Saturday 28 November 2015

On Continent

  

Hi everyone, just a brief introduction to kick things off. As many of you know, I was lucky enough to be selected for a winter expedition for the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) at Casey Station on the Bailey Peninsular. The cream of the commonwealth eh!
  I'm starting this blog so that anyone interested can follow what I get up to down here without me choking up FB with posts and photos and also because the internet here is very limited with regards to sending pictures via email.
  I'll be sharing things I find interesting about my year down here plus I'll answer any questions anyone has about life here or just about the continent in general.
Robinson Ridge Hut (Robbo's) 

  I've been here over 3 weeks now so I guess I'm pretty much settled in. It's summer here so it's pretty much 24 hour sunlight. Now that a lot of us have completed field and survival training, we have the freedom to get off station on the quad bikes or in Haggs to stay at various huts in the area. This requires a finding a mate who is trained as a Trip Leader to take a group out usually on Saturday arvo for an overnight camp.
Working Hard :)
  Work has commenced and am loving my role as a project plumber here (although I'm currently covering for a mate in the maintenance division after a skiing accident put him on light duties).
  The heart of the station is the Red Shed with is our accomodations block. It holds our rooms, the mess, ammenities, a cinema, the wallow (bar, sunken lounge, pool room), a library and various nooks for music, gaming, reading etc.
Casey Station from Reeve's Hill. The Red Shed can clearly be seen around the middle of the shot.
 
The Red Shed is situated overlooking a bay full of icebergs and currently has sheets of drifting sea ice as it breaks up and drifts out for the summer.
View of the bay from in front of the Red Shed
  Anyways, enough for now. In future blogs I'll crack on with more descriptions and stories about this little piece of the cold continent and what it's like to live and work here.

Bye for now

Wayno

2 comments:

  1. Sounds amazing!! How are you coping with the cold? Seen any polar bears yet?x

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  2. It is amazing Katie! Getting used to the cold but it's only summer at the moment. No polar bears in Antarctica unfortunately. Plenty of seals and penguins :)

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