Resupply for winter and the Green Store is looking nice and full, the keys to the station are handed over to the 70th ANARE station leader and the 69th ANARE are farewelled.

All the food we need for a long winter…

How many fresh eggs does Mawson station need for a long winter? The answer is thousands!

We haven’t started counting yet… but during resupply teams of expeditioners restocked our freezers and cold stores full to the brim with an amazing selection of food. Amongst the mix we have thousands of fresh eggs, 180 kilograms of bacon, 144 kilograms of green peas, dozens of boxes of gourmet sausages, 50 kilograms of Tasmanian salmon and 96 jars of Tasmanian liquid gold honey. One of our Green Store walls is also filled with calorie rich chocolate (for our field trips of course…).

We have lobsters, oysters and quails for special occasions – and for those very special occasions our chef Benny even brought gold leaf to Antarctica!
Two expeditioners are unloading boxes of fresh salmon from a shipping container
Lisa is pushing boxes of sausages along a production line on wheels

Station handover and Leon’s birthday celebration

After a hectic week of resupplying and refuelling Mawson, on Saturday night the outgoing 69th ANARE team officially handed over the station to the 70th ANARE winter team.

The summer station leader – Ali, handed the keys to the station to the new station leader Kat, and we all shared an Indian banquet to celebrate Leon’s birthday. To top off the evening we shared Leon’s delicious birthday cake.

Kat is holding large gold keys that have been handed to her by Ali
Leon is blowing out the candles on a large cream and chocolate covered cake
Benny is wearing a chef uniform and is presenting Leon with a large cream and chocolate cake

Marine debris collection from islands in the Kista Strait

A very successful boating operation took a team out to the islands to the west and east of Béchervaise Island in the Kista Strait to collect marine debris. Two quarter height containers were filled with old fuel drums and timber which had been blown onto the islands over many decades. A great clean up effort from the team of Watercraft Operators and Mawson summer expeditioners.

Two men are loading old fuel barrels from an island onto a barge
Two men are holding marine debris and old fuel drums with a barge and Mawson Station in the background

Wombats and echidnas

This week a rare Australian marsupial found a new home at Mawson station. After a summer of tinkering with scrap metal, Clint created Rex the echidna.

Rex was named by popular vote and found his new home in front of the Wombat RSL — the science building here at Mawson.

A man in a work uniform holds a spanner and is making a metal Echidna
A metal Echidna is located on a pole in front of a building named the Wombat RSL

Farewell 69th ANARE team

Farewell to the 69th ANARE team — thank you for taking care of Mawson for the past 12 months and for your hard work during resupply. We look forward to seeing some of you again next summer!

A group of 24 expeditioners wearing winter coats stand in front of the harbour
A group of expeditioners farewell the previous group.
on