Visit by Chinare

Waking up on the 21st of December I had a pleasant surprise in seeing the Xue Long parked outside Davis.  The Xue Long is a Chinese Polar Research Ice Breaker that frequents these waters and resupplies ZhongShan (a Chinese Antarctic Station about 100 Km west of us).

Two weeks earlier the Chinese came for a visit to Davis via helicopter.  One of the guys I met that day was Tijun.  Tijun was the Station's deputy Station Leader and an english speaking e-mail contact that I was liasing with since I had been at Davis.  That particular day, I had some photos taken with my camera but failed to notice that I had no memory card in the camera. 

I was therefore very happy to see Tijun enter the Ops building for a second visit and this time I made sure that I had my camera ready.  Before joining the AAD I was previously warned of occassions where International visitors would visit and exchange gifts, so I had come prepared with some Aussie souvenirs.  I felt Tijun was a worthy recipient of an Akubra hat.  He was overwhelmed and asked whether I would join him for dinner onboard the ship.  I had to tell him that this was at the discretion of Mike our Station Leader who would choose candidates.  As it turned out, I didn't get an invite but luckily for me Nichol one of the Davis Wintering Comms Techs gave his seat up for me to go.

Getting out to the ship was going to be via Helicopter.  Whenever flying over water, it is a requirement to get dressed in a Mustang Suit.  They are definitely not the easiest thing to get dressed in, but I'm sure at about 4 or 5 thousand each they will save your life if you swimming in the -1.8 degree waters waiting to be rescued.

This is the view of the Xue Long that we had flying from Davis.  The water is crystal clear and although not portrayed very well by the camera you could see the bottoms of each piece of ice and iceberg.

 

The ship is enormous compared to the Aurora Australis.  It is 167m long and displaces 21,000 tonnes which is bit more than twice the size of the Aurora  (My size of ship)  but can only break ice up to just over a 1 mtr thick.  The AA can do 1.5m as it has a much stronger hull.

 

Most of the lucky ones who went aboard for dinner.

Glen, Wal and Damo waiting in the lounge before dinner.

 Glen sampling the fine spread.

Wal with an Antarktik - a beer brewed specially for the Chinese expeditioners.

Meeting some of the crew.  Their hospitality was fantastic.

Tijun and myself with the Mascot "Haibao" for the Chinese Expo 2010.

We found the Bar

The Aussies have taken over the bar. 

On the helideck with Dave the pilot of the S76 before our trip back home.  Dave flies for the Chinese and works for Heli Resources the same company that contracts to the AAD.

End of a great night.  Although hard to believe it is 10pm.

Quad Bike Ride to Bandits Hut

On the 15th of December myself and four other expeditioners ventured onto the sea ice on quad bikes up to Bandits Hut.  I had almost wrote the idea off as it was a very last minute decision to be included.  Thanks to Belinda my work colleague who insisted I go and covered my entire shift for the day and Simon who covered Belinda's Slushy duty that day, made it happen.
It was the highlight of my trip so far.  It was also very fortunate as the following day, the sea ice was closed to all travel.

Prepped for the journey with survival gear, lunch and a full tank of gas.

Checking the thickness, quality of the ice and the path onto the ice.

Lincoln, the Penguin Whisperer.  These guys literally ran over to check out Lincoln and the quad bikes.

All throughout the Vestfold Hills, there are Huts, Melons and Apples built/placed to act as an overnight lodge for a getaway or in the rare case - emergency shelters.  This one is an "Apple" and is near Ace Lake on the western edge of the Long Peninsula.  They are well insulated, wired and bolted down to withstand strong Antarctic winds.

This is Bandits Hut which is on an Island nearly 30kms up to the far north of the Davis Station Operation Area.  This is where we stopped for lunch and had a warm brew.  We also brought some fresh water up to the hut. (An important job, and the main reason for the trip to Bandits Hut.......that was our justification).

Inside the hut, it is well equipped with emergency rations, water, stove, sleeping bags and beds to weather a blizzard if need be for a few days.  Also plenty of coffee, tea and milk powder to make a brew when visiting.

