Casey

Flying south for the season

The season is now underway! On Wednesday we had an early start and departed Hobart airport at 07:00. The flight to Wilkins Runway, Antartica feels rather short, being only 4.5 hours in the air.

We arrived at Wilkins blue ice runway in perfect conditions. With a quick swap from the plane to the hagglunds (snow-tracked vehicles) we were on our way again, heading down the hill to Casey station.

Things got underway pretty quickly, getting straight down to work and setting up equipment for the season.

This weekend, I’m off station to complete Antarctic “survival training”, which involves camping out in the snow overnight. I’m looking forward to it!

Pre-departure

Off to Hobart

Despite bad weather delaying the start of the season, we’re now underway with pre-departure! On Sunday I left Melbourne and flew into Hobart.

This season is very, very different compared to my other summers down south. Empty planes, hotel quarantine, social distancing. It sure will be a season to remember.

This is currently the first week of a two week quarantine. Assuming the weather and everything else goes to plan, I’ll be looking to fly to Wilkins on Monday week.

20–21 SeasonAntarctica

I’ll be working at Casey, again!

With travel details formalised this week it’s time to (officially) announce I’ll be heading South for my third summer season in Antarctica. I’m proud to have such a unique opportunity to visit a part of the world which so few people get to see – I’ll be working at Casey station! Again!

It’s 2020 so I’ll try to avoid using the overused word “unprecedented” where possible. So much is going on in the world right now, and will make this Antarctic season quite challenging, requiring adaptability and resilience from all expeditioners.

I head off to Hobart in about two weeks. Then, subject to weather, fly to Wilkins about two weeks after that.

The 74th ANARE is sure going to be a very different season.

Voyage 4

Farewell Macca

We’re all packed up and it is time to head home. Farewell Macquarie Island station, I hope you guys have an awesome winter season.
The ship is now heading back to Australia, and should arrive on Wednesday.

Voyage 4

Final day at Macca

Well it’s the final day here. Just need to finish off refuelling the station, do a final passenger retrieval, then we’re away.
It’s been a busy but rewarding resupply week.

Voyage 4

Cargo Ops complete

After a busy week of long days, cargo operations are now complete. Probably the most interesting lift I got to see was the station’s new Polaris vehicle, lifted off the deck by one of the squirrel helicopters.
Thursday was a “no ops” day, our first rest day off since leaving port. It was a good chance to catch up on laundry, email, and playing a boardgame.

Voyage 4

A day at Macca

Yesterday we had really good weather conditions to get passengers ashore, so I took the opportunity to “head into town” for the day. After a few small comms jobs and helping to unload the food into the green store, I made the most of the sunny afternoon to explore within the station limits.
Macquarie Island is like something out of a nature documentary, with seals, penguins, and birds all around the island, even around the research station itself.
Unlike the Antarctic content stations like Casey and Mawson which are surrounded by lots of white ice, Macca is abundant with colour, sounds of animals calling, and earthy smells. Just hold your nose when walking past the elephant seals – that stench takes your breath away!

Voyage 4

Land Ho!

Favourable weather conditions this morning gave us a really great start to resupply, with our ship arriving into Buckles Bay on schedule. If you have a mobile phone in your pocket you’re automatically greeted with a “Welcome to Macca!” text message when you come in range of the station GSM network, which is a nice touch on arrival.

We made the most of the good weather and got the required equipment and expeditioners ashore. I spent the day on the ship, but made the most out of some free time taking a few photos of the island, despite the low-hanging cloud sticking around all day.

If all goes well I might get into station tomorrow.

Voyage 4

Voyage underway

We’ve now been at sea for two days now, and making good progress as we head towards Macquarie Island. It’s a very short transit compared to the Antarctic continent stations – leaving Hobart we get to Macca in under three days. We make the best use of this time conducting briefings, finalising plans, and preparing equipment as resupply will kick off tomorrow.
With a short transit this means there hasn’t been too much downtime. We did play boardgames tonight after dinner which was good fun.
Assuming we’re on time, we should arrive in sight of Macquarie Island around 09:00 tomorrow, and drop anchor at Buckles Bay at 10:00.
Looking forward to a busy and productive resupply.

Voyage 4

Voyage 4 departs

After 30 years as Australia’s Antarctic icebreaker, the Aurora Australis, affectionately known by expeditioners as the “Orange Roughy” departed Hobart 5pm yesterday afternoon for her final resupply voyage south.
We had plenty of farewell waves from the Shipping team on the Macquarie 2 dock as the ship cast off, turned around, and headed down the Derwent river. Regulars from the Division who came down to Kingston Beach to see us off got a few blasts of the ships whistle as we made our way past and headed out to open waters.
Departure day had been quite a long one, with an early start, many briefings on the ship, and getting settled into our rooms for the next few weeks. After all that it was definitely time for an early night.