Australia Day Celebrations

Australia Day celebrations took place here on Sunday, this includes a swim which is open for all expeditioners but is really only undertaken by first timers, however a few get caught up in the moment and also take place. 

I should add, water temp -.08, air temp -1, wind chill around -7, on the day 15knot winds and a layer of greasy ice about 20mm in thickness, so perfect conditions for a swim! 

We also had the compulsory game of cricket on the beach 20 overs each team, umpired by the Station Leader who by the way was open to all and any corruption and bribes. A good day had by all which ended with beers on the verandah in the sun and a lamb on spit.

 Our designated life guard clearing a path for the swim, first trying to break it with a bamboo stick but later resorting to a cro bar.

 The swim team ready to hit the water 

 In they go, me included unbelievably cold.

 Bruce with a piece of the greasy ice which was broken to allow us to enter the water, and retreating swimmers, I might add this was approx: 30 seconds into the swim.

 The last remaining swimmers, Dan, Cam and Chris who managed to stay in for 4min 20 seconds, congratulations boys.

 Some of the locals were there to keep an eye on the proceedings, this bloke although hard to imagine, would weigh in at around 1.5 tonnes, these are juvenile Elephant Seals who claim the beach in the summer months.

Josh preparing the game refreshments, endless supply of ice here.

 

the pitch and teams ready to go.

After game drinks on the verandah of the LQ.

Sunset

Our first sunset took place on Saturday morning at 1.00am, (which I didn't see). I have a couple of pics of the ice in front of the Station which is now breaking up and moving out to sea. It has been a record season for ice here in Antarctica, this year has seen the ice season being left open for an extra 4 weeks but the time has come for it to move on. 

We can now look forward to getting the boats in the water to get a closer look at the burgs floating about. All of the pics below were taken from 8.00pm until around 9.45pm.

Fire Training

This week saw us undertake compulsory fire training, this took place in the LQ and SMQ which are connected by a walkway. Simulated rescues of casualties took place with full BA and fire gear. 

Stu is the Fire Chief and organises all the training needed which is once a month at a minimum. On station, the Winteres are the first response for all fire and SAR, no 000 down here. We are provided with all the necessary equipment and knowledge to undertake emergency situations. 

Because of the very low actually no humidity here, fire is a major concern they have lost buildings in the past, so there is a huge focus on fire training. 

 More of the team preparing to go into the "fire"

BA 1, and BA 2 ready to go and look for the casualties, our masks were screened out to simulate a smoke filled room, it was very difficult to see anything

 Some of the unused Oxygen bottles and gear ready for use.

 PJ and Nick discussing the BA control sheet.

Home Brew on Station

An integral part of life here is brewing beer, a priority in my books!, consumption has been up this season for reasons unknown. Total supply capabilities of around 2500 bottles of beer, cider and Ginger beer. Not to brag but, we do seem to have quite a selection of brews including:

Stout, Lager, Draught, Black and Tan, a variety of boutique beers, Banana ale and some which have been created here on station. 

Brewing, washing bottles, bottling all take place in our own time. There is rarely a shortage of volunteers and this takes place usually on a Wednesday night after dinner. This week saw a busy night in the brewery, with bottling of approx: 380 litres, washing of over 200 bottles, and rearranging the shelves. 

All the beer, sugar ect is supplied to us by the Div so you can imagine it is reasonably popular. 

 Some of the stock Ginger Beer and Cider.

 Stu and Tina busy bottling.

The brewery is located under the SMQ (Sleeping Medical Quarters), access is gained through a hatch in the floor which is conveniently located outside my bedroom door.

 More stock, shelves are a bit low at the moment, probably due to the Christmas rush.

 Josh capping, Alyce in the background restocking shelves.

 Some of the washed bottles and crates of bottles to be washed.

 Twin Cam's washing bottles.

Bit of an overview, and yes that's the septic tank, all fully contained of course.

 Josh washing another tub out ready to go again, we brew in different drums up to 240 litres at a time.

Another successful night.

SAR Rock and Patient retrieval

SAR training is an important part of the Wintering team's activities, this training consists of various scenario's including some which I have already covered in previous Blogs. This session was a full search and rescue undertaken in the nearby Vestofold hills, our task was to retrieve an expeditioner who had not returned to the station after undertaking a walk. He left with another expeditioner and decided to stop at point 49 to take some pictures which is located approx 3k's from the station and outside station limits. 

Vehicles used in the SAR, 2 quads, 1 ute and the SAR Hagglund 

Our team leader was Stu, I was part of the first response team. The search took 40 mins from when we were first notified and a further 50 minutes to lower the patient to the bottom of the slope, and 1 hour to drive back to the station medical facility where we unloaded the patient. The patient was Gav, one of the chefs here, he had a compound fracture to his wrist and a various lacerations to his head after falling a short distance but over rocky terrain. 

 Adam and Val, first response quads

This pic is trying to describe the terrain which is generally the composition of the Vestofolds

 Patient was found by Adam, the doc was on the scene to provide first aid.

 The rest of the team are preparing the anchor oints for a rope decent, one mainline and a belay were required.

 Josh looking for anchor points to set the nuts into.

 Belay line was set up ready for use.

 Mainline set and ready for use.

This pic indicates the anchor points used for the mainline

 Final checks before use.

 Patient being attended to by the Doc and Adam.

Craig driving the Hag back to the station, this was undertaken at idle in first gear as all patients are treated as potential spinal injuries.

Christmas 2013

Living in Antarctica away from family and friends can be a trying experience, so the Div certainly do their best to make us all feel like a family and show us a good time. Christmas day is a special time here starts like most other days, we had a brunch at 11 followed by a visit from Santa (bit suss) and Kris Krinkle presents, and of course a couple of home brews to wash down the chips and assorted nuts available. 

This was all followed by an afternoon of darts where a few stories and past history are discussed and of course, solving the many problems associated with the world in general, so no different to back in Australia, oh and plenty of ice and snow around that's a bit different from laying back in the pool throwing a few coldies down, anyway, dinner was a formal affair and the spread was to die for, prawns, oysters, pig on the spit, various meats and salads, pastries (yum) and complimentary wine and port on every table, so this event was shaping up to be pretty big. 

I should also mention that we had the pleasure of entertaining five Russian Geologists who are woking in Vestofolds and I also had the privilege of international relations and had them at our table, now I thought, this is going to interesting, in broken English and hand signals we worked out how to say cheers in Russian, (which was said many times) demonstrated how to peel prawns to ensure you get the maximum amount of prawns in the allotted time, and had a great night. So being away from home was made as enjoyable as possible.

Nina's bar, plenty of time spent here, Nina's got it's name from the last Husky  to be at Davis station. After the dogs were no  longer in Antarctica, some of the expeditioners thought this was unfair, so they "found" a fibreglass dog, very similar to the Blind Society dogs, anyway, the dog is named "Sway" and has travelled around the Antarctic ever since, she is covered in stickers,  from all over the world, has 2 wooden legs and I believe is now on her way to Casey Station omn the Aurora Australis after spending the past 2 years at Mawson Station.

Christmas Tree, located in the Living Quarters.

 Santa and his helpers

Panorama of the Mess before the food was devoured.

 Some of the pastries, and Ginger Bread Houses all made by our on station chefs, mainly Renato, our own French/Italian chef.

More Ginger bread men and sweets