The Antarctic Division’s favourite four legged friend

Mawson greetings from Antarctic dog Stay Here

Hello my old friends, readers of Station News. It has been a while since I have given you all an update on what I have been up to. To be honest, it is all the same sort of adventures that I am always involved with; sleight -of-hand dog-nappings, now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t trickery and cunning.

Life as a world famous dog is never dull. The last thing I clearly remember was sitting in the Mawson mess in January watching all the frenetic activity of resupply in full swing. Then things got sort of dark and hazy. Did I get bundled off in a bag? Did someone slip me a Mickey Finn? Was it a bad can of dog food? I really couldn’t say. All I know was that things went very dark and quiet. Really dark and quiet. For a long time.

I think it was a bit like one of those weird dream sequences in movies where there is a bit of a tear in the space time fabric. Muffled sounds, bumps in the night, floaty feelings, trying to bark but no sounds come out, feeling like you’re falling. You know, weird stuff. Anyway, I must have fallen into a deep sleep and then it was just like in the fairy tale Snow White. A handsome young Scottish prince came along and rescued me. I was still at Mawson, but back in the land of the living in the middle of a fabulous Midwinter feast. Doggy happiness and joy! I was beginning to worry that I was going to be stuck over another winter and have to be rescued by helicopter again.  

All of our Antarctic stations have their own special appeal. Davis is just fab for long walks, Macca is great for hide and seek among the tussock grass (no rabbits to chase anymore) and Casey has all the buzz and glamour of an international airport, however, I would have to say from a canine perspective, Mawson is my favourite. At Mawson you can chill out while gazing over the magnificent ice cliffs, all from the comfort and warmth of the aptly named Dog Room, Horseshoe Harbour is fantastic for running round and round in circles for no particular reason, and I get to hang out with some of my old huskie mates. The people here are very nice too. There is only one girl here over winter and she was ever so pleased to have some female company arrive when I turned up at Midwinter. She calls me her BFF now, and has been a great help with clothes swaps for special events and parties.

I have been having lots of fun and adventures since I woke up. I was particularly lucky to see a great new band called ‘Tommy Dieso and the Disappointments’ at the Midwinter celebrations, and I even got to go on their famous West Coast Tour. While we were touring I visited Proclamation Point where Mawson’s namesake claimed this area for Australia. I have been polishing my table tennis and darts skills and was there to cheer on our glorious and victorious Mawson darts team in the interstation competition. There is always something cool happening like Wednesday volleyball, Thursday night football, eight seasons of Game of Thrones, not to mention our splendid Saturday night dinners and all the dress up parties.

So friends, as you can see, all is well in my doggie world. My humans come and go, but rest assured that I maintain a sharp lookout and keep a steady hand on the goings-on and various shenanigans down south here in Antarctica.

Cheerio for now,

Stay Here.

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