1st - 8th May 2006
Well, last week, the Sunday weather Gods must have decided they didn’t want to be held responsible for the carnage that would ensue if they didn’t give me a break and let up so I could get off station.
Overnight Saturday the snow had continued to fall and lay in drifts several metres deep around station. The sky was gray and cloud covered, but not threateningly so. The temperature was a balmy -6 degrees and there wasn’t a breath of wind. Fabulous! Dressed in only 1 thermal layer under my freezer suit I headed off station at about 10am with John, Robbie and Brian. With the snow lying so deep it was a bit of a battle to actually leave the station. The quads almost didn’t make it through the last pass. Just a little extra gas sorted that out in a hurry – we weren’t staying behind now!
Out beyond Casey there is nothing but the white of snow and the blue, gray and white of the ice, but it is still beautiful and it was wonderful just to be out in the open. Away from the Red Shed and Casey: off on an adventure and ready to explore.
We rode an easy 20 minutes up and over the Moraine line on Blue Ice and snow drifts to Robinson Peninsular. Once up high enough the ocean spread out to our right and we could see Mitchell and on further to Robbo’s.
No matter how often I venture out, I am always blown away by the breathtaking beauty of this place. It is stark and it is harsh, but it has a magic I have never experienced anywhere before. I really love it here.
We headed in towards Robbo’s. Here the trip became a little challenging. The slope down into Robbo’s is very steep. It has crevasses and ice cliff on one side and very rough terrain on the other. At the moment that terrain is covered in but blue ice. It was quite fun picking our through the holes and gully’s. The ice was as slippery as glass and while the wheels tried their best to hold on; they did little more than slide in a forward, kind of sideways, motion. That was all good; I needed to go forward anyway. Once we hit the bottom the fun continued as we came to our first frozen lake.
Then it was on to Robbo’s for a hot cup of chocolate from the thermos and then out to explore. A beautiful Blue Berg has grounded itself in Sparkes Bay so we quaded over for a look and some happy snaps. While there, we were delighted by the site of a lone seal swimming near the Berg. Then we were visited by 4 snow petrels. Not sure what is going on with the wild life, we still have our Ellie seal living near our wharf at Casey. Don’t these guys know they should have moved on by now? Not that we mind. It is nice to still see wild life.
After a while the chill started to set in from staying still too long, so headed off on the quads once more. Some circle work on yet another frozen lake soon warmed us up. Then out of nowhere and in an instant we were hit by 40knot winds. Time to cut our day short and head home. Again, a reminder of how quickly things can change down here.
The trip back was pretty wild. We had no choice, we had to hit the gas and head back as fast as we could. Being caught out in a Blizzard is not something any of us wanted to experience. In a nice warm Hagg, no worries. Been there, done that. But not today and not on quads thanks very much.
With the winds came blowing snow. Now I have no idea where all this damn snow comes from when it blows, but it makes life very interesting when you are racing along on a quad trying to beat a blizzard home. Surface definition goes out the window and you find yourself suddenly in mid air having just flown off the top of a snow drift you never even saw coming. Not that this wasn’t heaps of fun mind you because it was.
This is why we are so well trained down here. We have to be. We need to be able to get out of doubtful situations before they become bad ones. And we have all the skills necessary to do that.
Have to say, I enjoyed the buzz. We are all capable riders. It wasn’t a big deal. We just had to get home fast. Rounding that last big sweeping, snow filled bend over Penguin pass and onto station was a relief however. We were home and we beat the Blizz. All good!
Once we had everything packed away I hit the kitchen and cooked us all up a pub countery of Veal Schnitzel, chips, peas and gravy. It was a great end to an adventurous day out.
That will stave off the cabin fever for a while, at least until I can venture out into the wild old Antarctic again.
Wednesday I saw the most amazing sight. It is called a Sun pillar. It is a phenomenon which happens as a result of ice particles in the air.
The sun looks as though it has two large pillars of light shining out from the top and the bottom of it. As the sun set the sky turned the usual brilliant Casey pinks we have all come to expect on great sunset days. This was a lovely site. I haven’t seen the sun for quite a while now. The weather has been pretty dismal lately. Mind you, I am reminded right about now that I am in Antarctica after all! ;o] But it was still a nice change to see the sun and it brightened my spirits considerably to watch the sun pillars form and then fade as the sun set. Once again: something magical. I am lucky. I am going to have more than a year of magical moments at the end of this experience and they will stay with me forever.
Saturday night during dinner we watched as the Temp hit -20 degrees. In fact it was a rapid drop form -14 to -20 in under half an hour! Winter is defiantly on the way now.
After dinner, an impromptu game of pool with Robbie lead to copious quantities of Sabucca being consume then cigars being smoked. I was not a well girl by the end of the night. Guess I needed to let off some steam though. You get that. Things have been a little tough for me here of late and I think I just needed to kick back and cut loose.
Sunday saw another huge dump of snow with almost no winds. All good, with a bit of luck the snow will stay.
Out came the Skidoos and John put us all through a famil course. Now we have another means of transport for getting around on. All good.
I did some more lead lighting on Sunday arvo. That is coming along nicely. I am hoping the end product will be lovely. I still haven’t gotten the design out of my head and on paper for my art piece, but I guess you cant rush the artistic process. ;o]
Till next week.
