Tracey In Casey - Antarctica: October 2006

Intrepid Trace!!

On the way back from Shirley island - Pic by greg

Some more penguins

Looking over Penny bay from Robbo's Hill.

Another newborn pup. It is so nice to watch these little guys being born, then getting bigger.

My favourites are the Wedells - so beautiful and gentle.

Williams nunatak. A Mum and older pup getting out of the ice hole

Great shot by Shane

Heli Ops - Cargo being bought from the AA to Casey. (Photo by Shane)

Arial shot of Casey (Photo by Shane)

The Aurora Australis at anchor in Newcomb Bay. (photo by Shane)

We have some nice bergs off station at the moment.

Ooooh, look at that lovely rock!

Taking in the magnificent view.

How cute are these little guys. I love the Adelli penguins. They have a lot of character.

This is a small nesting site. Soon there will be thousands of birds on the Island.

Penguins gather rocks to make their nests

It was a beautiful day.

Sitting with the Adellis at Shirley Island

23rd – 29th October. V1 arrives at Casey Station.

YAY!!!!! At last the ship has arrived!!
This is V1 and it marks the start of a very busy summer science project season.
Andrew and I were absolutely flat out in the last weeks leading up to the ships arrival and it hasn’t stopped since. We have been doing 15 & 16 hour days! It should slow next week with a bit of luck. With the arrival of V1 I was able to say hello to some old mates from last year’s summer. It is nice to have them back with us. There are a lot of new faces as well and the quiet of the winter is well and truly over. Where the mess has been deserted most of the time for months, it is now a hive of activity and noise. In fact I am still getting use to all the constant noise and the people. But it sooo fabulous to have them all here. Thursday night I sat in the wallow and chatted to 5 girls! It was lovely ;o] There are 10 new girls on station and they all seem very nice. I think we have about 63 people on station now and there is always someone to chat to – just lovely. Mind you, most of the winter blokes are scurrying off to their rooms still. Andrew, John, Chris and I seem to be the only winter folk at the bar at night or in the wallow after dinner chatting. The others are all conspicuous in their absence – just like the whole of winter has been. But it no longer matters, I have lots of people to chat to now – life is good again!

On Saturday Andrew, Marilyn and I took some new people over for a few hours walk to Shirley Island to see the penguins. They are starting to come back en mass now and it is lovely to see them all fattened up after months of feeding. They are also lovely and snow white and clean, not that they will stay that way for long!
Then we had our first Saturday night dinner with all the summer people. A little too much wine and conversation was had, but I managed to see Sunday in with only a slight headache. This was a good thing because John, Chris Marilyn and I arranged 8 quads and 2 skidoos and took some more newbies out for a trip to Williams Nunatak to visit the seals. We took the skidoos because there are massive amounts of snow on the sea ice and the quads get bogged at the moment. We used the skidoos to tow out new people LOTS of times today. I only got bogged twice, which was good. Both times we all stopped dead – including John who is a quading legend! Glad it was only two times. How bad would it look if a hardened old winterer got bogged like the newbies were doing hey? Ha ha. I had a fabulous day. It was a great ride when the snow thinned and I got some huge air off lots of snow drifts. Awesome fun!!!
What was even nicer was both yesterday and today Andrew and I have been able to get out together. We have 2 radio operators for summer so it means Andrew and I will be able to actually get out on a few jollies together, which will be fun.

I am pleased to report that my little seal pup and his Mum are both still at the Nunatak and the pup has fattened and grown considerably in the last two weeks. I was very happy to see them both. The mum is now very protective and would not let me too close. But that is OK – she is looking after her baby, as she should. So it has been a wonderful weekend. The weather has been glorious! This is the best we have seen it since last summer. Mind you, we did have 70knots of blowing snow all Wednesday & Thursday and we have a Blizz forecast for the next two days. But the weekend was awesome and that is all that matters!

V1 also bought the first post since March. My fabulous mate Lisa sent me lots of trashy magazines and a couple of the latest CD’s so when I come home I will be able to actually recognize the songs on the radio. I am now all caught up on the Brad and Angelina saga and all the fashions I am coming home to. At last – REAL news!!! None of this gloom and doom, let’s set off Nuclear Weapons and kill and maim and destroy the world I read in “The Australian” every day. Here is throw away, don’t have to think about it nonsense and it is a lot of fun. I am not normally a magazine reader, but after seven months with nothing, it makes a nice change.
I am now taking over Lisa’s spot of last summer in the wallow at smoko and will be reading all the “Informative Articles” that Cosmo and Cleo have provided me with. The boys love it; it gets very funny at times. Boys are hopeless. Ha ha.
My wonderful sister, Treazle, sent me all my lovely new clothes. I had lots of fun trying them all on. Can’t wait to get back home and wear all these gorgeous summer outfits now. My first port of call when I hit Hobart was going to be the beauty salon for a fake tan. I have never been this white in my life and couldn’t possibly venture out in public in my gorgeous new sundress looking like this! However Lisa, thinking of everything, also sent me a bottle of fake tan. I think I will still visit the beauty salon for a facial and a massage though. Ah, civilization once more - roll on January - 9 weeks to go!

Next Saturday we are celebrating 5 birthdays that occur over a few days and are having a Karaoke Cocktail party. I am pretty sure it will be HUGE.

Ok, till next week.
Party Hard Dudes!!
Trace x