It was a another windless day at Davis when Chris, Terry, Dan, and myself (Graham) set out after work on Friday bound for Bandits Hut.
Bandits is the most northern hut in the station operating area, situated on an island, and only accessible by boat and helicopter during summer. However during winter, it has to be the best quad bike ride if you take the “outside line” weaving around the icebergs.
The weather on the day was no exception! The trip up was magnificent, passing a jade berg that resembles a cat, and many more spectacular bergs.
The plan for the next day was to visit two points of interest, Mickkelsen’s cairn and Sir Hubert Wilkins cairn.
At Mikkelsen cairn there is a flag pole where Mikkelsen and his wife Ingrid went ashore. His wife Ingrid was the first woman to set foot on the Antarctic continent, in 1935. Later we heard that their story is in a cylinder attached to the bottom of the flag pole (we didn’t see it as it’s covered in snow).
Next we headed to Wilkins cairn, which is on the coast. There is an aluminium box that contains some trinkets and information about Sir Hubert Wilkins, who visited this site and two others in his plane in January 1939. He also left the Australian Red Ensign flag — there’s a replica at the cairn.
After a magnificent day riding on the ice, just as we got back to Bandits, we spotted three Emperor penguins, who were quite inquisitive at our presence.
Sunday’s plan included a sleep in and a return route home via the coast and a visit to the Rookery Lake apple.
Graham (Electrician)
