This week at Casey: 1 July 2016

It has been a very busy week here at Casey station for the maintenance plumbing team. The week started with our midwinter celebrations with the arrival of our midwinter swim to start the day off. The anticipation mounted as we all jumped into Häggs and headed for the frozen sea ice. The sight of the frozen icy water was upon us. As we headed for the hole cut by our diesos, we undressed and jumped in and out as quick as possible except for our Jimmy, who decided to stay in the water for a 10 second count down, which he completed successfully. Nice work Jimmy. Not to forget Shifty the penguin by our side, keeping a close eye on proceedings.

The week had not ended there with the weather turning cold, with freezing temperatures of −30°C with southerly winds of about 50 knots. Things started to get nasty with the balloon building starting to feel the might of the southerly winds.

As the building started to freeze, so were the pipes and fittings. The boys were up most of the night repairing burst water valves and trying to keep the temperatures above freezing in most of the buildings.

The night of our midwinter dinner we took a formal Plumbing Division photo, including Jacob (too many nicknames to list) Taylor, who under the loving and nurturing wing of the plumber team is fast becoming an integral member, as well as Shifty (a creation of Wayne that was thought up before we even left Hobart).

The week ended with our midwinters darts competition starting 29 June against all Australian stations, with Macquarie Island coming up first. Already we have had plenty of stirring from a couple of lads at Macca. Sorry to say that they have no chance at beating the stars of the Casey pro darts team.