Delayed Christmas Day

Due to possibly the longest re-supply in Australian Antarctic history (17 days), Christmas Day of the 25th of December had to be postponed to another date.  So due to the transfer of fuel and other operational committments, the bar was closed for a couple of days.  I can honestly say I have never had a cup of milo on a Christmas Day until the 25th December 2011!!!

How the bar looked on Christmas Day 2011,

and on Boxing Day for that matter!!

During re-supply all names of those who would be on station for our Christmas Day, the 30th December, were placed into a container and each individual had to select a name and that person would then receive either a made or bought gift.  By doing this, it allowed everyone to receive at least one gift on Christmas Day.

I personally brought down a Pashmina scarf which I had bought in Kabul and was lucky enough to draw one of the women to whom to give my gift - not sure what one of the tradies would have thought if I had given it to him, but anyhow it didn't happen.

Having had played the role of Father Christmas twice at Casey before, and once on Macquaire Island, I had offered my services prior to departing Hobart for Casey if they were required.  So it came about that I again played the role, with two willing helpers as my elves and five trusted reindeers to deliver me to the red shed.

Father Christmas with Reindeers and Elves

Prior to our Christmas Day, one of the first things we did as a group was to take the station Christmas picture to send to family, friends and the other Antarctic continental stations.

A right motley crew - Casey 2011/12

Note the day we held our Christmas Day - 30th December .... was followed the very next day by New Years Eve (another blog) .... so it was evident that the body was going to have to deal with a liquid diet in some form or another.

Once re-supply had been completed and the ship departed, the three chefs were busy preparing the Christmas dinner.

Adam, Gavin, me and Lesley

Obviously catering for more than 70 people three chefs are not enough to complete all the required tasks, so many willing and able volunteers came forward to assist in the preparation.  The kitchen was abuzz with activity - setting up the prawn and fish platter, oysters, ham and turkey and preparation of all vegetables.

Christmas Dinner - 30th December 2011

Prawns on ice

Besides these tasks in the Kitchen, the Wallow was required to have all tables and chairs moved from the mess and set up in the alternative location.   Table clothes, wine glasses and cutlery were added in anticipation of the feast to come.

Dining tables set for Christmas dinner

Tradies and Chef

And of course there had to be a table (our pool table) set up for desserts and Christmas cake.  Chef Gavin put together clouded cakes in the guise of the station buildings that are here at Casey.  A good job achieved for it being realistic to the real thing.

Chef Gavin with 'Casey Station' in front of him

Dessert table - Christmas pudding came out later

But of course none of this happened until the old bloke with a white beard and red suit arrived to pass out the gifts to everyone.  With the help of his Elves everyone received a gift.  Some would sit on Father Christmas's knee, others were a little shy and accepted their gift standing and with a hand shake.

But most opted to sit on his knee for a small chat.  And of course, there were some who weren't given the opportunity to choose between standing or sitting to receive their gifts and had to sit on his knee.

Father Christmas and his Elves arriving at Casey Station - Antarctica

Jolly old fellow greeting the Casey crowd

Wishing all a Merry Christmas before handing out gifts

Father Christmas and Tuppo

Father Christmas and Bec

Father Christmas and some of the Moss girls

Even those in the kitchen working didn't miss out on a gift

Beard adjustment time

Father Christmas and his two Elves

Job done and time to return to the North Pole

And remember, the next day was New Years Eve.  I wonder where I spent New Years Eve and what I may have been doing ????

Till next time .........

Search and Rescue (SAR)

Apologies for the gap between blogs – quite a bit has happened since the last post and this one.  Anyhow here is the third submission.

On the 18^th December we awoke at 0730 to a fire alarm.  The previous night was the changeover of wintering crews, where the outgoing mob were given their Antarctic medallions and where the out going Station Leader presented the incoming Station Leader with the key to the station.   So it was with some difficulty responding to the fire alarm by mustering downstairs in the ‘Wallow’ (large living area).

Front of the Wallow

Rear of the Wallow

The fire alarm ended up being a false alarm.  It had been triggered by a lightning strike on the Green Store (and lightning strikes are extremely rare) and had been witnessed by a few who had been up and about at that time of morning.

Anyhow after returning to bed, an hour later another alarm sounded with a different tone and pitch.  It was the SAR alarm indicating something serious.  When we had all gathered again in the Wallow, the new Station Leader informed us that two of our male colleagues up at the Wilkins runway had been lost in a blizzard.  Apparently they had left the mess and proceeded to conduct work in another van close by.

They had wind conditions of approximately 80knots (close to 150kph) and limited visibility.  Both had been swept off their feet and slid along the ice and were separated from each other becoming lost and confused in the terrible conditions. 

Down at station we were having similar conditions and in fact set a new record for wind gust at Casey with a speed of 202kph.  Visibility was almost zero and no-one was allowed to travel out of the accommodation building alone.  For example, I was required to move up to the radio room to cover the SAR teams departure and I had to have two escorts.  Once I was 'delivered' to the radio room, then there were two together for safety reasons, who returned to the red shed.

Blizzard conditions on station

Back up at Wilkins runway, the remaining 4 staff commenced conducting Search and Rescue procedures ensuring that they too did not become a casualty.  After a number of hours of searching they realised that the situation looked extremely grim. 

On station, we sent up two tracked vehicles called Hagg’s (Hagglund is the brand name of the vehicle).  The two vehicles had professional field officers and equipped to conduct thorough search and rescues.

Tracked vehicle commonly used on the ice, known as a 'Hagg' (Hagglund)

After a number of hours, it was reported one of the men had managed to crawl his way back to the mess and entered suffering severe exposure and frostbite.  The whereabouts of the other expeditioner was still unknown.

Six hours later we still had no word of the remaining lost person.  I personally had given up on finding him alive.  So long in such extreme conditions did not bode well for a happy ending.  As you can imagine the morale was becoming extremely low. 

I had once summered at another station in 2005/06 where one of the expeditioners had committed suicide.  The morale then plummeted and the feeling was very much the same this time with our lost colleague.

Anyhow, after almost 8 hours in the open, and finally deciding to lay low, curled up and attempt to wait out the conditions, the weather began to improve enough for him to make his way back to the mess. 

What a relief for him, his family and also for us.  The two Hagglund’s continued their way to the runway, one of which had the station doctor who was able to provide immediate medical assistance to both men and monitor their conditions.

The following day the weather cleared enough for the Hagg’s to return to station and for both men to be admitted to sickbay for further medical assistance.  (As the weather began to clear the cloud formations and the light were just fabulous with many a good picture taken to capture the moment).

Looking down Main Street - Yellow building on the left in the distance is where the radio room is located

Looking South - Green building is the Tank House (with spa and sauna)

This is taken at the rear of the Operations building - The Blue building here is the Balloon Shed which is used by the Meteorology Team to release their daily balloons to gain valuable data of various winds speeds at various heights. 

Having spoken to one of the men, he stated that he gave up twice thinking he was going to die.  He had VHF radio and a GPS with him but his fingers were so cold that he could not operate any of the equipment.  His radio was blown away at some stage but still the GPS was unable to be used.   His wind proof jacket had blown up and filled with snow, his hands received severe frostbite, and other extremities (ears, nose, neck etc).

But with determination, and also using the skills taught to us during our trainings, he pushed as hard as he could and survived.

The first casualty suffered frostbite but not so badly as the second.  He remains on station with us, in fact is back up at the runway working.  However the second casualty has recently returned to Australia for further medical treatment.  He flew from Casey to McMurdo Station (US Antarctic Station), then onto Christchurch and finally Australia.

Both are very, very lucky to be still alive and we are all relieved that they still are.