Home Sweet (Home) Mawson
So, this is it! Nuyina has now been gone for just over a week, and the station population has shrunk to 21. This number won't budge for the next ten months roughly, until some summer expeditioners join us around November.
We're still finding our feet, taking in the place we will call home for the foreseeable future, and so far, it's been amazing!
The reason for that could be that we are arriving when Mawson is at its most hospitable: plenty of sunshine, bearable temperatures - I even saw a few expeditioners ("expos" in our local lingo) in shorts outside, albeit with a puffer jacket on top - sea freed from its shackles of ice, and motivation and excitement levels at their highest!
The facilities are amazing, from the comfortable and cozy main accommodation building, known as the "Red Shed" to the myriad of entertainment options: gym, spa/sauna, climbing wall, all sorts of games from ping pong to darts, pool, fussball and pretty much every board game ever invented. Then there's also the music room, the hobbie hut, the theatre, the arts and crafts corner, the library, the "quiet room" (aka the Dog Room, for its shrine to the many generations of huskies that were part of past Australian Antarctic Programs), and of course, there is a bar. Although the heart of where people congregate is the mess, where yummy healthy meals are prepared daily by our lovely Chef Kez. For someone like myself who's not into cooking, say no more and just ring my dinner bell!
Our individual room are like little nests, with heaps of storage space, and a pin board and display cabinets for photos and personal touches. My brother refers to it as my "cell" and keeps on asking what I must have done to "get 15 months without parole", but his cheekiness won't deter my enthusiasm! Some expeditioners have taken advantage of empty rooms to spread out and install their own stationary bikes: there might be a Tour de Mawson coming in the near future, stay tuned.
But what does it for me is the landscapes around us, the ever-changing weather, the shades of white and blue on the glacier, the moody nature of the sea battled by furious katabatic winds coming down from the plateau, the feel of the weathered rocks, the sense of space beyond time.
And then there are the friendly locals, the Adélie Penguins and the weddell Seals, but I reckon this is best kept for another Icy New edition.
Diane Chanut, Bureau of Meteorology Observer - Mawson Station
