Summer Science Programs

As previously mentioned (don't ask me where or when, I don't have much a sense of time any more) there are extra expeditioners sent in to work on various science programs over the summer. Two of the longest running and most extensive programs are the fur seal project and the albatross research program. Everyone is given the opportunity to help the scientists out if they need the help and I was lucky enough to do so recently.

A day or so before New Year's I helped Jaimie and Julia on the east coast near Brothers Point Hut where we were counting how many Light-Mantled Sooty Albatross were in the area. As we climbed the slopes Jaimie said she saw a couple of chicks that had hatched within a few days, sadly I missed seeing these little guys. A lovely night was had in the hut with gnocchi, prosciutto and wine and we had a nice walk back to station conversing with the penguins along the coast. A young King penguin may have been running up to us and chewing on our fingers, but if that did happen, we didn't take any photos.

Jaimie making her way along the slope while a Sooty checks her out

Julia giving directions around the more precarious parts of the slope

A Sooty in a nest - gotta love telephoto lenses

Last week some time, or was it the week before?? Anyway, last week sometime I helped Mark with the fur seals on North Head. This program monitors the Antarctic, Sub-Antarctic and New Zealand fur seals and their offspring as they slowly repopulate various parts of the Island after the fur seals were wiped out by the Sealers all those years ago. It isn't known what species was here before and the anecdotal descriptions by the Sealers hasn't been good enough to identify weather or not the fur seals were one of the listed above, or their own "Macquarie Island" fur seal.

A male, female and pup. I don't remember what kind of fur-seals these are, but there's different chest colouring or snout size or head shape which make it easier for those in the know to know which is which.

We were noting the tags of males, females and pups in the area in order to find out which ones were still around and which had already left for the season. Tim was having a day off and taking a day trip to the south of the station. We were also tagging the pups that had started to moult and let me tell you, these guys are vicious little bastards. Don't let their cuteness fool you, they have sharp little teeth and aren't afraid to use them - it's hilarious! The pups have to be caught and then held down, usually by using your knees against their head so that they have a kind of cave and are subdued by the lack of light. Unfortunately for me one of the pups wasn't as quiet as he should have been and he tried to bite in a rather delicate area... luckily I was quick enough to push him away while feeling only the lightest of touches. I would've been speaking in falsetto for a long time.

Pups playing in the tussock

NYE

I'm a bit late, but here's a quick note about New Year's Eve... Great fun, great food, lots of badminton, table tennis and dancing. The next day was very, very quiet.

Delicious salad all grown in our Hydroponics

Fire to keep us warm

Sparklers!

"How's this game played again?"

2011 MI Brewing Comp

Harking back to the times of yore,

Where the beer was great and did not bore.

The brewmaster invited the local townsfolk

To try their hand, and thus he spoke:

"Rally, my friends, use your head

For brewing this beer in my stead."

And lo, the people answered the call

To brew a special beer for all.

When the MIPEP crew returned at the end of November and all were on station, teams of 2 or 3 (or some individuals) colluded together to make some wonderful and not so wonderful experimental beers. The beers were bottled and ready for taste testing as a start to the New Year’s Eve celebrations.

There were eight beers in total:

P22, a ginger beer with cinnamon, cloves and cardamom added. Made by Tim the seal researcher and named after an unruly male fur seal.

Back Door Tony Spearmint, a black and tan by Back Door the hunter made from stout and draught with spearmint added to it.

Back Door Tony Liquorice, a black and tan by Back Door from stout and draught with liquorice added.

Macca Merry Beer, a lager with a special mix of berries and spice – for the Christmas spirit – made by Claudia, Nancye and Dana.

Tama’s Piss, a lager with citrus flavours added and made by Doggo, named after his dog Tama.

BCB, a stout with blackcurrant juice added made by Stumpy and Captain.

T&E, a stout by Tony and Eve with black jellybeans that give an extra kick.

SSM1, the entry made by our illustrious Comms Techs Dan and Trevor. A larger that also had citrus flavours added… in the form of concentrated cordials and essences that closely resembled one of the cleaning fluids: Sanitizer Super Mix 1.

The judges: Julia the Alby researcher, Col the Electrician, Danny the Chef and Me the Met Tech (brewmaster); were given a blind tasting of each beer and simply gave a score out 10, along with tasting notes for each of the brews. The lucky winners would be given the prize of a cooked breakfast by the judges.

Judges preparing to taste the fine wares (photo by someone else, not me because I'm in it)

In third place, with a score of 28, was BDTS. This beer was said to have a good taste, be very complex, but lacking in aroma.

Second place, on a score of 30, went to P22. The ginger ninja has slipped and skidded his way past the field with his special blend of spices and a great head. One judge went on to say that it was “the best ginger beer I’ve had.”

And in first place, on 32 points, winners of the 2011 Macca Brewing Competition, were the head hunters Stumpy and Captain and their stout BCB. This stout was said to be interesting yet different, bitter and with coffee flavours too.

The two Petes arrived in the mess on Monday for a delicious breakfast, although both had to be reminded by the judges that they'd won and they ate almost an hour apart from each other.

Captain enjoying his winnings (photo by someone else)

Stumpy about have his delicious food served by me (photo by someone else - again)

This story was supposed to appear in today's Icy news, but didn't, so it's here. I'll post something about NYE in a few days. Maybe.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Beer

Gotta take advantage of the good weather when we get it ;)

What a ridiculous few days that was. So very, very busy and tiring. On Saturday we started with the usual celebrations upon the MIPEP crew's return with a BBQ, badminton and table tennis - plus putting up the Christmas decorations.

