Jade Berg Cruis'n

 Heading for a spectacular looking berg off in the distance we caught sight Jade iceberg which are not that common and just amazing to see due to their jade like colour (this is a little more glacial blue than green). Ecstatic onlookers went off with the sighting and it was nothing short of spectacular so we circumnavigated it and looked on in awe of it as though looking upon a mythical creature.

 Jade bergs form underneath glaciers that are flowing out onto the ocean. They are refrozen sea water that percolates into the underside of the glacier and refreeze in doing this all of the salt is pushed out of the sea water that it forms from. It only happens on a couple of glacial flows in Antarctica so is a real find and worth a mention.

It was a very cold afternoon out on the water but well worth a bit of discomfort!

Berg Cruis'n Leopard Style!

 The Leopard was just amazing to watch and was a bit of a camera slut butting on a great show for all to watch. Being one of those things that you rarely get to see we hung out for a little while to see what he would do and he just worked the camera, sniffed the air, sussed out the boat and cruised along a magnificent berg. What amazing luck to see him out in the open water and in such a playful mood? It was lucky for that Emperor that he did not seem to hungry!

Cruising the Ice Bergs!

Last of the Adele Penguins on Magnetic Island and the loan Emporer Penguin living dangerously!

 Just call us a couple of cool chicks. Anyone know a good hair dresser?

 Beautiful icebergs on the cruise!

Jolly Good Time Day 2 Continued

 Coming closer to our final resting spot we stumbled across yet another wonder of melt stream creation. This cave once had a flow of nearly two meters depth running through it and proved to be very hard to get around but has now been refilled with spindrift off the Plateau. Leaving a gap of about half a meter and with a few inches of ice over head it was irresistible to crawl through. Poses were struck and photos were taken by all before heading off again arriving at Platcha Hut shortly after the photo shoot where the adventures were just beginning!

 Funnily enough our food and beverage drop had ended up in the right place and was waiting for us in the hut. What else should we do but knock over a couple of beers and a bottle of Champaign before dinner. This resulted in the first outrageous trip to the Heli-deck! Although not that far away from the hut the atmosphere had been set with toasting and posing for an arrangement of shots. At first, rather tame with the timer doing more of your traditional group shots. This soon morphed into a semi human pyramid with supporting crazy people. Then into a bit of acro-balance which I am not really sure how we got to that but it was very fun!

Reflecting back on our experiences of the day and the trip to date it is definitely a memorable moment to exchange the odd chuckle about in the future and the start of long friendships for all! Shortly after this we all crashed out in a blaze glory totally exhausted and satisfied with the Antarctic experience!

Jolly Good Time Day 2

 Once inside it was as if you were in a fairy tale, a very cold one but the light being dispersed through the ice was just amazing and an incredible deep glacial blue that you just couldn’t take your eyes off. The formations were a lot like your typical limestone cave but it did not seem to have been forming for that long as the growth of the stalagmites and stalactites seemed relatively new. The smooth edges could have been formed by running waters or by warmer air currents over the summer months but there was a fresh dusting of snow over the bulletproof ice floors and entrance.

 The cavern headed in about six meters perpendicular to the plateau ice and then headed around another ten to the left before heading deeper into the plateau. On the low side of this left hand corridor the edge dropped way to a pool of water with a crusty grey (I think this colour comes from the rock flour that is created by rock being crushed up in the glacial moraine) inch of ice over the top of it. There was more of the dusty flour in small deposits higher up the walls but who could guess at how deep these pools were? As your eyes adjusted the colours intensity was heightened and etched into my mind as one of the truly amazing wonders of Antarctica.

What is a Super Frog doing in Antarctica?

 Well you may well ask why there is a Super Frog strain of the endangered Haigh's variety but I have it on goo authority that it may be the first and last in a series of sightings. This was after catching the mythical creature! It was first spoted at the edge of a frozen lake.

 Bu he quickly snuck off towards a frozen river just above a step icy waterfall.

 Making the mistake of getting onto the Plateau I found my chance and caught the slippery little sucker. He was consumed and enjoyed but all on the adventure in the Happy Little Trajer ridge Melon and was a much appreaciated gift from Mum and Ian. Many thanks for Xmas!

