Not too much has happened in the last couple of days, but it feels like I'm slowly starting to settle into the routine of the station (even if the routine means getting out of bed earlier than I'm accustomed to...) For the science team, the day starts at 8:30 in the office (yellow building next to the little blue MET building). We're somewhat convinced that we're low priority in the biological sciences, given that our building is the second furthest from the SMQ (kitchen, medical and sleeping quarters) and wedged directly between the MET building, which is full of hydrogen and likely to explode without notice, and the dangerous goods store, which is also full of exciting substances that are likely to explode without notice. Loved much?
Right, so at 8:30 we turn up at the office in a variety of modes that range from early-morning-zombie, to bright eyed and bushy tailed, and then again to struggling caffeine addict. Once a week we have a lab meeting where we report on our progress with our projects- most people are able to give a decent run down on areas that they've moved forwards in, while so far I've tended to um... look up articles. And read articles. And wait for the sea-ice to break out. I've been lucky enough to help out with a couple of the other projects going on- on the 3rd a group of us took a Hagg out and tried to collect some amphipods. The traps had been laid the day before and baited with delicious looking sausages from the kitchen. We hauled up the 4 traps that had been set through holes in the ice and got.... a big fat nothing. This was a surprise, as the drilling the previous day had pulled huge numbers of the critters up onto the ice, which was why traps had been popped in that location in the first place. We then tried the plankton umbrella net, which was deployed 4 times, and brought up a total of.... 3 amphipods. Right. What could be wrong?
We thought, and then we considered, and then we ruminated and then the light bulb may have come on. During the winter, these guys probably live pretty close to the ice-water interface. That'd explain why they came up during drilling, but weren't really trapped in the water column.
Ok.... and what are they doing at the interface?
Feeding!
But what are they eating?
Um.... algae?
So- not meat?
No, probably not.
So... sausages possibly not that appealing?
Perhaps....
Needless to say, the traps have now been redeployed with a selection of goodies selected to appeal to the vegetarian invertebrates amongst them, hopefully with better results.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
It's a bit nippy down here
Today is the first day since we arrived that we've not had clear blue skies and sunshine. Despite the fact that the temperature is usually around -5C, today it feels it, simply because it's overcast, there's a *breeze*, and it's snowing lightly- it's miserable outside! This makes me glad that our survival training is over, and that unlike 6 of the winterers, we got to sleep in warm beds last night, and hang out in a nice warm laboratory during the day.
Yesterday (1/12/2010) a plane landed on the sea-ice runway out the front of Davis, bearing German scientists that are flying across Antarctica using a laser attached to the plane to measure ice extent and thickness- similar to what some of the scientists were doing on the Aurora using helicopters, to look at the sea ice. Apparently the group have been flying for 9 days straight, so the deterioration of the weather is a somewhat welcome reprieve. The plane is the Polar 5, an AWI Basler, which apparently is a turbo charged version of the decommissioned Douglas DC-3s. It was pretty spectacular seeing it coming in over the ice, and landing on its skis- and also impressive how quickly it slowed down and stopped after dropping the angle of its body so its tail was lowered.
Cameras pointed at the sea ice aren't the only interesting things to be found on Kazak. There's an Adelie penguin breeding colony, and we spotted some Cape petrels and Storm petrels hanging around, as well as the ubiquitous Skuas, hoping for an easy feed. Based on the number of empty eggshells and mummified carcasses around the place, the Skuas don't have too much of a hard time maintaining their diet of penguin chicks and eggs. 
The Sørsdal Glacier is 28km long and heavily crevassed- and is named after a Norwegian dentist! On the way over we passed the blue Hagg heading back from a jolly, and 4 other quad riders who had gone over for a look-see. Driving up to the wall of ice was absolutely awe inspiring, as it towered above us. We parked the quads again and took a couple of photos, while Neo and I shared a cup of tea from his thermos.
