kph.

Another rare event occurred this morning, when most on station were woken by the fire alarm. The alarm had gone off as a result of the 'Green Store' being struck by lightening. Now electrical storms (thunder and lightning) are something that does not normally occur in Antarctica, as the conditions are so dry..... but this morning, during the blizzard, thunder was heard, and several people also saw the lightning as it flashed across the station, and struck the 'Green Store'.

Below is a video clip of a few different moments during the blizzard, where there is just strong winds, and also with blowing snow. The clips was taken from the cold porch area of the building which I work in. I had managed to get up to the building a little earlier when the wind was not quite as strong, and travel between the buildings when the winds are so high, would normally be done with at least one other person. When the video was taken I did not venture too far out in the open, because at over 90 knots, it could easily knock you off your feet, and probably take you on a bit of a trip. The rule of thumb would normally be: a knot for every kilo. So at over 90 knots, it could sweep someone of over 90 kilos off their feet.... now some might think I am carrying a bit of weight, and maybe even a little more than normal (due to all the desserts)... but I am not over 90 kilos.

In the week leading up to the arrival of the Aurora, myself and 3 others headed off from station towards Law Dome, to a camp that had been set up for the Tot-Cal project. This trip was only about 45 klms, but took approximately 2 hours in a Hagglunds, we assisted the 4 guys who had been in that camp for about a week, to dig it out. The camp had a small hut on a sled that was used for preparing meals etc, but the rest of the camp was made up of 'polar pyramid' tents, which, while being put up have snow put around the base of then to help keep them in place, and then with the further build up of snow/ice over the time that they had been there, it means quite a bit of digging to get them out, and collapsed. So a few hours were spent on the end of a shovel, before another 2 hour drive back to station.

European Space Agency article about the Tot-Cal project being undertaken in the Casey area.

Aviation in Antarctica story.

Medical Evac and first A319 flight in Wilkins.

Wilkes station and inside the 'Red Shed'

Last weekend I set off as part of a group of 8 people for the old Wilkes station, which is located on the other side of Newcomb Bay to Casey station.

Wilkes station

Wilkes station was built in the late 1950's by the United States, and later handed over to Australia. The station was built in an area that sees quite a lot of snow and ice accumulation, and since the station was abandoned it has become encased in ice. During the summer period, parts of the buildings will be exposed during the melt.

Wilkes is one of the areas around Casey where a field hut is located. Unlike the other huts in the region, which are generally fabricated out a shipping containers, insulated and stocked with emergency supplies, and would normally sleep 4 people, the hut at Wilkes is in the old 'radio' building from the Wilkes site. It is larger than the other huts, sleeping 8 people, and also having an old timber stove/fire in it.

View over Newcomb Bay to Casey station

Below is a video from my trip over to Wilkes.....

Below is another video clip in the ongoing 'tour' of Casey station. This clip takes you on a tour of part of the 'Red Shed', mostly around the 'common' areas, and through to my room, which is a bunkroom, but I have it all to myself.

The Red Shed is much larger than the areas that are shown in the video, with most of the other area comprising bedrooms, bathrooms, the laundry and storage rooms.

With the Aurora Australis (resupply ship) due to arrive here on Sunday, there has been plenty of activity around the station. From the ship, people and cargo will be loaded onto a barge, then taken to the wharf and offloaded for transport up to the station... distance of several hundred metres. Back loaded onto the ship will be any people returning to Australia... including those who have been here over the past winter period. Also to go onto the ship is all the RTA (return to Australia) goods, this includes pretty much everything no longer required here on station, from pieces of equipment/machinery, to samples collected during science work, to waste and recyclables.... including all the 'solids' from the waste treatment plant.

The trip from the wharf to the station is through a small valley, and climbs a couple of slopes. As result, the containers, loaded onto trucks/sledges cannot be driven across the snow, as they will become easily bogged. A road needs to be dug out each year, between the station and the wharf. This road is dug down to the ground (frozen) so that the vehicles can travel without problems.

Digging out Wharf road

Aerial shot of Casey and Wharf road in foreground

Below are few links to stories that have have been in the news recently.

7:30 report when you got to this website, you will have to select Archives - November 2011 - 30/11/2011.
UTas Alumni news
Herald Sun article on Mawson Centenary
Mercury, newspaper article
Illawarra Mercury, newspaper article
Daily Telegraph, newspaper article
another Mercury, newspaper article

Around the Station and Shirley Island video

In a previous blog entry I had posted some pictures from a recent hike over to Shirley Island, and the penguin colony. Below is a short video from this trip, and over the rest of the summer season, hopefully I will get out there a few more times, and be able to post some more video of the changes as they lay eggs, and the penguin chicks hatch...... enjoy!

Some have asked for some more pictures of the station itself, and the living quarters.... well below is a video that takes you on a walk along the main road (pretty much the only road) through Casey station.... some of the video is in fast forward as I work my way up the road, between different areas of the station. I took this video a couple of weeks ago, so with the increasing temps, and a couple of days of wind, all the sea ice has now broken up, and moved out of the bay.

Over the coming weeks, I will also endeavour to post some more video of other areas/buildings around the station.

For the past week or so, we have had a AWI (Alfred Wegener Institute) Basler aircraft working from Casey station. This is a German Polar Institute, and on the aircraft is crew with German scientist's, and a Canadian aircrew (from Ken Borek Air) who also operate the Twin Otter aircraft, and another Basler which is soon to arrive here at Casey.

The aircraft itself has just had a complete rebuild, costing in excess of 8 million dollars, and when it arrived at Casey it only had about 100 hours flight time since rebuild... not bad for plane originally built in the 1930's and 40's.

Basler 'POLAR 6', photo Stuart Rutherford

POLAR 6, photo Stuart Rutherford

Everything is starting to get busier around station, as the Aurora Australis resupply ship is scheduled to leave Hobart on December 2nd, and arrive here about 10 days later. Most of those who have been here for the previous winter will leave on the ship, and most of the next wintering crew will arrive...... so too will some fresh fruit, eggs, vegetables and salad.

some more random pictures from the the last couple of weeks....

Last weekend a group of us took a trip over to the old Wilkes station. We spent the afternoon exploring the old station.... which is basically just the tops of the old buildings, as they have been cover/consumed by accumulating ice/snow, but more on that and hopefully some video of the trip in the next  blog entry.

Below are a couple of links recently published in the news, including one on a huge iceberg that may prevent the upcoming centenary celebrations at Mawson's Hut in Commonwealth Bay.

future directions of Antarctica, the treaty and the AAD
Iceberg restricting access to Commonwealth Bay