Sunday, December 12, 2010

15 West wing and a brewery..........

Hello Friends,

Been a week where much has been achieved but lots has been done. The Casey red shed "West Wing" was officially opened today with the while station turning out to see the ribbon well duct tape cutting ceremony. The West wing extension to the red shed has taken close to 12 months to finnish.

Starting last season the summer crew worked hard to get the footings in which wasn't too much fun at times as the permafrost needed a number of different tools to get the footings as deep as they needed to be. As the summer wrapped up most of the footings were complete but the hard work was yet to start.

Several 40' containers needed to be placed in the area after considerable work in appalling conditions, like welding at -30c isn't like welding back home. The steal needs to be heated just so that you can then once you have got it heated it cools quite quick. But the boys did a absolutely amazing job and i was to say the least gobsmacked to see it where it was when i arrived back.

So today was the day where people moved in and as you'll see its quite comfortable.............just need a little more work and it will be fully operational but have a look, firstly the opening ceremony......



I was going to get Tim a chippy to run the video tour for me but think he got cold feet and didn't want to so i grabbed someone you might now from such movies like "Tour of the Red Shed" but some say he was sent to Antarctica by Eddie for having a go at too many Collingwood supporters others just call him Paul our Winter Sparky.


Hummmmm yep Rowdy even got a room in there WITH a head like that. Have a look at his room!


Now this is another tour that i did in particular for one good mate back home as i know he would love it. Hamish the Brewery.............you cant get a more temperature controlled environment, the most pure water probably anywhere in the world and most importantly the beer is FREE............


The only other BIG news i have really for everyone is that the Aurora Australis (the Australian Antarctic Divisions Ship) after initially being delayed getting into Davis for their resupply and then being delayed from leaving due to mechanical issues in Hobart has now departed as of 7pm Friday night. So its going to take about 8 days sailing to get here then resupply will kick in. It has already become obvious that, like last year Christmas at least for Casey Station will be postponed to a more convenient time as this will clash with the resupply. I am sure that once we do get our Christmas it will yet again be another unforgettable one though.

Resupplying a station as you can imagine is a mammoth job supplying the station with the food needed to feed everyone for a year, toilet paper, tooth paste toothbrushes, deodorant and most importantly fuel. Last year there was 640,000L transferred. As you can imagine it is a very busy time in the Antarctic Stations calender and you can also imagine that i will probably have a blog dedicated to resupply.

Anyway better get some sleep, never know whats in store for me tomorrow let alone what i got in store for the next blog..........................................Enjoy, i am!!


Michael



P.S........."Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty
                girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity."
              Albert Einstein

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