Mawson's Huts 2007-8

They're Home!

2008-01-27T14:41:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 27th January 2008

Weather summary:

7 Okta cloud cover, wind around 20 knots from the North West. Still a small swell rolling the ship.

Today's activities:

This morning I acquired the booking time for the pilot boat, at 16:00 hrs the small vessel will meet us at the mouth of the Derwent to guide us down to Hobart wharf. The captain called the Mawson's Hut team up to the bridge this morning to thank us for all that we have contributed to the voyage, of course we reciprocated the sentiment, as we have been most happy with the fine hospitality.

We have been madly swapping pictures amongst the team before the Hobart arrival.

The coast of Tasmania is in full view now, and we are all waiting for the smell of a vegetated land to invade our nostrils.

After lunch we will head to the lower decks into the cargo hold, where we will access all of our other personal belongings so every has there gear with them tonight.

This will be the final sitrep of the journey, a trip that I have thoroughly enjoyed and I am sure I can say the same for the rest of the team. An amazing five weeks on the ice that delivered so much. Elation, isolation, discovery, enormous productivity, camaraderie, beauty and wonder, are just a few words that meagrely describe our experience since departing Hobart on December 5th. It has been my privilege to take on the role of field leader, and a pleasure to spend 7 ½ weeks away with such a group of professionals.

Soon we will be soaking up our last few kilometres on board L'Astrolabe, saturating our eyes with the colour of green, and seeing waiting friends and family. As I type dolphins have come to escort us towards the Derwent.

To Rob and Dave, thankyou for your support and correspondence from the other real world.

To the team, it was a blast; we must do it again sometime!

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader Mawson's Huts Foundation Expedition 07/08

sitrep 26/01/08

2008-01-26T23:12:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 26 January 2008

Weather summary:

Sunshine most of the day, cloudy later this evening, not as many stars as last night's spectacular sky. The swell has gradually decreased and is now a fairly smooth ride.

Today activities:

Our second last day on the ship was thankfully smoother, preparations are underway for our arrival and emails were zoomed back and forth fine tunning the plans. It was a relatively quiet Australia Day for the MHF team, although the chef did serve up pork chops for lunch, the closest we would get to an Aussy bbq.

Peter Morse lended his expertise in finalising the video clips for media publication.

Some short beaked common dolphins and long fin pilot whales were seen swimming off to the starboard side of the ship this afternoon.

With the seas calming L'Astrolabe is becoming more social as more of our fellow sailors are up and about. Nights are now dark, something that has been alien for us the past six weeks. Last nights stars were stunning, the temperature is also starting to rise noticeably outside. Home is drawing near!

Tomorrow I am guessing most will be up early, packing bags and looking for the first glimpses of Tasmania. As of 11pm tonight we were at 46deg 25mins South.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader

sitrep 25/01/08

2008-01-25T23:11:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 25th January 2008

Weather summary:

Swell has persisted, still coming North East with the occasional westerly lump coming through. Plenty of spray in the air as the bow smashes its way through the waves. Air temp today was about 8 degrees.

Today's activities:

Although the swell has slowed us slightly, calculations still have us reaching Hobart at 19:00 on Sunday at the latest. Over night we will have crossed the fifty degree South mark. Brett and I started editing some video of our trip to give to the media upon our arrival on Sunday. We have all been swapping camera images with each other so we will have tons of picture to savour in years to come. Probably one of our roughest nights at sea coming up, all on board are keen to hit the sheltered waters.

Warm wishes from the MHF team.

Peter McCabe Field Leader

sitrep 24/01/08

2008-01-24T22:33:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 24th January 2008

Weather summary: Seas around 2 meters, swell from the North West. Low cloud cover, about 20 - 25 knots of wind.

Today's activities:

We are now hovering around the southern convergence where the cold Antarctic waters meet the warmer waters from the north. This region is known for its abundant bird life. Brett has been scanning the horizon, but with the low cloud and sea mist around photographic opportunities have been hard to come by. We crossed the 56 degree south mark at 21:00 this evening. This morning the captain indicated that we should be in port at Hobart late on Sunday evening. The swell it predicted to swing to the west tomorrow which could make for an uncomfortable day at sea, as it will accentuate the rolling motion of the ship. We will soon see if we really do have our sea legs!

Warm wishes from the MHF team.

Peter McCabe Field Leader

sitrep 23/01/08

2008-01-23T21:25:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 23rd January 2008

Weather summary:

Steady 1 ½ meter swell from the north west, cloudy and misty

Today's activities:

After the excitement of our departure and the passing of a huge iceberg last night that was 25 miles long, most had a sleepy morning today. Brett was ever watchful for some sea birds to photograph but it has been slim pickings at this stage. After discussions with the captain and first mate the consensus seems to be that we will arrive in Hobart on the evening of the 27th or the morning of the 28th. We are well out of the ice now and should cross the 60 degree south mark overnight. The most entertaining place to hangout in these conditions is on the bridge, where you can view the swell crashing into the bow and spraying up over the cabin glass. It also provides a dry place to stand and get a good fix on the horizon, although most of us are regaining our sea legs now.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader

sitrep 22/01/08

2008-01-22T19:59:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 22nd January 2008

Weather summary:

20 knot southerly at DDU, clear skies and sunshine.

Today's activities

Bright and early this morning the last of the personal luggage was flown onto L'Astrolabe, along with all the returning expeditioners from Dumont D'Urville. We were ready to depart by 10.30 but with the wind picking up slightly, and a tight harbour to turn the ship in, the captain opted to wait until the wind dropped off. It eased slightly by 15:00, so very carefully L'Astrolabe was eased of the wharf, pirouetted and headed for home. Flares were shot into the sky as the remaining expeditioners waved us bon voyage. With the late departure it would seem unlikely that we will make Hobart by the 27th. I will see the captain tomorrow for a situation update.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader Mawson's Huts Foundation

A Leucistic Adelie Penguin at DDU

2008-01-22T14:29:00.000+11:00

Having become aware of the phenomenon of "leucistic" penguins at Cape Denison - thanks to the compendious knowledge of our wildlife observer extraordinaire, Brett Jarrett - I was delighted to come across another one at Dumont D'Urville Station. This shot clearly demonstrates the difference in pigmentation levels with a normal Adelie penguin. Even though this was just a fleeting encounter as "Leucille" jumped out of the water, I was glad to be able to shoot some video of the animal - not high resolution or stereo unfortunately, but still giving a clear impression. Shortly thereafter s/he was lost in the crowd...

- Peter Morse

sitrep 21/01/08

2008-01-22T02:00:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 21st January 2008

Weather summary:

Clear skies and sunshine, a wonderful Antarctic summer day.

Today's activities:

It was another day of socialising amongst the French at Dumont D'Urville. With another superb day of sunshine we enjoyed some more great photo opportunities, of the bird life and surrounding landscape. It was action stations onboard L'Astrolabe as the cargo hold started to fill with containers, machinery and other assortments.

We all stayed at the base for the evening meal, sausages and mash potato, perhaps they were trying to make us feel at home. Our latest travel plans were announced tonight, L'Astrolabe will start loading passengers at 8.30 tomorrow (Tuesday) morning and we should be sailing by 10.30. After dessert the slide shows began, the blinds were drawn as the restaurant transformed into a cinema. We had a presentation from the dive team, with some fantastic photos; afterwards I gave a talk with some pictures about our stay at Cape Denison. There was great interest as many had never even seen a picture of Mawson's Hut before.

We have now returned to the ship for some sleep, after saying many goodbyes to our gracious hosts. Thousands of penguins chattered and squawked as we walked down the long platform walkway down to the wharf.

Tomorrow we will wave goodbye to Dumont D'Urville and its surrounding archipelago, after two memorable days the French /Australian Antarctic relations are alive and well! This brief stopover was a fabulous bonus to the end of our trip, the icing on the cake of a wonderful journey.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader Mawson's Huts Foundation

Sinister Developments at Dumont D'Urville

2008-01-22T00:35:00.000+11:00

Whilst our generous hosts at Dumont D'Urville Station provided us with wonderful hospitality, friendship and delicious lunch and dinner, I couldn't but help observing the following scene unfolding outside the windows of the main cafeteria hut: a strange plinth-like object, surrounded by penguins on a rocky prominence. Immediately struck by the startling resemblance between this and the opening scenes of Stanley Kubrick's 1969 masterpiece "2001: A Space Odyssey," one is drawn to the conclusion that this obviously unnatural object, disguised as a plinth of some sort, is in fact an Alien Sentinel, instructing and transforming the nearby inhabitants by means of obscure cosmic symmetries that we mere humans can barely comprehend - and leading to the development of a race of hyperintelligent penguins bent upon world domination. Our French amis blithely believe this to be a normal penguin colony, misled by the cunning alien intelligences at work here. We must warn them BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!

- Peter Morse

sitrep 20/01/08

2008-01-21T00:57:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 20th January 2008

Weather summary:

Another glorious sunny day in 'Terre Adelie'. Minimal cloud, and the slightest hint of a southerly breeze.

Today's activities

We are at Dumont D'Urville! After an eventful evening on L'Astrolabe celebrating the end of the marine science voyage, there were a few blurry eyes to rub as we gazed upon the shores of the station. At 10am we caught the water taxi from the ship to the walk way up to the main living quarters. We all likened it to a penguin zoo, as we tramped along the elevated platform meandering above thousands of penguins, traversing our way through a picturesque rocky valley. Finally we came to the main complex, and introduced ourselves to the station leader. The tour guides had definitely become the tourists, as we poked around the base with our very own guide, visiting the buildings and the petrel and penguin colonies. We even spotted a few emperor penguins in our travels. The warm hospitality of the French saw us dining on base for lunch and this afternoon preparations were underway for a big BBQ on board L'Astrolabe. As I type this the party is still raging, after an intense voyage with a heavy work program, its great to see the French staff and also the Ukrainian crew letting their hair down and enjoying a party.

The fun continues tomorrow as this small band of Australian ambassadors continue to strengthen the bond with our Antarctic neighbours, I have been lined up for a bit of a slide show of pictures of our Cape Denison adventures. Depending on cargo operations we will be out of port late tomorrow evening or on Tuesday.

Warm wishes from the MHF team.

Peter McCabe Field Leader

sitrep 19/01/08

2008-01-19T20:01:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 19th January 2008

Weather summary:

Partial cloud cover, with bursting through the gaps. The ocean is like a lake this afternoon.

Today's activities:

After completing all the station stops towards Dumont D'Urville, with plenty of time to spare, the French have decided to travel once again down to the Mertz Glacier to deploy one last mooring that they were unable to deploy in rough conditions last week. The heavy piece of equipment required a ramp to slide it off the back of the ship, so the only two chippies on board, Jon and I, happily lent a hand making up a timber structure to perform the task. This will be the last stop for their marine science program, and there is talk of a party of sorts this evening on board.

We are now on our way to Dumont D'Urville, and should be there Sunday morning, the deadline to leave the French base in Tuesday 22nd. Once their cargo operations are complete and we are steaming away from the Antarctic coast, clear of any ice, we should get a good idea of an arrival date back in Hobart.

In the meantime there is plenty of stunning coastline to enjoy between Mertz Glacier and Dumont D'Urville.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader Mawson's Huts Foundation

Coming home on L'Astrolabe

2008-01-19T10:31:00.000+11:00

The Mawson's Huts Expedition is currently aboard L'Astrolabe, the French Antarctic program re-supply and research vessel and cruising for Dumont D'Urville before heading north for Hobart. Estimated time of arrival will be advised as soon as we have it from the French skipper.

sitrep 18/01/08

2008-01-18T22:08:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 18th January 2008

Weather summary

Plenty of cloud cover as an approaching low draws closer. A few small early snow patches. Swell has picked up since last night.

Today's activities

Before breakfast this morning we past through an avenue of ice bergs, they lined up on port and starboard for the numerous cameras eager to catch the moment, which was like sailing through a grand canyon of ice.

Jon has been busy on this Friday at sea, helping out on the trawl deck with the science program deployment operations, relieving some very tired and grateful scientists.

