Mid-winter

This is the place where I live, well for a year!

With less than two weeks to mid-winters here in Antarctica the days are becoming very short with now only about three hours between sunrise & sunset, you could say my days are very sort. The truth is that you get used to carrying a torch with you most of the time. It has been asked how people manage with the reduced day light, for myself I find keeping to a normal sleep & eating pattern helps the body & mind to keep the body clock in sync. If you don’t do this it would be easy to sleep a lot more, kind of like hibernation but this would not get much work done.

We have still been able to get out and about, although the need to travel in the dark is real. Last week four of us went to the nearby hut at the old Wilkes station about ten Kilometers from Casey. As this hut is part of an old station it is by far the largest of the field huts in this area & boasts a great wood burner which makes it also the coziest of huts to stay in. This is good news when this week’s temperature has been down to -29 Celsius & the wind gusted up at 106 knots. Luckily the days spent at Wilkes were great & my three fellow trippers ran back to the station while I followed in the Nodwell (Truck on tracks). Someone had to do the driving.

The Wilkes to Casey runners, I think it was a good run almost ten Kilometers in 57 minutes.

Mid day sun over Wilkes & sunrise at Wilkes.

Something a little different. Some shots of ice on the window in the hut. I'd like to say these were my idea but Chris the chippie is the one with the eye for this sort of thing.

This shot of a candles reflection in the window of Browning Hut was all my idea. I like it!

This is the view from my bedroom window last week to the old transmitter hut behind the station.

A friend of mine asked me these questions of coming to Casey & these are my responses.


Biggest surprise?

Snow, this may sound crazy but the amount of snow here is a lot more than I had expected. This and how the amount of snow affects what & when things can be done. The last time I came to Antarctica it was to Mawson. Mawson is further South than Casey and very rarely had snow falls. Yes we had snow, mostly coming at us sideways in the form of blizzards but most of it was blown away. Here at Casey we have a lot of snow, it is not unusual for me now to walk out in the morning in soft snow above my knees. This may sound great but it can make moving equipment & working around the station difficult. Also the novelty of shoveling snow wears off quickly. In saying that the next day it could be a high wind day and most of the snow can be blown away. The heavy snow started the afternoon of the sailing of the summer personnel from Casey back in March and since that heavy snow fall there is still things that the snow has prevented us from being able to do. The biggest problem has been the movement of large equipment to & from the wharf area; this has meant that sea containers that we would like to have removed from the station area have had to remain, causing storage problems as the location of things like containers greatly impacts on the station as each container can cause blizz tails that then become a problem for movement around station.

Best thing?

For me it would be the time spent at the nearby Wilkes hut (Wilkes Hilton as people call it). This is by far the best hut that I’ve stayed in Antarctica. The primary reason for this is that it is a spacious hut with a log fire. The Wilkes hut is situated on the site of the old Wilkes station so the area has a lot of interesting artifacts to be seen and the view of the current Casey station is great from Wilkes.

Worst thing?

One of the main draw cards for me to Antarctica is to take photos and by far my favorite subject is wildlife. Here at Casey there is almost no wildlife to be seen and with the unreliable sea ice here it is difficult to get out to any of the Weddal seals or any of the penguins in this area. Also the large amount of cloud cover we have at Casey has meant that the chance of seeing a quality aurora is greatly reduced compared to the other two continental stations. Since arriving at Casey I’ve only seen one notable aurora.

Thing I’d like to happen before I leave?

For the sea ice to become considerably more reliable so that one of my colleges & I to be able to ski on the sea ice over to Browning hut which lies west of the station and is currently a long trip inland to get to in a Hagglunds. The early return of the wildlife in the spring, to enable plenty of viewing & picture taking is high on my wish list. And lastly that all of us nineteen gentlemen currently at Casey continue the time without serious disagreement & that I come away with good friends.

Late news from March plus ANZAC day 26th April.

This shows ANZAC Day dawn service Casey. As you can see we had a bit of wind to contend with. I can tell you that you get very cold in these conditions during the minite of silence.

On a lighter not, I found a way to keep the boss quiet. This is the station leader after coming in from the blizzard on ANZAC Day.

