It's been quite some time since my last post and a lot of things have happened since then....
Watts Hut
The last weekend of July some of us went out to explore Watts Hut and the surrounding areas to the South East of our recreational limits. Delaying our trip by a couple of hours due to blowing snow and visibility reduced to about 1km at times. We headed off once the winds dropped off and onto the sea ice of Prydz Bay. Heading back inland through the Eills Narrows where a huge amount of water passes through a narrow point having an area of open water all year round. We stopped here on the way back to have a look at the old weather station and was great to hear the sound of flowing water. It's been about 4 or so months now since we'd heard any sounds of the sea. Apart form the tide crack where the movement of the tide makes the ice creek and make funny noises. We arrived at Watts Hut in the late afternoon and settled in for the night. Aurora's lighting up the night skies.
The next morning we headed up Lake Druzhby, Crooked Lake and on to Grimma Gorge. It was fantastic to see some fresh water lakes frozen, these are crystal clear lakes as you'll see in some of my photos. We walked a few hundred meters down the gorge to a small frozen waterfall. While it was great to see, it was very small! Exploring the area further we walked to a nearby hill to get some better views of the Sorsdal Glacier.
As if that was not spectacular enough, then the walk to the top of Boulder Hill at 157m tall was going to be even better. It took a while to climb and the wind was howling through even though it looked like a nice beautiful sunny day.... Looks can be deceiving. We reached the top and only stayed a few minutes to get a few photos as the wind chill was horrendous. Once the group photo was taken we scampered down the front face of boulder hill to the Hagg which awaited us at the bottom. From the top of Boulder Hill you could see right across the whole Vestfold Hills, up onto the plateau (Antarctica's ice cap) and across the stunning Sorsdal Glacier. It really puts into perspective where we are when you see the true Antarctica.
On the way back to Watts Hut we stopped at the Bolde camp site, where there is emergency tents and food to access if needed. Then off to Crooked Lake Apple for a quick look. That night we went out onto the lake in front of the hut and got some magnificent photos with the lake lit up with lights not to mention the aurora overhead. The next morning we started the trek back to station after swapping out some fuel drums at the hut. Visiting Marine Plain Apples and a brief look at Burton Lake from a distance. The are around Burton Lake is an Antarctic Specially Protected Area ASPA 143
Bandits hut
I recently returned from a weekend away at Bandits hut which is approximately 25kms from Davis Station. We left on Saturday and went out onto the sea ice with the Hugglund following a GPS route that would take us to our destination. Although when there are ice bergs frozen in the sea ice you have to take a detour every now and then. We passed through a land crossing called Pioneer Crossing and was fantastic to get a birds eye view of where we'd just come from and where we were heading. We took a detour to Lichen Lake which was frozen over. Just walking to the lake was an adventure. Once at the lake we walked half way across it to admire the rock formations and ice cliffs. We also came across the Lichen's on the rocks. We only saw a small amount as everywhere was covered in snow.
The next day we headed off to Sir Hubert Wilkins carin at Walkabout Rocks.
Voting
As the Antarctic Returning Officer for the Australian Electoral Commission I was in charge of conducting the voting for the 2016 Australian federal election. There was a lot of hype in the media about us being able to vote in Antarctica. The coverage was worldwide. We had set up a voting booth the week before to take some photos for the media. On voting day the weather conditions were not the best, so we set up a polar pyramid tent to vote in. The day was a success and votes tallied and rang through the next day being overseen by an assistant returning officer.
Sun returns
Well..... we waited.... and waited.... for the return of the sun. It did not show on the day as cloud impeded our views of the horizon. However after 48 days we finally saw the sun. It was one of those lifetime moments I'll never forget. Something we take for granted back home. Something you expect to see almost every day of the year (weather permitting). Now we are heading to 24hr daylight. On the 2nd Oct we'll officially have no "Night". Only astronomical twilight for a few hours before that eventually disappears too.
Walk to the south pole
Davis station finally made it to the south pole, without greatly breaking any of the guidelines set. The goal was to do a "virtual" walk to the south pole. From Davis station that would be approximately 2500kms. A team of 10 of us set off on the 1st of July. Over the next month we'd do 10kms per day per person in the gym on the bike, rowing or treadmill. Whilst the other teams reached the south pole well ahead of schedule Davis station reached the south pole on the last day of the month as expected to be welcomed by Robert Schwarz holding a welcoming sign for us. It's amazing what you can organise with very little time and limited communication. Thank you to Robert for the tremendous efforts he went to get these photos. Much appreciated and was like we were actually there! I wish we were.....
Special Clouds
We've seen some Polar Stratospheric clouds the last few weeks. These are formed at high altitudes around 15-25kms above.
Blizzards
We've experienced 6 blizzards now this winter as of 17th September. Not as many as the other stations as we are protected by the Vestfold Hills. Our last blizzard on the 11th & 12th of September was quite wild. While we didn't experience any wind gusts above our previous records we did get higher sustained winds. With sustained winds over 60kts (111kms/hr) we went into the code red travel conditions on two occasions for the first time this season. Requiring permission to travel outside by the station leader and travel in pairs, limited to essential travel only.
Stay updated with "This week at Davis" for all the latest news what's been happening around station! More blogs to come......