We spent most of the day north of Dumont D'Urville, slowly tracking our way south stopping at stations along the way for various marine observations and sampling. At this pace it is feasible that we would be at DDU in the morning but it's been difficult to get a straight answer out of anyone. One thing is for sure we should be there Saturday or Sunday. We have all accepted an open invitation to look around the French base when we arrive.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader

The hut they left behind!

2008-01-18T08:23:00.000+11:00

These photos of the interior of the Main Hut (winter quarters) show the artefacts embedded in the accumulated snow and ice and give some idea of the excavation work achieved this season and the magnitude of the work to come in the coming years...lots of careful digging and chipping to free valuable items which will then be conserved in the new on site laboratory constructed by the 2007-8 team.

sitrep 17/01/08

2008-01-17T18:01:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 17th January 2008

Weather summary:

Fairly cloudy day, no snow as yet, the wind has been nothing more than a gentle breeze. Ocean is still nice and calm.

Today's activities:

Well after yesterdays feature movie 'Happy Feet' dubbed in French with no subtitles, I thought today could potentially be another big day in the rec room. But the Cape Denison campers have stayed pretty low key, limiting movements to the tri daily migrate to the eating mess or hauling up to the bridge for a better view of a passing berg. There were a few early sightings of killer whales; Brett has been 'Johnny on the spot' for most of the bird and mammal sightings, armed with his trusty zoom lens.

After roaming around the Mertz Glacier region yesterday evening, we then headed North West over night to meet a few more stations on the science program. We only have a few major stops to make now, before heading back to Dumont D'Urville, no one has been definitive on our arrival date at the French base but it seems likely to be on the 19th or 20th.

The crew have also given us user rights to their laundry, so now not only are we squeaky clean but our clothes are too, quite civilised an a massive aromatic improvement!

Late yesterday Michelle received an email from Campell Scientific to ask her to pop down to Mawson's Hut as they were unable to connect to the data logging system. Of course we are now many miles from the front door. But all is not lost, Don and Margie McIntyre will be there in a week and Michelle has emailed them instructions on how to do a quick check on the equipment.

Our passports were also run through the photocopier today, which should hopefully clear up some strange names appearing on our cabin door. Steve's last name has been tweaked to Beacon, and I was originally befuddled as to which room I was staying in, Peter McConnell's or Anne McCabe's.

That's all from the high seas, well, moderately flat really.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader

sitrep 16/01/08

2008-01-16T16:34:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 16th January 2008

Weather summary:

4 oktas cloud cover, light breeze and fairly calm ocean.

Today's activities.

Well there was not many of us that made it up for breakfast, most were in hibernation mode today, myself included. Brett has been up taking photographs of sea birds all afternoon. All around us though there is plenty going on as the French marine science program is in full swing.

We are patrolled past the Mackeller Islets and bergs that we spent many ours from our deck back at Sorensen Hut. Some party members have been a little more active than others as we all try to regain our sea legs.

Some social times ahead though as we start to meet all the new faces on board.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader

sitrep 15/01/08

2008-01-16T16:32:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 15th January 2008

Weather summary:

The wind had eased to around 35 knots in the morning but still had some stronger gusts. It started to ease further in the early afternoon, and was back to 5 knots for a while, treading to 20 knots but late evening. Clear skies, no snow.

Today's activities:

With a few boxes left in the Granholm Hut inventory, Jon, Brett and I headed over to hut valley. Fresh from a good night's sleep we blitzed through the remaining items, and with the wind slackening slightly we transported the sky light covers over to Mawson's Hut in preparation for is final lock down. While we were there it was impossible to resist taking another few hundred photographs in and around the hut!

Meanwhile back at Sorensen personal gear was being compressed a bit more, for the slight possibility that the French might spring a Tuesday night departure on us. Anne and Michelle joined us over at Mawson's before long, and we laid ply down on some of the old bunk beds before they positioned all the black plastic to catch any snow ingress over the next year.

Upon returning the Sorensen for lunch the phone rang, it was the French voyage leader with this message, "We will be there is six hours!" Things click up a few gears immediately, everyone was notified over the radio, there were still plenty of final jobs to be done. We replaced the sky lights on the hut, one final sled load of stuff was hauled up to the helipad before the sled and motor bike were strapped down for another winter. The French GPS buoy also had to be pulled in. After all our gear was out of Sorensen we were able give it one last sweep out, and with two hours to spare we were ready.

The helicopter did not arrive until 23:45, three French passengers disembarked to pack up the GPS gear and assist with cargo operations. Michelle, Steve and Tony flew back out on the same trip, upon return we started sling loading. Nine cage pallets lay in wait at the site, with the beginnings of a katabatic wind present our sling loading window was closing with ever shorter. But the operation was swift, it was two nations working in harmony, the ship was close and in just over an hour all cage pallets were on board! The final five of us flew out in one flight, watching as Cape Denison smaller in the twilight glow of early morning. So now we are all back on L'Astrolabe, we thanked all of our French colleagues over a few beers at the ships bar, before every faded fast to bed, we will sleep like nothing else tonight.

The Cape Denison leg of our journey is over, after exactly five weeks, there was an amazing sense of achievement throughout the team, and getting all of our rubbish and spare cage pallets home was the icing on the cake. Great job team we did it!

Tomorrow there will be sleeping, eating, showering, sleeping, showering, you get the picture anyway! We are due at Dumont D'Urville 19th or 20th.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader

Frank Hurley's Darkroom: A Window into the Past

2008-01-15T11:13:00.000+11:00

I spent most of yesterday processing panoramic photographs on my laptop including this one of the interior of Frank Hurley's Darkroom - a very small room about 1.5m x 1.5m x 2m high. As you can imagine, this presents a significant challenge to anyone attempting photo documentation - sure, it is entirely feasible to photograph specific objects in there (if you lean in from the outside to avoid trampling artifacts on the floor), but to actually photograph a substantial portion of the interior is very challenging - but not impossible.

The picture above represents a 360ºx180º texture map of the entire interior of the darkroom - it's a bit like a Mercatorial map projection - a longitudinal rectangular image with polar distortions such that if it were wrapped around an imaginary sphere everything would appear from the correct perspective. This is exactly what happens with cubic or spherical QTVR (QuickTime Virtual Reality) projections - with the geometry being distorted again for cubic projection - so that a viewer in the centre of the cube sees everything as if it were surrounding them in normal Cartesian space.

This type of image distortion has a long history - tracing its way back to the vogue for distorted imagery that could be seen in "correcting" mirrors (such as cylinders) in anamorphic images painted during the 16th to 18th centuries - and in such paintings as Holbein's (1497–1543) "The Ambassadors" - with the famous image of the stretched skull that can only be seen correctly if the painting is viewed side- on at an extremely oblique angle: a philosophical memento mori encoded in the image.

This image of Hurley's Darkroom is a composite of 95 photographs - each of 8 megapixels - rendered via computer software into a longitudinal texture map 10183 pixels wide by 5091pixels high - and this is at only 50% resolution! What this means is that the image is not only scalable for a standard computer screen, but is of sufficiently high resolution that it can be displayed upon a large scale projection device (such as a planetarium dome or, even better, a perpendicular dome such as the iDome produced by iCinema and my colleague Paul Bourke at WASP) allowing the viewer to interactively revolve the image and to zoom in and analyse whatever part attracts their interest.

In this, then, we see the beginnings of an effective virtual archaeology and materials conservation visualisation device - meaning that specialists could make heritage conservation decisions without actually having to be there - bringing more minds to bear upon issues without the requirement to ship them all the way to, in this case, Antarctica. Similarly, it affords interesting new ways for scholars of history and the general public to access sites and situations that they might otherwise never have access to - all without disturbing the original site. The camera itself used to create the image sits upon a tripod within the scene with minimal impact - as you can see in this image it has entirely disappeared and the point of view seems to float in empty space in the middle of the darkroom!

I can't help but thinking that Hurley would have been an enthusiastic adopter of this technology himself - I believe he would have been thrilled with the possibilities of digital imaging. My stereoscopic movie "Home of the Blizzard" - which is on permanent display in the 3D theatrette at the 'Islands to Ice Exhibition' at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart - explores many of his stereoscopic images, which bring the 'third dimension' of depth perception to an image (just like an IMAX movie that you see with those funny 3D glasses on). I took a few stereoscopic shots of the interior of the darkroom - but this represents a real challenge for an array of other technical reasons.

However, in both the spherical panorama and the stereoscopic images I have taken I am pleased to say that there is one characteristic they share in common with Hurley's images - level of detail. I have been able, via high resolution scanning and image processing, to reveal aspects of the 1911-14 AAE captured in Hurley's images that have not been seen for nearly 100 years - if, in fact, ever - because they have always been looked at as 'photographic images' to be printed. They aren't - they're data that now be explored via new techniques of computer visualisation - revealing intimate detail (such as the titles of the books expeditioners were reading) that has not really been examined. Similarly, in this image of Hurley's Darkroom, there is much to discover - I have pored over it for hours and it is quite astonishing what you find - what you would never find just casually standing there in the darkness. It enables a kind of forensic approach to looking at a site (so, like a crime scene investigation) and in this gathering of clues a wealth of knowledge is revealed, not only about Mr Hurley's darkroom, the chemicals he used, the workflow he followed, the signs of labour from a century ago; but also the interruptions of time - the decay and moisture in the walls, the interventions of other people over time and, no doubt, much more for other eyes to find.

In this then, we can approach the entire photographic record of the hut as a remarkable database of artefactual movements, human intervention and spatio-temporal "sampling." Errol Morris, the masterful American documentary filmmaker expressed the value of a photograph most wonderfully in a recent series of articles for the New York Times, regarding two images of the Crimean War taken by Roger Fention: "Photographs provide a "window" into history. Not into general history – but into a specific moment, a specific place. It is as if we have reached into the past and created a tiny peephole."

Having read the logbooks about site visits kept at the Sørensen Hut, it is now apparent that here were a variety of visits by the French and others during the 1950's and 1960's - a surprising array of notes were left in the Magnetic Hut, which had been used for observations and shelter. So, for instance, we know that Mssrs Lachaux, Larbilliere, Vieillame and Dourmap, led by Paul Emile Victor of the Expedition Polaire Française, visited in January 1951(or is it 1959?...) Did they take photographs? It would be hard to believe that they didn't and it would be wonderful to track them down - a mystery surprisingly similar to Morris' wonderful forensic journey with the Fenton images (I'd certainly recommend reading "Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg? (Part One)" by Errol Morris, in 'Zoom' the New York Times Blog (24/10/07).) Due to the scarcity of these visits, I imagine it would be, to some degree, possible to reconstruct the "afterlife" of the Cape Denison site and Mawson's Huts and track how things have changed and moved over time.

This tracking would enable the investigator to filter out the perceived "noise" of post-AAE interventions and open that peephole into the real, 'authentic' residue of the AAE - the scatter of artefacts left as they were, the true signs of life as they were left. In a sense this type of historical veracity is always intractable, always unknowable, but that is the nature of the past: we struggle to understand it through interpretation, through the concatenation of things left behind, traces of lives lived and intentions formed and acted out, and through this, I hope, we come to better understand the present.

- Peter Morse

sitrep 14/01/08

2008-01-14T20:04:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 14th January 2008

Weather summary:

A strong south easterly has been howling since last night, maintaining 45 knots gusting around 70 knots. No blowing snow, but plenty of swell rolling in.

Today's Activities.

We had a nice sleep in this morning, after consecutive long days. Last night Tony decided to bivvy out, so far every time someone has bivvied the wind has picked up, food for thought for our helicopter operations on Wednesday! From all accounts he had a peaceful nights slumber despite the strong wind.

It was inventory day today, with all of the Sorensen gear now listed and about two more tool boxes to sort out in Granholme hut tomorrow morning. Personal gear is starting compress into piles as our departure date draws closer. With the wind howling and the water supply low Tony and Steve blazed their way to the nearby Alga Lake to fill up the containers, the hard part is trying to get the water from the jug to the container without losing it all to the wind.

Peter Morse showed us some of the 360 pictures he has processed. Truly this is the closest thing to standing inside Mawson's Hut. With a swipe of the mouse you can travel from the floor to the suspended ice crystals in the rafters, zooming closely at books on the shelf or panning around the walls, they don't call it virtual reality for nothing!

