Casey News

(10-Oct-1997)
Arrival of V2

Our week on Station started with some very unusual fine weather, which was enjoyed by the Law Dome fuel traverse train as well. Jason, Brendan, and Bruce#2 all gave the living vans a good try out during the trip. We are informed that the HOT shower works really fine. After depoting sixty drums of ATK there, they arrived back just in time for the arrival of V2.

It was really great to see so many new faces on Station - all keen, eager and very busy getting lots of photos while the weather was fine. And then came the fresh fruit and vegetables (which took their time coming in), some old friendships were renewed. With the much larger population on Station we will all be faced with more pots and pans to scrub, a few less vehicles for general use and so on - as well as having to learn a lot of new names for all of us! Such is life in Antarctica.

We feel that all the new expeditioners will remember Jason's head of hair as one of their first indelible memories on the ground at Casey. V2 was also a welcome back to Jeroen (hereafter to be called Jeroen#1) as he landed with his two new assistants, Jeroen#2 and Susan to live on Ardery Island.

The Ardery Islanders stay with us was rather short. An afternoon of medical training, checking equipment and supplies followed by a relaxing night in a bed that did not move, inside a warm comfortable building - their last one for a while. Their morning flight out to the island saw them being joined by Oliver and John Burgess our FTO to instruct them and check the anchor systems, Ian#2 with a new transmitter setup to allow them access to e-mail etc and Mucker to install the oven and give the gas lines the onceover. All is now in place to start the summer off on the right foot for our island dwellers.

There were over thirty long distance helicopter flights from Saturday to Tuesday, some with people but most with cargo. The equipment for the diving programme made the most interesting items to see with the hyperbaric chamber in three pieces and a Bobcat style machine for drilling the access holes through the sea ice all being slingloaded in. A great job was done by our helicopter operations team comprising Jason, Bruce#2, Brendan, Godfrey, George, Mucker, Anthony, Neil, Shane, Rod, Ian#2 plus all the willing helpers who assisted to efficiently and safely move a lot of cargo and people without any damage. Well done team!

John Burgess and Daniela Simon quickly took advantage of the fine weather to check out Shirley Island. This was to show John around the island and also to point out the seal counting sites. They saw two Weddell seals during their walk.

Brian Harold has been cracking the whip already with his summer team. They very quickly installed the new rubber flooring in the gymnasium which is now in the old clothing store. With the help of Brendan, our new arrivals then moved onto the installation of the two new compactuses to be used as our new clothing store in the Redshed. They have made excellent progress already.

Last night Ian#1 welcomed the new group to Casey with a run down on all the do's and don'ts. However before he got into the formalities, he joined guitarists Terry and Bruce#2 in helping the Casey choir??? to give our newcomers a surprise welcome (and a laugh we suppose) by treating them to a fine rendition of "Dirty Old Town" - the Casey theme song for 1997.

From the Casey wintering team, a very warm welcome to Neil, Gillian, Russell, John Burgess, Debbie, Leighton, Alan, Paul, Brian, Cath, Shane, Chris, Robert Nixon, Robert Pile, Martin, Bob Rowland, Daniela, Paul Smith (love the haircut), Jonny, Fishbuster, Trevor, Jeroen#1, Jeroen#2 and Susan. And we wish our departing wintering mate Oliver, a bon voyage.

That is about it from it from Casey except to say that a few of the new arrivals found out just how good the Casey draught beer and mild(????) ginger beer can be straight from the KEG. Believe us, they are in for a few more surprises yet!

All the best till next week.

(22-Oct-1997)
Intrepid bird researchers

Greetings from the authors of this week's Casey Icynews - the Met forecasting crew.

Well, it's been a busy week at Club Casey with birthday parties, visits from our outlying islanders, a Casey Oktoberfest and our first blizzard for the summer. And in amongst all this excitement, a lot of hard work has been done as well.

The divers have been busy drilling holes around Brown Bay - much to the delight of the local seal population - although if too many more holes are drilled, the next blizz is likely to see a major chunk of sea-ice break out along a nicely perforated edge! Martin, Paul, Jonny, Cathy and Fishbuster have now made several dives in the bay with Jonny successfully locating an experiment from last season.

The Casey forecasters have begun full-time summer operations with radio VLM now broadcasting locally produced weather products out to the rest of the world and the forecasters providing high resolution sea-ice images to summer research and operations personnel. Monday 20th October was the inaugural opening of the Antarctic Meteorological Centre for this summer and in fine style was greeted by the first blizzard for the season. Debbie had the pleasure of being on the early shift, and Neil had to prepare a sea-ice analysis for the Aurora Australis. They started the day by finding that two of the cold porches had been blasted with snow, as the doors had not sealed properly, leaving all the gear hidden under several centimetres snow!

Since it was Debbie's first blizz, she was just a tad on the nervous side to put it nicely. She was hoping she wouldn't have to leave the nice, luxurious security of the redshed, so Neil escorted her to Ops to ensure that the forecasting duties went as scheduled. With the wind gusting to 75 knots at the times with plenty of blowing snow Deb found it to be a great remedy for waking up and feeling alive at the normally sleepy time of 4-00am.

The blizz lasted approximately 18 hours, with the maximum wind gust reaching 88 knots - a walk in the park for those experienced expeditioners, but damn impressive for a first timer! We hope Jeroen#1 and Jeroen#2 out at Ardery Island were as impressed as Deb was!

