Surreal quickly became real as we watched the Aurora Australis pull a surprisingly fast 180o turn to retrace her steps through the 1.7m sea ice and back out into open water. Heading: Hobart…with a bit of krill fishing on the way.
The weather has been seriously *amazing* up to this point…however the ship did take our Riviera sunshine with it and left us with some persistent cloud cover, light snowfall and a bit of a breeze.
As the AA quickly disappeared it was our cue to take a breath and begin establishing our critical response capabilities before commencing field operations. These include fire, search and rescue, lay surgical assistant orientation, and an array of baseline functions such as vehicle/watercraft readiness, IT and communications…all humming in the background while science teams prepare.
With this now behind us, our Field Training Officers begin coordinating a heavy workload of training and assessment to ensure those entering the field are all suitably trained, geared up and prepped to get their work done safely in this often wild environment. It’s a busy season ahead!