The swell running in against the wind to the north of Sorensen Hut kept us entertained all evening. Standing on the veranda in the lee of the wind, we enjoyed a perfect view of waves crashing against the icy shore. As the waves crested dramatic plumes of water peeled from their peaks, sending a mist of sea spray high above each churning wave.

Tomorrow is the last minute tidy up, quad bikes need to be tied down, final bags packed. We will be looking for a break in the weather to put the skylights on Mawson's Hut. . We also need to retrieve the GPS buoy from Boat Harbour to be returned to L'Astrolabe.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader

A snifter of Pimms

2008-01-14T12:56:00.000+11:00

Having often put on my best Jorkens voice (á la Lord Dunsany -The Collected Jorkens, Vol. 1: The Travel Tales of Mr. Joseph Jorkens and Jorkens Remembers Africa) of an eve, as I recall my Antarctic adventures with my colleagues at the Club, one often desires a snifter of Pimms. Indeed the desire for a snifter was overwhelming at times, amidst the acrid pipe smoke, as we reflected upon our days in the colonies etc. etc. However, this gave rise to the most peculiar situation - this being the 21st Century and all that rot, we weren't exactly sure what a late-C19th/early C-20th snifter of Pimms was - but is sounded right! So here, for those in the know(and those who wish to join our secret society), I now reveal the exact meaning of these words - to be announced in ones most plummy Empire accent for that preprandial occasion after a hard day's Antarctic Adventuring:

snifter ˈsnɪftə noun a footed glass that is wide at the bottom and tapers to the top, used for brandy and other drinks.

snifter • informal a small quantity of an alcoholic drink : care to join me for a snifter? ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: imitative; compare with dialect snift

Pimm's noun noun trademark a gin-based alcoholic drink, served typically with lemonade or soda water and fresh mint. ORIGIN early 20th cent.: from the name of the proprietor of the restaurant where the drink was created.

The phrase can be announced: "Great Scott, I need a snifter of Pimms!" shortly before mealtime or after escaping a crevasse or other dramatic moments. Regrettably the Sørensen Hut has a shortage (well, total absence to be exact) of both Snifters and Pimms, but it is the sentiment that is most important.

- Peter Morse

My night in the bivvy

2008-01-14T09:59:00.000+11:00

Last night I thought I'd try out sleeping on the snow in a bivouac bag. The weather was calm when I went out just after 11pm with my survival pack to find a cosy spot to bed down for the night. In it there's a polar bed roll, which is a windproof bivvy bag with a thin foam camping mattress rolled up inside, a sleeping bag, and other stuff like water, food bars, signal mirror, whistle etc.

I found a fluffy patch of snow sheltered by a rock wall, and rolled out the bivvy bag, put the sleeping bag inside, climbed in and took off my boots, then pulled the pack inside to make an internal wall next to my head to keep the bag up off my face. The sky was the most fantastic pink and mauve as I lay there on the snow. The bag has a draw string at one end, and once I was settled I pulled it tight leaving only a little breathing hole and I quickly drifted off to sleep.

It was surprisingly warm inside with just a little condensation, and the snow easily molded to my body shape under the mat. I woke up a couple of times during the night to turn over, and peeked out at the long shadows on the distant ice cliffs of Commonwealth Bay, before drifting again into a deep sleep. I woke up about 7:30 am, still cozy and warm in the sleeping bag but the bivvy bag was flapping quite a lot and it seemed very noisy outside. The condensation inside the bivvy had turned to frost and with each flap of the bag little snow flakes fell on my face.

Peeking out I could see drifting snow and the waves being whipped up by the katabatic winds off the polar plateau. I retreated into the bag for a while, then by 8am I figured no one was going to bring me a nice hot cuppa, so it was time to head back to Sorensen's Hut for breakfast. Packing up was fun, the bag is just big enough to sit inside, so I got dressed i.e. put on my boots, which were the only items that I removed last night. I stuffed the sleeping bag back into the pack, and crawled out of the bivvy. It was then the wind hit me! I had to pin the bivvy bag down, quickly brush off the show drift and get it into the pack in the 'lee' of the rock, then do some blizzard walking to get back to the hut.

Everyone is still asleep here, so I've put on the kettle and hung out the bags to dry. Looking at the weather station, the wind picked up to 20 knots about an hour after I went to bed, and blew at 30 to 40 knots all night, and is now 40-50 knots. Good to know that you can hunker down in that gear and be safe and warm even in a blizzard.

Tony

sitrep 13/01/08

2008-01-13T22:48:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 13th January 2008

Weather summary:

Bright, sunny, no wind, and temp somewhere around 4 degrees. Another day of stunning perfection at Cape Denison.

Today's activities;

Well things were rolling fairly early this morning, I raised L'Astrolabe on the radio just before eight. They were sitting twelve miles off the coast, and the helicopter deployed from Dumont D'Urville was about 35 minutes away. By the end of the radio telecast everyone was cleaning the sleep out of their eyes and preparing for some visitors. There was a French team of divers and surveyors to deploy a floating GPS buoy, and set up the GPS unit at Sorensen Hut. The divers also inspected our tide gauge which is lying in a nice sandy bottom. I must say Jon was in his element working with the team and their boating operations, he and Steve downloaded the data from the tide gauge, and Steve hooked up all the electrical components of the Sorensen GPS to keep it running through the year. Afterwards, the French team gathered in Sorensen Hut and showed us some amazing photos that they took from the bottom of Boat Harbour. There are shots of the tide gauge and lots of shots of the kelp farms below. These images have been copied to us, and I'm sure more than a few people will be interested in checking them out.

Today was also intended as our major cargo offload, all the cage pallets sat waiting on the helipad, and there was some conjecture about taking them now or on the next trip. With the weather so perfect I reasoned with the voyage leader that we should do all the helicopter operations today. The problem was, all the mooring equipment for their marine science voyage was filling the deck space making access to the hold difficult. After much relaying a compromise was reached, all of our personal cargo and borrowed equipment which comprised of four cage pallets was taken to the ship. This still leaves five cage pallets of rubbish and old food packs, plus four empty cage pallets still on the ground (or snow). They now forecast on picking us up on Wednesday morning, and we will have our fingers crossed that the weather is conducive to helicopter operations.

We were rewarded for our efforts, in regards to the tide gauge deployment. With a bottle of real French champagne, which was promptly served out over diner tonight, followed by a home cooked fruit cake courtesy of Barbara Tucker, delicious!

Tomorrow in inventory day at Cape Denison, the Granholm inventory is almost done, and the Sorensen gear needs to be listed also. But after some hectic day in succession there will be a sleep in.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader

sitrep 12/01/08

2008-01-13T00:26:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 12 January 2008

Weather summary:

Another wonderfully calm day at Cape Denison. It blew hard through the night but by 9:00 the katabatic ran out of puff and the sky peeled back its clouds for another clear sunny day of melting snow.

Today's activities:

After last nights benchmark survey, there was still one more point to reference, the height difference from Mawson's original benchmark to the new tide gauge. We now have all the data that we can gather, and Jon and I were very satisfied with boasting a 6 millimetre accuracy reading from Sorensen Hut to Boat Harbour. The levelling equipment is now wrapped and strapped with our other fly off cargo. After lunch we finished off the hut tie down, finally the Sorensen extension is ready to face it first winter!

There was plenty of action over at Mawsons Hut with Anne and Michele inspecting the fragments of the tail of the air tractor in the workshop roof. While Tony did some more comparison work to pinpoint the most likely location of the rest of its remains. All the ice and snow excavation for this year is finished. Anne also did some grid mapping of the artefact scatter north of the hut.

Steve was listing inventories today and working on his users guide to the Sorensen solar power system.

On the photography front Peter Morse spent hours in Mawson's Hut getting some final images, while Brett roamed the Cape once more looking for the white penguin, and trying to capitalise on the great photographic weather. This evening Jon and I loaded some last minute items to the cage pallets that await helicopter pick up tomorrow.

Tomorrow we expect to see a helicopter arrive fairy early, we may also have the French dive team here, to complete their part of the French / Australian tide gauge survey.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader

Vale Edmund Hilary

2008-01-12T10:36:00.000+11:00

It is with sadness that the Mawsons Hut Team noted the passing of Sir Edmund Hilary - news we received yesterday. He was the first to conquer Everest - along with Tenzing Norgay - and in some ways this represents one of the last great feats in exploration in the manner of the "heroic era" - similar to Mawson and his team. A copy of Alasdair MacGregor's book "Mawson's Huts - An Antarctic Expedition Journal" (1998) that resides on one of the shelves in the Sørensen Hut is signed by him. Requiescat in Pace.

- Peter Morse

Note: Sir Edmund was a previous patron of the Mawson's Huts Foundation and contributed much to the conservation work by signing many items sold to raise funds for future work. He also visited Australia several times to attend functions in support of the Foundation. He is sadly missed.

Rob Easther

Expedition Manager

sitrep 11/01/08-Inside Mawson's Winter Quarters

2008-01-12T02:12:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 11th January 2008

Weather summary:

It blew 20 - 30 knots south, south east, most of the day and clearing later to calm evening.

Today's activities:

With the wind blowing Jon and I thought it a great idea to shelter in Granholm Hut and start the tool inventory. By lunch time we were past half way and decided the wind had dropped enough to continue the guy ropes back at Sorensen Hut. By this afternoon all the tie down cables were up, and the new 'Sorensen Hut' sign mounted proudly on the west wall. All that is left now is to tighten the network of treaded rods that run across the roof.

Michelle and Anne continued to excavate snow in Mawson's Hut, with Steve pitching in too. Steve has also been writing up a user guide for the power system at Sorensen Hut.

Tony and Brett continued the search for the air tractor, confident that if it is still in the snow, that they have located the approximate spot using old photographs as a reference point.

Peter Morse continued to compile some of his images and is patiently waiting to get some last shots in the hut once the work is completed before the sky lights go back on.

After dinner the wind had stopped completely, so Jon and I decided to give the surveying a shot between the tide gauge benchmark and the new bench mark at Sorensen Hut. It must also be commended that Tony and Brett came along for the ride, writing down figures and dealing out hot chocolate as we leapfrogged with the staff and telescopic level all the way to Boat Harbour and back. We completed the circuit by 1.30 am, a big day but we were both keen to have this surveyed before we left. The numbers look pretty good, but we will review them all after a good nights sleep.

Tomorrow the last of the work will be sorted around Sorensen Hut, we will do a late rubbish run to the cage pallets before the French fly in on the 13th.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader

Hip Hop Rap Band Name Competition Winner!

2008-01-11T21:47:00.000+11:00

After much deliberation, and having kept our many fans on tenterhooks for several weeks, we now proudly announce our Hip Hop Rap Band Name Winner!

As we were overwhelmed with responses, we spent many hours deliberating - the following achieved at least some response from the clapometer:

Ice P and the M Team The Antarctic Orangutans The Weddells

The jury's rational was as follows: the first name at least sounded like a rap group; the second attempted a pun ('The Arctic Monkeys'); the third because we'd had too much wine and everyone laughed for some reason.

In the end though, being faced with such a difficult choice, it was unanimously decided to completely ignore them (sorry guys) and go for:

What the Katabatic Dragged In

a group that performs in the neo-rap genre of Dougsta Rap.

Now all we need to do is write the lyrics and shoot the video for 'Don't Muck Wid Da Hut" - we'll be applying for an Australia Council Performing Arts Grant so that we can do this next summer (it looks like L'Astrolabe will pick us up on Tues 15th!)

- Pemo

sitrep 10/01/08

2008-01-11T19:05:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 10 January 2008

Weather summary: A calm sunny day greeted us this morning. The skies stayed clear all day, with the mercury above zero most of the day. The southerly kicked in at about 18:30 and in true katabatic form it is slowly generating speed.

Today's activities:

The radio was in full noise waiting for a call from the French regarding their impending arrival. There was no contact all day, so we will continue to monitor the air waves in anticipation.

With such great weather Brett decided today was the day to paint the Granholm hut. While Brett was plying his artistic talent Peter Morse roamed the moraine taking panoramic shots and stereo time lapse videography. Back at the Sorensen Jon and I were fitting the guy wires to the extension. At 13:00 we all headed over to Mawson's Hut for some sponsorship photos. As we crested the hill looking down into the hut valley we glanced over towards the Granholm, quite surprised to see the old field hut blending nicely into the landscape. If Brett ever wants to change career paths he could get some work with the army painting camouflage on their machines.

