This could be the last station news item from the 2013/14 crew and then it’s out with the old and in with the new 2014 winter team.
It has been an excellent season with most people’s expectations fulfilled, and the fact that Mawson is the premier continental station reinforced into the minds of everybody here. Over the past three or four weeks we have witnessed the sea ice in the vicinity of Mawson break out, allowing a brief window for some boating operations and iceberg cruising, then as quickly as it disappeared, the overnight temperatures have dropped and the new sea ice is well on its way to being trafficable once more. The impending winter is upon us now, as the daylight hours grow shorter and the temperature falls slowly lower, night by night. Ice crystals are beginning to form on windows and on clear nights, the aurora australis can be seen again, snaking across the sky.
The ship is now only days away and our season almost at an end, but there is much comfort in knowing we are returning home to friends and loved ones, with whom we can share the thoughts and memories (and unseen photos) of an adventure we were most privileged to experience.
AWESOME MAWSON, it’s been great.
14 months on the continent. “Look out baby, I’m comin’ home!”
Here are a few images from the past few weeks.
