This week, the diesel mechanics take over the Davis station news! Well, the one who didn’t get away that is…

The luck of the draw

The weekly news roster fell on the diesos (diesel mechanics) to make an entry this week which sent two of the diesos running for the hills and hiding in the dark corners of workshop. This left one lucky enough to draw the short straw.

Winter begins

With the ship leaving a few months ago and taking the main reason for mechanical failure with it (i.e. the plant operators) the lives of the diesos on station have become slightly easier yet there is still plenty to do to fill the day. I suppose I shouldn’t be too harsh on the plant operators as they had a fairly trouble free season and helped us out a heap through the time they were here.

Preparing for the winter months

Throughout winter, when the sea ice freezes over, the Honda quads will become our main mode of transport around station so we have been fairly busy ensuring that they are ready to go and that they will have no problems in the months to come — I’m not sure if this is just wishful thinking. Another critical part of moving gear around the frozen continent is the humble sled. These sleds never get the credit they deserve for the job they do and rarely get the attention they should, so we made a point of treating a smith sled to a much needed birthday.

Multi-skilled

Another part of being a dieso of the south is the ability to take on any task whether it is be fault finding, routine maintenance on machinery, snow clearing, welding, tire fitting, power house maintenance, homebrew tasting (a personal favourite of mine), all the way to trying your hand at being a story teller and reporter for the weekly station news.

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