Happy New Year to you and welcome back to Davis Station! We hope our readers have had a happy and restorative festive season.
In the weeks since our last installment, our expeditioners have been busy both on the work front and in preparing for and celebrating Christmas and New Year’s. Behind the stories following, there has been much else going on.
Field research teams have climbed rocky heights to install GPS systems, and plunged sampling containers into deep lakes. Radar data continues to be analysed, biopiles sampled and the final sampling and packing of successfully concluded projects continues.
Infrastructure work has continued on the wharf, in the wastewater treatment facility and with the disassembly of the old batching plant, in addition to ongoing and critical maintenance projects such as the swap out of extinguishers on station. Our air ground support officers have put the finishing touches on a second ski landing area and supported regular aviation operations on station.
Our operations section comprising of forecasters, observers, comms operators, field training officers, pilots and ground crews have facilitated fixed wing and helicopter flights in support of our ski landing area at Woop Woop and to a number of remote field locations. They have been deploying geology teams at Mt Brown and Beaver Lake and returning passengers and cargo to and from Mawson and Casey Stations in addition to local area flying.
Our medical practitioner has been busy with monthly medicals and assisting trades with the reverse osmosis plant to start up water testing.
Our team of chefs had no sooner completed their post-resupply sorting before beginning preparations for Christmas. The work truly paid off to the pleasure and appreciation of the station with sumptuous but beautifully proportioned dishes that reminded all of us what we have to be thankful for. All this against a backdrop of the ice out front of station breaking off and disappearing over the horizon…
James Moloney, Station Leader