Peters' Antarctic Adventure

 So, here we are, all alone at the ends of the earth! Over the course of the last two weeks and a bit, we have said goodbye to the 76th ANARE team and the Nuyina. Then we have said hello again a week later to the Nuyina ( from 2 Nautical Miles away ) as well as a lone helicopter from said Nuyina. Then we said goodbye again.. we think for the last time... but who can ever really tell! Let me elucidate for you ( elucidate is a word I first learned at Yarram High School in about 1983 from perhaps one of the first "AI" self help psychologist programs we found on our not quite state of the art Apple IIE Clone computers that we were lucky enough to have a room full of... if you typed into the computer running the Self Help program some phrase that the software didn't understand or recognise, the response would be " Come, Come... elucidate your thoughts!" Anyway, I digress )  The re-supply event designed to stock up our station with all the goodies we require to surviv...

IT'S MAWSON, IT'S HOME! So, after 17 days at sea, with not one case of projectile or other form of vomitusness (I'm sure that's a real medical term), more than 3100 nautical miles ( 5741 Kms ) on the Southern Ocean, and who knows how many hours waiting for the next meal ( highlight of the day often on board Nuyina ) we arrived at Mawson Station on March 4th 2024. We cleaned our rooms and made our way to the smaller than I was expecting transfer boats, donned the lifejackets, and were unceremoniously dumped into the water beside the Nuyina. The watercraft operators might have been late for breakfast or something for despite the 25 knot wind and what I considered to be not insubstantial waves, they put the foot down and launched us to the wharf at the Station in about 5 minutes or less. It wasn't a big journey but it was memorable. Several of the members of our 77th ANARE crew lost headgear that wasn't well bolted to said heads and apparently the worst place to si...

THAT'S MORE LIKE IT! We left Casey Station late afternoon on 24th Feb, the same day that we arrived. We had excellent weather for the helicopters to unload personnel and equipment so it took less time than expected. While we were waiting to depart we noticed the sea water around the Nuyinas' hull was beginning to freeze  in the sub zero temperatures. The sea ice doesn't suddenly just freeze but it morphs through various stages of which I read about in a document provided by an Italian Sea Ice Scientist on board who gets very excited about... sea ice. There are about 8 stages of sea ice according to the document but several are very hard to detect and some I couldn't be bothered distinguishing between ( mostly the ones that describe its deterioration ) so I will list the most notable according to me. Dr Google with have further info for those keen to discover the detail. Stage 1  Frazil                   Tiny crystals form ...