Pictures of Casey and Surrounds

Well another week has passed, and again there has been great variations in the weather. After the big blizzard 2 weekends ago, where winds reached over 170 Kph, we then saw some snow fall, and the snow flakes were huge, and just floated gently to the ground as there was no wind at all.

In the following days, temperatures remained around -5c or so, and then we experienced another blizzard last weekend, although this time the winds were not nearly as strong, only reaching about 60 knots.

Since this last blizzard temperatures have only just been below 0C, and in fact on Monday it rose to just on +1C. With the rise in temperature, there has also been a lot of snow melting around the station..... although as I write this more snow clouds are building outside.

Snow falling on 'Green Store' above, and 'Red Shed' below.

Last Friday myself and 10 others headed out for field training, hiking for the day around Shirley Island, and the sea ice and surrounding area. We also built a camp, and slept out on the ice for the night.....but enough of that story, as I will post more story and pictures in the next post.

Crossing the sea ice to Shirley Island

Penguins at Shirley Island

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.

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.