Picture of Bri doing the YMCA in front of a beautiful Blue iceberg.  On the return journey we came back through Ice Berg Alley and had a chance to see the icebergs up close.

The first seals I had seen.  These were Weddel Seals and grow up to 3 metres long, and weigh up to 500KG!!  They are clumsy on the ice, but under water they are very capable divers.  They can remain under water for up to 45 minutes and have been recorded reaching depths up 720 m in search of prey.

After initially being cautious as to what we were doing, they soon went back to what they were orginally doing - Sun baking.

Lincoln enjoying a "popsicle" he found.

Dave "Trapped" under the ice.

Drilling to measure the thickness of the ice - 1.5 metres in this case.  (Another important job that we were doing on the ice.)

Surveying the track back off the ice.  During the time we were on the ice, the tide had opened up the route and we were no doubt going to get a little wet getting back to land.  Notice the huge wooly mits over the controls of the quad.  These keep your hands nice and warm in addition to the heated controls that the bike has.  Also the map strapped on the front load to navigate.

Andy makes a splash and tries to stay dry.

Two days after our trip, the ice has broken up.

Four days after the trip and only a tiny bit of ice remains around the shore line.

Survival Training

Most people who either spend the winter or summer at one of the AAD stations will get to do an introduction to survival training.  This consists of an overnight stay spent out in a bivvy bag somewhere on the Antarctic continent and a walk back to the station the following day.  Once you have done the training, this allows you to enjoy the recreational limits of each station without a escort.  This will allow me some freedom to go for a run along Dingle Rd out to Law Cairn when I like. 

The training started after lunch with a short chopper ride to Brookes Hut.  Along the way you got a good view of the Vestfold Hills and some of the terrain that you will be covering to get back to the station.  The Vestfold Hills are among the biggest ice-free areas of the continent.  In this particular shot you can also make out prominent black lines of mafic diorite.  These are some of the oldest rocks on earth, around 3 to 4 billion years old. 

Our red and white taxi.

We were in good hands with Mike our Field Training Officer

The rocky terrain of the Vestfold Hills

Learning how to navigate.  Notice the GPS in hand.....came to good use a few times.  Interestingly for those who know a thing or two about navigation, the magnetic variation around the Vestfold Hills is 79 degrees!!!

This is a map of the area that we walked.  Brookes hut is the place we were dropped off by the helicopter and we walked via Trident and Club lake to Deep Lake.  From Deep Lake we walked the southern edge of Lake Stinear and Lake Dingle and then south off the map about 3.5 km via Dingle Rd to Davis.  Each grid square on the map is 1 km across.

One of the many lakes that you walk past.  Temperature was about 0, very little wind and lightly snowing.  Just warm enough to walk wearing a long sleeve "Icebreaker".

This is a panoramic of Deep Lake, where we camped overnight.  It never freezes because of the high salinity and the temperature of the water can reach -16.

Messing around with more panoramics.

My camping buddies in front of Deep Lake.

Taking in the scenery.  Can't wait to do it again!

Davis Station

Time continues to fly and I am now in my third week at Davis.  I thought it was about time to show a little of Davis and where I work.  Thursday (3/12/09) I was lucky enough to get a helicopter ride over the Vestfold Hills.  The flight believe it or not was actually for work purposes - taking photos of certain geographical points.  I had the job of entering the file number, elevation and aspect of the picture taken and match it to the position on a laptop computer.  The views were amazing and I got a true appreciation of how vast and arid this place is. 

This picture is looking from the south of the station. If you look hard you can make out two CASA 212 aircraft that are just north of the coast on the ice skiway. These guys left for Casey today, and will return later in the summer. When they return they will utilise the skiway called Whoop Whoop about 50km to the east of the station, as the ice will have disappeared.

This is me "hard at work". The flight lasted a bit over a hour and a half. I was actually fairly crook by the end of it (concentrating on the screen is my defence). I seem to get motion sickness with all nautical and aviation related activities lately.

