tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9525898249747062112012-02-16T14:18:40.331-08:00Observations from adventuresOn Antarticahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07187560161962594824noreply@blogger.comBlogger381100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952589824974706211.post-33786090739779858832009-04-03T23:18:00.000-07:002009-04-03T23:56:04.572-07:00

27/03/2009After turning back on Davis and Antarctica it was ten days on the ship before we reached our next stop. Ship life resumed with the adoption of routine as the best means of survival. The seas were once again welcoming as the swell was relatively calm. The days passed quickly with the occasional hour forgotten as we crossed over several time zones, making our way east and north.I awoke

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08/03/2009In the last few weeks we have finalised our work around station and in the nearby hills. The weather has turned, with a greater proportion of station bound days due to strong winds which make being out and about less pleasant. We jumped at the chances provided by a few clear days, helping out with a survey on the nearby Sorsdal glacier where a British scientist was studying cryoconites,

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13/02/2009All the distant field work is complete and we are now working within the Vestfold Hills until the ship arrives. Too much time has been spent on station so we are making up reasons to be away. Not too hard when there is always something that could do with some surveying. The routine of station life is enticing, but we want to make the most of the field time we have in Antarctica. No fly

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24/01/2009Two weeks were spent at Davis. Sitting around was a common pass time as well as bla-di bla bla bla ... Lets fast forward to the good bit ... We loaded up two helicopters and flew south-west from Davis along the coast of ice and glaciers cracking off into the ocean. The helicopters dropped two of us at Law-Racovita Base for a week of surveying in the Larsemann Hills. Law-Racovita

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06/01/2009The last week has been spent in the Southern Prince Charles Mountains (PCMs) at two sites either side of the southern sweep of the biggest glacier on Earth, the Lambert Glacier. We flew out in the twin-prop C212 aircraft, which first headed southwest around the Ingrid Christensen coast and then over the Amery ice shelf to refuel at a depot at Beaver Lake. We then continued south over

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26/12/2008Every summer many Australians take to the beach and bustle themselves into busy caravan parks to get away from the city and enjoy the sun and surf. South west of Melbourne there is a particularly popular little beach side town called Ocean Grove, which is also well known as the Grove. I have been to the Grove a few times to visit friends, enjoy a bbq and listen to the cricket, as flies

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19/12/08Three days of field training to satisfy a paper work issue so I could go and do my work. I didn’t make a fuss as it sounded fun and gave me an opportunity for a pleasant walk in the hills, to wet my appetite for the more satisfying field trips yet to come.Helicopter dropped a party of eight of us at Trajer Ridge hut not far from the rise of ice to the plateau. We started off with a cuppa

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15/12/08Davis station. Located on the coast of the Vestfold Hills in Princess Elizabeth Land of East Antarctica. Davis is the largest of Australia’s Antarctic stations and will serve as my base for the next three months. An extremely short helicopter ride (up and down) got me off the ship and back on station. Not a lot has changed in the two years since I was last here. Although I do have my own

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12/12/2008For the last three weeks your humble narrator has been travelling as a passenger on the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) primary ocean transport vessel, the Aurora Australis. Voyage two for the summer Antarctic season. Life aboard the ship quickly developed into a routine built around the three meals of the day. Food was abundant and it was as if they were trying to fatten us all up,

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Antarctica is the southernmost, coldest, driest, windiest and most inhospitable continent on the planet. And your humble narrator is going there for the second time.Upon my return from the south last time, plenty of stories were told and pictures shown. I recall a common query from those enduring my tales of whether I would go back? My response was always "in a heart beat!" Well, I'm going back,

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03/10/2008Queensland. The sunshine state? The smart state?? I was sent up north to the QLD coast to get some sun and absorb the warmth before the upcoming Antarctic season. No, not really. Rather, three GPS surveys were conducted at the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) differential GPS sites in Gladstone, Mackay and Ingham. The work was really cruisy and simply involved connecting some

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21/09/2008Since returning from Spain there have been several travel stories not documented. One trip took me to the cold of Burnie, Tasmania in July. Working at the tide gauge within Burnie wharf with a senior field surveyor. Like they say in Tassie, two heads are better than one. Then, it was up to Darwin and Jabiru, NT in August for the end of the dry season and the start of the “build up”. Hot

