Proof of Life

After waiting for days, weeks and a few false starts the call came through that the weather would behave and allow a flight to depart from our friends over at McMurdo. So what do we do when the forecasters ask for weather observations for the entire time of the flight and starting form a few hours before? Well, first we check time zones - McMurdo are on New Zealand time - and then we find out what time the first obs are needed (2.30am our time), then work out amongst the three of us who will go to the Skiway and report from there.

Michael was on the normal obs shift, but still started at 2.30am, Abrar was the slushy for the day, leaving me to go for an overnight stay with Ben M and to catch as much sleep as possible before work. And so, each hour I called in the current conditions to the forecasters in Hobart using a very dodgy satellite phone link and in between was reading a book about the history of the Melbourne Cup from 1861-1961. The most boring thing I've ever read.

The weather at our end seemed to be playing nice, until the fog came in, then dissipated and came in again and dissipated and came in and dissipated and came in and dissipated until we finally had a glorious day and perfect conditions for a plane to land.

Yes, that's right, we have the first people we've seen since February 19th on station and proof that there is life beyond the ice. We farewell two of our fellow winterers tomorrow and wait for the C-130 to arrive in a couple of weeks time.

Can you see them?

Safely on the ground

Taxiing

Stopping

People!!!

Photos

Here's some recent photos as nothing really interesting has happened down here. We're waiting for a plane to turn up in the next few days and bring some new people, but that's about it. 

Dr Chad and me wandering around the ice

If you look really, really carefully, you can see 3 seals that look like rocks.

One of the first Adelie penguins to return

Moonrise at the skiway.

When ice freezes really quickly, it gets all these bubbles.

Station

Mabel hut, all by its lonesome.

George the Adelie

Strike a pose!

Getting caught stealing rocks

Trying his best to hide

Damn photobomming seals!

Somewhere Deep in Partly Charted Territory

There's another weather station out in deep field, some 130km away from station. This AWS is in a beautiful location near the coast and simply being able to see a different part of the landscape is a truly wonderful experience. My workers for this trip were Scotty the Chef and Deputy Station Leader, Matty one of the mechanics and Doug the Senior Comms Tech. We're still trying to convince Doug to dance like this.

This trip was almost a month in the planning as we waited for various pieces of plant and accomodation to be available from other jobs that were on. We also had to delay for a week while there were a few blizzards in the area and even then the weather window was only just over a day. On Sunday, at about 6.30am, we left station for a drive of about 15 hrs (yes, with driver swaps) and we were lucky not to run into the weather station on arrival as there was no visibility and we were driving by GPS.

The work took just over a day to complete and in the end wasn't overly difficult, simply time consuming. The first job was to check the data and make sure all was within calibration, then the mast had to be raised and guy wires anchored into the snow. All went pretty smoothly until we lost light for the day.

Scott's birthday was on the Monday, so there were some eye fillets for those that wanted them and a phenomenal display from the sky: No clouds, not a breath of wind, stars everywhere and we even turned off the generator to soak in the atmosphere. Truly breathtaking.

Then next morning we quickly finished off the guy wires, went for a quick drive, then back to station as of lunchtime. A real Antarctic experience for all involved.

Doug

Scotty

Matt the Viking

The Challenger by night. Pity none of my other night photos turned out.