This week at Davis: 2 March 2012

On Saturday 18^th Feb we were lucky enough to be treated to a Mexican feast followed by a birthday celebration for BOM observer Stephanie MacDonald.

The evening started with cocktails made by Lucas Koleits and Ben Thomas with the kind donation of a bottle of tequila from Adam Christensen.

The food. Where do I start on the amazing food?! Brent Dennett led the kitchen team with preparing the feast and it did not disappoint. We started with nachos followed by tacos and then enchiladas and there was plenty to go around (the leftovers the next day were just as good).

As it was Steph’s birthday, she chose for dessert lemon meringue pie and Brigid yet again impressed with her culinary skills.

After dinner we headed upstairs to the traditional piñata that was lovingly made throughout the week before. The layers of papier-mâché and the beautiful paint job made it very unique, and the home made toffee and chocolate crackles made by Brigid and Karen were a hit. Unfortunately the piñata only lasted one hit from the birthday girl before falling to the ground and exploding but it was worth the effort and lots of fun.

All in all, the night was yet another successful event put together by the many talented people on Davis Station and a big thanks go to everyone involved for making it a wonderful night, and a huge Happy Birthday to Steph who had a night to remember.

Last weekend we saw the grand opening of the now, almost traditional, annual end-of-summer Davis Arts ‘n’ Craft Show. The show provides the expeditioners with an opportunity to get in touch with their creative sides and produce some extraordinary and beautiful work. Entries were submitted from a large range of disciplines including metal work, drawing, model making, knitting, sewing, papier-mâché, woodwork, jewellery making and glass etching. The list just goes on.

The library in the new living quarters was the 2012 venue and was a hive of activity prior to the big day. Nick Cartwright and a team of helpers transformed the library into an amazing gallery that was a perfect backdrop to display the submitted pieces. To add to the elegant and sophisticated ambiance, the chefs had prepared a sumptuous spread of canapés and finger food delights that were able to be enjoyed as one sipped a glass of bubbly and perused the exhibits. Très chic!

A big thank you and congratulations to all who contributed to the show and helped make it such a success. It gave us a glimpse of yet another side of the multi-talented Davis 2012 summer team.

As well as the Arts ’n’ Craft Show opening, Saturday saw another performance from the Davis Band. ‘Kiss The Fish’ of New Years Eve fame had undergone a few line up changes and a name change (now ‘Rubber Thing In Your Sound Hole’ — who understands musicians?) and emerged with a new edgier hard rock sound and image.

We were treated to a few of the old favourites in ‘Holy Grail’, ‘Day Tripper’, ‘Slide’ and ‘If You Could Only See’ plus some new cutting edge material in ‘Creep’, ’Bad Moon Rising’ and ‘Pump It Up’.

Current members Darryl (lead guitar and vocals), Joe (rhythm guitar), Nic (drums), Louise (keyboard), Steph (bass guitar), Rick (vocals, percussion), Chris (bass guitar), Lucas (rhythm guitar) and Jacki (vocals, percussion) belted out the playlist with gusto and enthusiasm.

Their performance was so impressive that a return set later in the evening was needed to placate the adoring fans and dance fiends.

On Tuesday we had an unexpected visit from a lone male Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus Gazella) that came out of the water and onto the beach at Davis for a short sojourn in his foraging journey around the East Antarctic coastline. 

These seals are relatively rare at Davis so the station population turned out with cameras a-clicking to record the event — the first Antarctic fur seal most of us had ever seen at close quarters. 

He appeared in good health, no doubt having made the most of the krill that is evidently abundant in Prydz Bay this year.

On a beautiful morning last Saturday Ken Smith , John Harris, Ben Honor and Frank Herbold made the most of the perfect conditions and painted the new structural steelwork around the wharf. 

A high performance, surface-tolerant epoxy coating was used to protect the steelwork from the harsh environment . Four hours later the job was completed.