Hurry up and....wait

 

February 12th 2024

CHECKLIST FOR DEPARTURE ON THE RSV NUYINA 

• Complete training mixed with lots of waiting around and wondering what we will do to fill in the day..Check
• Pack, unpack, repack, de-pack and repeat ad-nauseum. Check
• Shift hotel rooms multiple times. Check
• Spend much time wondering what to take/not take, make multiple lists, consult other experienced expeditioners, leave the really important things you will need at home. Check
• Ensure other expeditioners going to Mawson with you are not total lunatics likely to turn into the Antarctic Axe Murderer... possibly Check
• Ensure harmonious relations between Management staff of company operating the Icebreaker vessel RSV Nuyina and their employees .... Not so much checked.

So, as you may have gathered the estimated departure date for us to travel to Mawson station from Hobart has arrived.. and departed into one of Hobarts rather lacklustre sunsets. I guess that is the way they are because from where my hotel is Mount Wellington is a big fat lump right in the way of where the good view of the sunset is... if it was there at all.

After getting  through the provided training in the last two weeks, we were beginning to think about the fact that we are actually going to Antarctica for a year! Strange but true. 

ABOVE 

Amongst other training, we were given a one day course in how not to kill yourself whilst driving a 4WD motorbike and Polaris side by side...thing.. not really sure what to call that.

 Too small for a car, not a motorbike... maybe it's a golf cart on steroids.

But then we began to hear rumours of discontent amongst the crew of the RSV Nuyina who apparently are paid less than other similar scientific vessels used by the Australian Government, and more rumours of industrial action. This did not sound like a recipe for a smooth departure.

Sure enough, the departure date was pushed from Friday 9th Feb to Sunday 11th, then Sunday 11th  to "not before Wednesday 14th"! Reading between the lines I will be surprised if it isn't Friday or even later!

This has, not surprisingly, caused some angst amongst family members who have come to Hobart to wave me goodbye. Instead, I waved them all goodbye this morning as they boarded the bus to go to the airport and home after being here for the best part of a week, an amount of time we assumed would be plenty to allow for a few hiccups with departure dates.

 I would suggest that if my wife ever finds out who is ultimately responsible for all these delays that they leave the country for a long and indeterminate period of time, change their name and also have plastic surgery before coming back into the country.  Thinking about it, they probably shouldn't come back into the country.

ABOVE

Icebreaker RSV Nuyina sitting forlornly by the wharf getting not loaded with all the Mawson Station resupply equipment. Last night she was banished out into the bay to anchor so as to stop taking up wharf space for no good reason.

However, on the upside of waiting around, it has meant more time with family than I was expecting, a couple of days of actually warmish weather with not much wind ( by Hobart standards ) and a not too shabby fireworks display for Hobarts Regatta Day holiday. Its not in the same league as Darwins' NT day fireworks, where for a single precious day anyone, yes anyone, can buy fireworks and then terrorise the entire city by doing all the fun things with fireworks that you are not allowed to do in the rest of the country. If you ever have nothing to do around July 1st, go to Darwin's NT Day celebrations and sit on the beach. Take a helmet and riot shield as well to protect yourselves from all the stuff shooting past you and at you. Best day ever!

Speaking of things hot and smoky, this Hobart Regatta Day was also Chinese Lunar New Year. We wandered through the park where the celebrations were occurring and whilst not totally enamoured by the enthusiastic singing of the no doubt talented Chinese entertainers, I was most impressed by the Chinese dragon mounted on top of what appeared to be an old Valiant and which was having a little trouble of its own trying to keep its fire breathing tendencies under control. I think all survived the experience.

So now it is time for some more waiting. Extra waiting time is good for ...

1. Tuning my bagpipes and getting in some much needed practice.. ANZAC day is only about two months away and if I am going to play without disgracing myself I need all the practice I can get. Not sure how difficult it is going to be as bagpipes aren't very fond of very cold weather.. neither are my fingers for that matter. Last year the top temperature at Mawson station on ANZAC Day was a toasty -12 C... positively tropical.
2. Eating food I don't need to eat in order to give me a reason to exercise once I get down South. Or alternatively, to put on some fat reserves so that with all the throwing up/sea sickness/not eating of food I am expecting to do on the trip on the Nuyina I may not die because my body has something to digest before it starts eating at my internal organs to survive.

So a relatively short Blog due to an excess of not much doing except waiting and planning what to do while we are waiting. 

As John Lennon said..

"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans"