The start of a new season at Casey
A big warm welcome from Casey and to the commencement of the 2025/2026 season with the 79th ANARE.
I was here at Casey last summer as the Deputy Station Leader, now coming back as the Station Leader for the next 12 months. It was bittersweet leaving the brilliant 78th ANARE team at the end of summer, but for the few of us returning, seeing their smiling faces at Wilkins and then on station was something pretty special. A huge thankyou to the winter Station Leader Andy Warton who looked after the crew during the cold and dark winter months. He is heading home now, back to his ‘other’ job as the Northern Territories Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner.
A first for a lot of us was flying from Hobart to Wilkins Aerodrome on the huge Air Force C17. It’s not every day you travel in such style, sharing the cabin space with huge pieces of machinery set up for working in Antarctica. Wilkins Aerodrome put on a show and we had the most amazing weather for landing. Blue sky and no wind….very smooth. We had our obligatory tourist stop at the Antarctic sign which is aways a bit of fun for everyone and then arrived at our new home – Casey Station.
The summer work program is definitely ramping up. The small 79th crew on station are getting to know the place and we are looking forward to the rest of our team arriving over the coming weeks. We’ve started survival training, vehicle inductions and every day we vigilantly look for weather windows to fly our Davis visitors to Davis Station, and the Million Year Ice Core team up to Concordia.
To our 78th winterers who are still working hard, thankyou for the warm welcome and thank you for clearing Wharf Road!!! Enjoy your last couple of weeks in this amazing place.
Justine Thompson
Station Leader, Casey Station