We all huddled for photographs around the hut and inside, parading in our Kordia and Jaeger shirts.

After lunch Steve and Michelle finished setting up the logger net system and removed the final tiny tag from the north side of the building. Meanwhile Tony scanned the Mawson Hut valley with the metal detector looking for any remains of the air tractor, completing about one third of the intended survey area, as yet there is no sign of it.

Tomorrow we will again keep our eyes and ears open for helicopters on the horizon. In the interim everyone will be finalising the last few days of their work programs.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader

sitrep 9/01/08

2008-01-09T22:11:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 9th January 2008

Weather summary:

A strong southerly blew overnight, topping with a gust of 85 knots. It maintained around 30 knots through the morning and didn't drop of until late afternoon when it started swinging in from the east and slackening. The sky was crystal clear all day.

Today's activites.

After a noisey night in my bivvy bag, it was no surprise that I was the first to put the kettle on this morning. With the wind howling outside it was a slow start to the day. The French indicated that they could be here in the morning for the first cargo pick up so the wind proofs were donned and we set about getting the rest of the cage pallets up to the helipad site. By late afternoon all but one cage pallet are parked awaiting helicopter arrival. We kept one here at the Sorensen in the hope that our remaining gear like rubbish and supplies will be slung out, failing that it will be a few quick internal loads.

Steve finished servicing the quad bikes, Anne spent an afternoon in the hut scooping out another 16 buckets of snow. Brett had an interview today with a NZ news team about the white penguin that has been all over the papers of late.

Tomorrow we will listen closely to the radio for the expected arrival of L'Astrolabe and its helicopter.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader

sitrep 8/1/08

2008-01-08T22:03:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 8th January 2008

Weather summary: Another bright and sunny day with very little wind, the slight hint of a southerly katabatic wind started at around 21.30 tonight.

Today's activities: We started the day with a group meeting in the Sorensen to chat about the next few days as the first arrival of L'Astrolabe is getting closer. Living arrangements are now 'in house'. The tents have been pulled down, so tonight will be the first time the new bedroom is occupied. Although with the weather so nice I am taking the opportunity to bivvy out in the lee of the rocks across from the hut.

We took the inflatable zodiac out for one last today run before deflating it. We paddled out to the new tide gauge to download the first set of data. Back at the Sorensen Steve began giving the Honda quad bikes their annual service. Meanwhile personal items were packed up with other cargo and transported up to the helicopter pick up point. All of our rubbish and recyclables were also strapped into cage pallets awaiting their trip to the ship.

Anne spent the afternoon at Mawson's Hut using the 1meter framing square to do some trials on plotting the artefact scatter north of the hut, as a method for recording the area.

This evening set up a ply table on the snow west of the hut and enjoyed the picturesque view of ice bergs and the Mackellar Islets, while devouring a delicious curry prepared by Michelle, to wash it all down we had a bottle of champagne that the team won at the trivia contest on the Orion yesterday.

Tomorrow we will finalise the packing for our first cargo fly off which could start on Thursday.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader

sitrep 7/1/08

2008-01-08T00:54:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 7th January 2008

Weather summary:

Cloudy early with a slight northerly breeze. Skies cleared as the day wore on with less than 5 knots most of the afternoon.

Today's activities:

Brett was the first up this morning by virtue of the fact he never went to bed. For the past 24 hours he has been filming a scenic shot on the Sony HD camera, requiring to change tapes every hour, keep batteries up to the camera, and stay awake. Basically he had a half an hour down time between each visit, the jar of Nescafe blend 43 copped a real hiding!

The rest of us surfaced to a radio call from the tourist vessel Orion. She was is port and offloading passengers by 10.30. Jon and I offered the use of the chainsaw to carve some steps for their landing site but an opportunistic ice break provided a great ramp for the crew and passengers to use all day. Anne ventured over to do some PR work at the hut, while back at the hut Steve made some adjustments to the power intake cord so that we have the option of using the small or large generator, in the hope to save some fuel. Jon and I continued to finish the tie down to the Sorensen extension. Around lunch time Tony, Michelle, Anne and Steve and Peter Morse headed over to the Orion for a shower sauna and buffet lunch. Jon and I headed down to Boat Harbour to have a quick look at the new tide gauge from onboard one of Orion's inflatable boats. We then had our arms twisted to venture out to the five star service of Orion for a shower. As we boarded the vessel the other five were just leaving after sweeping the prize pool at a game of trivia. Peter Morse relieved Brett for his last two hours of tape changing so he too could join us on board. After the shower the crew asked us to join the crowd for dinner. Overwhelmed by the opulence of it all we followed our noses past the piano lounge to the restaurant. The three of us were asked to mingle with the diners, who were all keen to hear all about our stay. After the lavish feast we bid farewell to our warm hosts and headed back ashore.

Today is the anniversary of the death of Xavier Mertz, from Mawson's tragic sledging journey in 1913. So 95 years later we gathered at the memorial cross to pay our respects, while the Orion quietly steamed out of Commonwealth Bay with another ship full of happy customers. Squeaky clean once more we headed for home.

Tomorrow is will probably be eviction day for the tent dwellers of Cape Denison, with the cargo pick up drawing closer we are keen to take advantage of good weather and start stockpiling gear at the helipad. We are also keen to download some data from the tide gauge first up, before we deflate the little zodiac.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader

sitrep 6/1/08

2008-01-07T00:19:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 6th January 2008

Weather summary: A bright and sunny day with very little cloud. A slight northerly rarely topping 5 knots, with a mild southerly finally breathing in late afternoon, again only 1-5 knots.

Today's activities:

Most of the team enjoyed a sleep in this morning, until the bright sun made the tents almost too warm to stay in! After the late finish yesterday it was a low key start to a fine Sunday. As we filed in one by one to the mess for coffee, muesli and toast discussion began about last night's tide gauge deployment. The swell that has been running for the past few weeks seemed to have dropped off. Jon informed us that there was still a tag line attached to the tide gauge and it was entirely possible to retrieve it and try the whole thing again. Realising that conditions yesterday were good but conditions today are actually perfect, the gang rallied to the call. We waited until about midday before getting the gear together to ensure that everyone had their promised slow start to the day.

The gauge was retrieved and the staff repositioned, then whole exercise from last night was repeated. The lack of swell meant that holding position with the gauge staff was much easier, resulting in far more accurate measurements. The low tide also allowed me to get closer to the water with the telescopic level, also improving accuracy. Numerous sightings were taken, and the results tallied this evening. With four different readings to average from we narrowed down the height data to an accuracy of a few millimetres. While the boat was tethered in such wonderful conditions, Jon made a second trip to the middle of boat harbour, this time with Peter Morse in the zodiac with his stereoscopic cameras. Peter filmed some amazing shots from a view point that is rarely recorded from. Very satisfied with our new recordings we returned to Sorensen Hut for a Sunday roast.

Anne also spent time in Mawson's Hut removing areas of ice build up from drip water below the sky lights.

Steve found the famous white penguin again today, Brett has confirmed that it is the same one. We are all had the opportunity to check it out as it is quite close to Sorensen Hut at the moment.

Tomorrow we may have a visit from Orion, although we are still waiting for some email correspondence from them. The weather report is looking great, and we will look at consolidating some gear and start packing equipment for the first of our cargo pick ups.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader

sitrep 5/1/08

2008-01-06T02:50:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 5th January 2008

Weather summary: Light south east winds around 15 knots in the morning dropping to the occasional 5 knot puff in the afternoon. There was about 7 oktas of cloud cover most of the day.

Today's Activities

With the new landing and stair case in, Jon and I finished the timber balustrade up the stairs, creating a seamless railing from the base of the stairs and along to the new front door. The hut looks quite homely from a distance now with a bit of heritage feel to it. We both were happy to be playing with timber for once (being chippys) instead of foam panels and aluminium!

Steve and Jon also fitted the spare base station antennae to the hut so that we can run the second Iridium phone on, in the hope that we can curb our habit of missing every incoming call so far. Steve also made more adjustments to the solar power system to supply a continual power feed to the base camp radio.

Anne, Michelle and Tony spent the day in Mawson's Hut continuing with the snow excavation. They uncovered a box that is believed to have the remains of the husky that was found on the ice plateau in the late 90's. Michelle inventoried the contents of Hurley's dark room, and carried out timber moisture reading in numerous sites around the hut. Anne excavated more snow from the top shelf of the south wall at the west end.

Mid afternoon the wind was down; with some stronger wind forecast for the next few days we decided to initiate the deployment of the tide gauge for the French/Australian sea level survey. The zodiac boat was inflated and tethered to the shore for a reconnaissance journey to find a suitable location to place the gauge. Conditions were fine except for a swell that has been running for over a week now, making it challenging to hold position. After a suitable spot was found we returned to shore, bolted in the reference benchmark, before everyone adjourned to Sorensen Hut for the evening meal. With the weather holding and our tummies full of warm lasagne, we headed back over to Boat Harbour to deploy the gauge and shoot a level reference height on the new benchmark.

Jon and Steve headed out in the inflatable zodiac with the heavy tide gauge in tow. Attached to the gauge was a long pole with measuring increments that was to protrude above the water surface that I was to read a height from using a telescopic level. Gaining accurate readings proved extremely difficult in the surging swell, moreover, the tiny numbers on the height staff required far more magnification than the average human eye can achieve. Holding the staff in a perfectly vertical position was the main problem as it was seven meters long and any movement away from plumb resulted in a variant in the measurement. We did our utmost to record the shortest measurement which should equate to the most vertical position. The last hurdle was removing the pole which was actually three poles screwed together, upon rotating it out of its socket the lowest two meter length remained attached to the gauge on the sea floor. When the French dive team visit in the coming weeks they will need to retrieve the final piece of the staff.

The team arrived back at the hut at 1.30 am thoroughly exhausted, the zodiac was lashed down and we retired to the mess.

Tomorrow which is really today, we will be sleeping in and recharging the batteries. There is a small chance that the tourist vessel Orion could arrive but we have not had any emails with them for the last two days.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader

sitrep 4/1/08

2008-01-04T20:22:00.000+11:00

Sitrep 4th January 2008

Weather summary: A bright and sunny day at Cape Denison, that started with plenty of wind. It blew 50 knots most of the night, and maintained around a 30 southerly until early afternoon.

Today's activities.

After the mammoth twelve hour day yesterday, today had a distinct low key feel to it. Jon finished of the interior of the bedroom. It was quite a hive of activity in there as Steve was also fitting the lighting. There are a few nally bins of tools in there at the moment, but once they are removed a few campers will start moving in from the tents. The plan is to have all the tents packed up before the tenth, and everyone living in the hut or the apple. Recent correspondence with the French have them picking up the bulk of our gear between January 10th - 15th, then returning from the Mertz glacier, around the 18th to pick us up with any other gear.

I started to cut the handrail for the new staircase, and began carving the new 'Sørensen Hut' sign.

Anne and Michelle continued excavation work in Mawson's Hut, Michelle is also setting up the monitoring system which will record data for the next year.

Brett chatted to Dave Killick from the Mercury about the "white" leucistic penguin that he found. Leucistic describes animal that have very low levels of melanin in their system as opposed to an albino which has know melanin. There should be an article in print soon.

Peter Morse continued to process his 360 degree recordings. Meanwhile Tony gathered some high resolution photographs to send back over the iridium network, before cooking a lavish spread of Miso Shiro soup, cheese and sundried tomato bread, with a main of fried rice, yep life's tough but someone's got to eat it!

Tomorrow we will look at continuing the guy rope tie downs on the extension, and if the weather is calm we may pool all resources into deploying the tide gauge in Boat Harbour for the French / Australian tide gauge survey.

