The Last Big Trek, part 2

At Green Gorge I was greeted by Doggo (luckily, wearing clothes), a movie and many, many snacks. Julia joined us on her way back to station after two weeks at Hurd Point bothering large birds (albatross) and Claudia arrived later on her way from station to the southern section of the island to get those rabbits. Claudia and myself had brought in meat in various forms and others had left some on their way through, so dinner that night was a lovely mix of pork chops with various sauces and pineapple pieces - yum!

I spent the evening playing with the 50mm lens and looking for more aurora to match the previous night. Alas, while there was aurora, it was nowhere near as brilliant as the night night before. An enjoyable night was had by all and the morning started at around 6am when Doggo got up to go hunting for the day. This may not seem such a great time when on holiday, but it does make the afternoon nap more engrossing. Tony and Jaimie turned up at various times and stayed that night in the hut, while Stumpy made a pit stop on his way through.

Doggo

Look at all them stars

Next morning I was the last out of bed and last out of the hut, making my way further down island (in wonderfully horrible conditions) to Waterfall Bay Hut.

Penguins hanging around the hut

Secretly, they wanted to steal all the food

The Last Big Trek, part 1

As the time here draws closer and closer to the end, there's the last adventures people are taking and for as long as possible. I walked off station on the 16th, returned on the 23rd and had a fantastic and relaxing time out there. I think I'll be able to have one or two nights out there, but no more long trips for me. As it turns out, we won't be having any recreational trips off station between the end of Easter and whenever the ship arrives (which looks like it might be late)...

Anyway, on to the story, which starts on a crappy day where the wind was out of the Northwest and the cloud was low. I had a few jobs to sort out around station in the morning and didn't leave until after lunch, but luckily was only going over to Bauer Bay Hut - the nearest hut to station on the western side and only a short 2hr walk away. As I wandered along enjoying the blasts of wind, the rain started up and soaked me right through. Good thing the walking kept the heat up. On arrival at the hut, dog handler Melissa greeted me with a hug and snack of popcorn, she then proceeded to kick my arse at cribbage (one of the favourite card games for the year). Dinner was fried tofu, cheese and beans wrapped in tortillas - as you may have guessed, after a year of heavy use, the field huts are either running low on food stocks or the hunters have started to inventive with the selection.

The next morning Mel went to work, looking for those wascally wabbits and I took it easy in the hut. Breakfast was scrambled eggs on toast, however as there's certain foods not allowed in the field and eggs are one of them, I had to make do with powdered eggs and powdered milk (just add water!). If I were to try this again, I wouldn't have added so much water. For the rest of the day I read through most of a book of short stories about murder, all collected by Alfred Hitchcock; wandered around the beach and took photos; played the hut guitar (not that I know what I'm doing with it - there's another guitar at Green Gorge); played my harmonica; worked through an Italian grammar book (which is going fairly poorly) and had a nap in the middle of it all.

Ocean, having a bit of play

Bauer Bay, looking North to Douglas point

Robbie and Lisa (the newest expeditioners) arrived from station later in the afternoon and we started the evening off with more popcorn plus M&M's and lots of talking and a maybe some beers in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. We then ran around at sunset taking photos in the very pretty light and finished the night off with another big aurora. Dinner was a combination of more popcorn some time around 9pm and a steak and kidney pie-in-a-tin at around midnight. What does a pie-in-a-tin look like? Use Google to find Fray Bentos. What does it taste like? Pestilence. No, in all seriousness, they're not that bad, but they're not that good either. They're pretty greasy, the pastry is fairly poor and mushy and they need a bit of dressing up to make them bearable.

A pretty sunset

A skua tried to eat my head while it was in flight.

More sunset

Look at those penguins having a great time in the nice evening weather

Aurora

 

And more aurora. Did you see this?

Next day was pikelets for breakfast, made by Robbie and a nice dawdle over to Green Gorge hut. Robbie was kind enough to lend me a 30yr old 50mm Pentax lens for the rest of the trip, which happened to fit my camera perfectly. And the stay at Green Gorge will be the next post, probably tomorrow or the day after.

Winding Down, Speeding Up

With about 4 1/2 5 1/2 weeks until the ship arrives - is that all??? - we're starting to get into resupply mode. The Met office and the various buildings housing experiments we look after are being cleaned, tidied and made ready for new occupants. We're planning final field trips around the island - I'll be heading out on Friday for a week - and enjoying our time here as much as possible with so little left. I went off station for one night at Brothers Point last Friday and was lucky enough to have the hut to myself. This is a very rare occurrence considering the number of people based in the field.

