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We are at Mawson. There were many surprised faces at breakfast this morning when they looked out the port holes and saw rocks, mountains, islands – and a station underneath large wind turbines. At about 04:00 this morning we started to make good headway through the fast ice that slowed us down a few days ago, and by 04:30 we were clear of the ice. By 06:30 we were doing laps of Kista Strait waiting for the notorious Mawson wind to abate so that we could anchor. We are still waiting. At 10:00 we decided that while the wind wouldn’t let us anchor it was okay to fly helicopters so we continued to transfer cargo ashore. All the fresh and frozen food is now ashore, along with some refueling equipment. In a perfect world we need this wind to drop to around 10 or 15 knots for us to get a good run at refueling so patience will be a virtue out here. We are currently being entertained by the iceberg that we have heard so much about – the one that is stopping us getting in to where we would usually moor the ship onto bollards rather than having to anchor out here. The high tide last night enabled the iceberg to move again, and it is currently wandering in slow laps around Horseshoe Harbour. Many fingers are crossed that it will float out soon so that we can move in and tie up in the shelter. Cheers, Nicki, Rob and Peter.
Map
A map showing Australia and Antarctica. The map shows the journey of one voyage that has occured in the season, with each route highlighted in a distinct colour.