sitrep 21/01/08

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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.