Daily sitreps

The Team sends daily reports on their activities referred to as 'sitreps' short for 'situation reports'. Due to the level of interest in this blog site, we will now include the daily sitreps...here's the latest which marks a significant achievement. Sitrep 3rd January 2008 Weather summary Wind was calm early morning, before picking up to average around 15 – 20 knots for the day before dropping back to 5 knots in the afternoon. Sky was clear most of the day. Today’s activities. The camp was roused at six; the wind had ceased and with the roof still off the bedroom and wind forecast for tomorrow we thought it warranted an early start in calm conditions. The troops wiped sleep out their eyes and rallied to lend a hand. No sooner had we riveted down the first panel the wind picked up, still with two to go we headed for cover. After a warm cuppa the wind steadily increased, as if to let us know that things are on it’s terms around here. Anne led the charge to consolidate our remaining food, and box up some of the old stock to be returned to Australia. Michelle and Anne then headed over to Mawson’s Hut for some more ice excavation for the next few hours. They succeeded in excavating the artefact box from the ’77 / 78’ expedition, inside there was a quite a collective of items that have not seen the light of day for some time. Jon and I moved onto finishing off the second flight on the staircase. It now comes to a landing halfway down and turns 90 degrees to head towards the apple. Brett was out and about with his trusty camera and found a pair of chinstrap penguins. Steve finished the wiring in the lab, it is now furnished with a florescent light and numerous power points. Peter M shot some 360 degree video footage inside Mawson’s Hut, which will look amazing when displayed on its intended dome projection. As the wind dropped this afternoon, we made on more effort at completing the roof panels, conditions stay favourable and finally the roof panels are all fitted! It took a few hours to seal everything up, and by six pm twelve hours after we started we called tools down. There were a few obligatory photographs and shouts of joy as we rejoiced in the completion of the most wind sensitive job. Tomorrow there will be some more action over at Mawson’s Hut with snow removal, and after a bit of a sleep in we will look at finalising the tie down on the new extension. Warm wishes from the MHF team