Tracey In Casey - Antarctica: March 2006

Lisa was supposed to be my Wing-Man for the night! Gotta find me a better Wing-Man!

Pin the Shamrock on the Leprachaun

Decorations at the Bar

Green was the colour for St. Paddy's night

Reopening the road to the Wharf after the Blizz had hit.

13 - 19th March 2006

This week sees the Big Orange taxi – The Aurora Australis - leave Hobart and head south to pick up the summer crew. It is a bit of an emotional time for a lot of people on station and the vibe has been a bit weird. For myself, I will be really sad to lose some of my good mates. At the same time it will be nice to have just the winter crew here so we can finally make this our own home and settle in for our winter season.
We had another Blizzard this week. Winds speeds topped out at 112 Knots. That is nearly 200km/hr. Some of the boys living out in the vans outside had no hope of leaving the Red Shed so beds and mattresses were scattered all over the place and makeshift arrangements sorted out. Of course this really only meant that there was an excuse to stay at the bar and drink more!
I still find the winds of a Blizzard quite frightening and don’t mind admitting it. It is so easy to get disorientated and lose your way. I was ½ a metre from the red Shed and simply could not find it at one stage. Thank Goodness I turned in the right direction and ran into the wall!
Once the Blizz was over it was time for St.Patrick’s day. This was a HUGE night, I’d like to say it is one I will remember, but unfortunately I don’t remember a whole lot of it at all! I know I had a bloody good night because people have been telling me that for days! Ha Ha. We played “Pint the Tail on the Leprechaun”, “Darts - Unders and Overs” –of which I was champion at the Overs session – so yay to me! and Kelly Pool. The chefs put on a fabulous traditional Irish spread and we all pigged out. Then we drank and partied all night long.
I have lots of phtoos from the night, but most of them are just too hideous to publish!

The photo doesn't do it justice. This really is a beautiful site!

Heading Home

And darkness falls.

Heading back to the Wilkes Hilton for dinner

So pretty

Another glorious sunset

A glorious sunny day - but the temp is -13 degrees. Freezer suits are a must.

Sun on snow and ice

Not much of old Wilkes is above ground any more.

We are all having a ball in here

You can see inot the rooms beyond.

Inside, ice is almost to the roof

Dissapearing into the old building at Wilkes

A weekend at Wilkes - 11 & 12 March

The last two days have been absolutely amazing. A surprise trip occurred. On Thursday night I was asked if I wanted to go overt to Wilkes Hilton Saturday and stay overnight – Hell yes!!!

Saturday duties occurred after smoko instead of the usual after lunch and by 2:30pm the 5 of us had our Quads all loaded, packed, strapped down and we were off to Wilkes.
Now I have to say that this week has seen the temperature all of a sudden plummet. We are having -9 to -11 regularly this week. A big change from our very mild -1 and -2 that we have been getting. Once our first Blizz arrived two weeks ago, winter seems determined to be apon us in no time now. So layering was essential for the quad trip over. I had two thermal layers then my freezer suit. I LOVE my freezer suit! It is like wearing a big pair of Donna jarmies. It is so thick and warm and toasty and comfy. I just love it!

The 20 minute quad trip was brilliant, the track was smooth, the melt has completely gone and new snow made the journey easy. The 20 minutes felt like 5. All good.

Once in the hut Marilyn took off for a wander and some photos and the two boys took off on quads to the old tip site for a look see. Lisa and I – hut slugs that we are! – just sat around chatting and reading over a cuppa. All good. We had windows, we could see the gorgeous day outside, we didn’t need to venture into it. The day was actually beautiful and the sunset promised to be glorious, so we had made up our mind to venture out for that.

Marilyn, Chris and John came back after a while and we decided to explore the old Wilkes site. We managed to get inside one of the buildings and had the BEST time. The building was full of ice with only about 3 feet to spare from the roof. Grabbing hold of the roof struts we pulled ourselves along at a great rate of knots and covered the area, exploring as we went. We slid all over the ice and raced around like made things, slipping and sliding and generally acting like the big kids we all are. Then it was a challenge to climb back out of the tiny roof hole we had ventured through in the beginning. We wandered around Wilkes for a while taking happy snaps. We did our evening 7pm radio sched, the all stood watching the most glorious sunset. Then we headed back to Wilkes and made some dinner.
After diner we were treated with another amazing site. The rise of a blood moon. This is the second blood moon rise I have now seen and this was just a spectacular as the first one. Gorgeous! We stood and watched until it was high in the sky. The cold eventually chased us back inside and we settled in for the evening, just chatting happily until we were nodding off.
At 2 am, awake listening to Chris snoring, Marilyn ventured outside and discovered that an Aurora was taking place. Lisa and I – also awake - joined her outside and we stood in the freezing cold watching the most amazing phenomenon.
The Aurora stretched across the whole sky. Brilliant white, moving and dancing and shimmering. It faded, then intensified, moved and ebbed and flowed along the sky. It was the most beautiful site.
What a brilliant day! And the stars were all out on full display, the Milky Way looking so close you could reach up and touch it. I have to say, the sky down here is amazing. There is nothing like it that I have ever seen at home – even out in the desert or the bush and I have been to both places often.
My words really can’t describe the beauty of Antarctica. I wish I could convey to you what I am experiencing, but it just isn’t possible to put in words – or even photos – all that I am seeing and feeling. All I can say is, if you ever have the opportunity or the inclination to come and work here for a year – jump at it. It will change your life forever.
Sunday dawned the most glorious day – yet again. Outside however the temperature was at -14 and was bloody cold! I wandered over to the little penguin gathering near the cut, took some snaps of penguins molting and headed back inside. Marilyn made the best porridge for breakfast. We sat and read our books, then a few hands of Uno were played. Now Uno is a game that definitely brings out hidden personality traits! The boys were positively viscous in their ganging up to ensure I lost every single hand! But it is all in good fun and we had a lovely relaxing time. It is nice to get off station and with Wilkes being so close it is like a little mini holiday that you don’t have to travel very far to get to.
Our trip home in -13 degrees was all good, though my visor kept fogging up so I arrived back with a headache from having the visor up all the way. The scenery on the trip back was just fabulous. To my right the sea spread down all the way to the Vander ford with the ice forming and Casey nestled in the foreground. To my left the moraine lined stretched up and away. Just beautiful. The sun out, making the snow sparkles like millions of scattered diamonds along the ground. Scenes like on the trip home just take my breath away for their absolute beauty. Whoever says this place is start and cold and boring has never been here. There is beauty everywhere you look. And it is all spectacular.