Resupply of Davis Station - According to a Boilermaker

The resupply of Davis is different from that of Casey. Whereas the Casey resupply is done over open water using jet barges, Davis resupply is done over sea ice that is over 1.5 m thick. This ice can, so I've been told, stand well over 100 tonnes of weight. This is very reassuring given I'm driving a Mack truck with a payload of 12t and observing the offloading of mobile cranes and rock crushers with weights of over 30t.

Other determining factors that make the resupply different is that the resupply of Davis is done one (1) month ahead of Casey. This means that the sea ice is still packed tight after the winter. Also Davis has a closed harbour with islands stopping the sea ice from being blown out. Casey on the other hand has an open harbour and a higher average wind speed allowing sea ice to be easily blown out of the harbour. 

So, the  Aurora Australis breaks its way into the Davis harbour using its 13400 hp engine and its icebreaking hull. It gets to within about 2.5km of the shore and parks up. The ice remains solid around the ship with only a small gap around the hull that is open to the sea. The ice can not go anywhere or move as it is locked into the surrounding shorelines of islands and the greater continent of Antarctica. This is also reassuring as one drives along the snow plowed roads built to allow transport vehicles to move cargo to and from the ship. I've included more pics of the Davis resupply at my facebook album.

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Icebergs Heading South - According to a Boilermaker

 You know when you used to go to a friends house and they'd pull out 30 000 slides of waterfalls, sunsets, beach scenes and you would have to politely endure what seemed to be an eternity of relentless, "wow, what a great shot." or " Looks like you had a great time," moments, well, icebergs seem to have same effect on some photographers. There seems to be no end of these floating ice cubes, each with their unique shape and colours. Perhaps what one is trying to capture is not only the uniqueness of the iceberg, but the dare I say the spiritual feeling about the place you are in.

Unfortunately that is really not possible with places like Antarctica. Icebergs started to appear around the 60 degrees South parallel. This as it turns out to be the actual start of the Southern Ocean decreed by the Oceanographic Society. Anyway, nobody really gives a hoot where this ocean actually starts and finishes except to say the water is bloody cold, down to - 1.7 degrees C and its rough. Back to the Icebergs, don't know much about them at all. Some are formed from glaciers braking off from the Antarctic continent making them mostly fresh water. Some are frozen sea water build up over years rafting up on top of others. Add a little snow on top and you've got icebergs. Some of these things are massive. The Aurora Australis is dwarfed by these things, some of which could house a small city on. As much as I tried, I did not capture 30 000 icebergs on file. Not from the lack of trying. But if you are keen I've got a couple more on this link to more icebergs.

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Returning to Antarctica

I must appologise for being a little slow in getting going with this blog again due to two main factors, laziness and a very slow internet connection.

Resupply start at Davis - Ice 1.6 metres thick

On my return to Australia from the last summer season in April of this year(2011), I thought I was going to get some time at home to reacquaint myself with my wife and family. However coming from a mining and construction background it was within 2 weeks I was offered a new contract back in Western Australia completing a contract for BHP. On the same day as the WA offer came the offer to return to Antarctica, this time at Davis Station. Hell, what a buggar.As it turned out the contract in WA was for only 4 months, and I didn't need to be back in Hobart for my southern departure until early October. So as a money hungry boilermaker looking to retire early, I took both offers. I completed the WA job early September,six weeks at home doing a few odd jobs like concreting the driveway and plumbing in a new washing machine, and arrived down Hobart to catch the Aurora Australis south again. Now, the trip south I thought was going to be a bit dodgy when it came to me being sea sick for the first day on board on my first trip. So I took some 25mg phenergan to counter any illness that may befall me. It worked. Had a sickness free trip. It took around 17 days to get here. Not too boring as we had some great talks from our scientists on board and Tui de Roy, a world renowned wildlife photographer who came down to photograph the emperor penguins. Would loved to have gone a shooting trek with her but I'm here to build  and repair things. However, as some of you may know, I do like to take a few snaps, so I've included some of my trip down that being mainly of icebergs and birds in up coming blogs

For images that are for sale in print,canvas, framed print and acrylic go to my online store

Antarctica - The Book

For those who have followed this blog,I have published a book on my experiences called would you believe, Antarctica - According to a Boilermaker Named Horse. The link will take you to an online bookstore. Hope you like it. Until my next trip, "live every day like it was your last,because one day it will be...!"

