Parties, Parties, Parties

This week has been a big week for parties (as can be seen in This Week At Macquarie - follow the link somewhere over there on the right ---->). First up we had Louise's 30th on Saturday, where we dressed up as one of our favourite characters... I made a rather ridiculous looking Hagar the Horrible.

Then on Tuesday were the Midwinter celebrations, which I happened to be on duty for so I missed some of the fun of the day. However that meant that I could rest up for the evening to follow. I was able to get the time to do the swim and here's a nice little video of us running around in the cold (if it uploads properly). Unfortunately I missed the haggis tossing and the tug of war.

Photo courtesy of John O. As you can see, I'm in fine shape these days...

The evening followed with a wonderful meal prepared by chef Danny and evening entertainment. A thoroughly great night was had by all and for some that meant watching the sun come up...

A fun day

An early wake-up call - 8am is early when finishing work at around 12:30am only a few hours before - from Ian (Evil - the senior comms tech) and 5 minutes to get dressed, have breakfast, pack some food and the camera and I was off on another adventure. Today we're going to the top of one the mountains to the south of the island to repair the wind generator for the repeater station on said mountain.

Can you guess what kind of vehicle this is?

The ride to the top was fantastic, though there was some wind around that made landing difficult and we had to make a few passes for the pilot to be comfortable with the conditions. Over the next few hours (about 5 or 6) Evil and I would be running from the generator to the supply hut (a small converted water tank) to make sure we didn't get too cold in the hail, sleet and snow that continued to blast us for most of the day.

Looking North towards the station

Looking South to Hurd Point

Once completed we took a short walk to Windy Ridge, where there's a hut, and had some soup and chocolate (not at the same time) to help the body warm up. The conditions were clearing while in the hut and there was enough time for the heli to pick us up - wouldn't have been a problem as there was plenty of food and water at the hut.

A little view of the sun for the ride home

Home again, safe and sound

I think I've said it before, but I'll say it again... The weather here is often appalling, but that only serves to make this place more marvellous.

Aurora

Greetings and salutations.

Macca is supposedly one of the best places in the world for seeing aurora, considering how close the island is to the South Magnetic Pole. Unfortunately, there's a small problem of the sky being constantly covered by white fluffy things making the light show rather difficult to see.

During the week you may have read about a rather large solar flare and it's these kinds of events that cause the necessary disruption to the atmosphere, causing aurora. On Thursday night, after finishing work around midnight - I suppose that makes it Friday morning really, but I digress - the sky became remarkably clear and I was able to see a large aurora. 'Twas a might pretty.

As you can see the aurora was large, but faint. So I had to over expose the photo a fair amount

Also, these photos are a little out of focus....

It was a this huge sheet covering the southern part of the sky

Tonight's post was brought to you by Calvin and Hobbes, where the score is 12 to Q.

Field Training (part 2)

Off on another trudge around the island! The crew for the first day is Jane, Luke, Dean, Ben and myself (photos of various individuals to appear whenever). This time we took the east coast to Brothers Point, which was the reverse of the final stage of part 1, and continued overland to Green Gorge for the evening. Up to this point Green Gorge is the furthest south I've ever been and is approximately half way down the island on the east coast. This route took us past the King penguin colony on Sandy Bay (again) and this time they were extremely inquisitive and interested in these two legged things carrying their house on their back.

These penguins were playing paint ball

"What are you?" - also Dean is in the background doing some work in the old hut

Preening

These guys thought Ben looked rather interesting

Luke and Jane sitting in Green Gorge hut

Day 2 saw Ben, Luke and myself set cross country towards the west coast. Luke being a former Head Ranger here had a fairly good idea where we were going, but it was up to Ben and me to follow the map, compass and GPS to make sure we didn't get lost. There were a few times when, especially in the low cloud, we walked too far north or south, but we found our way in the end. When walking coast to coast on Macca, unless you're on the isthmus, the only way to go is up and over the plateau. All well and good when you can see what you're doing, however 40kts headwinds and low cloud make walking all the more difficult. That made the fun part getting off the plateau by essentially walking down the side of a cliff and the scree slope on the way....

We travelled north on the featherbed to Bauer Bay Links Hotel (take a look at part 1 for photos), where Louise came to meet us and we stayed the night there. Next day Ben and me left Luke and Louise to return to base by walking along the featherbed to the north of Bauer Bay. This area is only open during a short period in winter, so we were taking every opportunity to cover as much of the island as is possible.

Looking south on the west cost towards Bauer Bay (and Eagle Cave). The escarpment is appearing from low cloud (where we had visibility of about 500m) and the area between the escarpment and the sea is the featherbed (not your ordinary grassy plain)

Until next time...

Water Restrictions

We've been on restrictions for about a week now - they started as: no clothes washing and extremely short showers; but since the water lines went through a cycle of freezing, thawing and freezing again, they've changed to doing everything with buckets.

The washing machines are filled using large buckets and toilet cisterns with small ones. Luckily there's still enough water in the pipes for the kitchen, showers and making beer. Yes, the services are more important than the people's needs.

I'm heading out on the second half of field training shortly, so there'll be some new photos posted then. In the mean time, here is a photo of the Antarctic Division's Airbus that's used to fly between Hobart and the continent.

We don't get them sortsa flying things 'round these parts.