This week at Casey as “Winter is coming”, Viking Matt is back with a poem and we join Doug with the all important cane line maintenance. Finally we share the picture gallery of the week by Ben.

Winter is coming

It’s now middle of April, two months since the final A319 flight left for the season with the last of the summer expeditioners. Temperatures have started to drop and you can tell that winter is coming. During last week, temperatures dropped to minus twenty four degrees Centigrade combined with a wind of twenty three knots — makes for a cold walk to work.

When you venture out you have to protect your face or you suffer wind burn which feels like sunburn but is a lot less dangerous. But it’s going to get a lot colder yet. The small lake that provides the station drinking water is frozen and would make the perfect ice staking rink. If only we had ice skates! Even the sea has begun to freeze. What was the location for the Australia Day swim back in January is now a frozen jumble of ice blocks.

It is now possible to walk across to Shirley Island. To make sure it is safe, sea ice thickness measurements are made. It needs to be 200mm thick for foot travel and 400mm for quad bikes. Currently the passage is between 350 and 500mm. It will go to 1200 — 1500mm by the end of winter.

Of course the penguins are long gone, out onto the edge of the sea ice. The only signs of their presence are the pebbles they fought for so vigorously over during summer. What are some of the other signs that it is getting colder? Well, the snow has taken on the nature of styrofoam, breaking off in chunks and squeaking as you walk on it.

Stalactites are forming on the outside of the buildings and even stalagmites can be found if you look hard enough. The windows of the red shed, the accommodation building, has ice crystals growing on the outside of the double glazed windows.

Winter is still six weeks away so Casey station waits in anticipation to see what the middle of winter is really like. How cold can it really get?

Jukka P

Matty’s corner

The ice that blew out

The ice that blew out,
from the last blizz,
Has now reset,
More sea ice there is.

Though the penguins are gone,
And the skuas be few,
We’ve seen some nice weather,
At minus twenty-two.

So when out in a pyramid
At minus twenty-five,
There are some things you do,
To just stay alive.

Keep warm hands and feet,
They’re furthest from your heart,
And sleep in the middle,
Is also a good start.

Though it’s still freezing cold
And you hope to forget it,
If you do the right thing,
You will never regret it.

Matt Whittington

Cane line maintenance

One of the tasks that the station set out to do this season was the maintenance on the cane lines in the Casey area with the priority being on the line to the Wilkins Camp area. There has been very little maintenance carried out on the Wilkins line for a number of years and in places the cane line is off the ideal route by about fifty metres.

For the last couple of months, cans have been collected from the field store, kitchen and brewery areas. These cans in turn were drilled either side of the can seam, at the top and bottom of the can, and then placed in the field store for the next stage of the process. The cans are attached to the top of the canes with cable ties to be used as reflectors for the radar system in the Haggs. That way, if the canes aren’t visible in a blizzard, they won’t get run over.

On a beautiful Sunday morning at 0700 hours (some said this was a little early) Allan, Andy, Chad and Doug headed off to A08 to commence on the maintenance of the cane line. Andy and Doug were in the first Hägglunds with all the canes, a small generator and drill, followed by Allan and Chad who ensured the canes from one way point to the next were in line and who also removed all the remains of the old canes in the area covered. The canes were placed at 250-meter intervals, and by the time we had placed a few canes in their correct location, a system had developed. Both groups worked together as an excellent team, each carrying out our respective tasks efficiently. This was the introductory run for this project. With a lot of experience gained and a number of improved processes of work adopted which will help us and the other teams who continue with this project.

Doug M

Picture gallery of the week

This week’s picture gallery features photos taken by Ben McKay from his previous expeditions to his current expedition at Casey. expeditions to his current expedition at Casey.

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