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Team Mawson continued ticking their training boxes yesterday and in doing so took their training to a whole new level... literally. Until now all their training has been carried out in either the 'F' Deck Rec Room or the 'E' Deck Library but yesterday they were elevated to the 'Heli' Deck which is up to the lofty heights of 'C' Deck. There apparently is no truth to the rumour that yesterday's elevation up the ship's deck levels has corresponded with the Mawson SL starting to gain his sea legs!
Here Heidi and Garry (our two ERT Leaders) split the team in two (now referred to as Mawsoneights - well actually each team had seven so Mawsonsevens is more accurate) where Heidi took a team of Mawsonsevens through 'throw' bag training and Garry took the remainder through fire hose drills.
Some of you back home may be thinking what is a 'throw' bag or even why Team Mawson would need training on how to throw one. In its simplest form a 'throw' bag is a brightly coloured bag of coiled rope that is used as a life line when thrown to an expeditioner who has fallen through the sea ice... and into the freezing water beneath. Whilst this sounds easy enough there is a real skill in getting it right and like all things it takes patience and practice. Whilst we train to avoid such disasters it can and has happened so it is wise to utilise any available opportunity to practice. The team practised for approx 45 minutes before swapping with Garry's Team.
Garry took the guys through a series of fire hose drills which included rolling the hoses out across the 'Heli' Deck. Those of you who are familiar with rolling out fire hoses can appreciate the skill and technique required to 'get it right'. Add to this the pitching and rolling of the ship... well it wasn't really too bad as we were cruising up toward the sea ice edge but the 'Heli' Deck was covered in a dusting of snow and the air temperature was at approximately minus 5 degrees. All this added to the realism of the training and the team really appeared to be enjoying it.
Yesterday at dinner, we celebrated the first of our voyage birthdays, with Mike receiving a lovely cake from the Galley team. Happy birthday Mike!
This morning we have woken to clear skies and a sea of white as far as the horizon. Yes we are in the pack ice now and most onboard have taken the opportunity to get out on decks with their cameras and take lots of photos.
We've seen plenty of seals and birds around the ship as we slowly but steadily make our way through the pack. With our air temperature hovering at around -14.5 it's a little bit cold outside at the moment. These sorts of temperatures, and lower, are going to be reasonably common for us for a while now.
Cheers,
Deepy and Brett
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.