Warm wishes from the MHF team

Peter McCabe Field Leader

LadyBug Adventures at Mawson's Hut

2008-01-04T12:57:00.000+11:00

Yesterday (Thurs 3rd) I manhauled a sled over to the Main Hut (truly in the manner of the early explorers...) carrying the LadyBug camera, a laptop, several other digital cameras, survival kit and so on - it was quite windy, and that makes it surprisingly tough going with a reasonable amount of weight on the sled and the force of the wind off the plateau - even though it was only about 25 knots. Nevertheless, having persevered through this extreme personal test of endurance, I arrived with all the equipment necessary to embark upon shooting some 360º video.

The LadyBug is the small red object you see on the top of the tripod in the right-hand image - it captures a 360º dome image via six lenses on the camera body (a surprisingly compact unit) - each lens capturing at 1024x768 pixel resolution, at a frame rate of 15fps. This data is piped down an optical fibre link to the laptop and the Ladybug software, where you can preview the view from each camera, the fully stitched pano and a navigable 3D view, where the video is wrapped around a virtual sphere that the user can rotate. I placed the camera in the centre of the Main Hut - where the dining table used to be - which gave a pretty good view of the interior. Because of parallax issues with the camera the closest objects need to be about ~1m from the lenses, so this was a fairly optimum position that still allowed us to walk around the camera.

I was able to interview Michelle and Anne about their respective activities and interests as materials conservator and archaeologist using my iPod with a mic attachment. The Ladybug itself doesn't capture synch audio (or any audio), so I will have to synch this up in postproduction - trivial stuff. This was quite an interesting exercise as the nature of the 360º camera changes the way you think about working in a scene - there's no panning the camera around or framing shots but a more natural sense of gesturing to objects in a space that the user can then navigate to.

However, this introduces the feeling that one can stand anywhere in the space and to forget that objects and corners can obscure the interviewee! Similarly it will be interesting to think through the sound design of the sequence - the iPod will pick up the immediate soundfield of the interview, but not the more general sound environment - this is an issue that interests me greatly. I will probably end up creating a multichannel surround sound mix using a variety of ambisonic sources that I have also been experimenting with. This sound field could be crossfaded and directionally mixed depending upon user focus in the navigable video when it is dome-projected. Lots of interesting possibilities.

More technically, I found the software with the camera to be a bit flaky - but this is to be expected as it is an alpha release! Even despite the portable generator cutting out twice and thus the RAID array stopping (this is the harddrive on which the video is captured) it seemed that all the data was written to disk correctly. You simply had to restart the generator, reboot the software on the laptop and start the camera system again and it was all sweet - thank goodness.

The only real disaster came when I attempted to shoot some material outside and it became impossible to see the laptop screen in the glare - so I was forced to huddle under my Cahart jacket as a hood (probably like Hurley would have with his cameras!) in order to operate that properly. Then, thanks to the Wonder of Windows, the computer crashed and subsequently told me that there were no images on the harddrive - even though I had shot over 17,000 frames. Sigh. Bloody computers. But I'm used to this sort of thing - one can only be stoical, despite however careful you are. So, calling it a day, I trudged back - aware of what I had learnt in camera usage, its various quirks and bugs, and thinking I'd have to come back the next day. Fortunately, though, as I had not faffed around with the laptop after that crash (simply shut it down), when I got back to the Sorenson Hut and rebooted - a miracle! There it all was! I hope the scene at the end when about 20 penguins came up to check out the camera is there....

But there's one more aspect to this Ladybug saga - getting the data off the RAID. Because the camera captures a datastream from 6 cameras and writes them to RAID, the RAID seems to have been formatted in some weird proprietary way that neither Windows nor OSX can directly access. This means that the only way to get the data off the RAID is via the Ladybug software - and this is a VERY slow process. Despite trying several techniques it looks like I will simply not be able to transfer the raw data off the RAID quickly - it must be processed by the laptop and Ladybug software/sdk (stitched either to large 2000x1000 .bmp files at 5.1MB per frame, or, hopefully, much more compact .png's) - and, given the amount of data, this will take days. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but when you're in Antarctica and the generator only runs for about 3-4 hours a day it most certainly is. I wish I could rapidly transfer all the data off and then process it back in Australia - as the camera can only capture about 30mins worth of material at a time(80GB). Anyway, I was aware of this issue when I came, but it is a definite limitation that would be nice to find a workaround or kludge or whatever. I experimented with some raw files exported by the system in order to see if other stitching algorithms might work more rapidly, but as there is no EXIF data in the files and I don't have access to the camera specs, the results were not up to scratch.

So - an interesting experiment. I think the results will be useful - even striking - once I've had a chance to work on the footage back in Oz - but it would have been nice to be able to do that here. Hopefully with the new sustainable energy sources operating here (the wind generator and solar panels) this will be possible in the future - we'll see!

- Peter Morse

Daily sitreps

2008-01-04T08:01:00.000+11:00

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

A Weddell Seal

2008-01-03T18:36:00.000+11:00

For those of you not familiar with seals, this is a Weddell seal basking on a cloudy day in Boat Harbour, one of the many who are currently enjoying the ice at Cape Denison with us. Michelle

Hip Hop Name Competition Extension

2008-01-03T09:15:00.000+11:00

Due to overwhelming demand and the fact that we didn't seem to get many comments, we have decided to extend our Hip Hop Group Name Competition till Monday 7th January! Keep those brilliant suggestions rolling in!

- Mawson Team

A rare penguin

2008-01-01T23:10:00.000+11:00

This Adult Adelie Penguin was observed at a colony on the rocky upper slopes of western edge of Boat Harbour during the land based visit by tourists from the Orion on December 20, 2007. It was located again on Dec. 30 nearby at a lower colony close to Granholm Hut where this photograph was taken.

It is thought that most wildlife exhibiting signs of Leucistic pigmentation or to a more extreme case, Albinism, fail to survive from predation or successfully breed but at least this individual reached adulthood even though while being observed, was quite regularly picked on and harassed by other "normal" Adelies. Brett

The new building soon put to good use!

2008-01-01T21:03:00.000+11:00

Building program advances

2008-01-01T21:02:00.000+11:00

The modest living quarters of Sorensen Hut is fast becoming, well, not so modest. Similar to Australia being the smallest continent and largest country, soon our camp will be transformed to the smallest Australian base and largest field hut.

With exception of this final day in December, where it is blowing snow outside, the weather on the trip thus far has been stunning, clear skies and sunshine. The wonderful progress however, cannot be credited entirely to the weather. Our team of willing, enthusiastic expeditioners have showed great stamina to capitalize on the conditions, and the new extension is very near to completion, with only one room left needing its roof.

Currently it looks more like a Greenlandic beer garden, with a sky for a ceiling you open the door from the inside and suddenly find yourself standing in the elements. It has been likened to the wardrobe door, in The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, consequently the new bedroom has been named 'Narnia' The name seems to have stuck, but the airy ventilated room will have its roof in the next change that the weather gives us, and if the lab is any indication it will decked out with sleeping bags and inflatable mattresses soon after the lid is on.

Pete McCabe

New Year Blizzard at Boat Harbour

2008-01-01T18:26:00.000+11:00

Here's a shot of Boat Harbour on New Year's Eve, when a blizzard howled down from the polar plateau and waxed and waned during the day. Naturally I had to see the hut in these conditions - so I packed up my stereoscopic gear, rugged up, grabbed my survival pack and drove the quad with the trailer over to the hut - it wasn't particularly windy (unlike today) and so made shooting video and making photographs relatively easy. So - a spectacular view here from the small verandah of the Granholm hut - a slight lee in the blizzard - look to the right of the image and you see the Main Hut and before that the boot-shape of Boat Harbour - all the sea-ice blown away, the pressure-ridges vanished - now surrounded by ice edges before which the penguins gingerly queue before plunging into the rimy sea.

The foreground is the field of shattered ancient rocks that form the base of Azimuth Hill, upon which the cross to Ninnis and Mertz stands, and towards the left you see a huddled penguin colony. I wander for a couple of hours in the icy blasts, climbing a few hills and getting some great shots - so, of course, this was a mini-blizzard - in itself presenting some interesting technical difficulties, but quite manageable and beautiful and not too deadly - about 30-40 knots - chilling enough, with dancing arabesques of spindrift around the architecture, living fingers of snow streaming amidst the rocks.

The winds picked up substantially overnight to 60 knot gusts and I awoke to several loud bangs of things straining against their tethers - dressed up and early at 5.30am to plunge into the whirl to tie them down securely - everyone else asleep and the world a chaos of swirling white. Slept a few hours fitfully after that and headed off for my 10 metre walk to the main Sorensen Hut for breakfast - by which time my garments were clad in freezing ice, my face stinging. It's like this that you appreciate the power of a blizzard - even just my briefest of dips - and how unimaginable it must be to firmly grasped in its deathly grip. Yet despite this, our comical, stoic companions, the Adelie penguins, waddle their way over rock and berg and carry on as if it is normal - which for them, of course, it is.

For me the distinctive impression of the blizzard is one of energy: the katabatics driven by gravity off the plateau - the mass of the planet itself grasping the wind and drawing it down unto itself, the fine random mass of fizzing particles in the air, tiny frozen particles of water that melt briefly upon contact with skin and fabric and instantly refreeze in icy agglomerations of bright, hard ripples, weighing things down, all driven by their own physics of temperature and electrostatic forces, the dipole of water moving through its many states - remarkable stuff, quite amazing really - and extraordinarily beautiful - it grasped my imagination and filled my eyes.

- Peter Morse

Meet the Team: Peter McCabe - Field Leader/Builder

2008-01-01T13:17:00.000+11:00

Pete is playing a dual role this trip as Field Leader and one of two carpenters. He spent the last 7 weeks helping to plan this expedition in Hobart, and managing the design and ordering of materials for the extension of the Sorensen hut, this year's construction project. The Sorensen Hut which the party use as a refuge will be doubled in size to accommodate a bedroom and laboratory for on site restoration of artefacts that are uncovered from Mawson's Hut. After the floor platform is laid Pete and the team will eagerly await the arrival of Orion, and the delivery of the freezer panels to complete the construction. Pete has spent 14 months previously living in Antarctica, working from two of Australia's Bases. He spent the full summer and winter at Casey station working as a carpenter completing a new field equipment store. He then spent two months at Davis laying foundations for a new accommodation building and then guided staff in the field, wandering the beautiful Vestfold Hills with science staff and TV crews. He appeared on channel tens Totally Wild and Scope Antarctic series'. When at home on the far north coast of NSW he splits his work time between building custom homes on the Tweed Coast, and attending corporate team building seminars as a guest motivational speaker. In his leisure he surfs, rock climbs, plays guitar and harmonica and is a regular yoga student.

Brett Jarrett Artist/Photographer

2008-01-01T13:13:00.000+11:00

This is Brett's fourth expedition to Antarctica. He has previously worked on Weddell seals in the Vestfold Hills and as a marine mammal and bird identification specialist on the Peninsula and East Antarctica. His primary job at Mawson's Huts this season is to photograph various stages of construction to the Sorensen hut extension as well as recording images inside Mawson's main hut and the surrounding landscape. He has been a keen observer of Southern Ocean wildlife since childhood and has a wealth of knowledge on marine bird and mammal identification. Working as a full-time artist he has to date co-authored and illustrated works for several guides including 'Whales, Dolphins and Seals' ; 'Marine Mammals of the World - a guide to their identification' ; ' Encyclopaedia of Marine Mammals' and 'The Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife'; all are testament to his life-long interest and passion for southern ocean wildlife and their environment. On return to Australia Brett will be dedicating fourteen months towards a solo exhibition on his Commonwealth Bay experience with paintings focused on Mawson's hut, landscape and its relative wildlife. Proceeds from the sale of artwork will go to the Mawson's Hut's Foundation to help fund further expeditions in the future.

Anne McConnell - Archaeologist

2008-01-01T13:11:00.000+11:00

Anne McConnell is the archaeologist with the 2007-08 Mawsons Huts Expedition. Anne has worked as an archaeologist since the late 1970s, initially in Aboriginal archaeology and later in historical archaeology. Anne currently works as a consultant, but until 1995 she worked for the government. Anne also has an earth sciences background and has worked in the area of geoarchaeology, using geological expertise to solve archaeological problems such as reconstructing paleoenvironmental conditions, materials analysis (eg, ochres, bricks) and sourcing stone tools.