Yesterday (1/12/2010) a plane landed on the sea-ice runway out the front of Davis, bearing German scientists that are flying across Antarctica using a laser attached to the plane to measure ice extent and thickness- similar to what some of the scientists were doing on the Aurora using helicopters, to look at the sea ice. Apparently the group have been flying for 9 days straight, so the deterioration of the weather is a somewhat welcome reprieve. The plane is the Polar 5, an AWI Basler, which apparently is a turbo charged version of the decommissioned Douglas DC-3s. It was pretty spectacular seeing it coming in over the ice, and landing on its skis- and also impressive how quickly it slowed down and stopped after dropping the angle of its body so its tail was lowered. 
On the 30/11/2010 I was lucky enough to tail along with some electrical engineers to go and visit Kazak Island in the evening. We jumped on quads and ducked down so that they could check on the cameras that are set up on one of the peaks of the island- the cameras are checked every 3 months, and the images taken downloaded, which takes about an hour. They're used for monitoring the ice in that area- the extent and duration, and also the tidal movements. The boys told me that if you flicked through the photos you could sea the ice moving up and down significantly with the tides.
Cameras pointed at the sea ice aren't the only interesting things to be found on Kazak. There's an Adelie penguin breeding colony, and we spotted some Cape petrels and Storm petrels hanging around, as well as the ubiquitous Skuas, hoping for an easy feed. Based on the number of empty eggshells and mummified carcasses around the place, the Skuas don't have too much of a hard time maintaining their diet of penguin chicks and eggs. 
To the bottom of the map (thanks Jeff!), a great wall of ice can be seen, which is the Sørsdal Glacier. Once we'd downloaded all the data (which took about an hour), we jumped back on the quads and took off towards the glacier.
The Sørsdal Glacier is 28km long and heavily crevassed- and is named after a Norwegian dentist! On the way over we passed the blue Hagg heading back from a jolly, and 4 other quad riders who had gone over for a look-see. Driving up to the wall of ice was absolutely awe inspiring, as it towered above us. We parked the quads again and took a couple of photos, while Neo and I shared a cup of tea from his thermos.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Gosh I've been slack
Though I'd like to use the excuse that I've been busy settling into station life....
So on the 17th Nov we started moving expeditioners off the Aurora in groups of around 10. The Marine Science team that I'm a part of lost our leader early on in the picture, as he was loaded into a Hag(glund) and taken into station in the morning. I spent a good part of the day jumping around excited that we'd finally made it, and probably equally excited that there was a bar full of homebrew about 3km from the ship. As announcements were made over the course of the day, the ship started to feel like a ghost town, with just 8 of us left that were meant to be sleeping on shore, plus a few of the tradies that were staying on the ship during resupply drifting in and out, but even they had already spent a significant amount of time walking around on the ice, looking out over long distances that they could walk to, rather than cooped up in the mess or on the trawl treck. At around 4, the word was passed around that rather than getting to Davis tonight, the rest of us would be sleeping on the ship again. My stomach dropped through the floor- we were told that we'd be able to head in to the bar for a couple of hours after dinner, but that wasn't what I was waiting for. Personal space and land underfoot had been wafter under our noses all day and then.... to say we were disappointed is possibly an understatement, but I think we took it rather stoically, at least externally (ok, I may have put my head in my hands on the table once the Voyage Leader departed)
... so we sat, and we did crosswords, and we looked out the window at the others who were playing in the ice while curious Adelie penguins wandered over to check out what was going on. It sucked. We wanted to meet new people, and at least 2 of our team wanted to get to station to see their significant others, who they hadn't seen in 10 months. Then, out of the blue, the VL approached us again at 4:45pm, and said that the station leader had given permission for us to walk in after dinner, and to stay the night! I managed to force myself to eat in the little time that I could stand to sit still again, then we climbed down off the ship that had been our home for 4 weeks and stepped out onto the fast ice. After a 3km hike to station along the road that had been cleared in the ice, we had our induction tour, then settled into Nina's to meet the 2010 winterers, and start to settle into our new home.
