It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, at Casey that means decorations up in the red shed, lots of science projects ramping up and moving out into the field, and a big red ship entering harbour. So Christmas is once again going to be a little delayed here at Casey, but there is still lots of good cheer, smiling faces, and it will certainly be a white one!
As I write this the Aurora Australis has just sailed into harbour. There is much expectation as she brings within her cargo our personal effects (especially for the winterers, who will receive what is to last them until November next year), fresh fruit and vegies, lots of meat and cheese (things we’ve been missing) and even, hopefully, some presents from home. Not to mention of course all the really important things to keep the station ticking over for the next year– fuel, maintenance supplies, and project equipment.
It’s been a busy week at station once again, with interconnecting flights from Hobart meeting flights to and from Davis, Progress and Concordia. We really are an international airport. With a few delays, we had three very lovely Italian scientists with us for a few days longer than they expected (but we’re still waiting for the fresh pasta they promised to make), most connections worked and we said farewell before we even realised we had some of the people on station. The last flight from Hobart was the RAAF C-17A on Sunday, bring down to us two HeliRes helicopters to resource the science projects here over the summer.
Good weather has enabled the helicopters to be up and running very quickly and we were lucky enough to undertake a station operating area familiarisation flight yesterday. This was combined with the delivery to Haupt Nunatuk of Sean R, our meteorology tech, to undertake repairs of the automatic weather station and members of the King project to collect rock samples. The King team also got out to Holl and Niles Islands to collect more rocks, so making great strides into their project with a first flurry of activity.
The Totten Ice Dynamics and Evolution (TIDE) project has been out undertaking field site assessment, tracking down the towers erected last summer, and are now preparing to deploy to the glacier. The Jolley team are patiently waiting for the sea ice to clear from the wharf before they can get out on the water to start their testing in earnest, and the ICECAP team are ready and waiting for the JKB Basler aircraft to arrive tomorrow so they can set it up and get flying.
All very exciting and busy (especially when you throw in a ship resupply to contend with.)
So, must get back to the big red ship in the harbour.
Best wishes for a very Merry Christmas to all from the whole Casey team.
by Rebecca Jeffcoat (station leader).
