V3 sitrep – Thursday, 02 April 2015

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Maintaining good speed and we are remainon target to arrive in Hobart tomorrow morning the 3 April. For further information on our arrival you can call the AAD Transport Information Service.

The number for this service is 1800 030 744.

This will be the last SITREP for this 66 day voyage, V3 2015.

Everyone is busy cleaning cabins and packing for our arrival tomorrow.

It has been a long and very successful voyage with Mawson station receiving a full resupply and nearly a million litres of fuel, and Davis receiving a smaller amount of cargo. The Mawson wintering party has been switched out and the summer expeditioners from Davis retrieved.

In addition to the logistics operations at Mawson and Davis we have also had a tremendously successful 3 weeks of marine science trawling up monsters from the deep, catching live krill and recording terrabytes of acoustic and other data.

Everyone has mucked in and contributed in some way, and been exceptionally patient on this long voyage.

A huge thanks to all.

The galley staff and stewards who have cooked and served over 10,000 meals and washed around 30,000 cups bowls and dishes! The engineers who have kept the ship running and chugging along, the IR's who work the decks in some of the most inhospitable weather imaginable and the officers who keep it all together and make sure we're steering in the right direction and don't get stuck in the ice!

Thanks to all the voyage support team who drive the watercraft, keep the communications working, fly and maintain the helicopters, record and forecast the weather, keep us healthy and well.

Thanks to all of the expeditioners who have patiently waited as we trundled up and down transects for days on end, but still volunteered to help monitor echo sounders, sort fish and weird creature from the deep, join the predator and sea ice observation survey teams hourly on the bridge, help the galley peeling spuds and washing dishes and most importantly remained happy, generous, friendly and understanding.

Thanks to Bridget and the team back in Tas who have been helping us, assisting us and guiding us throughout the voyage!

And finally thanks for the great fundraiser and generosity of everyone who contributed to the $16,500 raised for Camp Quality during the. voyage.

Oh! And did I mention it's my birthday tomorrow?

Cheers,

Andy and Simon

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.