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Last night, the ship's mess echoed with Pat Benatar power ballads and huddled whispers as expeditioners and crew gathered in their active wear finest for the inaugural V5 Quiz Night. Our capable hosts Harley and Matt, tested our recall from 80s song lyrics and Richard Symmons leotards through to precise specifications of the RSV Nuyina's design – under the steely adjudication of Dr Dane. Whilst Brendan of 'Team Brendan' impressed with his Super Mario chops in the sudden death round, it was Team 'KM' that won the night, (and an array of AAD merchandise).
With 'Eye of the Tiger' by Survivor still ringing in our ears, expeditioners and crew undertook a general emergency muster drill before donning the contents of our survival bags at muster stations and filing out onto the external decks of the ship and into lifeboats. This being the second such drill conducted this voyage, it provides us with useful insights and lessons learned as we refine our emergency procedures.
After lunch, expeditioners were instructed on the contents of the ship's group survival kits. The Nuyina's cavernous helicopter hangar began to resemble a Macpac showroom as expeditioners familiarised themselves with shovels, stoves, rations, medical kits, sleeping bags, mattresses, tents and an assortment of other critical kit we hope to never call upon but are glad to have.
Our thanks to Scott Chambers and Alan Griffiths, research scientists from the Environmental Research Division of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) who have provided an overview of their V5 activities below:
'Our primary objectives on voyage 5 are to test and repair the calibration unit for the atmospheric radon (222Rn) detector in the Clean Air Laboratory on Macquarie Island, as well as to perform a 10-year overhaul of the radon detector itself. Ideally, we would also like to investigate the possibility of later installing a radon detector in the RSV Nuyina's atmospheric chemistry laboratory. Radon is a naturally occurring gas, originating from terrestrial surfaces, that is unreactive but has a short (3.8-day) half-life. In remote locations such as the Southern Ocean or coastal Antarctica, radon constitutes a convenient and unambiguous tracer of how much contact a given air mass is likely to have had with unfrozen land surfaces over the past 2 to 3 weeks. In addition to our primary objectives, while on Macquarie Island we will be checking on the CSIRO "Gas-Lab" equipment in the Clean Air Laboratory, and, with the assistance of Urs Grueter, supporting another ANSTO project, which is part of SAEF (Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future), by installing some rainfall samplers, a "High-Vol" aerosol sampler and collecting some lake water samples.'
Regards
James & Brendan
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.