The following day, the Marine Science Team started to set up the Aquarium, or the Salmon Farm as it's affectionately known. A group of us traipsed down past the Green Store, the SPAZ, alongside the yellow biological sciences building then past the blue MET building (where the trusty Observers throw out a hydrogen filled weather balloon twice at day) and down the hill to the little white building that's out of sight and earshot of the rest of the station. After cleaning it out in the morning, it was our job to start and connect the components together in the afternoon, while some other team members ducked off to go through a container of old science supplies to see what they could scavenge. While we were in the aquarium, happily moving equipment around and connecting piping, one of the tradies came past and popped in to check how we were doing. As he left, he shut the door fully, with an ominous click. I asked if that meant that we were now locked in, but was reassured that there was nothing to worry about. 10 minutes later, we finshed our work for the day, and put our gloves and jackets on to get going, and I reached for the door- which wouldn't open. The outside of the door has a handle that you pull on a lever, but the inside of the door has only a rod with a green cap on it, which is supposed to slide through the door and adjust the handle on the outside- unfortunately, after -30C temperatures over winter, the mechanism had stuck. The bell on the door, which is pretty much an old fashioned bicycle bell, had also rusted. Fortunately, there is a phone in the aquarium, so we called the science building, where we were laughed at and told that we weren't really locked in- so while we were on loudspeaker getting instructions on how to open a door (that's right, postgrad students being talked through how to open a door), I again pushed the rod into the door as far as it would go (halfway) and then following instructions, REALLY put my shoulder into it. This was followed by a lot of yelping and expletives, and the idea that perhaps someone really should be sent down to let us out... which happened much to our relief (and our rescuers' amusement) some 5 minutes later.
On the 19th, Lara, Ash and I were sent out for Survival Training with the FTOs (field training officers), Rachael, and some of the guys that are meant to be heading to Mawson as soon as the weather is good enough for flying. At 11am we met up at the Field Store and got our things together, including our bivvies for sleeping outside, our dehydrated rations, and our pee bottles (everything we take in, we carry out again). We checked out of the station after lunch, and started the 11km walk over to Brookes Hut via Deep Lake- a lake which is 52m below sea level, and 6x more saline than sea water. The terrain was glacial moraine through the Vestfold Hills, with snow and icenamongst scattered rocks and boulders, and at times thigh deep drifts that we waded through. Unfortunately, because of quarantine I'd been reluctant to break my hiking boots in at home, so I ended up with a decent sized blister on my left heel, which after 90 minutes stopped being a blister when it burst. We stopped and strapped it up, then continued on. I learnt two lessons during the first day of survival training.
1) How much I appreciate marked trails, and
2) If you have flu, going hiking in Antarctica is f*#king miserable
I was miserable for the entire 6 hours hike, and I'm afraid it showed. I was lagging behind, my nose was running almost constantly, and then to top it all off I had a blood nose for an hour. Hooray! By the time we reached Brookes Hut I was almost in tears, extremely cold, and entirely emotionally drained. I had no confidence that I'd be able to walk out again, based on the pain in my heel, and my overall physical and mental state, and that was pretty clear to the FTOs.
Brookes Hut faces out over Shirokaya Bay, which was frozen over. Inside there are 4 bunks and a kitchen, where we set up our shellite fueled rocket stoves and cooked our dinners by boiling water and adding them to our vacuum packed meals. After dinner and a few cups of tea, we were booted outside into the snow by the FTOs, where we crawled into our bivvies for the night. The bivvie was actually quite warm- the only surprise discomfort was that your breath condenses on the inside, which hangs centimetres above your head, and then freezes. This means that if a slight (or not so slight) breeze lifts the roof of the bivvy (which is really just a red body bag with a sleeping mat in it) thenyou get a shower of icicles in your face while you sleep... a multitude of times. The next morning the majority of our party got up, had breakfast, and started the hike back to station. I, on the other hand, stayed at Brookes with one of the FTOs and one of the Mawson boys, who also had trashed his feet. We cleaned up the hut and waited for a Squirrel to come pick us up and take us back to Davis, which arrived just after 11am. I didn't take any photos of or from the chopper, as I was too busy being embarassed and guilty that we even needed to be airlifted out. The hike that had taken around 6 hours the previous day was covered by the Squirrel in less than 5 minutes! Argh! By the end of the day, I'd decided that I wasn't hiking anywhere again, but would sweet talk the pilots into lifts around the place. After a couple more days of recovery, I've changed my mind again, with the next place to visit on my list being Platcha, which apparently has a wall of ice behind it with different shades and ripples of colour running through it.