Anne has worked on a variety of archaeological sites, mainly in Australia but also in New Zealand, Jordan and France. Anne's main interests as an archaeologist are in heritage management and the archaeology of remote and rural areas and industrial and scientific based sites. Sometimes these interests come together, for example in 2003 when she and a small project team prepared a conservation management plan for the Sarah Island convict settlement in Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania; recording historic gold mining sites; or through current work developing management systems for the historic cultural heritage of Wellington Park, which is the backdrop to Hobart; or through being involved in a project such as the conservation of Mawsons Huts, Antarctica.

This year at the Mawsons Huts sites, Anne will be working closely with the materials conservator, Michelle Berry. The main task is to evaluate the work that has been done to date in terms of recording and analysing the site, primarily the artefacts inside and outside the five buildings left by Mawsons 1911-1913 Expedition, and to provide recommendations on the priorities and approaches to ongoing artefact excavation, recording and preservation. Although a considerable amount of work has been undertaken in the last 20 years and there is now a management plan for the Mawsons huts site, there are still many questions about how to best preserve the artefacts associated with the site, and because of the ice and snow cover inside and outside the huts there are still many artefacts that have not yet been documented. Since c.1997 a lot of the conservation work at Mawsons Hut site has concentrated on the preservation of the main buildings and now that this has been largely achieved, there is time to focus more on the artefacts associated with the site. As well as helping understand the Site and how Mawsons team lived and worked at Commonwealth Bay, the artefact recording and evaluation is useful in determining the sensitivity of the site. From this information, Anne will be zoning the main huts area into areas of various archaeological sensitivity which will be used to help guide tourism at the site, including by identifying those areas which are sensitive to trampling and other damage and which should be avoided. This is particularly important as visitors to the site (tourists, casual visitors and scientists) have the greatest potential to damage the site, and it is important that the impacts of visitation can be kept to a minimum to ensure the site survives for others to visit in the future.

Michelle Berry - Materials Conservator

2008-01-01T13:04:00.000+11:00

Michelle Berry is a materials conservator specialising in objects conservation with a strong interest in archaeological conservation. She has worked for several years as a conservator at Museum Victoria in Melbourne where she has been responsible for the conservation of a diverse range of artefacts from the Museum's collections. When not working in Melbourne Michelle has been involved for many years as a materials conservator with the Dakhleh Oasis Project in Egypt, an interdisciplinary archaeological project which is looking at the development of human life in the Sahara. She has also worked on other archaeological sites in Thailand and in Australia.

This season at Mawson's Huts Michelle will be downloading data from the environmental monitoring system located inside the main hut and the work hut, continuing the monitoring program which includes timber thickness, corrosion rates and vibration loads. Other work will focus on assessing the types of deterioration suffered by the artefacts located inside the huts to best determine the range of conservation treatments which can be carried out in the new conservation lab in following seasons.

Michelle will be working with Anne McConnell, the archaeologist on the team to pull together the documentation on the Huts to prepare a long term plan for the next phase of work required to stabilise the huts. Michelle will also be working closely with Anne to work out a method for excavating ice within the hut which will both expose artefacts and their location as well as enable the documentation of the stratigraphy with in the ice layers which will provide important information the use of the huts by Mawsons team and the changes made by the various visitors to the huts over the past century.

Jon Tucker - Builder/Deputy Field Leader

2008-01-01T13:00:00.000+11:00

Jon Tucker is a kiwi, now living in Tasmania, and is one of the two builders in the team, primarily adding an accommodation room and field lab to the small 'Sorensen' field hut (out of sight across the ridge from Mawsons hut). The team is camping in tents and eagerly anticipates the chance to move 'indoors". Any remaining time will be spent on continued maintenance work to the older historic structures. Jon is a former college history teacher come adventurer who has sailed over 80,000 miles aboard his traditional ketch - the only home he and his wife Barbara have ever owned. Together they raised and partly home schooled five sons who are now scattered around the globe adventuring on the high seas. Jon's interest in Cape Denison began two years ago when he hitched a ride with two of his boys as cabin boy on a sailing trip from Hobart to Mawson's hut on his eldest son's tiny homebuilt yacht, Snow Petrel. He is looking forward to the challenge of working in the windiest place on the planet.

Peter Morse - Computer Visualisation Specialist

2008-01-01T12:52:00.000+11:00

Peter is a computer visualisation specialist in e-Research and interactive systems, who has worked on Antarctic heritage visualisation for many years. He has worked at the University of Melbourne and the University of Western Australia as a research academic and lecturer. He is the creator of the stereoscopic video programme "Home of the Blizzard" (in concert with the Mawson Collection, South Australian Museum) - part of the permanent exhibition "Islands to Ice: The Southern Oceans and Antarctica" at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. This digital reconstruction of Frank Hurley's 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition stereoscopic photographic record will be cross referenced with newly generated material derived from the 2007 Mawson's Huts Foundation expedition. Peter will be shooting stereoscopic (3D) video and digital still imagery, as well as 360º immersive video using a special camera system used for planetarium projection. The capture of this material will enable him to construct a 3D virtual environment, accurately recording details of the Cape Denison site, its current state and its archaeological/heritage features. This will have multiple outcomes - from use as an "edutainment" resource suitable for museum display, to scientific heritage applications, enabling a synthesis of a wide variety of data sets, enabling researchers and conservators to visualise the site in insightful new ways and assisting in conservation management and planning. He will also be helping to construct the new hut, shoot a cooking documentary entitled "Freezing the Menu" - inspired by his colleagues attempts at remote area gourmandising, and generally pitch in around the place. He is thrilled to be part of this adventure. Peter's own antarctica website is at http://www.antarcticavirtua.net/

Steve Beaton - Electrician

2008-01-01T12:50:00.000+11:00

Steve Beaton is the electrician on the expedition. He hails from Darwin but prefers heading south for summer to get away from the hot and humid tropics. His main task at Cape Denison is to install an Australian Wiring Standards electrical system into the existing Sorensen Hut and the new extension. Primarily this will be run from a specially designed petrol generator, but he will also be investigating installing a hybrid sustainable energy system using solar and wind generation with the petrol generator as a back-up. There are numerous obstacles to be negotiated when installing such systems in the Antarctic. One would think the "Home of the Blizzard" would be an ideal place for wind generation, however gales there can literally tear apart even the most robust machine. Storage of power is another issue with the acid in conventional batterys freezing, expanding and destroying their casings. The Foundation is very concerned about making a comfortable working environment for future expeditions while keeping it's environmental impact to the barest minimum.

Tony Stewart - Medical Officer

2008-01-01T12:49:00.001+11:00

Tony Stewart is the team's medical officer. He also handles the satellite communications, and helps out with the other activities at Cape Denison. Tony is a pilot, and so has enthusiastically has taken on the task of searching for remains of the Vickers REP Monoplane that was brought here in 1911, and last seen in 1975, in the ice between Mawson's Huts and Boat Harbour. The plane never flew in Antarctica. It was damaged during a test flight in Australia, and was then converted to work as an 'air tractor' towing sleds for Mawson's expeditioners. Tony splits his working life between working as an assistant surgeon and as a public health specialist at the Centre for International Health of the Macfarlane Burnet Institute. Now based in Melbourne, he has worked throughout the Pacific, Indonesia, East Timor, the Congo and Southeast Asia, as a medical officer and epidemiologist. In December 2004 he was sent to Banda Aceh with WHO to establish and coordinate the epidemic early warning and response system following the Indian Ocean tsunami. He is on call for the Global Outbreak And Response Network, which deals with such things as bird flu pandemics and ebola. He doesn't expect to be called on for the next few weeks.

Environmental Monitoring at Mawsons Huts

2007-12-31T13:25:00.000+11:00

One of the tasks for the materials conservator on this years expedition has been to download the data collected by the two datalogging systems which monitor temperature, relative humidity and vibration in the hut and upgrade the system initially installed in 1999. The systems have been measuring and storing the data on these three parameters since the 2006 expedition left, continuing the long term monitoring program which began in 1999. The information collected has been important in the development of the long term preservation strategy for Mawsons Huts. Analysis of this years data will indicate the effect, if any, that last years over cladding of the roof of the main living area has had on the internal environment. Two systems were used, a stand alone series of data loggers which were each removed and downloaded separately and a centralised logging system which transmitted data from several sensors to a central datalogger. This second system has been designed to transmit the data via modem and satellite phone to Australian based researchers so that conditions within the huts can be monitored during the year. The centralised system required a new satillite phone and modem, as well as an upgrade of the sensors. The old sensors having been exposed to such extreme conditions are at the end of their life and their accuracy is expected to be declining. With the help of Tony, our medic, who has secret skills in the field of electronics, the new phone and modem have been installed and the old sensors are currently being checked for accuracy. Once the best of the old sensors have been identified, five new sensors and a sixth old sensor will be selected for installation; two will be installed externally and four internally in the workshop and the main living area. The two original external sensors which were important for establishing the relationship between the outside environment and the interior environment of the hut had been damaged by the weight of accumulated snow so the trick is finding a location on the exterior which won't be submerged by snow drifts but that can be accessed easily enough to both bolt the sensors in position and feed the cabling through an existing aperture in the hut to the datalogger. Given that last years team were confronted with the huts buried to their peaks in snow this might be a shade difficult, however we will give it a go. Michelle Berry, Materials Conservator

We've got the Power

2007-12-30T12:24:00.000+11:00

The sustainable energy system has been installed and has started charging the storage batteries, marginally! Just as the final wire was terminated a full 8 oktas of cloud cover and absolutely no wind were recorded. Considering the hole in the ozone above the continent heightens the risk of sunburn exponentially and that Cape Denison is (rumored) to be "The windiest place on earth (at sea level)", the early results have been a little disappointing. Last "night" we were bathed in the luxury of fluorescent lighting in the kitchen to complete galley duties and in the main living area for recreational past times. All without the drone of the petrol generator in the background. For the technical minded the breakdown is thus: 2 x 75 Watt "BP Solar" solar panels connected in parallel and installed on the north wall of "Delaney's Dunny" at an angle of approximately 80 degrees and a "Forgen" vertical axis Savonius rotor wind generator (producing a trickle charge of only a few watts) provide the power. Power storage is with 2 x 12 volt, 22 amp hour "Sonnenschein" gel batteries connected in parallel giving a total storage capacity of 44 amp hours at 12 volts nominal. The battery charging and power distribution is controlled by a "BP Solar" PL20 controller. A 150 Watt "Dick Smith" inverter is used to convert the 12 volt DC to 240 volt AC and is enough to run all the fluorescent lighting in the Sorensen or charge one lap top computer battery. This, however, is a drain on the batteries when there is minimal sunshine on the solar panels (did I mention the cloud cover?!) The data collection abilities of the PL20 will provide information for future improvements of the system and hours of enlightening conversation around the hut over the next couple of weeks. Steve Beaton Electrician

Testing the LadyBug

2007-12-28T17:53:00.000+11:00

I was fortunate to be able to loan a Point Grey Research LadyBug v1 360º panoramic video camera system from the iCinema Centre at the University of New South Wales (many thanks to Jeffrey Shaw and Volker Kuchelmeister) - and as today started off very windy it provided the perfect opportunity to sit down and familiarise myself with the system.

My plan is to shoot a few scenes inside Mawson's Hut and, if possible, some outdoor material - but this is contingent upon securing appropriate power sources. We have a generator at the Hut, and I should be able to take that out to the surrounding environment for some landscape shots - I'm talking to Steve our electrical genius about it, but it should be possible. Of course shooting 360º video is an entirely different proposition to conventional video because you, in effect, 'explode the frame' - i.e. there is no 'behind the camera' as everything is in view. This makes for a wonderful sense of immersion and raises interesting possibilities for navigable video for dome-projection systems - but also a whole range of other problematic issues, e.g. does the cameraman become an actor? (or should I hide behind a rock or underneath the camera as it doesn't capture a full sphere downwards...).

Anyway, this should all be fun to experiment with and produce some remarkable footage - I'll try and do some timelapse capture with the system if I can - in the meantime here's a test shot from inside the Sorenson Hut at Jubilee Base during our lunch break today - you might notice some odd artefacts in the image if you look closely - objects too close to the camera get "chopped off" due to parallax issues with the lenses - so everything needs to be further than ~1.5m away in order for images to 'stitch' properly. Nevertheless, in this image you get a fair idea of the inside of our hut - the main (and only) living quarters where we hang out during blizzards! (we were expecting one on Saturday, but everything seems completely fine now!)

