I made it

After 19 days in pre-departure isolation which wasn’t nearly as bad as it sounds I bounced out of bed at 3am and started the journey of getting to Antarctica.  A bus to the Customs controlled area to process out of the country and get both myself and bags weighed was the first stop.  I have never been a fan of the scales and to do that in public with layers of heavy clothing was not something I was looking forward to.  But with very strict rules on luggage weights many people stuffed their pockets full of anything that they could get away with.  Fair to say the system was tested by our Doc!  

A short 5 hour flight saw us landing on the continent at Wilkins runway.  It was quite incredible to look out the window and finally see the ice through the clouds.   It’s difficult to describe my first impressions but it’s safe to say it will be one of my most memorable life moments.  I think it is the vastness that has blown me away but to be honest I am still processing the environment I have chosen to be my home for the next year. 

We then jumped on the Terrabus which is something like a bus crossed with a tank and spent a very slow bumpy and hot 3 hour ride to Casey station.  I sat on the sunny side of the bus and certainly didn’t anticipate breaking into a sweat on day 1 in Antarctica.  About half way we stopped for a photo shoot and the boys took the opportunity to use the pee bottles.  The she-wee I have been given will be a whole update at a later stage.  On this occasion I chose not to drink anything and pee when I arrived at Casey.

Arriving at Casey station we were warmly welcomed by the Station leader and quickly ushered to an induction where I learnt what I could and couldn’t do on station, the importance of closing doors quietly, using the right shared bathroom, meal times and the wifi password amongst other things.  One night quickly turned into two (much more to come on how much work goes in to NOT flying) which opened up the opportunity to go on a walk to Shirley Island where I got to see my first penguins and get my first selfie with them.   They are sooooo cute!!!! 

To go on a walk ‘off station’ takes a bit of organisation and effort.  Firstly you need a trip leader and lucky for me one of our Field Training Officers (FTO) was lovely enough to take us out and he was very keen to make sure I didn’t miss out.  You then need a radio and a field pack where you need to include any of your ‘survival’ gear that you are not wearing plus things like a sleeping bag, compass (that’s just for show for me now as we all know I’m useless at directions but its on my development plan) and an ice axe that doubles as a walking stick.  

We had to cross the sea ice and to do so safely it’s important to drill the ice to see how solid it is to make sure we don’t fall through it.  160cms is good solid ground!  I’ve also started to learn about crevasses (big cracks in the ice) and to avoid stepping on them as that could end quite badly.  It took me back to primary school days with ‘Step on the crack break your mother’s back’ playing in my head.

We spent a couple of hours with these gorgeous funny penguins making sure not to get too close or scare them with our noise. I managed to get a couple of good pics with the new camera.  It’s on auto setting for now but watch this space for my progression.   I could have watched them for hours!! There were a few couples mating, definitely no foreplay and a few squabbles going on in the group which was pretty noisy but for the most part they were just chilled.  Watching them walk which is more of a waddle just makes me happy and seeing them belly flop and scoot along the ice is a whole other thing.

I’ve been at Davis now for almost 2 weeks and plenty to share about my first impressions but that’s for the next update.