So on the 17th Nov we started moving expeditioners off the Aurora in groups of around 10. The Marine Science team that I'm a part of lost our leader early on in the picture, as he was loaded into a Hag(glund) and taken into station in the morning. I spent a good part of the day jumping around excited that we'd finally made it, and probably equally excited that there was a bar full of homebrew about 3km from the ship. As announcements were made over the course of the day, the ship started to feel like a ghost town, with just 8 of us left that were meant to be sleeping on shore, plus a few of the tradies that were staying on the ship during resupply drifting in and out, but even they had already spent a significant amount of time walking around on the ice, looking out over long distances that they could walk to, rather than cooped up in the mess or on the trawl treck. At around 4, the word was passed around that rather than getting to Davis tonight, the rest of us would be sleeping on the ship again. My stomach dropped through the floor- we were told that we'd be able to head in to the bar for a couple of hours after dinner, but that wasn't what I was waiting for. Personal space and land underfoot had been wafter under our noses all day and then.... to say we were disappointed is possibly an understatement, but I think we took it rather stoically, at least externally (ok, I may have put my head in my hands on the table once the Voyage Leader departed)
... so we sat, and we did crosswords, and we looked out the window at the others who were playing in the ice while curious Adelie penguins wandered over to check out what was going on. It sucked. We wanted to meet new people, and at least 2 of our team wanted to get to station to see their significant others, who they hadn't seen in 10 months. Then, out of the blue, the VL approached us again at 4:45pm, and said that the station leader had given permission for us to walk in after dinner, and to stay the night! I managed to force myself to eat in the little time that I could stand to sit still again, then we climbed down off the ship that had been our home for 4 weeks and stepped out onto the fast ice. After a 3km hike to station along the road that had been cleared in the ice, we had our induction tour, then settled into Nina's to meet the 2010 winterers, and start to settle into our new home.
The following day, the Marine Science Team started to set up the Aquarium, or the Salmon Farm as it's affectionately known. A group of us traipsed down past the Green Store, the SPAZ, alongside the yellow biological sciences building then past the blue MET building (where the trusty Observers throw out a hydrogen filled weather balloon twice at day) and down the hill to the little white building that's out of sight and earshot of the rest of the station. After cleaning it out in the morning, it was our job to start and connect the components together in the afternoon, while some other team members ducked off to go through a container of old science supplies to see what they could scavenge. While we were in the aquarium, happily moving equipment around and connecting piping, one of the tradies came past and popped in to check how we were doing. As he left, he shut the door fully, with an ominous click. I asked if that meant that we were now locked in, but was reassured that there was nothing to worry about. 10 minutes later, we finshed our work for the day, and put our gloves and jackets on to get going, and I reached for the door- which wouldn't open. The outside of the door has a handle that you pull on a lever, but the inside of the door has only a rod with a green cap on it, which is supposed to slide through the door and adjust the handle on the outside- unfortunately, after -30C temperatures over winter, the mechanism had stuck. The bell on the door, which is pretty much an old fashioned bicycle bell, had also rusted. Fortunately, there is a phone in the aquarium, so we called the science building, where we were laughed at and told that we weren't really locked in- so while we were on loudspeaker getting instructions on how to open a door (that's right, postgrad students being talked through how to open a door), I again pushed the rod into the door as far as it would go (halfway) and then following instructions, REALLY put my shoulder into it. This was followed by a lot of yelping and expletives, and the idea that perhaps someone really should be sent down to let us out... which happened much to our relief (and our rescuers' amusement) some 5 minutes later.
