Thursday, July 28, 2011

Gunther

Among the new arrivals is this crazy German (or Swedish?) guy named Gunther. He's taken to driving the buggys around at break-neck speeds, taking the tractors for a swim and setting off the fire alarms at ridiculous times.

As he wasn't on the passenger list of the AA, we're not entirely sure how he arrived, but he claims that he turned up on some driftwood...

The shaggy expeditioner
Still bearded...
What's happened to that head?
Gunther
After confusing most people on station - although a few people worked it out fairly quickly - Gunther has been allowed to hang around and will help out until he is sent away.

Monday, July 25, 2011

So long and thanks for all the fish

Sadly we are saying good bye, au revoir, arrivederci, auf wiedersehen to good friends made over the past three months. Three months? Nah, feels like its been at least six. The Aurora Australis has returned to take away those whose time has come to an end here on this amazing island. And so to all of you bait loaders, helicopter pilots, doctors, rangers and mitigators (the people ensuring that the minimum number of non-target species are affected by the baiting project) who are leaving us, have a safe journey and we'll see you again soon enough.

We do, however, welcome new people filling the roles of hunters and dog handlers and I'm sure they'll fit in quickly.

In the mean time over the past few days I've been a printer, plumber, mechanic and boater.

Stopping for lunch and a little run around to warm up.

Virtual hugs for all!

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Snow Time

We had a fairly extensive snow period start on thursday the 7th with the melt only starting 2 days ago. This caused problems with the water and we were restricted to no clothes washing from saturday and no showers from sunday afternoon... I have had a bucket bath (yes, one), but then again everyone else smells just as bad so there's no problem there.

Hoping the water storage tanks are full in the next couple of days so that we can start washing again.

On the hand, this place is very pretty in the snow and here's a few shots to show you what I mean. For those playing at home, if the picture looks a little distorted it's because I've been playing with f-stop settings on my camera.



They'll probably have to clean that before using it.

Tractors don't care too much if there's snow

This Gentoo penguin was right at home in the snow.
Snow Station

Some of the people who have been here multiple times over the past 10 - 15 years were saying that this is the most snow they've ever seen at the station.

Take a look at this week's "This week at Macquarie"... I'll leave it up to all of you to guess what's on the lower half of my body.

Until next time,
Me :)

Friday, July 8, 2011

Walkies

There's a few interesting things that have happened this week and not all of them were here on Macca.

Firstly, I was out on a 4 day walk last week taking in the Huts at Bauer Bay, Green Gorge, Waterfall Bay and Brothers Point. I suppose a map showing where these places are around the island would be useful - maybe when I get off my lazy arse.... The walk was supposed to be a nice break from work, but we were given the arduous job of delivering peizo lighters to each of the huts we visited and counting empty fuel cans for the generators. How appalling! The weather helped along the way and there was even this strange yellow orb floating in the sky, that gave out warmth and cast shadows. All up we walked around 49km and the 4 days were rather pleasant.

Leon and the Bunny Man (Ian) in rare sunshine

Thylacine even came along for the ride and met new people. He seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself.

Thylacine and Bree the TasParks ranger

Thylacine likes the colour of these cans.

Secondly, congratulations to Lisa and Richie on your engagement, it's a shame I couldn't be there.

p.s. If you look at the previously mentioned "This Week at Macquarie" (the link is still over on the right hand side of the page), you'll see a story that I may have had a part in writing.... maybe.