Well the undoubted highlight of the last few weeks has been the airdrop of supplies by the RAAF C17 Globemaster aircraft on Wednesday 22nd May. As it turned out the weather here at Mawson was spectacular all week and the airdrop could have been done on any day of the week. But as the flight was from Perth and involved refuelling in the air via an RAAF air tanker, it wasn't only the weather here that mattered. We needed good weather at 25000 feet or so ( limited turbulence, not too cold so that ice wouldn't form on the wings etc ) and not just for a while but for nearly a 12 hour window all the way to Antarctica and back. And we got it.
The plane arrived just after 12pm midday local time. It did a fly past to check out the drop zone which had been prepared by a team from the Station with markers ( effectively a "Please drop presents here Santa" sign ) and flashing lights and other markers all around the drop zone. Once that was complete the aircraft went away for 15 minutes as they had some technical problem they had to sort out and we started to get nervous that it wasn't going to happen! But come back they did, lined up on the drop zone and then threw about 18 tonnes of supplies out the back of the plane. Having completed the task they then left to fly all the way back to Perth which is a leisurely 5206 km jaunt.
We were not only excited for whatever goodies were being dropped but also just as excited to see how many of the parachutes would fail, causing the attached crates to plummet to the ground. There may have been a few wagers made on how many there would be, thus causing the excitement. Anyway, at the moment of truth, some people had picked no failures, some picked two and all the way up to 5. Instead, as luck would have it, only one failed and no one collected the money! The video below shows the drop and if you pay close attention you will see the second crate out of the plane plummet to the ground after the parachute decides the weight is too much and just lets go. Not sure who attached that parachute but remind me not to let them pack any parachute I may need if I am jumping out of a plane any time soon.
The video below is the view from the first crate out of the aircraft... it's not exactly a soft landing but it was OK.. unlike the photo below which shows the end state of the kamikaze crate that ditched its chute.
Below:
The sad remains of crate number two which contained nothing exciting... unless you are a coffee tragic! Yes the only crate with coffee beans in it was this one. You could hear the weeping and gnashing of teeth echo across the sea ice as the bashed beans were scraped up, with voices crying out.. " No.. no.. this packet is ok I'm sure..." I was lucky. The crate containing Salt and Vinegar Chips survived!!
It took us all another two days after the airdrop to load all the crates up and get them the approximately 2 kms back to the station and into the warehouse for unpacking and sorting. We are still unpacking boxes now in our respective departments and trying to work out where we are going to put it all.
We have just yesterday said goodbye to the sun as about 1/4 of it only just poked over the horizon for about 90 minutes. Mid-winters day is the 21st of June and less than two weeks away and we won't see the sun again until well into July. It is currently black until around 10:30 am and dark again around 3. In the middle is a kind of bright twilight I guess you could call it... although if it is a cloudy day its much more like early evening in the middle of the day.
The last sunset... for a while anyway
Given this lack of light we are more likely to be inside during our down time, which means we are now also more likely to be getting on each others nerves. No one has been murdered yet but little things do grate... from someone who talks too much to the person who puts the milk jug back in the fridge with only two tenths of a millilitre of milk in it, or the infamous angled bread cutter! Yes someone here has a habit of cutting the bread on a sharp angle and annoying everyone else by doing so. The reward poster below appeared above the bread board not long ago. It hasn't happened as much since, although it is possible I might have deliberately cut a couple of triangle chunks out of the end of the bread one day just to see what would happen...
The other thing that has happened is that I have taken up darts as its one of a few indoor things to do. Occasionally I even kid myself that I aren't doing to badly.. and given the effort shown below ( which I was very crusty with as it could have been a triple double! ) it could be true. But then I play a game with someone and come crashing back to reality.
We have been experiencing a bit more of what would be called classic Mawson Station winter weather lately as well, with four Blizzard days last week, then two more Friday and Saturday just gone and another one today to help celebrate the Kings Birthday Holiday. It does make getting around a bit of a challenge, especially given the lack of light we have until mid morning. Below is a video of a stroll I took from the Nuclear Air Sampling Building over to the Operations Building where our Comms workshop is one morning last week. Its not that bad really... on Saturday morning we did much the same walk and at times couldn't see our feet or where we were putting them. It's at those times you hope the blizz line ( guide rope ) you are holding onto is connected at the other end!
The best wind gust we had in the last fortnight was a breezy 98 knots.. couldn't quite crack it for 100 knots that day but the winter is only young yet! Still, its not a bad effort considering that equates to 181.5 km/h. We were inside mostly that day....
And finally, there are some old buildings still here at Mawson. I found an old wooden box in the back of the Music room the other day labelled AAE 1911 ( Australian Antarctic Expedition ) and in an old metal accommodation building dating back to the 60's I found this still functional thermometer... maybe they better get the heater checked out...
Next time no doubt will be all the highlights from our Mid-Winters Celebration with all its activities, food, fun, food, speeches, food, music and did I mention there will be food. Its the only official Antarctic Continental Public Holiday I think celebrated at all the international stations across Antarctica. It really means only one thing.. Summer is coming!
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