Wilkins Team Deploys
After returning to Casey Station once the aerodrome shut down for the winter, the Wilkins team got to work preparing to head straight back up the hill to commence the re-opening of the aerodrome. We were only on Station for four months where Tyler, our mechanic has completed a mammoth work load, servicing, inspecting and repairing 112 items such as Quadtrac tractors, bulldozers, loaders and snow groomers. It was hard to say goodbye to the team at Casey as we enjoyed our time with them, but we have a runway to prepare so we can all go home.
I am writing this article in a half-frozen building, after driving six hours to reach Wilkins, spending another six hours setting up home for the next four months. We had to start generators, erect powerlines, clear snow, melt snow for drinking water, inspect buildings, warm buildings up whilst also trying to keep ourselves warm. We departed station as an eight person crew with support from the Station’s trades team, our valuable electrician Jake Mills who made sure all our buildings had power and commissioned the cam, and Pat Kinsella and Lachlan Jefferys, our dynamic plumbing duo who made sure no pipes froze or burst before we pumped water into the building.
It will be a challenging task both physically and mentally. To make a camp habitable in a place that doesn’t like you being there makes it difficult, but I have an exceptional team that laughs in the face of adversity. Now we have to get everything ready so we can clear just over 3000 meters of snow all the way down to blue ice in 90 days to make a runway, ready to welcome the new Casey crew so we can hand over and fly back to Australia.
Cheers.
Jack McLeod
Wilkins Aerodrome Manager - Winter
Wilkins Aerodrome Antarctica S 66° 41’ E 111° 29’
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