Some have started to book holidays or, for those coming off contract, employment. I've put in an application to go south again (it's kinda fun down here) and if that falls through, then... I don't know and I don't think that it's all that important. Either way, I'm going to visit a few people around the world and reacquaint with society.

In the mean time, we're keeping a careful watch for aurora and had a fairly good one last night. Hopefully there'll be better ones over the next few weeks.

We couldn't see the aurora this well with the naked eye, the moon was very bright and dulling the effects

It even started to get a bit of red in it. How pretty :)

Circumnavigation

Yesterday we were lucky enough to have suitable weather for an island circumnavigation. Ordinarily the winds and seas are way too high for our little IRBs. Being able to see the west coast was a little bit special as most of it is closed for most of the year - unless someone has the necessary permits to enter these areas for work purposes. I was in the fun boat with Admiral Tim, Lieutenant Claudia and Cabin Boy Trev.

Here's a few photos of the trip, all photos courtesy of Claudia.

Launching out of Green Gorge

Rock stacks at the southern end

Cliffs near Windsor Bay

Fancy a walk?

We're too sexy for these suits

Caroline Cove is obscured by three funny looking people in a boat

Me, Tim and Trev

Tim and Claudia with Bauer Bay in the background

Wheeee!

The crew rounding Handspike, heading north towards station

The little boat floated across the sea, exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't

Somehow, I Survived to 30

The past couple of weeks has been full of fun, silliness and sadness. I spent another day chasing after fur seals and putting tags on them, taking DNA samples and micro-chipping, although this time we were more interested in the juveniles and adults . I was doing a great job at trying to get bitten... Last Monday we said a very sad farewell to Dean. If you check out the last item in the most recent Icy News you can even see me playing the drums (I'm buying a kit when I get back) - and yes, I'm wearing a Fez.

I ran away from station last Wednesday with Belinda in tow. We walked the length of the island over two days, but spent the entire time on the south bound leg in fog with about 40 metres visibility. On the Friday the low cloud cleared for some lovely photographing weather, which I left Belinda to do on her own and a great walk up to Green Gorge with the occasional snow shower. Windy Ridge lived up to its name in rather formidable fashion. At Green Gorge we were joined by Dana, Claudia, Julia and Stumpy and treated to a fantastic scallop soup with plenty of laughter afterwards. Who could ask for more than wine, women and song for a birthday?

On the Saturday (my birthday) I stayed in and around the hut the whole day and at times had the whole place to myself. Dr Eve dropped by while on her way towards Waterfall Bay and Pete K dropped in on his way back to station. Dana had left for another hut that evening and Belinda returned to station. Over the day, Claudia, Stumpy and Julia returned to the hut and Tom and Dan joined us for the evening - more wine, more song and wierd and wonderful discussions on life the universe and everything.

Sunday had the most appalling winds for my walk back to station. After a slow start to the morning with pancake breakfast at around 10am, I waited for a little gap in the weather and started the trek back at around midday. Around 4hrs later after battling 40kt winds with gust around 55kts (and being blown off the track a couple of times) I arrived back to a welcomed shower and relaxing evening. A thoroughly enjoyable birthday.

Stumpy cooking up a storm

Belinda taking in the amazing stories from a magazine recently donated from a tourist ship

Dana waiting patiently for dinner

Mmmm, scallop soup

Julia serenading Thylacine

Everyone made me laugh while doing the nightly radio sked. Note the cordial wine on the table

Thylacine was having a great time out

Belinda got the pampering for my birthday... why doesn't this surprise me?

Keeping Busy

There's many things to do to pass time in a place like this: practical jokes on fellow expeditioners; going into the field and enjoying the scenery; conversing with the wildlife (especially on the beaches); play badminton or pool or some other sort of sporting type of activity.

I've done all these things and more while down here, but a couple of weeks ago I started having a little play in the chippie's workshop and made a chess board. Now, what to do about the pieces....

At 480x480 it's kinda big

Scrambled Brains

A couple of weeks ago I was given the option of staying on after the resupply in April. I took a week to make the decision and in the mean time spoke mostly gibberish, couldn't think coherently and ran away from station for a night to converse with the penguins and ele seals.

In the end I've decided to head home in April and will put in an application for next year to do the job again - hopefully at a different station, I'd like to see the ice.

Sitting at Green Gorge with Claudia and Dean (Jack and Dana are hiding behind the lens), having some beers and general good times.