On the 19th, Lara, Ash and I were sent out for Survival Training with the FTOs (field training officers), Rachael, and some of the guys that are meant to be heading to Mawson as soon as the weather is good enough for flying. At 11am we met up at the Field Store and got our things together, including our bivvies for sleeping outside, our dehydrated rations, and our pee bottles (everything we take in, we carry out again). We checked out of the station after lunch, and started the 11km walk over to Brookes Hut via Deep Lake- a lake which is 52m below sea level, and 6x more saline than sea water. The terrain was glacial moraine through the Vestfold Hills, with snow and icenamongst scattered rocks and boulders, and at times thigh deep drifts that we waded through. Unfortunately, because of quarantine I'd been reluctant to break my hiking boots in at home, so I ended up with a decent sized blister on my left heel, which after 90 minutes stopped being a blister when it burst. We stopped and strapped it up, then continued on. I learnt two lessons during the first day of survival training.
1) How much I appreciate marked trails, and
2) If you have flu, going hiking in Antarctica is f*#king miserable
Brookes Hut faces out over Shirokaya Bay, which was frozen over. Inside there are 4 bunks and a kitchen, where we set up our shellite fueled rocket stoves and cooked our dinners by boiling water and adding them to our vacuum packed meals. After dinner and a few cups of tea, we were booted outside into the snow by the FTOs, where we crawled into our bivvies for the night. The bivvie was actually quite warm- the only surprise discomfort was that your breath condenses on the inside, which hangs centimetres above your head, and then freezes. This means that if a slight (or not so slight) breeze lifts the roof of the bivvy (which is really just a red body bag with a sleeping mat in it) thenyou get a shower of icicles in your face while you sleep... a multitude of times. The next morning the majority of our party got up, had breakfast, and started the hike back to station. I, on the other hand, stayed at Brookes with one of the FTOs and one of the Mawson boys, who also had trashed his feet. We cleaned up the hut and waited for a Squirrel to come pick us up and take us back to Davis, which arrived just after 11am. I didn't take any photos of or from the chopper, as I was too busy being embarassed and guilty that we even needed to be airlifted out. The hike that had taken around 6 hours the previous day was covered by the Squirrel in less than 5 minutes! Argh! By the end of the day, I'd decided that I wasn't hiking anywhere again, but would sweet talk the pilots into lifts around the place. After a couple more days of recovery, I've changed my mind again, with the next place to visit on my list being Platcha, which apparently has a wall of ice behind it with different shades and ripples of colour running through it.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Eloquent prose, huh?
We made it! We're finally here! After a somewhat extended voyage on the good ship Aurora Australis, which left Hobart on the 21st of October, we made it to the fast ice around Davis by the 15th of November, then proceeded to punch through it in a matter of hours until we pulled up at the road that had been created by the current winterers.
Before outlining the events of the last few days, I'll instead recap some of the things that occurred during the nearly 4 week voyage through the Southern Ocean.
First, we set off from Hobart fare-welled by those nearest and dearest to most of us, while others said goodbye to uni friends and (eep) supervisors. We eventually go on the ship, and started to meet our cabin mates (most rooms had 3 people sharing) and to unpack into the limited space alloted. The L'Astrolabe pulled away from the wharf first, to much cheering and waving, and then after perhaps 20 minutes the crew finally cast off the lines, and the AA was able to start following the lead of the much smaller boat into the Southern Ocean, through what appeared to be a flock of white sailed yachts. Dinner was at 5:30, which seemed quite early, but was much appreciated and then followed by the consumption of 2 seasickness tablets (on Snake's advice) followed by bed. Since the 21st, I've become somewhat convinced that Snake may have given that advice for his own amusement, or because he wanted to be left to his own devices for the first week. The reason for this is that one tablet is enough to knock most people out, while 2 resulted in a ship full of zombies- some of which returned to conscious humanity after 24-48 hours, while others were out of action for over a week.
**extracts**
Before outlining the events of the last few days, I'll instead recap some of the things that occurred during the nearly 4 week voyage through the Southern Ocean.