By the time you open this page, Casey will have said goodbye to all of our summer expeditioners and will be into the start of the winter season. With only 19 males now left on Station, the ‘Men of Casey’ team will……..

The month of March has been no different to the other summer months with plenty of activity and events taking place in the lead-up to the arrival and departure of the last ship for the season until next November. There was a flurry of activity in order to finish the various projects slated to be completed by the end of summer.


One event at Casey this month even made it back to the mainland newspapers. The event in question was the first ever Wilkins runway to Casey ski marathon. Air ground support officer Tricky Taylor and volunteer summer scientist Lisa Perret after training for much of the summer embarked on the titanic 70km journey in the early hours of Friday the 16th.

This event all in the name of charity had the pair upright and moving for over 15 hours and finally crossing the finish line in full darkness at 10:30pm. Almost the entire station stood waiting at the finish line outside the Red Shed to cheer and congratulate them on their achievement.
At this point it appears that the pair managed to raise somewhere in the realms 8 to 10 thousand dollars for Camp Quality, which is quite simply an amazing effort. Thanks must go to those at Casey, the other Antarctic bases as well as folks back on the mainland who contributed their hard earned to what is simply a great cause.
Special thanks also to Gary Skeggs, Kate Ferguson and Stephen Wall, who were the support crew for the event and were with Tricky and Lisa every step of the way.

The first Aurora for 2007 visible from Casey station appeared as if by fate approximately 1 hour before the Wilkins skiers crossed the finish line. It was first noticed around 9:30pm and lasted in one form or another for the next couple of hours. To the naked eye it appeared as a faint whitish glow to the far north of the station and would often intensify to an emerald green colour with the occasional flash of red or yellow. Many of the stations budding photographers were on site to catch the moment and so the road in front of the Red Shed was speckled with tripods as time-lapse shots were taken. The photo’s taken with time lapse managed to intensify the colours of the Aurora resulting in the beautiful photos seen here.

The month of March featured a number of blizzards with most notable being on the 29th.

Most folk at Casey awoke to winds gusting into the high 80 knot range and many were in the mess to witness the highest gust of the day of 97 knots at around 8am. Outside work was abandoned with supervisors finding inside work for their troops.
There was a brief lull in the winds mid afternoon where average speeds dropped to a relatively sedate 59 knots. However, this did not last long and the winds were soon back to blowing in the high 60’s low 70’s and gusting into the 80 knot range.
As is often the way at Casey, the next morning saw light winds and falling snow in complete contrast to the weather of the previous 24 hours.


It’s been a busy and enjoyable time at Casey and so until the next edition, goodbye to all family, friends and colleagues.

Hi to you all this month saw the first flight of the newly acquired Airbus call sign VHD fly from Hobart to Wilkins runway near Casey. With last minute preparations being made at the runway to ensure if the need to land arised the air field was up to the task.

Air buss VHD

Once a year at each of the stations it is common practice to shut down the main power house & run on the emergency power house, while carrying out scheduled servicing of the facility. This involves most if not all of the trades on station. The Diesos carried out the removal & replacement of the number engine that has served us well completing 40,000 running hours. This removed engine will return to Caterpillar in Hobart for rebuild & another life. The electricians carried out servicing & up grades to the powerhouse control. Ray the chippie did a great job on the control room door repair and said “it is now good for another 40,000 open & closings”. The Casey plumbers had a big part to play in the powerhouse with servicing to the boilers, Hy Fog system & the site services. Good work done by everyone involved, the switch back to the main powerhouse went quickly with no issues.

This year's SAR Training commenced in early February and will continue into March. The winter team have honed their technical rope skills, learnt the basics of searching for lost expeditioners and practiced caring for injured patients. The training was carried out over several evening sessions in the Green Store and over a couple of two day sessions out at the local rock and ice cliffs near Casey. The 2007 winter team learned to climb up and down ropes quickly, to set up simple hauling systems and to rig snow, ice and rock anchors. In addition, they practiced the art of roping up to travel across a glacier. These skills will be essential if a rescue should ever be needed during the season.