For images that are for sale in print,canvas, framed print and acrylic go to my online store

Returning Home

 Our return to Australia was aboard the Aurora Australis. The Aurora had to first pick up our work mates at Davis and then sail East to us at Casey. Like everything else in Antarctica weather and ice conditions played a big part in getting home. The Aurora became "bogged" in ice out from Davis for some 3 days. This led to the usual speculation about being trapped in Antarctica for the winter and running out of food. Luckily, the ship broke free and arrived at Casey to pick us up. We transfered to the ship via a squirrel helicopter. This was great as it gave us the opportunity to see Casey from the air. The whole transfer of personnel and cargo only took about seven hours. So we where underway by late afternoon. The first night wasn't too bad, but the next day was when we hit the open seas. The Southern Ocean is considered the nastiest piece of ocean around the globe with good reason. Apart from being cold, it's extremely rough with winds around 120kph and up to 18m swells. Luckily our swells were only upto 8m. Still this was enough to make a lot of people sick. Now the first lesson is even if you don't get sea sick, take sea sick tablets before you get sea sick. Bloody hell, this ship bobbed around the ocean like a cork. Once taking the tablet, I was fine. After that it was only a matter of getting my sea legs and the rest of the 7 day voyage was incident free. I must admit though  it  was pretty
boring. I read a few books and slept, and that's about all one can do aboard this ship apart from movies. Still, the food was outstanding as always. We arrived in Hobart the following Saturday morning to be greeted by family and friends. Actually it was quite amazing the number of people who came down to see us. So, that is as they say, that. I am now back in Queensland, Australia, sweating like a dog and enjoying green grass under my feet. Most of all, I'm home with family. Would I do it all again, Shit yeh...!

Atmospheric Halos in Antarctica - According to a Boilermaker

Atmospheric halos or arcs of light in the sky as pictured - are caused by the play of sunlight on ice crystals in the atmosphere. Now, where I come from in Queensland Australia, this is something that I have never seen before. We have rainbows, which as we know, is sunlight playing on water droplets. So one could say that the halos here are Antarcticas version of the rainbow. These halos of course are not just confined to the polar regions. Anywhere that the atmospheric temperatures are low and ice crystals form, there is a chance of a halo been seen. The most common halos are those formed by flat hexagonal crystals known as plate crystals.These crystals are only around 0.2mm across. The large arc is known as a circumzenith arc. This halo was taken at Australian Antarctic Station, Casey 31 March 2011.

Weather and Climate in Antarctica - According to a Boilermaker

 Antarctica experiences dramatic seasonal changes that result from the earth's 23.5 degree tilt. This means that for many weeks during midsummer it is light 24 hours a day. The reverse is experienced during winter when there is darkness for 24 hours in the day. See blog There Ain't No Polar Bears . Neither North or South poles receive much direct radiation from the sun, but the Antarctic is much colder than the Arctic for a variety of reasons. One is that there is eight times more ice in Antarctica than in the Arctic. The Arctic is primarily ocean, and water is  better than land in storing summer heat and moderating winter cold. A second reason is that with Antarctic's year round snow  cover,  nearly  80

percent of the incoming radiation is reflected back into the atmosphere. The sea by comparison, reflects only 5 percent, while exposed land returns 15 to 35 percent.

Temperatures decrease also due to altitude. Much of Antarctica has a very high altitude of some 2,286m. The lowest temperature recorded on earth was at the Russian Antarctic Station Vostok in July 1983. It recorded -89.2 C degrees. At this temperature steel shatters and water explodes into ice crystals.

Although Antarctica has more fresh water than any other continent, it receives the least amount of rainfall. Average rainfall is around 6cm. Antarctica is also the windest continent with wind blowing up to 320 kph throughout the year. The average daily wind speed at Casey Station where I am based this year has a mean daily wind speed of 37kph.

The air in Antarctica is very dry. The low temperatures result in very low humidity, which means that dry skin and cracked lips are a continual problem. Large quanities of water vapor are lost from the lungs as well, making it necessary to frequently drink water.

Take all this into account, it makes Antarctica a very inhospitable place for humans, but not a boilermaker....!