Fine dining at Mawson poses an interesting challenge for expeditioners facing a return to Australia and we see how machines cope outdoors in blizzard conditions.

Social activities

As the winter comes to an end and the winterers start to return to Australia and beyond its time to remember some of the small things. For example, in Australia, beer costs money. Restaurant style meals also cost money. So when the time comes to pay, the first time, how many of us can remember our pin number? I can’t! The number that I have used on an almost daily basis for the last 15–20 years, that you don’t write down and you don’t tell anyone, is lost from memory after 9–12 months.

Make sure you know yours BEFORE the embarrassing moment comes.

Here is a look at some of the meals that we have shared which will cost real money back home in Australia.

The magnificent spread for casino night which included crayfish and salmon.
Chocolate croissants for brunch on mid winters.
Quail sausage roll with Earl Grey tea jelly and fig vincotto.
Salmon and scallop spring roll with soy butter sauce and fresh snow peas.
All our bread is baked on station and the spelt sourdough loaf is a favorite.
Crayfish and poached whole salmon with horseradish cream.

Blizzed In and wind scours

As we came out of winter and headed towards summer, it was a good opportunity to have a closer look around the station and see what the combination of months of strong winds and sideways snow have done to our vehicles and buildings.

What is a blizzard? I think the meteorological version is gale force winds (over 34 knots), visibility less than 100 metres by blowing snow which needs to be continuous over a period of at least an hour.

The combination of strong winds blowing fine snow (known as drift snow) means that any little gap or opening will let the drift snow in and it builds up very rapidly over a blizzard or several blizzards. At this stage we have had over 25 blizzards this year!

We park a lot of our vehicles and equipment outside during winter, as we do not have large sheds or garages where they can be parked. Certain precautions are undertaken such as parking directly into the wind and fitting ‘blizz’ covers to certain vehicles. This does help reduce the amount of snow build-up inside vehicle, most times. Sometimes there is really not much else you can do except let it fill up with snow — that snow stops more from entering.

Once summer comes we dig out the vehicles and remove as much snow from inside as out, then we heat the vehicles to remove the last of the snow and stop it forming into ice. The vehicles are then brought into a heated workshop were they are serviced and inspected, ready for the summer.

The buildings here at Mawson are generally clear of snow and the build-up of snow. We do get blizz tails on the downwind side of some buildings where the snow is deposited after slowing down. This is primarily due to their design and their orientation to the prevailing snow carrying winds.

The upwind side of buildings stays clear of snow due to the turbulence and scouring effect of the wind hitting the building. 

One photo (below) is of the receivers hut (Budgie) that sits in a deep wind scour with snow banks over three metres all around. 

The old original Mawson station buildings entrances are also clear of blizz snow, whilst all around the snow has built up to over five metres deep.

This shows that the good design and location of our buildings allows them to be accessed all year round. 

One of the sleds used to transport cargo around the plateau and sea ice half buried under snow drift.
The cab of our skid steer loader full of blizz snow.
Old station snow build up is substantial but access to all building is still available.
Sleds which are only just showing through the snow.
A truck which is largely buried under snow.
Wind scour around building leave entry to the building accessible.
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