First, we set off from Hobart fare-welled by those nearest and dearest to most of us, while others said goodbye to uni friends and (eep) supervisors. We eventually go on the ship, and started to meet our cabin mates (most rooms had 3 people sharing) and to unpack into the limited space alloted. The L'Astrolabe pulled away from the wharf first, to much cheering and waving, and then after perhaps 20 minutes the crew finally cast off the lines, and the AA was able to start following the lead of the much smaller boat into the Southern Ocean, through what appeared to be a flock of white sailed yachts. Dinner was at 5:30, which seemed quite early, but was much appreciated and then followed by the consumption of 2 seasickness tablets (on Snake's advice) followed by bed. Since the 21st, I've become somewhat convinced that Snake may have given that advice for his own amusement, or because he wanted to be left to his own devices for the first week. The reason for this is that one tablet is enough to knock most people out, while 2 resulted in a ship full of zombies- some of which returned to conscious humanity after 24-48 hours, while others were out of action for over a week.
**extracts**
22/10/2010
Getting over the seasickness- made it up for lunch today which is an improvement, but I didn't need to know that they offer desserts at lunchtime as well! I had salad and some potato gems this time. Haven't made it to the gym yet- right now a cup of tea and a tim tam is sounding much more appealing! Maybe tomorrow... Lara is spending a lot of time asleep, so I haven't wanted to hassle her into coming with me. This morning before lunch Jess and I were sitting on the helideck when a pod of 5 Hectors dolphins came and swam alongside the Aurora, which was pretty special. They were much smaller than bottlenose dolphins, and had varying shades of grey as markings on them. There was also a wandering (maybe) albatross hanging around the port side of the ship for a while, before the dolphins were spotted.
The Continuous Plankton Recorder was deployed yesterday. It's run on every voyage, and provides a record of the plankton biodiversity over time for the different areas we pass through- some lucky scientist will get to sit in a lab and pull 1000s of tiny zooplankton off kilometres of tape over the next year! (Glad it's not me). The Marine Science that's happening while on the ship is likely to be plankton tows when we get further south, and there're also people testing out Remotely Operated Vehicles, which are submersible robot things that they can direct to go under the ice and then use sonic to determine how thick the ice is.
26/10/2010
The weather is starting to get much colder- water temp is 6 degrees, and the air temp is a balmy 3-4 degrees celsius. Even better, we've just passed through a thick sea fog which was amazing, and earlier this morning there was sleet (which some people were lucky enough to be out on the foredeck to experience). It's pretty impressive and a little surprising how quickly the temperature has changed as we've moved south, but it's good in a way. The old fashioned manner that we're traveling certainly gives you much more of a chance to appreciate the distance traversed, and the accompanying change in conditions than does air travel, which gives a rather artificial feel of not having moved very far at all, if that makes sense.
30/10/2010
So, the communications department at the AAD not treating us so well at the moment- the Australian media got hold of the aircraft flyover of the crash site before we were given any information this morning. From what I understand the photos indicate that there are no survivors, however this still needs to be confirmed on site at ground level. We're still operating in support of the Astrolabe at this time in what is currently a search and rescue operation, and once things are confirmed at the site, it will become a recovery operation, which as I understand we will also be assisting. After that, it will be up to the Astrolabe and French scientific program if they would like us to hang around, if we are able to provide any further logistical support.
Had a meeting with the lab manager yesterday and was shown where I'll be working at Davis- where my desk will be, and which lab I'll be in, and who I'll be sharing with- it seems a pretty nice set up, and I even get priority use of a controlled temperature room! Yay! I R important!
13/11/2010
Last night I allowed Rio to cut my hair- he'd had a 3 hour TAFE training course, so I think I almost doubled his haircutting time... It's short at the back and getting a little longer at the front in a bob cut, and I now have a fringe. I left a couple of long sections on each side to frame my face a little. I feel like I look like a doll, but some people have been complementing it (though there were more comments of "You're brave, letting Rio touch your hair!"). Yesterday Lara, Jess and I finally all got into the sauna and spent a good half hour hanging out in there relaxing. It was so good to be warm for a little while! The instructions say to cool off slowly after the sauna, as if that's possible down here! I would if I could...
Before..
After...
Have seen a bunch of crabeater seals floating past today and some massive icebergs, after hanging around on the helideck after our 3rd muster this voyage. We're in pretty thick ice and having some trouble getting through at times, so the Squirrels were sent out last night to do some recon, and found the Russian icebreaker and cargo ship a bit further south, which is pretty cool. Sounded like they were in a similar situation to us though. Apparently there was a whale yesterday, but the bridge was closed to expeditioners all day, so only the lucky crew and meteorological guys on shift got to see it (not Brian though, he had his head down and was too busy with work).
