The days are getting substantially longer, we’re now at 17 hours of daylight and by the end of November, the sun will rise and not dip below the horizon for six weeks. The impact that might have on our sleep is a ‘future us’ problem, but for now we are enjoying the light and the slightly warmer days.
This week we have been blessed with a few magnificent days of clear blue skies and afternoons with light winds. The light is beautiful as the sun sets with gorgeous oranges, pinks and lilacs. Everyone’s mood lifts on these days and we wander around the station, peeling off the layers and remarking on the warm temperatures (when it’s still -13°C outside). This has also allowed for recreational field trips up onto the plateau to Rumdoodle and across the sea ice to Auster.
Summer is nigh and with it comes ships and flights and a pending sense of loss as some of the team prepare to depart (breaking up our happy little family). But in turn, the Adélie penguins are due to arrive any day now and the pace of work is picking up. Lots of science project work underway to get ready for the summer, some training so we’re set for more outdoor activities, and planning for cargo and resupply and maybe a little mail. With that we had a large Search and Rescue Exercise this week - the LAST exercise, to Locate, Access, Stablise and Transport - which coincidentally is our last exercise for this year. Over the course of four hours, we successfully located two expeditioners who were a little geographically confused on one of the offshore islands, returning the injured party back to station to the outstanding care by our station doctor and his lay surgical assistants. Hopefully none of those lessons will have to be utilised over the next few months!
In case Donna was getting bored, we decided we should have another big family dinner over the weekend. As is to be expected the food was incredible. Bar snacks a plenty, then homemade tortellini, slow cooked beef cheeks, confit duck and lamb racks with all the vegies and condiments, and just in case that wasn’t enough… a dessert buffet. We followed dinner with a little arts and crafts session. Tom has 3D printed everyone their very own little penguin, and we painted those while chatting over a few drinks.
And as a little added bonus this week - photos have now been processed from the most recent trip to Auster emperor penguin colony; so, some photos to show the growth of the chickees for your viewing pleasure.
Bec, SL
