This week at Mawson: 26 August 2022

Going to the gym everyday can help improve your cardiovascular system, strengthen your muscles, help you maintain your weight, boost your mental health and decrease the odds that you will develop other health conditions. Let’s face it, we are a fit bunch here at Mawson!

Hmmm… well maybe. We do have a group of gym junkies that consistently use the cardio room, a group that pumps iron in the weights gym and a dedicated bunch that are getting stretchy with it, doing yoga in the cinema. For most of us here at Mawson, the routine of getting to the gym is all about improving our health and fitness.

This year so far, we have competed in the Push-up Challenge, held every year to not only improve your health and fitness but to also provide awareness for mental health issues. I would like to congratulate our Mawson push-up team for not only completing the challenge but also for raising funds to go towards mental health charities.

We have an ongoing 5km run/walk and a 15km bike challenge that’s all about trying to improve our times and fitness, and this month we started a boot camp which incorporates stretching, boxing and light weights in a circuit format.

Go hard Mawson!

Fitzy, Gym Manager

We had a quiet week with blizzards or high winds keeping us indoors, resulting in a number of recreational field trips being cancelled. This allowed us a weekend to regroup and relax after a frantic two days of cinematic artistry the weekend before, for the Antarctic Film Festival. We’re still waiting for voting to be completed before we find out whether we’ve maintained the Mawson winning streak.

During the last week though, the weather broke for three days; just enough time to successfully complete another deep field trip across the sea-ice to Colbeck / Taylor Glacier (approximately 85km or 6hrs drive to the west of station). This trip was primarily operational with the key objectives of hut maintenance and prepositioning of equipment for the next trip - which is scheduled to go about 200km further to the west.

The team of five people, and two Hägglunds, also took the opportunity to drive round the end of Taylor Glacier and visit Proclamation Point. This allowed them to check on the local emperor penguin colony (from a distance, staying outside the Antarctic Specially Protected Area) and see how their breeding season was progressing. From all reports – chicks are hatching and adults are busy moving into the colony with food for the chicks or heading out to fish – they were so task orientated they had little interest in stopping to see what the visitors were up to.

All in all, another successful and safe deep field trip for the Mawson team, with a few more 2022 expeditioners now making it out west to see some extraordinary Antarctic sites.

Bec J