G’day
How are things back home? So the whole ANZAC day thing down here was pretty big which was great to be apart of. It started off as a small thing originally just for us but suddenly got a lot bigger than anyone expected once the division started talking to media outlets. Our station leader Matt as well as one of our chippies, Will have both spent time in the Army so it was obviously a pretty big deal for them and they were always keen on making a big effort on the day. We actually had to go do a ‘rehearsal’ a few days before ANZAC day so photos and footage could be sent back home to be used on the day. The images seen on the news were actually at about 4pm a few days earlier but since we have day long sunrise/sunset now it worked out pretty well. The actual morning of ANZAC day was pretty special and the effort the guys had put into this was amazing. One of our weather observers, Alison knitted poppies for everyone to pin to their jackets. We walked as a group across station to East bay to the edge of the ice where we had to stop and put ice spikes on our boots and then walk single file along a path marked out by head torches set to their red light setting along the ice. For safety reasons we still had to have our two SAR (search and rescue) quads parked at the edge of the ice just in case anything happened. The flag pole and monument were a couple hundred meters off the land and we huddled as Matt and Will delivered the service and the sun rose behind the cliffs to the East. Following the service we had a Gunfire breakfast in the Green store and then Will had set up a fitness challenge in honour of one of his mates who was killed in combat a few years ago. Seven of us took part and I came fourth and my legs were stuffed for about three days after. Later that Afternoon we all met up at the bar and started to play two-up where all proceeds were to go to a charity to help returning soldiers. Funnily enough a few guys were videoing it and actually had a few of their mates back home betting on it. It was just after we started playing that Todd, one of the plumbers came up to me saying “oh! yeah forgot to tell you earlier, when we went to move the SAR quads back this morning we couldn’t get one started. We tried to jump start it but nothing happened.” This info would have been handy to know much earlier than this but staying where it was wasn’t going to hurt it for now. Later chatting with Shane, my boss, he informed me he had already had a quick look at it, that it wasn’t even cranking so he was confident it was the start relay advising “we’ll get it tomorrow”. So the next day we get the strongest winds and most blowing snow we’ve had since we got here, that on top of not feeling completely well rested from the night before, the quad stayed there another day. So then on the Monday morning I go to get the quad. It’s still reasonably windy but nothing too crazy and just a little bit of blowing snow. I ride another quad out to it so I don’t have to carry tools and I can use it to jump start the dead quad if the battery in it is too cold. The SAR quads have canvas bags with equipment in them on the back and I have to remove the bag to get to the battery and relay. The clips holding the bag on are too fiddly to undo with my usual gloves on so I just had really thin thermal gloves on but in the wind they don’t do too much so every time I un-did a clip I would run back to the quad I brought over and warm my hands back up on the exhaust then un-do the next clip. There were six clips holding the bag on. I take the bag off and then pull the seat and rear cover off the quad to get at the battery and relay. Its all completely full of snow. I dig the snow out, find the relay, turn the ignition on, short out the replay, the quad cranks and cranks and cranks and cranks but doesn’t fire up. It sounds healthy enough but just wont fire up. I look and the handle and on top of the crank button is a kill switch: “there’s no way they forgot to check . . . . .oh you’re kidding me!” At this point I start killing myself laughing … the kill switch was just off centre so someone must have knocked it with their gloves. I put the kill switch back into the start position, hit the crank button and the quad fires up straight away. I could have forgiven Todd for missing this but Shane “Checked it – it’s definitely the relay” and sent me out here for this. So now I had to put the seat back and clip the bags back on. The best part is I don’t even have to say anything to Shane as it’s everyone else on station that jumps on every chance to rip on him for it. We did have a slightly more serious mechanical issue the week before. I was doing a service on one of our generators. I cut the oil filter open to check if there is anything inside and found small bits of metal building up in the filter. We ran it for another 24 hours to double check we have an issue and found it was still making metal. So we dropped the sump of the engine and checked all the crankshaft and con-rod bearings = they were all ok. We eventually found it was a bearing for one of the idler gears at the front of the engine. After we replaced the bearing the engine has been running fine. As far as Mawson Assassin went the game continued for another few days and ended on the Thursday. It came down to Brett (whom I was initially supposed to assassinate) the carpenters supervisor and Dave, our plant operator. Since during the week working hours were off limits to assassination but smoko and lunch time were open season, Dave waited around the corner of where Brett was working and un-aware of the time. As soon as it hit 10am Dave snuck up behind Brett and killed him. We had a little presentation on the Friday night and crowned Dave as the Mawson Master Assassin. Hamish, one of our chippies did an amazing job of making up a trophy which we will put a plaque with Dave’s name and then leave here for other years to have their own competitions and have a bit of an on-going legacy. Other than that the only other notable event has been going out to take sea ice measurements. There’s about eight of us all rostered on to go out in pairs once a week (usually on a Thursday) and take measurements of the ice in four set locations around Mawson. I’ve been paired up with Frank the station doctor, ironically enough, he is the oldest and I am the youngest on station. Mark our FTO came with us for our first run and we decided to walk it for our first time. Its about an 8km round trip and took us about two hours and was great to go trekking out across the ice. We are now measuring around 70cm of ice at all of the sites so at the moment the ice seems to be growing by 5cm thickness each week. I’ve also attached some other photos from a while back which people have taken of me earlier in the trip. There are some good ones in there. If you would like to contact me directly you can do so via my email address – Mum has my contact details. Take care and stay safe. Cheers, Guy.
Guy's Antarctica Adventure 2020 