And so it is that we have had our last weekend on station cut off from the world.
After our epic cleaning working bee, station is ready for our Australia Day Sunday celebrations and its new population. Those that wanted a final farewell tour walked a 10km loop of Gwamm and station as part of the inter-station KBA10km annual challenge (won by Macquarie Island again this year — congrats to them).
It was perfect summer day here with sunshine and there was hardly any wind: ideal for a swim. Those that were willing plunged in, and then out again pretty quickly. There’s a 5 minute limit for the swim, but no one got close to that. Way more time was spent in the snowmelter hot tub however!
Our BBQ/Spit chefs had been busy most of the day supervising meat cooking, and we had a lovely dinner in Rosella workshop followed by a double feature drive-in presentation in the workshop, complete with tiered seating ranging from the back of the Pioneer to ute, quads and our usual comfy cinema chairs.
The public holiday to recover was the next day, and came with the news that the ship was arriving (early!) that evening some time. We awoke Tuesday morning to see the big red ship in Kista Strait. Some ice still to move out of the way, but resupply has basically begun. The new winter team are due to come to station today and handovers will then commence. Good luck to Kyle and his team — we are sure you'll enjoy your year here.
Our time has come to an end in this gorgeous place: thanks to all our family and friends for their support in making this adventure possible. See you soon!