Last Saturday night saw the Casey German population in full swing at the local Oktoberfest festival. Gerbil did a splendid job on the German cuisine and the brewing team of Bruce#1, Mucker (and Cath - an early summer addition) took the opportunity to display their admirable skills. The German folk dancing display by Fishbuster, Ian#2 and Jason testified to the quality of the local brew, as did their decided lack of activity the following morning.

Another event at Oktoberfest was the presentation of an award to Bruce#2. This was given to him from the Plumbing Department at the Division in recognition of his assistance to Mucker on the melt bells and the broken shaft in the waste treatment plant. Well done Bruce#2 for all your help and for putting up with Mucker during those long, cold and dark winter jobs.

The intrepid bird researchers Jeroen#1, Jeroen#2 and Susan on Ardery Island have been braving the elements and doing some exploring. They walked across the sea-ice to Odbert Island and then on to Robinson Ridge. With the pressing need for four new batteries and some new boots at Ardery Island, it was decided an exchange could be made in which Susan Doust, our newly arrived research assistant would come to Casey for a break. Some exchange.

Simon, Chris and John made the trek out to Robbo's hut in a Hagglund for the exchange. The sastrugi made the ride a bit bumpy, but they still made it OK. We think Susan got the better deal as she was able to enjoy a hot shower for the first time in two weeks. And she was also able to get a view of life at Casey first hand.

Things are quite a bit different here as opposed to Ardery Island and Susan certainly noticed this contrast. Since arriving she hasn't had to cook, being able to enjoy Gerbil's delights instead. She also spent time answering email and watching some videos. The blizzard on Sunday and Monday made her stay here a bit longer, but we really don't think she minded that much. On Tuesday morning Debbie showed her what little she knew about cross country skiing and Susan picked it up easily! She will be departing this afternoon with Simon and John, carrying salmon patties and cheesecake amongst other things. Onya Susan, we admire your courage!

And also, there was Happy Birthday Party last week - to Baby Frank. Naturally it was a celebration at the bar and drinks were on Frank,....and in Frank as well. Gerbil did his usual effort of creating a HUGE cake - in Frank's name. We revelled in good spirits and had a fun time.

Well that's all from Casey for another week.

(29-Oct-1997)
A juicy bomb exploding on Ardery

Greetings and salutations from Casey, the Jewel in the Crown. This has been an eventful week at Casey with action on all fronts. The wildlife is returning in droves, with standing room only at the local Adelie rookery on Shirley Island, and Weddell seals popping up everywhere. Starting where last week's IcyNews left off, Susan was successfully returned to her island home on Ardery by Simon, John B. and Debbie. The highlight of the trip was apparently a curious Emperor who decided to check out the party (and vice versa) on the way across the sea ice. At the same time Anthony and Daniela were returning from a day at Herring Island, checking on the local Weddell population (50 adults and 25 pups) and successfully recording Weddell seal calls underwater.

The diving program is in full swing and they seem to have a few new field assistants in the form of some local Weddell seals who help by keeping the diving hole free of ice. They are also interested onlookers when the divers are in the water obviously trying to work out what those brightly coloured things are.

Later in the week the Station was buzzing with news of a suspected terrorist bomb exploding on Ardery Island. At first it was assumed that the IRA was responsible through their "faceless man" in the Wintering team. However investigations have indicated that details were still sketchy but it is now believed OJ was responsible - next time guys, please check with Gerbil on the right way to open up tins of orange juice! This incident prompted the four musketeers (Terry, Brendan, Smithy and Leighton) to trek out to the Island on Sunday to check out the redecorated Apple hut and to help the Arderians out of a sticky situation (excuse the pun). They installed a new stove, door seals, new carpet tiles and did a few extra jobs while they were there. Leighton was heard to mention as they pulled up at the island on quads that this was "the best thing that he had seen". However an hour later after he had carried 30 carpet tiles up the hill to the Apples, he was heard qualifying his earlier statement to "this is the worst thing I have done!" - we wonder what caused this change of heart? Incidently what was that noise emanating from Robbo's hut that night as we could hear it back at the Station? Smithy must certainly be a heavy sleeper as he was reported to be the only one able to sleep through the racket - any clues Smithy?

The weekend saw Trevor and John B. heading for Robbos on skis, checking out the field training camp on Mitchell's Peninsula. They met up with Neil who had hitched a ride to Robbo's with Jason and Ian#1 who had taken out all the equipment and gear for the Ardery Island repair jobs. Trev, John B. and Neil then skied back to Casey.

Sunday also saw the long awaited departure of the Law Dome traverse with Alan and Russell heading off with their dozers and vans for the trip to the summit. Bruce#2 also went along for the ride to help the guys get set up when they arrive at their destination.

The new recruits have been undergoing more vehicle and field training, and after the weekend ski trek, John B. took Gillian, Rob P. and Bob R. (the latter two probably glad to get away from Warren for awhile) to Mitchell Peninsula for a camp out. Although they were supposed to be roughing it, Tricky Trev and Shane were seen heading over that way on quad and skidoo with a few snacks for the intrepid adventurers. Tuesday morning saw Jason head off to join them for a day of GPS and Radar training.

Elsewhere on Station Rob Nixon is pushing snow around, discovering all kinds of misplaced machinery underneath, Godfrey is still busy on the powerhouses, and George is considering taking up residence in the Aquarium container.

Celebrating birthdays this week were Bruce#1 and Leighton. As a token of their friendship, the Gerbil created a 'self portrait' birthday cake for Bruce. (A portrait of what we shall leave to your imagination - suffice to say the cake was labelled, "The End")

Until next week then, we bid you farewell from Casey.

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