30/12/2006
Christmas 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 time to build a snowman. I’d never built one before so why not get the assistance of a front-end loader. I think it looked a bit more like the nightmare before Christmas. Mid-afternoon on Christmas day a blizzard hit the station. White Christmas? The definition of a blizzard is low visibility (less than 100m), gale force winds and negative temperatures for over an hour. We had all of that for almost two days. I busied myself with indoors work. The wind was so strong the wind turbines stalled and went into self preservation mode.
I’d been at Mawson nearly a week and really hadn’t done much work. Firstly, it took a while for my survey equipment to catch up with me at the station and then a blizzard came along and took out a couple more days. I started to think something funny was going on when the field training officer (FTO) demanded I do two days field training just as the weather was coming good. Do they not want me to do my work?
We loaded up all our survival gear and rode the quad bikes up onto the plateau within the Framnes Mountains. We rode on snow and ice, strictly to the cane lines (marked tracks) as there are lots of crevasse fields around Mawson. We stopped by a crevasse which ran alarmingly close by the cane line and had a look. The FTO got down and had a bit of a poke at the snow which was over the crevasse gap, to see how deep it looked. One swing of the ice axe and the snow fell away about ten metres down. I took a step back. We visited a couple of spots within some of the mountain ranges and went exploring. Away from the ice it is a very lunar style landscape, with rocks of all different sizes everywhere. It reminds me of how I imagined the moon surface in H. G. Wells
The first men in the moon. We wandered into a lake area, at Mt Henderson, clambering along the small rocks which lie all over the mountain base. A very different type of bushwalk. The boot chains and ice axe were most useful.
We then rode the quads along the edge of an ice cliff to Rumdoodle hut. It was fun riding alongside the North Masson Ranges. Huge rock formations jutting out of the ice. Another one of those I can't believe I'm here moments. We unloaded our gear, had dinner and then I got banished outside. That's right. Part of the field training was that I had to spend a night out in a bivvy bag (one person bag you sleep in). I thought it was a bit cheeky. My two travelling companions happily got cozy in the hut with gas heater and beds while I had to go and dig a hole to sleep in. Digging my grave sized hole I couldn't help but think this could be my final resting place. Nice spot for it I guess. I set myself up in the bag really well and managed to have a perfectly fine nights sleep. I’d recommend the experience. I woke up a few times to large wind gusts but generally dozed back off to sleep. I awoke to find the other two had struggled to sleep as they had had their own little snoring war. I slept fine outside with the endless sunlight and snow petrels (small snow white birds who nest in the rocks on the mountains) . Most people complain about how bad it is bivvying out with the cold and lack of sleep. I really enjoyed it. Of course, I wouldn’t go out of my way to sleep outside, although it is nice to know I can survive out there.
The next day we did some training, beyond sleeping outside and riding quad bikes, and played with the ice axes working on climbing steep snow slopes and self-arresting when slipping. Fun stuff. We returned to Mawson and on arrival I went straight to work and did what is called a reference mark survey at the GPS station. One of the more spectacular survey locations. The aim of the exercise was to measure the position of three reference marks (pins in the ground) surrounding the GPS pillar, to determine whether there has been any local deformation at the site. In general, the GPS station determines how the point and thus that part of the continent is moving. The reference mark survey helps determine whether the movement at the GPS site is due to the whole continent shifting or just localised effects. I knocked over the survey with impressive results and was very pleased with my efforts for not only coping exceptionally well with the sleep out but also having the strength to complete another survey task that evening. A successful day.
I kept the working wheels in motion the next day as I had perfect survey weather. No wind. I did a levelling survey from the GPS station all the way down the hill to the tide gauge bench mark. Levelling is usually a two man operation so I convinced the station doctor to be my assistant. She had to be the most over qualified survey assistant I have ever had and was definitely the highest paid. She did a great job, standing around waiting for me to take measurements. I figured it was my chance for revenge, against all doctors, for making me wait every time I go in for an appointment. Most of my work at Mawson is just about done. After New Year I am heading to Syowa, a Japanese base, for a brief visit. The fun doesn't stop.
