Friday night dinner on January 4th saw a revival of 'Can't Cook Vs Iron Chef' competition. Teams were allowed to choose disguised bowls of food and then grouped together to create food masterpieces!
Sean, Al and Steve went up against Nat, Eve and Mark in Round One and Chris, Spanna and Doug went up against Ali, Lionel and Gunny in Round Two. Superb food was created by all, with full tummies all round!
Food ranged from spicy vegetables on rice, spaghetti bolognaise, vegetarian and meaty pasta and finally, marshmallow and raspberry cake (of which the latter was the winner!). A great idea thought of by Michelle and Greg – nice one!
 Lionel, Ali & Gunny |
|  Spann, Doug & Chris |
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 Nat, Mark & Eve |
|  Sean, Stevo & Al |
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Tourist boats have been arriving thick and fast, the first of which was the Orion followed shortly by the Spirit of Enderby. Tourist passengers enjoyed the company of AAD volunteers from the station as well as the benefits of our post-mistress Michelle, who sold postcards and stamps, CDs, bookmarks and caps (of which all proceeds go towards Camp Quality at the end of the season).
TASPAWS Staff were also on hand to provide answers to wildlife questions as well as generally mix with the crowd. Staff and crew from the Orion and Enderby were also around to lend a hand!
 Post Mistress |
|  Orion |
|  Tourists |
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 Greg & Spanna talking with tourists amongst the Royals Sandy Bay |
|  Rodney & Julia (Spirit of Enderby) |
|  Sean and his Russian friends |
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 Rangers hard at work! |
|  Balloon release |
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Wildlife Ranger, Al, and Summer Ranger, Spanna, continue to monitor burrow-nesting birds, including the site above Rockhopper Cave at the tip of North Head. These burrows currently nest sooty shearwaters and blue petrels, which can often share the same burrow.
Grey petrels will be monitored for breeding success later on in the season, heading into winter, and at sites along the western side of North Head (amongst others). During this trip tracks along North Head were checked, including the one down to Secluded Bay (where Antarctic and Sub-antarctic fur seals are currently breeding).
 SS Monitoring Data Collection by Spanna |
|  Al checking Sooty Shearwater burrow |
|  Spanna assessing the track |
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AAD staff continue to busy themselves in preparation for resupply, which is scheduled for March 2008, as well as some general tidying around the place. This included cleaning of the operation theatre, reorganising of timber around the store to make way for repair work, conducting annual test and tagging of all equipment and appliances, and general repacking and moving of gas cylinders and other caged material.
This is in preparation to have equipment ready to send out to the resupply vessel and to offload new materials for the next season of expeditioners.
 Eve cleaning out the operation theatre |
|  Steve cleaning up the main store |
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 Greg working on testing and tagging appliances |
|  Doug moving cages around in preparation for resupply |
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