Christmas day started with a sore head and dry throat, although the pain was much more intense than usual. The small pile of packages outside my door from home were a wonderful surprise, as was the little hand knitted stocking with candy cane and rocky road.

Next up was a brunch with a rather large amount of food. Actually, here's the menu - I can't remember everything we had. As good as the food was, the sleep I had afterwards was amazing. I woke feeling great and ready for the rest of the day's activities.

We had a little parade with Santa and Mrs Claus followed by their misfit elves and a special appearance by Space Jesus. Then came the gluttony of the late lunch and the creation of a few more sore heads that evening.

L-R: The Christmas Pixie, Space Jesus, Mrs Claus, Santa, Enforcement Elf, Sultry Elf, The Alco Gnome.

Boxing Day started very late for most people and involved much rest and relaxation. There was going to be a Boxing Day cricket match between Australia and New Zealand, but rain stopped play.

On the Good Ship, Lollipop

On Tuesday I (and Dan the new comms boss) helped our TASPAWS rangers with their work as guides when the tourist ships turn up. The day started out with us being picked up on zodiacs and taken out to the Orion - a very classy, purpose built tourist ship. They have a sauna, spa, hairdresser, massage therapist, a gift shop that sells rather expensive pearls - even an elevator.

The Orion (or ice berg as it was accidentally referred to over the radio)

This particular voyage was bound for Commonwealth Bay (yes, that's in Antarctica for those playing at home), but they couldn't make land as the ice was very thick to about 450km off shore. Needless to say that the passengers were a little edgy about being able to get off here and stretch their legs, however the large swells made anchoring a problem for the ship. Instead we boarded and were given a room to freshen up in, then there was breakfast. We had a small helping of the buffet - omlette, toast, sausages, etc - but when Matt, the 2IC, had his bowl of fresh fruit and muesli placed on the table our jaws dropped to the floor and his wife was very kind to offer us a bowl of our own.

See the hunger in our eyes? (L-R: Dan, Claudia, Bree, Adrian and me)

Five very happy expeditioners

 The next few hours were taken up by the ship travelling up and down the east coast waiting for the swell to subside. In the mean time we had a little q&a session about our various roles on the island, then a delicious lunch of fresh salad (with mushrooms!), fresh fruit (there may or may not have been a rather large avocado stolen from the fruit bowl) and baklava.

Hurd Point as seen from the ship - there had been a reported sighting of an orca

We did eventually get off the boat at Sandy Bay and let tourists bother the animals - the wildlife didn't care and were actually very curious. Quite an experience seeing peoples first reactions to the wildlife and terrain. There had been a fog for 3 1/2 days previously,, which was already clearing in the morning, but, of course, the cloud cleared perfectly for them to a stunning day. Aren't we supposed to be in the sub-Antarctic?

A happy tourist with a frog - Kermit? Freddo? Don't know.

During the hours we were stuck on the ship there was talk of spending the night there, however as we were able to land at Sandy Bay, we were taken back to station.

Here's some of fun facts about a few of the passengers:

• Hailing from Armidale in NSW we had Bill and Sue Denison. Who? The grandson of Sir Hugh Denison and the namesake of Cape Denison and one of the main patrons of Sir Douglas Mawson's 1912 expedition. They were very interesting people although I only spoke to them briefly.

• There was a very cute 4 year old boy named Hunter who had complete run of the ship and I'm pretty sure is the youngest person to have ever set foot on Macca.

• All the way from Anchorage in Alaska, there was a lovely couple who, many years ago, just happened to attend the exact same university in Oregon as Julia, one of our Albatross researchers. Also, the wife and Julia just happened to have been in the exact same sorority.... and the husband's name is Leon...

Claudia enjoying the wind on the back deck.

Take a looks in today's "This Week at Macca" for a few more photos of the inside.

Plod, plod, plod

I spent last Monday to Friday off station, on another walking adventure. Most days the weather was not so great, a few clear periods (and a little sunburn), but mostly fog and drizzle were the order of the week. There's not as many photos as there could be, but that's because I didn't feel like taking as many pictures this time - and because of the fairly poor weather, there wasn't a huge amount to take photos of. However, here's a few of the good ones:

The royal penguin rookery near Waterfall Bay Hut

I travelled the length of the island again and one of the highlights was on the walk back towards station, when I met up with one of the dog handlers. I had the luxury of taking Flax the labrador back to the hut that we were both staying in that night.

The tourist vessel Akademik Shokalskiy taking a look at Lusitania Bay

Flax, arguably the best dog on the island

Juvenile royals on the beach at Green Gorge

A skua decided to see if my boot would be a satisfying food source. Obviously the blade of grass wasn't cutting it.

A young punk king penguin.

As always, I had a great time with everyone out there in the field and look forward to seeing them in the next couple of weeks for Christmas.

The Friendly Weaner

I went for an early morning wander around station on a lovely, still morning (the afternoon wasn't) and was greeted by the sight of a weaner with its mouth against the balloon shed doors and nuzzling the bolts. One of his mates, who was a few meters away, suddenly took an interest in me and came bounding over. Here's a little video of what happened:

For some reason this little guy was completely obsessed with my boots, it's a wonderful thing having this wildlife around.