Bear with me while I write a little about the last week here at Davis station where I’ve been busy finding my bearings with the 76th ANARE.
It’s been quite the journey for me thus far, from my humble beginnings as a cub at school to my time in Hobart training and getting kitted out in my work and survival gear. From Hobart I flew to Wilkins Bearodrome and took a connecting flight to the Davis ski way on the sea ice!
Since arriving on Davis it was an induction, handover and time to get stuck into some work. More so last week, our top-notch fire teams and Search and Rescue (SAR) teams did drills which saw the whole station getting involved and out of their caves. Unfortunately with 24 hours of daylight, the Bat Signal in the sky does not work in Antarctica during summer, so our fire and SAR teams need to be ready fur any emergencies at any time without any help from masked crusaders.
I’ve gotten to learn so much about life on station this week and it’s not all about work though. A huge part of station life is our recreational and social time with so much to do and so many places to relax.
We are fantastically fed on station and what better place to eat than our mess. This large room houses so much food and hungry bears to eat it. The mess is surrounded by windows that look over Davis station, the sea ice and icebergs in the bay (quite a change of scenery for me, as the only icebergs I’ve seen before this week are the green leafy kind!), the view is really dine-o-mite! We work on a roster where we will help out and clean in the kitchen and around the living areas in a role they call a “Slushie”, doing this I’m picking up tips and tricks and meal ideas for when I get home! It didn’t take me long to work out who the most important person on the station is….the chef! And our chef Kez should have more Michelin Stars than a night sky constellation!
One of my favourite activities after dinner (my equal third most favourite meal of the day) is darts. I’ve had no experience playing darts before but enjoy the social banter with the rest of the sleuth. I’ve even earnt the nickname “Mister Dartboard”…. I think this is because I usually do.
Usually after darts I will indulge in a game of pool. Fortunately we agreed on some station rules to pin up, as everyone has their own rules based on what neck of the woods they’re from. I usually don’t have to wait long to have a game even though there are long cues!
Instead of playing games some days I will go into the library to read a book, the station has a large selection of books to choose from and comfy chairs to read them in. I’ve been enjoying the polar literature section. I’m now about to read a step by step guide on how to walk on the ice and not slip, I found it in the non-friction section.
The post office was open this week. Usually a post office is nothing to write home about, but this is a post office right here in Antarctica! Our friendly post master Marshall assisted me buying stamps for all my postcards and letters back to my fans and classmates back home.
Applications are open for the next season of operations and with so many different roles to fill and fun to have I would highly recommend having a look and starting your own adventure.
Thank you for letting me share a snippet of my adventure so far.
Rosie the Bear
Rosie is a Prep class sascot at Rangeville State School and she has been sharing her journey with the students who are getting to learn about Antarctica along the way, inspiring the next generation of Antarctic researchers!