Peter Morse

Christmas Day at Commonwealth Bay

2007-12-27T17:46:00.000+11:00

The sea swell was in full form last night, and has cleared most of the sea ice from Boat Harbour, as well as sections of the coast near Sorensen's Hut. It's amazing to witness the power of nature, tossing ice bits the size of cars onto the shoreline. After a nice sleep in we awoke to a perfect day, blue skies, calm air, a change from the Christmas Eve. Soon we started preparing the Christmas feast. A pork roast was thawed out, trifles and puddings were prepared, even a shitake mushroom tempeh was made (a vegetarian tradition??). Christmas gifts were swapped and there were some surprise gifts from the Foundation for everyone. With the new lab and bedroom floor down, we had a magnificent deck to use as our function area. A large tarp was strung up to shade us from the searing sun rays, a ply table was fashioned and by 4 pm the feast began. Along with the roast pork and veggie mains we also had chilli garlic prawns entr饮 Yes, we where doing it tough in Antarctica! Tony

Christmas Cricket.

2007-12-27T17:39:00.000+11:00

In the few hours break between dinner and dessert the cricket set made an appearance, the wicket was a bit slow with the slushy snow, so full tosses proved the most effective delivery. The Adelie penguins were appreciative onlookers and a few even joined in as fielders.

After dessert the southerly wind kicked in, shooing us all inside to the warmth of the Sorensen. The quintessential lethargic Christmas night time kicked in, the mountain of dishes has been dealt with, and one by one party members sign out for the evening.

A memorable Christmas in the Antarctic.

Tony

Merry Xmas, Frölichen Weinachten from Cape Deni son, Antarctica!

2007-12-23T17:03:00.000+11:00

Merry Xmas & Frölichen Weinachten from the Mawson's Huts Team, Cape Denison, Antarctica!

It looks like it'll be a White Christmas here with bright blue skies and sunshine.

Wishing you all the best for 2008!

And a little more on the delivery of the building panels from Hobart to Cape Denison...

2007-12-22T17:49:00.000+11:00

Summer Solstice Party & Name-Our-Rap-Group Competition!!!

2007-12-22T13:32:00.000+11:00

To celebrate the summer solstice - that is, the longest day and shortest night (not that it makes any difference here as the sun never sets) - we all got dressed up in our best summer casuals and had a feast! The exotic Cape Denison Burgers whipped up by our Gordon Blue Conseurvatrix Mad Queen Mab went down a treat, as did cold beer and mulled wine (courtesy of Annie da Wash). In the photo you see our whole Rap group - from left to right: M.C. Cabe (Pete McCabe), Da Beat (Steve Beaton), Mad Queen Mab (Michelle Berry), Annie da Wash (Ann McConnell), D.J. B.J. (Brett Jarrett), Pemo (Yours Truly), Tone Def (Tony Stewart) and Bad Mothertucker (Jon Tucker). We are planning to release a new album for the Mawson's Huts foundation - featuring our new hit rap single "Don't Muck Wid Da Hut" featuring David Jensen on Turntables, audio production by M.C. Greg Holland, Rob Easther on synthesizers and the rest of us rapping. But what do we call ourselves? The Hut Shop Boys? The Penguin Knobs? Hutallica?

So now we announce our Name-Our-Rap-Group Competition! We'll be taking suggestions all this week until next Friday 28 December, 5pm and will announce the winner on Monday 31st December - the last day of 2007! The prize will be the honour of naming our group and getting a credit on the cover of our first album! You can make a suggestion by posting a comment on the blog and they'll be forwarded to us.

- Pemo

The arrival of the panels

2007-12-22T11:15:00.000+11:00

Our 11 packages of freezer panels arrived on 20th December on the MV Orion, so we all trundled down to Boat Harbour where the crew were bringing the packages ashore on Zodiacs. Landing onto the sea ice in the harbour was our best option, hauling by hand off the inflatables. From there they were loaded two at a time onto the 'Spirit of Denison' (our trusty dual sled, inherited from a previous expedition team) for relocation to the Sorensen's Hut site in the next valley. This required all three quads, two pulling and one acting as a brake on the downhill run into Sorensen's (as seen in the photo).

The panels are now being installed onto the sub-floor, to create a conservation laboratory, and new sleeping quarters for expeditioners. The weather was kind to us on the Solstice, and the builders were able to get more than half the floor into place, more than adequately secured for the windiest place on earth.

Many thanks to Don and Margie (aka Ted and Ted) and the crew of the Orion for getting these essential supplies to us in perfect time.

Tony Stewart

Jubilee Base Extensions!

2007-12-19T09:22:00.000+11:00

Our intrepid builder-architects, Pete McCabe and Jon Tucker, have wrestled with the Beast (the Cobra Rock Drill) and, with amazing rapidity, built the infrastructure for the new Base base - or the Base base extension. The verandah and access to Delaney's Dunny disappeared for a while, but was resumed by the end of the day - with promises of a wonderful new verandah with sweeping views North over the MacKellar islets. This early morning photo (from yesterday - Tues 18th December) shows our tool-wielding professionals in a moment of angle-grinder and saw jubilation on yet another fine and sunny day at Cape Denison, Home of the Balmy Day.

Extension will double the size of the existing base - which includes (from left to right) - the Dunny, the Kitchen (window 1), Entrance & Comms/Medical Area (door), living area and some sleeping (window 2, right). The new extension will be the same size as the old base, including a laboratory and more sleeping facilities. It won't then be necessary to live in the Apple or tents any more - a bit sad, as the tents are great fun! (well, not in a blizzard).

- Peter Morse

"Spirit of Enderby" visits Mawson's Huts

2007-12-18T09:36:00.000+11:00

Today we had a delightful visit from the Spirit of Enderby - a ship chartered by the New Zealand company Heritage Expeditions, carrying some 60 passengers and crew, who met 8 keen-for-a-shower Mawson's Huts teamers. Needless to say, we had a great time - showing our guests around the Huts and environs - and then being spirited away by IRB to the true wonder of hot showers and flushing toilets - and a great lunch - aboard their very nice ship. Everyone was wonderful and friendly - I was very impressed with everybody's kindness and interest. A highlight was meeting Emlyn Thomas - Mawson's grandson - who posed with us in this group portrait in front of the Huts whilst wearing an original balaclava worn by Mawson - he also brought Mawson's compass with him - delightful family heirlooms and beautiful, fascinating objects in themselves. We would especially like to thank Aaron, Shirley, Callan, Natalia and Mariska for their warmth and generosity - great to meet you all!

As a bonus - if you put on some red-green anaglyphic glasses (those ones you get with 3D comics from the newsagents) - you'll be able to see this picture in stereoscopic 3D! After our sudden influx of visitors the silence returns - but it was a welcome break amidst perfect weather.

- Peter Morse

The Penguin Incident

2007-12-17T20:49:00.000+11:00

Almost hijacked! I had to get some bits from the Granholm Hut which is basically a storage shed over near the Mawson's Huts with a small kitchen, food and bedding that can be used as a refuge in case you are caught out in bad weather and can't make the 700 metre trek back to the Sorensen. Naturally I rode a quad over (none of this man hauling sleds for me - this is the 21st century!) parked it near the hut and went in to get the tools I was after. When I came out I realised what a bad neighbourhood I was in. A group of about 10 penguins had surrounded my bike and looked like real trouble makers. I think if I had been any longer the bike would be on blocks and the wheels gone. I approached tentatively but displaying nonchalance so they wouldn't think me intimidated. I think a couple moved around behind me. "Hi, fellas", I said in a friendly but assertive manner. "I don't want any trouble just gonna get on my bike and leave". I tied the tool bag onto the rack and headed off (...um, carefully avoiding the protected wildlife, of course). As I looked back, they were staring at the rocks on the ground wishing they had hands so they could throw them at me.

Filed by expedition electrician, Steve Beaton

Tourist Visit Cape Denison

2007-12-17T19:50:00.000+11:00

The day begins at 4.30 am. For the past 24hours tourist vessel "The Spirit of Enderby" has sat off the coast of Cape Denison, buffeted by strong winds driving down from the adjacent icy slopes. But strangely for this hour of the morning the breeze is calm. The ship has come from New Zealand, a time zone that they still adopt. So 4.30 for us is 6.30 for them. Laying in my tent, the chatter on my VHF radio beside my ear begins, they are making preparations to come ashore. Eager to meet our first visitors, our camp is roused, blurry eyed we don our layers of clothing and trek over to Mawson's Hut.

In the pursuing hours a steady stream of punters file from ship to shore. In groups of three everyone was carefully guided through the hut, emerging afterwards positively brimming with delight. To walk into Mawson's Hut for the first time is an incredible experience, like walking through a time capsule, reading the initials of each party member painted on his respective bunk, gazing upon book still resting on the shelf. The experience exemplified by the crystals of ice delicately lining each timber rafter overhead, refracting the twinkling sunlight beaming down through the skylights. The new visitors have travelled a long way and the location has not disappointed.

One member of the group grabbed our attention in particular, Emlyn Thomas has just come ashore, one of Sir Douglas Mawson's grandsons. The journey to commonwealth bay has been a long time coming for Emlyn, and everyone is keen to bend his ear about his childhood days when he lived with his grandfather. He also surprised us with some very special memorabilia, he has one of Mawson's original balaclavas, proudly, he posed in it for photographs with our team, before safely stowing it away. I noted that an hour later he had it back on, claiming that it was far warmer than the beanie had brought for general use. The balaclava bore the badge of Jaeger; a clothing firm that still sponsors the Mawson's Huts Foundation today. I could not resist getting Emlyn to sign my copy of Mawson's book Home of the Blizzard, which I have been pouring over since I arrived trying to learn as much about this place as I can.

We were invited to The Spirit of Enderby for lunch; arriving on the last boat load I walked into the dining room to see my freshly showered team mates, enjoying a catered meal. I was politely handed a cake of soap and towel and prompted towards the shower block. Surely I wasn't that smelly, it's only been a week! Now I'm looking clean faced after running the razor through its paces on two weeks of stubble, after the royal tour of the ship we retuned to our humble abode, showing obvious signs of the early start. With a last burst of energy we knock together some home made pizzas, the tent and pillow is calling, slumber will come quickly tonight.

Pete McCabe Field Leader

Entering Mawsons Huts

2007-12-14T19:08:00.000+11:00

After spending yesterday clearing the doorway to the hut of ice and snow, today we finally entered Mawsons Huts, holding our breath against the possibility of more snow having found its way inside after all the work done on over cladding both the work shop roof and the main hut roof in previous years. Thankfully fresh snow ingress was limited to areas that were previously known to have sealing problems and there seemed very limited areas of new snow. Yesterday as part of the work to prepare the huts we uncovered the skylights in the roof and they light the interior with a soft light. We slowely walked through the building trying to take in the detail of the objects that Mawson and his team had left behind and the ways that these men had made this their home. Each of the bunks is labelled with its owner's name and above geologist Frank Stillwell's bunk is a row of rocks while below Archie McLeans, an abandoned umbrella. This is truly a special place.

Michelle Berry

Inside Mawson's Huts

2007-12-13T21:58:00.000+11:00

With my heart in my throat, I stepped inside Mawson's Hut today - the odour of damp wood and time in one's breath, a strange expansion of space as the interior seemed so large compared with the outside of the structure, subdued light, and the stillness of the place, a sense of history and lives lived, adventures and tragedies, the romance of the heroic era.

It is silvered with hoar-frost, a miraculous crystalline beauty of flowering water ice, weird argent forms growing in the sixfold symmetry of snowflakes, over every surface, a patterned chaos and so delicately, finely beautiful. Yet what is striking about the place are the artifacts - the cheap paperback novellas, the tins of chemicals, discarded filthy clothing, finnesko, an umbrella, frozen black potatoes, graph paper, things unbelievably printed with the year "1911" - stuff that you see in museums or antique shops, scattered in disarray, frozen in time - some perhaps where they were left; an index of who put them there - a trace - just as every nail was hammered at some time by some person, so many years ago - the building is redolent of the lives of its inhabitants, despite the interventions of time and visitors.