T x
Overnight Saturday the snow had continued to fall and lay in drifts several metres deep around station. The sky was gray and cloud covered, but not threateningly so. The temperature was a balmy -6 degrees and there wasn’t a breath of wind. Fabulous! Dressed in only 1 thermal layer under my freezer suit I headed off station at about 10am with John, Robbie and Brian. With the snow lying so deep it was a bit of a battle to actually leave the station. The quads almost didn’t make it through the last pass. Just a little extra gas sorted that out in a hurry – we weren’t staying behind now!
Out beyond Casey there is nothing but the white of snow and the blue, gray and white of the ice, but it is still beautiful and it was wonderful just to be out in the open. Away from the Red Shed and Casey: off on an adventure and ready to explore.
We rode an easy 20 minutes up and over the Moraine line on Blue Ice and snow drifts to Robinson Peninsular. Once up high enough the ocean spread out to our right and we could see Mitchell and on further to Robbo’s.
No matter how often I venture out, I am always blown away by the breathtaking beauty of this place. It is stark and it is harsh, but it has a magic I have never experienced anywhere before. I really love it here.
We headed in towards Robbo’s. Here the trip became a little challenging. The slope down into Robbo’s is very steep. It has crevasses and ice cliff on one side and very rough terrain on the other. At the moment that terrain is covered in but blue ice. It was quite fun picking our through the holes and gully’s. The ice was as slippery as glass and while the wheels tried their best to hold on; they did little more than slide in a forward, kind of sideways, motion. That was all good; I needed to go forward anyway. Once we hit the bottom the fun continued as we came to our first frozen lake.
Then it was on to Robbo’s for a hot cup of chocolate from the thermos and then out to explore. A beautiful Blue Berg has grounded itself in Sparkes Bay so we quaded over for a look and some happy snaps. While there, we were delighted by the site of a lone seal swimming near the Berg. Then we were visited by 4 snow petrels. Not sure what is going on with the wild life, we still have our Ellie seal living near our wharf at Casey. Don’t these guys know they should have moved on by now? Not that we mind. It is nice to still see wild life.
After a while the chill started to set in from staying still too long, so headed off on the quads once more. Some circle work on yet another frozen lake soon warmed us up. Then out of nowhere and in an instant we were hit by 40knot winds. Time to cut our day short and head home. Again, a reminder of how quickly things can change down here.
The trip back was pretty wild. We had no choice, we had to hit the gas and head back as fast as we could. Being caught out in a Blizzard is not something any of us wanted to experience. In a nice warm Hagg, no worries. Been there, done that. But not today and not on quads thanks very much.
With the winds came blowing snow. Now I have no idea where all this damn snow comes from when it blows, but it makes life very interesting when you are racing along on a quad trying to beat a blizzard home. Surface definition goes out the window and you find yourself suddenly in mid air having just flown off the top of a snow drift you never even saw coming. Not that this wasn’t heaps of fun mind you because it was.
This is why we are so well trained down here. We have to be. We need to be able to get out of doubtful situations before they become bad ones. And we have all the skills necessary to do that.
Have to say, I enjoyed the buzz. We are all capable riders. It wasn’t a big deal. We just had to get home fast. Rounding that last big sweeping, snow filled bend over Penguin pass and onto station was a relief however. We were home and we beat the Blizz. All good!
Once we had everything packed away I hit the kitchen and cooked us all up a pub countery of Veal Schnitzel, chips, peas and gravy. It was a great end to an adventurous day out.
That will stave off the cabin fever for a while, at least until I can venture out into the wild old Antarctic again.
Wednesday I saw the most amazing sight. It is called a Sun pillar. It is a phenomenon which happens as a result of ice particles in the air.
The sun looks as though it has two large pillars of light shining out from the top and the bottom of it. As the sun set the sky turned the usual brilliant Casey pinks we have all come to expect on great sunset days. This was a lovely site. I haven’t seen the sun for quite a while now. The weather has been pretty dismal lately. Mind you, I am reminded right about now that I am in Antarctica after all! ;o] But it was still a nice change to see the sun and it brightened my spirits considerably to watch the sun pillars form and then fade as the sun set. Once again: something magical. I am lucky. I am going to have more than a year of magical moments at the end of this experience and they will stay with me forever.
Saturday night during dinner we watched as the Temp hit -20 degrees. In fact it was a rapid drop form -14 to -20 in under half an hour! Winter is defiantly on the way now.
After dinner, an impromptu game of pool with Robbie lead to copious quantities of Sabucca being consume then cigars being smoked. I was not a well girl by the end of the night. Guess I needed to let off some steam though. You get that. Things have been a little tough for me here of late and I think I just needed to kick back and cut loose.
Sunday saw another huge dump of snow with almost no winds. All good, with a bit of luck the snow will stay.
Out came the Skidoos and John put us all through a famil course. Now we have another means of transport for getting around on. All good.
I did some more lead lighting on Sunday arvo. That is coming along nicely. I am hoping the end product will be lovely. I still haven’t gotten the design out of my head and on paper for my art piece, but I guess you cant rush the artistic process. ;o]
Till next week.
T x
posted by Tracey in Casey - Antarctica at 7:41 am
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