Jolly Good Time Day 1

 We soon came across and irresistible and recently frozen fresh water lake. Finding great delight in walking over the submerged rocks we soon found ourselves walking on the thin newly formed ice just to see how strong it was. With clear vision of what was underfoot jumping, skating (on thin ice, ha, ha, ha) and moon walking our way to the other side before continuing on our journey.

 It was not until we were well on our way into the wind scours that the tummy slides and rap dancing started. Shrieks of laughter could be heard by all abominable snowmen in the vicinity as we first started slipping and sliding across the glassy surfaces of frozen ponds. This soon led to break dancing and power slides after running and launching oneself at high speeds across the frictionless ice.

The trip back down the icy tongue of snow was much quicker than the death defying wind scour section of the days walk. However we were unable to resist the temptation of yet another flat icy frozen glacial lake. Back packs were off and the moves once again came out. The swallow dives were mixed in with a little bit of curling and mini golf but just as fun. Arriving back at our happy little melon in a state of euphoria the plans for the rest of the afternoon and evening were set.

Scatman and Poo Collecting!

 Armed with some collection tubes and a spoon each I was off to scrape up the freshest poo I could get our spoons into without causing too much distress to the colony. I think that many of the birds have already departed and headed for the sea to fish and feed and fatten themselves up for the winter. They are still funny chasing around their parents and generally standing about making noise. I was even attacked by one savage little beast who nearly pecked a hole right through my Sorrell boot! Nah, not really but he was very inquisitive and I did think about picking him up and just squeezing the shit out of him into the sample jar but I checked myself as I thought that this may go against working with penguin protocol. Scats scrapped and it was off to Warriner Island for the same process and then onto a colony 2.5kms west from Bandits Hut as the wind was picking up!

Here is the little blighter that tried to attack me and then followed me around, that grey thing is my knee! Below just hanging out with the chicks who have not yet finished their malting. It was only a couple of weeks ago that they were little black downy balls of fluff!

 Here is the scat man getting stuck into a whopper of a Weddell Poo! Mmmmm doesn't it make you hungry? Straight off to dinner after this!

SAR Training at Platcha Hut

 This was based out at Platcha for the day and we took six of the winterer’s who are the most likely to be involved in the extraction of injured people. Naturally it was a fly in and out day to maximise the training achieved. Platcha is right on the edge of the plateau and a perfect base from which to train. Steep ice walls, wind scours and ice cliffs although we would not dream of climbing those!

Below you can see the SAR Team resting after stressfull moments in boot chains!

 The day aimed to;

• Teach the construction of snow and ice anchors including snow stakes, ice screws and dead-men.
• Linking these together so that they are all equalised to form a system of protection from which to lower and raise each other and victims.
• Use these systems to practice steeper/ slope ice travel techniques while on top-ropes.
• Use a variety of footwear and traction devices.
• Self arrest techniques and not dying!

Packing up at the end of the day.

Strapping in the Helicopters for High Winds and Fuel

This is the Sikorsky or S76 as we call it in da business!You can see the brand new Hagglands and the Mack truck in front protecting it from the high winds which hit 60 knots so well over 100km and hour!

Below is one of the Squirel Helicopters which do most of the work down here with a hugemongous digger thing called and IT protecting it!

All the fuel drums are colour coded so that they can tell quickly what they should put in the aircraft. They will only use fuel that is under two years old for the helicopters and they get through a lot bt there is always fuel left at the end of each season. This gets used in the heavy machinery.

     

Another Day at the Old Wallow

 A couple of Weddell’s were sighted on the way home and were both rather photogenic. The first was all alone and of a healthy size and shape while the second was just a pup and was in the company of the biggest elephant seal we had seen for the day. Very, very quite the little Weddell but the monstrous elephant was just imbedded in the seaweeds that had built up along the coast. So much so that from a distance you could only notice the lighter coloured Weddell but up close you could see the enormous beast submerged in the pile of seaweed and just loving it! He really did look like a big rock and it was not until we were nearly at photo range that we saw his eyes just above the seaweed. Fantastic walk and great to see so much life out there after being in the open cut landscape of the base.

 We also made it to the top of the lookout which was good to see. If you look hard you can see legoland in there behind Hardimann Bay.