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Yesterday afternoon, as the ship lay surrounded by the silent white world of the ice the crew and expeditioners of the Aurora Australis celebrated a belated Christmas. Catering for 49 expeditioners and 24 crew is a relentless and challenging task on even a regular day. How Bob and his team in the galley manage to create such a seemingly fresh and sumptuous banquet complete with seafood, traditional Christmas meats and desserts within the confines of a ship's galley from what exists in the freezers remains a mystery to all, but it has a lot to do with their exceptional skill and work ethic.
After lunch came the cutting of the Christmas cake, presided over by ship's IR, Lewis. Expeditioners and crew then gathered in the E-Deck library for an exchange of gifts, this year hosted by honorary Santa's helper Hamad, a guest of P&O from the United Arab Emirates.
With the formal Christmas proceedings completed, those not on board enjoyed a leisurely afternoon and evening of cold cuts, films and books. Those venturing outside were treated to the vision of a brilliant bright expanse where ice, snow and cloud coalesced, holding the ship suspended in white nothingness.
We have travelled approx. 5nm overnight, with the best efforts of the ship's crew to force a path northwards still frustrated by the winds and currents. For many readers at home and some of our expeditioners on board, this additional delay caused by ice conditions may understandably be a cause of some consternation. However, we are on an ice breaker, and this is Antarctica. So we'll just have to wait for the winds and ice to conspire in our favour once again.. perhaps sometime in the coming day..
In the meantime, please find below a great contribution from Bill from Geoscience Australia regarding his project work this year down at Casey:
'Casey is home to a geomagnetic observatory, one of 10 run by Geoscience Australia. Measurements of the magnetic field have been undertaken at Casey since 1975, initially by the AAD with advice from the BMR/AGSO and later Geoscience Australia. Earlier measurements were also taken at Wilkes base. In 2006 Geoscience Australia began full time management of the Casey observatory with support from the AAD. This visit was to replace the aging vector magnetometer which was installed during the summer of 2007-08. The new magnetometer is similar in also measuring both the direction and magnitude of the field once per second.
The Casey observatory forms an important part of the Australian network. The data collected is used for many things, including secular variation which is the slow steady change of the Earth's magnetic over time. It can then be used in many diverse ways including but not limited to; navigation, space weather forecasting, deep core and solar research and directional drilling. Casey is also important as it is the closest observatory to the magnetic south pole. Similar systems are also found at Mawson and Macquarie Island where the current observatories date back to the early 1950's. There are 7 other observatories that make up the Australian network, allowing near real-time measurement of the magnetic field over 1/8th of the Earth.'
Regards
Voyage Management.
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.