Another Antarctic Summer - 2012/2013

Hi All,

Well here I am again with a return to Antarctica.  This time I am working at Davis Station as one of three Communications Operators in support of radio communications requirements for fixed and rotary wing aircraft, science support and other duties.

But as with last season when I was at Casey, before any journey south, I had to complete my FITTEST mission.  During 2012, I had spent approximately six months in Mali providing Telecommunications support, again as a radio trainer, training selected UN staff employed as radio operators.  Apart from the radio operators I also provided radio training to UN drivers and other staff required to operate radios on UN radio networks.

Anyhow I departed Mali and returned to Dubai where the FITTEST office is and finalised all my paperwork before returning to Australia.  Once again Emirates were very kind to me as the following pictures show (Ryan what can I say dude!!  The Dom was 'First Class' - enough of rubbing that into one or two mates in Dubai).

EK Ticket - Upgraded (Again)

EK Seat - Not too shabby

EK Entree

EK Main

I spent some time up in Brisbane visiting Jamie, Colleen and Charlee.  Charlee is my third grand daughter, with my daughter Jasmine and her partner Nick having two daughters, Savannah and Jessica.  It was an enjoyable time seeing them and whipping Jamie's butt in table tennis again!

Flew down to Hobart a week prior to my start date with the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) as I had to see my old local GP and Dentist prior to commencing work.  One tooth less later and a wee bit of day surgery, my friend and I headed to a tourist location in Tasmania known as Port Arthur which is located on the Tasman Peninsula.  I took Lesley (The summering chef this season at Davis) with me whom I met late in the season at Casey and there we spent three days visiting the various Tasman Peninsula tourist attractions as well as the convict ruins.

Port Arthur - Convict Ruins.

Port Arthur - Church for families of the non prisoner types.

Port Arthur - Views 

Inside the prisoners church - note the way each cubicle
has been set out so that prisoners could not see who
was next to them and that it was standing room only.

Inside the Commandants house.

Convict hospital.

Preaching to no-one in particular.

We stayed at a B&B (Bed and Breakfast) only a few minutes drive from the convict ruins of Port Arthur.  The residence is known as Norfolk Bay Convict Station and was extremely comfortable with fantastic hosts, Lorella & Linton, and I would highly recommend people to stay there when visiting Tasmania and the Tasman Peninsula.  Take a look at the link - the Garden Room was the one Lesley and I used for our stay, and again, very comfortable and affordable.

Norfolk Bay Convict Station

Relaxing at the B&B.

Views of Norfolk Bay 

Other attractions around the Port Arthur local area consisted of the Tessellated Pavement, Devils Kitchen and a coast walk to Waterfall Bay.

Tessellated Pavement.

Devils Kitchen.

Lesley enjoying the views of the coast walk to Waterfall Bay.

Me enjoying the views.

Coastal features of Tasman Peninsula.

Anyhow that was a three day stay on the Tasman Peninsula.

The following Monday I started work at the AAD and it wasn't long before it became apparent the Aurora Australis was going to be delayed in the ice upon their return to Hobart after conducting research in Antarctic waters.

So not to miss out on an opportunity to show Lesley as many tourist attractions Tasmania has to offer the wintering chef, Rocket, invited us to Coles Bay on the East coast of Tasmania and stay at his place for the weekend.  Whilst there we met Billy, the female FTO for Davis this season and her partner.   A few quiet beers and wines were spent around Rockets outdoor BBQ with an open fire on the Saturday night.

Next day we had a walk to Wineglass Bay which is one of Tasmania's favourite tourist destinations.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the walk takes approximately 3 hours.  I remember when I did the walk with my family in the early 80's I carried my daughter (thankfully she was all of four or five) on my shoulders the entire way.  These days Tasmanian Parks & Wildlife, as well as other organisations, have done a fabulous job of making these walks more accessible to most ages to undertake.

Lesley 'strolling' up the track.

View of Wineglass Bay from the lookout.

Another pic from the lookout.

On the beach at Wineglass Bay.

Lesley on the beach at Wineglass Bay.

One of the critters walkers may meet on the track - Wallaby.

Sadly that weekend had to come to an end and head back to Hobart.  The Aurora Australis had broken through the ice and was steaming back to Hobart on two engines.  Sadly though it was two weeks late due to being stationary in the ice.  This would have a flow on effect through the remainder of the season, but also for us travelling to Davis it meant that the sea ice around station would have begun to melt and not safe to allow foot travel to the closest island to allow trips to the Adelie Penguin colony.   If the ice is to break up and get blown out to sea then this would allow for us to use zodiacs to travel to the island.  We will see.