15/11/2010
Davis is finally in sight, which is a huge relief, after spending so long cooped up on the ship. We can finally see some of the ice free areas of the continent, with the Vestfold Hills rising in dark waves on the horizon, behind a screen of huge icebergs. About 12 people are already off the ship, as the choppers took them to station this afternoon/evening, and the rest of us that are allowed to get off at the start of resupply expect to get onto station tomorrow sometime. Tonight is the last night on the ship! Yay! Some people have to stay on board to help man the fuel/water/etc resupply stuff, so we won't see them until the end of the week, when we have handover with a couple of drinks in the dieso shed. After a month of an essentially dry ship, I think everyone is hanging to let their hair down a little and just relax with a beer or two after doing the long resupply work (24 hours days with everyone on 4 hour shifts to get it done). I'm in the Temporary Accommodation (TAD) rather than the summer area.
So excited! I can't wait to get off the ship and meet the winterers- it's a little like Christmas Eve, and I'm not sure how many people will manage to sleep well tonight, despite knowing the work load for the next few days.
Monday, September 27, 2010
First lot of stabby results in...
And the Mantoux test came back negative- I've never been exposed to tuberculosis! Yay! I'm not sure how much of a TB hotspot Madagascar is, but I was pretty concerned for a bit about the possibility of exposure through the Australian fur seal work. My secret? Don't give them mouth-to-mouth. It's not just the TB risk, they have HORRIBLE breath.
Look at that attractive face. Nom nom nom.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
t= -27 days
Amongst all this getting ready to get on the boat, I’m a little bit sad that I’ll be missing summer. I love summer smells and textures and food and clothing. We’re going to miss the summer music festivals. We’re going to be away from our families for Christmas and New Years. Hopefully it’ll be such an amazing time that we’ll feel like a new type of extended family, celebrating community and sharing at the ends of the earth.
Friday, September 24, 2010
t= -28 days
I've just had a quick look over the Expeditioner's handbook, and found the most important part which is the section that describes alcohol rations (we have to keep warm somehow... in addition to hundreds of layers of micro fleece)! For people heading down for around 4 months, it's allowable to bring 14 cartons of beer/cider or the equivalent. I'm staying somewhere between 4-6 months, but after writing down my preferences (shopping list)- it works out as quite a generous portion of alcohol per week, so 14 cartons it most likely is!
1 carton of beer/cider= 3.5 x 750ml bottles of wine = 1.5 x 700ml spirits
My list:
700ml Amaretto liqueur + 700ml Baileys + 700ml Frangelico = 2 cartons
500ml Chambord + 500ml Creme de Cacao + 500ml Creme de Menthe = 2 cartons
2 x 700ml Bombay Sapphire + 700ml Absolut Vanille = 2 cartons
3 x 700ml vodka = 2 cartons
2 x 568ml Magners cider 12 packs= 2 cartons
1/2 doz 750ml red wine + 1/2 doz 750ml white wine= 4 cartons
Total- 14 cartons (or slightly under).
Candy Store recipe
2 ozChambord® raspberry liqueur
2 ozamaretto almond liqueur
1 ozcreme de noyaux
1 scoopice cream
Add all ingredients to a blender with half a cup of crushed ice. Blend until smooth, and pour into a highball glass.
Chocolate Raspberry Delight
1 1/2 ozBailey's® Irish cream
1 1/2 ozChambord® raspberry liqueur
Serve on ice or blend for a milk shake effect.
Purple Dream recipe
1 ozChambord® raspberry liqueur
1 ozwhite creme de cacao
1 ozcream
Pour ingredients into a stainless steel shaker
over ice,shake until completely cold then strain into a chilled stemmed glass or a Rocks glass filled with ice.
Raspberry Trouffle recipe
1 ozChambord® raspberry liqueur
1/2 ozamaretto almond liqueur
cream
Pour in chambord into an ice-filled glass. Add amaretto, and balance with cream. Shake and serve with a straw and a cherry garnish. Good with desserts.