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14/06/08Jaca is situated not far from the French border, in the midst of the Pyreness in the province of Huesca and was once the capital of Aragon. The town is now popular as an entry point to the mountains for winter sport and hiking. In Jaca, we located cheap accommodation in the local high school dorm rooms. "The book" made no mention of this option and we were well pleased to get a good one

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02/06/2008A rainy fair well from Morocco as we boarded the ferry, heading back to Tarifa, Spain. I still wasn't feeling the best and found a shady spot where I could keep my eyes shut during the ferry ride. This was a new addition to my list of exotic journeys I have taken with my eyes closed. We arrived in Spain as the sun came out and already I was starting to feel better. Hola Espana! Where

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25/05/2008The Kingdom of Morocco, located at the far north-west of Africa, with a predominantly Arab population (Sunni Muslims of Arab, Berber or mixed background) promised to be an interesting place to visit. And that it was, although I didn't find myself all that interested by the culture, as we were mostly exposed to the front line of Moroccan tourism, which consists mostly of touts, beggars,

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17/05/2008Lisboa is the capital of Portugal and was the starting point for a five week journey in which a foot was set in Portugal, Spain, Morocco, France and the United Kingdom. Lisboa was the first port of call for boring business purposes. Attendance was made at the "Measuring the changes" conference on deformation monitoring surveys, in which your humble narrator gave a short presentation on

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18/04/2008Field work. The reason I am based in Canberra. It is a little backward, but the reason I live in Canberra is so I can go somewhere else. In recent weeks I have had two trips to interesting places within Australia. Fortunately, I am an efficient worker, especially when there are sights I want to see after the work is done.First trip was to the astronomical capital of Australia in the

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07/03/2008In this blog entry we explore the wonder of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. Don't worry, when I first heard I was going, I didn't know where it was either. Micronesia means small islands. If you trace a line north up the east coast of Australia, cross over the equator and about 6 degrees into the northern latitudes there is a speck on the map. It looks like a bit of dust,

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17/01/2008.In the spirit of the lord of the rings the New Zealand installment to the blog page will be in the form of a trilogy. It is a bit long but don't worry it is not full of Tolkein references. However, it does end with me climbing up Mt Doom, but don't worry I didn't go up there to burn my ring.Can a guy do New Zealand in two weeks? No. But he can give it a bloody good go.Starting in

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21/01/2008The Routeburn track is one of New Zealands most popular tramps. The track is a well trodden 32km long path through some spectacular mountain countryside. Most people do the tramp over three days. However, due to a series of random events I was due at the tracks end in one day and half. This meant I didn't have much time to dawdle so I lugged my pack on and entered the forest. I was a

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27/01/2008My original intention was to spend more time at Queen Charlotte Sound and perhaps take a day trip kayaking around the area. However, as is New Zealand, the weather became a bit grim so I took the next Interislander ferry across Cook Straight from Te Wahi Pounamu (place of the greenstone, south island) to Aotearoa (land of the long white cloud, north island). It was fitting that the

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28/04/2007After the long voyage back from Antarctica, two weeks were spent readjusting in Melbourne before making the move back up the Hume highway to Canberra. One week passed in the office, in which the mass of emails which had accumulated after 5 months were deleted. The effort of settling back into Canberra was made easier by the beautiful autumn colours in the trees of the park that is the

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10/03/2007The Aurora Australis has arrived. This statement can have two interpretations, or three or seven, but for now I'll go with two. Firstly, the ship the Aurora Australis has arrived and is now floating in Davis harbour. The ship is currently being unloaded and loaded with freight. In a day I will board the ship and try to make myself as comfortable as possible in my cabin which will serve

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03/03/2007The last working week in Antarctica and it had a bit of everything. A day trip back to the Larsemann Hills, a few days of wild weather preventing activity outside, helicopter flights throughout the nearby Vestfold Hills and some spectacular sunsets.One day was spent retrieving the GPS equipment left in the Larsemann Hills the week before. We flew along the edge of the plateau, flying