So if you have read this far into the blog no doubt you are waiting for an update of the voyage down and Davis Station itself.  Here are a few pics of what to expect in the next blog ...... oh but before I post those I did have a birthday in Hobart - number 54.  And have to say it was one of the best birthdays I have had for a long long time.

Thanks Lesley.

And now those pictures ....

Sailing down the Derwent River and heading under the Tasman Bridge
which links the eastern shore of Hobart to the city centre.

We're through (well almost but we did get under - sadly not
like the Lake Illawarra back in 1974) - Hobart City Council
closes the bridge to traffic when ships pass under the bridge
so as not to have a possible repeat of the tragedy in 1974.

We had to sail through open calm seas .... 

and open rough seas ....

to finally get to see these ... 

and these .... 

and finally these ...

Till the next blog .... wont be too far away ....

New Years Eve Party

In my previous post, the Iceberg Cruise, I stated that due to our resupply taking forever to complete, our Christmas ran late.  So late in fact that it almost ran back to back with the New Years Eve (NYE) party.

For some of you, it may not be hard to understand that to back up from a Christmas party followed by a New Years Eve party can be difficult.   One reason why I celebrated the Christmas party, but stayed low(ish) for the NYE party.

Anyhow, I will keep this post short and mainly tell the story by the pictures taken during the night - the theme was Aliens & Cowboys (reckon if my friend Ryan was here he would play the lead role from his favourite movie Brokeback Mountain being a Heath Ledger fan).

Many well thought up costumes and of course, not so many well thought up costumes.  Needless to say it was a successful and enjoyable night.

Here are some of the participants that attended the party.

Iceberg Cruise New Years Eve

Again I have to apologise for the tardiness in applying myself to adding posts to this blog.   Time does seem to go so slowly down here, which makes other activities and tasks to become more laborious or even forgotten.

Anyhow here is the next submission.

Due to the re-supply being conducted over a long period of time it pushed our Christmas Day back later than the official day, which in turn led us to have our Christmas and New Years Eve (NYE) party on consecutive days.

For me NYE consisted of an iceberg cruise.  There had been other cruises leading up to this particular day, however the evening I managed to get out amongst the large slabs of ice was a perfect evening.  Very little wind or swell allowed for fabulous opportunities to take impressive photographs of the many icebergs, which are grounded or just floating past the station on the Antarctic currents.

Zodiac passing between icebergs

Three zodiacs departed the wharf and headed out to where the icebergs were waiting for further 'kodak poisoning'.  Trips such as these you just cannot not take so many pictures because there are so many opportunities to take a beautiful shot of an iceberg

On the boat I was travelling in, one of the guys had a waterproof camera which he had attached to a pole and was filming what was below us.  I don’t have a copy of those images yet, however I do hope to obtain them and will hopefully get around to posting them on this blog.

Such colours!

Large icicles having hanging from an iceberg

Though in saying that, the images I have posted here are quite impressive as I am sure most of you will agree.   The colours are breathtakingly beautiful and it does seem surreal to be travelling between the icebergs seeing all the different patterns in the ice and the many varying colours of blue and white.

Scoured Iceberg 

An iceberg is defined as a large piece of ice from freshwater that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is now floating in open water.  Alternatively it may come to rest on the seabed in shallower water.

Aerial picture of an iceberg

Typically only one ninth of the volume of an iceberg is above water.  The shape of the underwater portion can be difficult to judge by looking at the portion above the surface.   This has led to the expression ‘tip of the iceberg’, for a problem or difficulty that is only a small manifestation of a larger problem.

Patterned iceberg

Honeycombed iceberg 

Halo surrounding the sun with tip of an iceberg in the foreground

Though usually confined by winds and currents to move close to the coast, the largest icebergs recorded have been calved, or broken off, from the Ross Ice Shelf here in Antarctica.  Iceberg B-15, photographed by satellite in 2000, measured 295 by 37 kilometres with a surface area of 11,000 square kilometres!  The mass was estimated around three billion tonnes.

Note the iceberg below the surface of the water

Icicles dripping from off of the iceberg

Always good not to get too close in case is rolls over

The largest iceberg on record was an Antarctic tabular iceberg of over 31,000 square kilometres.  This iceberg was larger than Belgium!

When an iceberg melts, it makes a fizzing sound called ‘Bergie Seltzer’.  This sound is made when compressed air bubbles trapped in the iceberg pop.  The bubbles come from air trapped in snow layers that later become glacial ice.

Overall it was another wonderful experience here at Casey.   It is always good to get away from the station limits and get out on the water, especially when there are views such as these.

Nice reflection in the water

Hope you enjoyed the pics and update - regards