One Saturday afternoon, a Station Search was carried out. The main aim of the exercise was to familiarize people with the nooks and crannies in the various buildings on station. After several hours of thorough building-by-building searching, the patient was finally found tucked away in a ceiling space in the Main Power House. With great care, the rescuing group managed to provide the necessary first aid, negotiate a stretcher through a tight exit and down a small drop, and return to the Medical Centre successfully. In the final weeks of the summer season, the SAR team will take part in a day-long exercise, where a specialist team of First Responders will head out to locate a lost and injured expeditioner in the field. The key to SAR training is, of course, practice, practice, practice!

Giget & Gadget (CASA Aircraft)

Gidget & Gadget are the two CASA aircraft, which have finished their work at Davis Station, and have now returned safely back to Australia. Trevor and Steve, Casey’s (AGSO), have been busy catering for the CASA’s and also Wilkins crew.

Arrived at Casey in Antarctica

Here at Casey in Antarctica since New Year’s Eve, time has got away from me and this blog has suffered.

This shows my last view of Australia that I will see for a year or so. This is the south of Tasmania as we sailed in the evening from Hobart.

The trip down here was great, no sign of feeling ill due to rough seas thank goodness, it would not be good to spend over three weeks on a ship in the southern ocean otherwise. The waves can certainly get pretty big. One of the best part of the journey south on the Aurora Australis is the bird life that pass the ship. I’ve included pictures of a couple that we saw.
















It was not all wildlife that we saw on the way, we came across a ship in the evening before we reached Casey station. This ship could have been an illegal fishing vessel although this was the thought on the ship; I’ve not had it confirmed.







We used squirrel helicopters for freight & people transfer at the Chinese base of Zhong Shan & another Australian base called Davis on the way to Casey.






This is the gret day that we had on New Year's Eve when we got to see Casey. For most of u it was the first time. And what a sight it is.

I’m so excited now after a long time the time is here to leave Hobart and the rest of the world for the next year or so. To hit the Southern seas as we head to the Antarctic. First sop will be a passing fly off of people to Davis station next the re-supply of Zhong Shan the Chinese station. Then back to Davis for the change over of crew for the next year, before we head for my final destination of Casey station. Check www.aad.gov.au for the progress of the voyage (V2).

I’ve included some pictures from my training here in Hobart, fire fighting & theater nurse courses.

Due to the time spent at sea. I'll be off line until the New Year. So until then, I wish you all the best for the Christmas period.

This edition is long over due. Since I left Perth last month time has got away from me. The road to Antarctica, for me started with a drive from Perth across Australia to New South Wales to visit friends before going to Melbourne to catch the ship to Tasmania. After leaving Perth on the Tuesday morning I traveled the to Dubbo in just three days, the high light for me being the sighting of whales & a whale calf from the lookout at the Nullabor national park. In Sydney I was luck to stay with an old friend who took me to see the new Cirque Du Soleil, Varekai. This was both amazing to see but a little confusing, I guess getting me thinking about it was part of the show.

Now after three weeks in Hobart it would be good to tell you of what’s happening here. The Aurora Australis sailed from here on the 12th October on voyage one. This is the first South bound trip of the summer session, with about a hundred & twenty expeditioners on board. Some just for a summer stint & some to stay in Antarctica until 2008, I’m due to sail on V2 (voyage two) leaving the 1st December. This time in Hobart has been great, meeting new people & old friends. Then to have so many of them leave on V1, some I may never see again, some I will see at Casey when I get there.

My first few days at the Division were good fun, starting with two days of Skid Steer loader (Bob Cat) driver training then Front end loader. The following week I prepped twelve Quad bikes for the following week’s rider training that I helped with. On the non-working side of things, I walked from Salamanca where I’m staying to the top of Mount Wellington. There were still some small traces of snow near the top of the mountain but not enough to play in.

Time is nearly here to leave Perth. I finished at WesTrac last week giving me some time to get ready & also relax prior to driving to Sydney. Leaving early Tuesday I should get to Sydney for the weekend. As a way of chilling & to think of what I needed to do, I got out on the Bibbulmun track last Friday for three days. My friend Nevill dropped me of at Pike road. From there I walked about 90 kilometers over three days along the track to Dwellingup, getting there in time to catch the Sunday afternoon steam train to Pinjarra then a bus back to Perth. Couple of blisters on the feet, but nothing too bad. If interest look at www.bibbulmuntrack.org.au for more info on the 950 km track.