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24/02/2007The Larsemann Hills is a nice spot to visit if you ever get the chance. A splatter of mountains wedged between the coast and the ice plateau, about 100km from Davis Station. Helicopter is the best form of transport, flying over icebergs and huge crevasse fields, where the plateau runs into the ocean. Conveniently, Australia has a small field base setup in the hills. Law Base. This

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17/02/2007Every week I write another On Antarctica entry. I set aside the time on a Saturday and construct stories about my adventures for the week, including work related comments, jokes, movie and literature references and personal thoughts. Well, not this week. I'm sick of it. This week I'm simply going to give the fans what they want to see. Pictures. Look at the photos and make up your own

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10/02/2007Another week surrounded by the crowding mass of yahoos within the confines of the asylum which is Davis station. A full week of work around station undertaking several different surveys. Activities performed included a reference mark survey of the permanent GPS station, levelling between tide gauge bench marks, GPS surveys, slushy work, an infrasound survey and a topographic feature

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03/02/2007I finally broke free from a week long sentence at Davis station which was extended due to bad weather. The original plan had a team of five people heading out into the deep field. However, the five quickly got reduced to two surveyors or geoscientists with an additional worker and two others, intending to tag along as a jolly, missing out due to weight restrictions and poor weather. A

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27/01/2007A quiet week. Stranded on station at Davis until the weather allows a trip to the Grove Mountains, once again in the deep field. There is another GPS station out of action in ‘The Groves’ and we need to get there and show it the attention it deserves. A couple of other people on station are looking to join us as a bit of a jolly (refer below) which should make for an interesting trip (

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20/01/2007One year ago I made a difficult decision which led me away from something which should have been a good opportunity and directed me onto a completely different path. That decision was inspired by a preference to do what I wanted to do, rather than what I felt I should do, and has now landed me at the bottom of the world at the southern end of the largest glacier in the world. I have

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13/01/2007Straight after finishing my last entry I was told by the station leader that I had one hour before I was leaving Mawson. I quickly got my stuff together (including my towel), jumped in a Hagglund and headed for the skiway. I then boarded one of two CASA planes and flew to a place called Richardson Lake at the foot of Mt Riiser-Larsen in Enderby Land (about two hours west of Mawson). I

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06/01/2007“Melbourne, in case you did not know, has its charms: botanical gardens, splendid churches, a high-domed public library where an old man can read the newspapers and stay cold on a hot day, etc. But there is no use denying that it is a flat place, divided up into a grid of streets by a draughtsman with a ruler and a set square. The names of streets are just as orderly. King precedes

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30/12/2006Christmas was a bit different this year. I did eat about as much as I normally do. The food wasn’t necessarily the greatest (freshness is an issue), but there was definitely lots to eat. My survey equipment arrived so I spent Christmas morning unwrapping all the survey gear and managed to finish one of my priority tasks. We spent most of the day preparing for dinner but managed to find

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23/12/2006As we narrowed in on the Antarctic continent, the ocean which had previously been a wild mess of swell and waves, was as calm as a lake and covered with a thick layer of broken up sea ice. Looking out the port hole was like looking out the window of an aeroplane skimming across the clouds. The sea ice gradually built up more and more creating a white landscape above the sea. The ship

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Prepared: 16/12/2006I am inside the body of this great orange ship (revised colour) which is constantly on the move, taking me further away from home and closer to the Antarctic. There is no escape from the endless rocking motion. The ship doesn’t stop, it just keeps on going. I occasionally break free to the surface only to see water in all directions, howling winds, five metre waves crashing

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Prepared09/12/2006The voyage has commenced. The original departure day of Tuesday the 5th got pushed to Friday the 8th, one full week from the scheduled departure day. The delay was due to cracks in the fuel tanks which required repair. I was supportive of this decision, namely because I would prefer the ship wasn’t broken before taking on the Southern Ocean. Also, the delay meant I got to spend

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There is a big, red ship currently sitting at the wharf in Hobart. On Tuesday the 5th of December I’m meant to get on this ship and it is going to take me, along with about 100 others, across the Southern Ocean to Antarctica. A voyage which takes about two weeks. I’m not sure why the ship is red, maybe so it goes faster. It could be a three week journey otherwise. I’m not sure how I will go with

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