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Another successful day of our resupply has been completed today, but more of that after we tell you about last night. As it was time to turn in for the night, hail started to hit the ship. Hail on a steel ship is quite noisy, so a few of us headed out to have a look at what the weather was offering us at the end of our first day at Macquarie Island. Moments later there was a chorus of "wow" as we looked up into a clear sky to see an Aurora Australis shimmering over the RSV Aurora Australis. For many this was their first sighting of such a clear Aurora and as always we were honoured to experience the Southern Lights in such a beautiful setting.
We awoke again this morning as the ship dropped anchor in Buckles Bay ready to commence resupply. After breakfast we commenced operations and by morning tea time we hit a great rhythm with passengers transferring by helicopter and cargo discharged to LARCs. It always takes a little while to get settled into operations as we need to remove the lashings that keep our cargo in place whilst at sea before we can begin to lift cargo out with the ship's crane. As it got colder and bit less pleasant on the water we decided to stand down LARCS for a while and fed more cargo to helicopters. We now have around 25% of our cargo ashore and many of our round trip programs underway. Tomorrow promises to be a good day which will see the last of our round trip passengers ashore to start their work as well. We have our fingers crossed that tomorrow may present our first opportunity to refuel, but as with everything at Macquarie Island that decision is currently in the hands of the weather.
REGARDS: Nicki and Mike
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.