Wet Lips recipe
1 ozChambord® raspberry liqueur
2 ozIrish cream
6 ozmilk
Pour the chambord, irish cream, and milk or cream into a shaker with ice. Shake, strain and pour into a champagne saucer.
Flying Grasshopper recipe
1 part Creme de Menthe
1 part Creme de Cacao
1 part Vodka
1 carton of beer/cider= 3.5 x 750ml bottles of wine = 1.5 x 700ml spirits
My list:
700ml Amaretto liqueur + 700ml Baileys + 700ml Frangelico = 2 cartons
500ml Chambord + 500ml Creme de Cacao + 500ml Creme de Menthe = 2 cartons
2 x 700ml Bombay Sapphire + 700ml Absolut Vanille = 2 cartons
3 x 700ml vodka = 2 cartons
2 x 568ml Magners cider 12 packs= 2 cartons
1/2 doz 750ml red wine + 1/2 doz 750ml white wine= 4 cartons
Total- 14 cartons (or slightly under).
Candy Store recipe
2 ozChambord® raspberry liqueur
2 ozamaretto almond liqueur
1 ozcreme de noyaux
1 scoopice cream
Add all ingredients to a blender with half a cup of crushed ice. Blend until smooth, and pour into a highball glass.
Chocolate Raspberry Delight
1 1/2 ozBailey's® Irish cream
1 1/2 ozChambord® raspberry liqueur
Serve on ice or blend for a milk shake effect.
Purple Dream recipe
1 ozChambord® raspberry liqueur
1 ozwhite creme de cacao
1 ozcream
Pour ingredients into a stainless steel shaker
over ice,shake until completely cold then strain into a chilled stemmed glass or a Rocks glass filled with ice.
Raspberry Trouffle recipe
1 ozChambord® raspberry liqueur
1/2 ozamaretto almond liqueur
cream
Pour in chambord into an ice-filled glass. Add amaretto, and balance with cream. Shake and serve with a straw and a cherry garnish. Good with desserts.
Wet Lips recipe
1 ozChambord® raspberry liqueur
2 ozIrish cream
6 ozmilk
Pour the chambord, irish cream, and milk or cream into a shaker with ice. Shake, strain and pour into a champagne saucer.
Flying Grasshopper recipe
1 part Creme de Menthe
1 part Creme de Cacao
1 part Vodka
Monday, September 20, 2010
t= -32 days
So in the last week or so, we've had our swim assessment (ok, I have to re-do one section, but it was pretty much a pass...), kitting out with our in-water gear (500 layers, a dry suit, and 3 fingered gloves that are reminiscent of teenage mutant ninja turtle physiology), and an oxygen provider course. On top of that I've come back up to Melbourne to make sure my teeth are not going to fall apart while I'm away (they're not) and I've done a refresher Level 2 first aid course, just to make sure. On Thursday I have the first medical appointment, where blood will be drawn, injections will be administered, and a chest x-ray will be done. Still need a dive medical appointment though, and a kitting appointment for the survival gear...
Following this we have the boat course which is 3 days of getting comfortable handling the IRBs we'll be using for fieldwork around Davis. My psych assessment is scheduled for the first day of the boat course, unfortunately, but hopefully it shouldn't be too much of a problem. It's the same psych assessment they use for recruits in the armed forces, and it's meant to take hours. Can't say I'm really looking forward to it, but it's one of the hoops that we've all got to fly through.
On top of all this are a motherload of assessment tasks, which I should continue working on. By the time we get on the boat, I'll be ready to sleep for a week!
Following this we have the boat course which is 3 days of getting comfortable handling the IRBs we'll be using for fieldwork around Davis. My psych assessment is scheduled for the first day of the boat course, unfortunately, but hopefully it shouldn't be too much of a problem. It's the same psych assessment they use for recruits in the armed forces, and it's meant to take hours. Can't say I'm really looking forward to it, but it's one of the hoops that we've all got to fly through.
On top of all this are a motherload of assessment tasks, which I should continue working on. By the time we get on the boat, I'll be ready to sleep for a week!
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