This is the "VLZ Davis" Communications Console. We have a number of HF and VHF radios, and different types of telephone communication networks at hand from this console.  I'm not actually pointing to anything, my finger is on the transmit button and you can just make out the boom style microphone just need my mouth.

 This is the "Ops" building where the comms console is located. The blue skies you see in these pictures is how it has been the last few days. It's not forecasted to stay like this though. Expecting 30 to 40 knots winds, a lot more cloud and possibly some snow over the next couple of days.  The temperature on Thursday actually reached 6 degrees.  Most of the snow/ice has now melted and you can see the melt run off making it very muddy.

The green building on the left is the "LQ" (Living Quarters) and on the right is the "SMQ" (Sleeping Medical Quarters).  The two buildings are connected by an enclosed walkway.  The cream coloured annex on the LQ is the Library.   It has a very good collection of books and a nice quite space to read or perhaps play some chess.  The LQ also has the dining room, kitchen, theatre and the bar area.

My room's window is on the left wall of the SMQ (facing the LQ) 2nd from the top right and has a very nice view of Gardiner and Anchorage Island. 

This picture is actually two pictures stitched together with software that came with my little camera.  I am very happy with how this turned out as I was only holding it by hand.  I am going to borrow a tripod and take some more panoramics.

 

This is my room. Normally reserved for winterering expeditioners, as a Comms Operator I am lucky enough to have one of these. They are much bigger than the rooms in the "SAM" Summer Accommodation Module which accommodates all the sumer expeditioners. Living in these rooms is great because it is a close and easy walk to the LQ and you don't need to take of your shoes (see comments below). They are very comfortable with a king size bed, a phone and internet access for your laptop. The little kiwi stuffed toy and flowers on top of the bed head were left over from the previous occupant.

Most of the buildings have two doors that you go through to enter.  This is for insulation and keeping out the cold air, especially on a windy day.  Prior to entering the building you will take of your jacket and shoes.  This is an area where you are most likely to lose a pair of Sorel boots or a jacket as just about everyone has the same brand/colour gear.  Inside most of the buildings it is a very comfortable 20 degrees.  Most people will just walk around in their socks while others have an indoor pair of shoes that they will swap to.

Walk to Gardiner Island

Ice axe in hand, this was taken about 8:30pm at night standing on the sea ice in front of the Aurora Australis, just before our walk over to Gardiner Island.

This little guy was our tour guide for the walk.  He was very eager to meet us and get his photo taken.  He loved all the attention and ended up calling his mates over as well.

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Yes that is suncream I am wearing.  Temp was around -3 and very little wind....beautiful.

Gardiner Island is home to about 20,000 Adelie Penguins.  Amazingly, they are very sure footed climbing up and down the rocks.  The island was very noisy, and very smelly.  No matter how many times I see them, they always make me laugh when I see them walk or slide on their bellies across the ice.

This iceberg is on the south side of the island and the photo taken around 10:00pm.  As you can see, the sun was just on the horizon and the elevation where it pretty much stays all night.  It just seems to move around the horizont till it gets to the other side and then rises again at about 2:00am!.  Even though the sea ice is about 1.5m thick some of these icebergs stil manage to "drift" around the bay.

Stating the obvious.  Belive it or not, this is a sign the Division use just outside the ship, to remind you that you are working/walking in an icy area.  OH&S at it's best!

The first week on station has truly flown by.   There has been so much happening.  It has mostly involved unloading the ship, including around 800,000 litres of fuel, 200,000 litres of water and plenty of cargo and supplies to last some of the summer before the next resupply.

There are now 6 expeditioners "deployed" to the Amery Ice shelf which is around 300km to the west.  They are a team of 5 scientists and a mechanic using hot water drilling equipment, drilling through the ice to the seabed.  From memory I think the ice is around 800m thick!  They also take ice samples to analyse later.  Every night at 1830 I talk to these guys and they transmit a "sked"  (scheduled sit rep report) to me over HF radio.  This is to make sure they are in good health, let us know if they need anything, give us a weather observation and let us know what they are up to. We also give them a met forecast for the next couple of days.

Next week I will take a few photos of the station and the building I work out of.