I stood there alone in silence and it seemed to breathe. We see a counterbalance of two forces - the torrent of wind and snow and ice, weathering and dissolving the structure; the material energy of human construction resistant to this in its manufactured forms inside - a battle already lost, as the wind flows through aeons; the artifacts struggle for a century. You see Ninnis' initials painted on his bunk, a tragic death recorded and read at the time by other now-dead men; Hurley's darkroom bearing the pencilled line upon the pine boards - "near enough is not good enough" - a litter of chemical bottles and cardboard boxes for glass plates, autochrome and Paget plates; a tiny den of industry recording the life here where it first occurred - you could feel it amidst the ruin.

The mystery of Mawson's room, like the intractable historic figure - glittering with crystals like a fairytale - the chair haloed with light, and the dark damp bed, with the pillow covered in mattress ticking, a massive efflorescence of iceflowers on the shelves, a still life of a bowl, scattered pictures, the Rococo voyeuristic erotica of the Fragonard print of "Girl on a Swing" still stuck on the wall beside the bed, enshrouded in ice - another next to it I recognise but cannot place - Rembrant? Holman Hunt? Pre-Raphaelite?

Things in darkness under the bed, frosted and translucent ice - a mound upon the floor. It felt eventful, waiting, almost as if someone was to return after a hundred years and resume occupancy - a strange sense of having been deserted or left behind, as the empty chair awaits sitting-in or indicates the absent form of the body. It was strange and impressive, that all this was done so long ago, so far away from anywhere, in a genuine terra incognita of its time - and the place remains hardly known and barely trod, and so it should remain. A paradox.

Peter Morse

Day 2 Thoughts & Opening the Hut (almost)

2007-12-13T10:50:00.000+11:00

There's so much to describe here - it is the most amazingly beautiful place. A few kilometers of bare mid-grey gneissic rock jutting out to sea, rising to a few low hills of shattered stone, swathed in snow and bands of blue ice, some frozen lakes of pure fresh water that we drink from and cook with (and sometimes wash from - once it's been warmed up on the stove!) The sun traces an arc across the sky and never really sets - last night as I got to bed about 1am I saw a few pink cirrus clouds on the horizon above the pale blue ice of the polar plateau that rises behind us, obscuring the orb and affording the few hours of twilight that we get until it rises again. So it is never dark - this is very weird to adjust to and the only way to sleep is with eye-patches and, of course, my time tested technique of a pillow over the head! This is also effective in keeping the head warm whilst camping in the snow - and, naturally, it is always sub-zero in my tent! This brings with it certain practices - like always wearing thermals, snuggling under bear rugs, wearing warm socks or a beanie - but it is amazing how comfortable it is - I feel entirely happy and at home in my tent in the home of the blizzard! It will be interesting when there is an actual blizzard - you read about it, but I suspect nothing can really prepare you for it. Mawson wrote:

"A plunge into the writhing storm-whirl stamps upon the senses an indelible and awful impression seldom equalled in the whole gamut of natural experience...We stumble and struggle through the Stygian gloom; the merciless blast - an incubus of vengeance - stabs, buffets and freezes; the stinging drift blinds and chokes."

That was in winter, when it never gets light - so I would expect far milder conditions - indeed we seem to have stepped ashore in weather perfectly akin to Mawson's experience - calm, bright blue days with gentle winds or utter stillness - creating a paradisiacal sense of antarctic beauty, the frozen sea-spume like foams of blue-tinged pavlova atop the McKellar islets just offshore, vivid surreal shapes in the fresh and limpid air, the eye drawn to the horizon across the deep blue ocean towards massive icebergs, again tinged with blue, drifting slowly across the curvature of the earth. Scribbles of cirrus in the sky, a sparkling ring around the sun of ice particles refracting light, the puzzled squawks and enquiries of curious teams of Adelie penguins, running towards you, intent to examine these bipedal, brightly coloured aliens newly wandering their landscape; the miraculous, many forms of ice, transparent, blue, ice-sculpted, rippled; snow, firn, soft and hard - a myriad of arrangements enwrapping the startling variety of rocks - that appear to me to be a geologist's dream. And last, but not least, tiny patches and streaks of bright green or yellow lichen, scattered unexpectedly upon rocks or entirely consuming the bones of a penguin skeleton, frozen amidst stones - life and death mere metres from each other in the guano- covered colonies.

Amazing.

And finally we opened the door on Mawson's Hut. It was an emotional moment for me and very kindly Anne and Michelle asked Pete and I to do it - they'd excavated the ice with Jon and Brett and Pete (enough to build an igloo!) and finally freed the door under a metre and a half of solid snow - cut with chainsaws. And so we opened it and I stepped inside and smelt old damp wood and found more snow inside and another door and an amazing overwhelming sense of history, that these people really were here 90 odd years ago (1911-14) and they really did do this stuff. You're reminded constantly by the lugubrious cross to Ninnis and Merz just how lethal this place can be. But opening that door - we immediately found another interior door that is closed (a new one put there by the last Mawson's Huts Foundation Team) - so have yet to step inside- we must be patient as it is a very fragile environment. We removed the skylight covers so you could get glimpses of the interior. Everyone is very excited - there is a great sense of anticipation. I am startled by how much I know this place already by having visited it in my imagination for so long, by having created it virtually upon a computer - and I haven't been too far off - except in one major thing - the detail here, the sense of presence, of its reality, of its startling being.

- Peter Morse

Arrival at Cape Denison

2007-12-12T18:52:00.001+11:00

A short note to test the email and to let you know we've arrived! Perfect weather for the transfer from the ship. All's gone as well as possible. Quads are running, tea is brewing.

I feel we're the most fortunate people on earth!

Tony the Doc

First Encounter with Mawson's Hut

2007-12-12T15:21:00.000+11:00

Last night, after a rigorous and tiring day of transferring enormous amounts of equipment, food, building supplies and personnel from L'Astrolabe, we all decided to go for a walk to Mawson's Hut before falling asleep - mind you, that was very hard to contemplate amidst the excitement of arrival! I'll detail more later - because I know everyone will be bursting to see how the hut looks - here it is! Stunning.

- Peter Morse

66 degrees 40 minutes South, Commonwealth Bay

2007-12-11T19:11:00.000+11:00

It's a beautiful Tuesday morning, 20 NM off the coast of Cape Denison at Commonwealth Bay. During the 'night' (when the sun didn't set at all, but merely transected the horizon for an hour, just after midnight), we steamed past magnificent icebergs in the pack ice. Adelie Penguins abound, living on the ice floes, scurrying for the safety of the water with the ship's approach, then skimming along the surface and diving under floes. I stayed up, soaking it all in until the sun started it's upwards path from the horizon, about 1 am.

Commonwealth Bay itself is clear of ice, apart from some bergs in the distance, broken off from Mertz Glacier to the East. The Antarctic coast is magnificent, awesome, and very, very white. Jon says the coast is a lot whiter than his last trip!

All our cabins are packed and we're waiting for the helicopter to take us the next leg of the journey. It will take many round trips in all to get us and all the gear to shore.

Tony Stewart

Rough Seas in the Furious Fifties

2007-12-09T22:22:00.000+11:00

Here's a panorama I shot from the deck above the helipad, the evening before last. The seas were rising and picked up to a 5-6 metre swell - meaning a very uncomfortable night not sleeping as I was tossed around in my bunk. This shot gives an idea - it's impossible to shoot a pano like this over time (it's about 4 shots) as the ship is rolling and pitching on the waves - but it creates the interesting effect of capturing the ship as the still point around which the chaos of the ocean is raging. As a dramatic addition to this, the photographer has to contend with a form of gymnastics necessary to stand up whilst taking this sort of shot - it's not dangerous, but you do have to grab firmly onto things! Contrarily, today has been an ocean of calm as we approached 60º South - we're finally in Antarctic waters! So, naturally, our kind hosts threw a little party on the helideck with a very nice punch. Tres tres jolie! - Peter Morse

60 Degrees South

2007-12-09T14:04:00.000+11:00

We entered Antarctic Treaty waters at ~2:30pm Eastern Australia Summer Time today. We should reach the pack ice tomorrow, and our first port of call - the French base at Dumont D'Urville - on Tuesday. From there, we expect to travel around the coast to Commonwealth Bay, where we will be offloaded with all the gear for our work at Cape Denison.

The sea and weather have been very kind to us so far, making for a relaxing journey. There's still some possibility of 'interesting' weather ahead.

The email side of things is working well. It involves some specialised software on one of the laptops and using an Iridium Satellite phone as a modem. The photo shows Peter McCabe and Tony Stewart doing one of the email schedules, on the heli deck of L'Astrolabe.

Expedition departure

2007-12-08T21:40:00.001+11:00

At 10 pm December 5th, the French Antarctic re-supply ship L'strolabe set sail from Hobart for Cape Denison with the 2007 Mawson's Huts team aboard. L-R Peter Morse (computer visualisation specialist), Jon Tucker (carpenter), Pete McCabe (Field Leader/carpenter), Tony Stewart (medico), Rob Easther (Expedition Manager-based in Hobart!), Steve Beaton (electrician), Michelle Berry (materials conservator), Anne McConnell (archaeologist).

49 degrees South

2007-12-07T17:32:00.000+11:00

We awoke today, Friday 7th December, to a mist-filled ocean, quite a contrast to the sunny day yesterday yet still quite calm. Another good day for relaxing and reading, interspersed by meals. We passed through 49 degrees South (and 145 degrees 46 minutes East) around 6am today. In open ocean we are traveling at 12 knots, so we can expect to move about 4.5 degrees further south each day until we reach the sea ice. Commonwealth Bay is 67 degrees south, near the Antarctic Circle, so we still have several days travel ahead.

On the satellite photos Commonwealth Bay appears to be clear of ice, in contrast to the French base at Dumont D'Urville, where the ice extends tens of kilometres from shore. There's a great sense of anticipation.

First Day on the High Seas

2007-12-06T21:44:00.000+11:00

The day has been bright blue and warm in the sun, as L'Astrolabe passed 47º21S 146º21E (according to my new GPS unit), but starting to get chilly as the evening sets in. I spent much of today lying in my bunk recovering from a dose of avomil - anti-seasickness medication that turns you into a zombie, capable only of eating, reading and sleeping and the occasional foray outside - but thankfully those effects are wearing off now and the amazing reality of it all is setting in. We're heading to Mawson's Huts over nearly 2600km of Southern Ocean on a rather small French research vessel on its way to the French station Dumont d'Urville in Terre Adelie. The French crew and expeditioners all seem young and friendly and I have had the opportunity to practice my bad French on them over dinner - always the cause of much amusement - tres jolie. My co-expeditioners (the Mawson team - Pete, Steve, Tony, Jon, Ann, Michelle and Brett) all seem to have coped with the swirling, corkscrewing motion of the ship pretty well (some better than others as you'd expect) - we are sailing over two swells that cross each other diagonally, so the ship rolls and pitches and yaws in an "interesting" fashion. I wonder if these relatively calm seas will give ways to wilder ones (I expect so) and that a little more of that emetic frisson can be anticipated. Hopefully by then I'll have my sea-legs.

The ship inside is steamy and hot - cramped and sauna-like in the cabins - especially in my top bunk - if only it was possible to open a porthole and let in some fresh air! But who's complaining really? I have no doubt the warmth will be very much appreciated in a few days time, when outside temperatures really begin to drop.

The sun vanished in an apricot swirl of clouds at about 8.55pm, and the days will get getting longer and longer until - by the 21st Dec. the sun will not set at all, as Cape Denison is within the Antarctic Circle. Anyway, enough in this first real test-post - I'll try sending a photo tomorrow and a few more coherent thoughts.

Introducing the Team: Peter Morse

2007-12-04T10:01:00.001+11:00

Dr Peter Morse is a computer visualisation specialist who will be recording high-definition stereoscopic digital still and video images of Mawson's Huts and the Cape Denison area.

Welcome to the Mawsons Huts 2007-8 Expedition Blog

2007-12-01T20:17:00.000+11:00

The day is soon approaching - final preparations being made for departure on Wed Dec 5th! More soon.