Experiences just keep coming!

Here I am on the Antarctic Plateau at the small skiway site known as Woop Woop as it is in the middle of nowhere. I came up here on a day trip and became stuck for a couple of nights due to weather. That thing is a BEARCAT and a powerfull one at that and is most likened to a motorbike for the snow. This photo was taken after it was dug out of major blizzard conditions on a fine day on the continent. You will see some photos of a Hagglands and of the Skidoo 'Blizzed in to the point where tey are undriveable. Each vehicle takes over an hour to de-blizz which is a lot of hard worjk with hands in the snow and a shovel. There is a photo of the Sprunkey Van which is rather tiny for 3 people in a Blizzard and it is named after it maker (Sprunky). Another shot of the groomer that was also blizzed in but is at the skiway to groom the runway. lastly there is a shot of some of the 150 barrels of fuel waiting to be used by the planes and helicopters as the Summer continues.

Early Days in Antarctica.

A fantastic Heli ride to suss out a safe passage to take a haggland with a trailer and a huge snow groomer from the base up to the ice plateau. This will be a big trip when it comes around.

I went out to help one of the scientists retrieve a GPS unit that monitors the sea ice. this is to keep track of its movements and create huge reams of data to study. This one has been frozen since May this year and had to come out before all of the ice disappears!

I have also guided some penguin walks out to Gardiners Island where there is a rookery, heaps of penguin carcasses ad poo! The Adeles sometimes have serious skiddies down there chests as they slide through it. The island does smell pretty bad!

Love the yellow, it really brings out the color of my eyes don't you think!

Refuelling line from the ship 3.6km to the shore. I had to make sure there were no leaks as it pumps out at 500L per minute and would not be to good if it sprang a leak!

Appropriate Quad bike attire for the day. You would not believe what a pain the helmets are with big gloves on. The bars are heated to stop your hands getting cold but it is not always enough as there are also hand warming things that go over the handle bars.

Drilling holes through the sea ice to find out how solid it is. That hand drill is 110cm long and is hard work although it is very easy to cut your fingers on the drill bit.

Davis Station is in Sight!

It had been a much anticipated vision to see the base and final destination. Although it was also frustrating as it would be another 3 days to get there through the thick fast ice which the boat had some difficulty with. Often becoming stuck or stopping to let the helicopters off.

It does look like the ship is not there yet but at 3.6km off the shoreline it is parked in at a distance but truly stuck! All of the heavy machinery can drive over the ice to get the 100's of tonnes of equipment and supplies off the ship! The ice is up to 1.75cm thick that is almost as tall as me and as hard as reinforced cement.

Animals and Wonders of Nature

Amazing sunset and the birds are really there for Miss Landy Kids but I hope you enjoy them too!

I have forgotton! Either a Crab-Eater Seal or a Wedell Seal most likely the crab!

Giant Petrel and the Leopard seal with its pup.

Emperor Penguins in action in front ofthe ship and hundred of kilometers from land and a Snow Petrel over the water. They are hard to take shots of as they are quite small and fast and blend into the snow and ice.

Bottle-nosed Dolphin which are very hard to get when they are in the air and apparently taste great!
Spectacular Sunset!

Random Collection of Voyage Shots!

Massive bow wave as we hit the trough between two waves. Very scary when you can not see any land.

View down the side of the ship into some big swell

Left: A hole in the Focsle(you should look this one up) and Right: the little piece of rope the rope that goes through the hole and attaches the ship to the wharf.

Appropriate attire for outside the ship while going through the sea ice. Brrrrrrrrrr!

Bottomless Cookie Buckets. They Never Run Out!

Testing flares out on the Heli Deck.

All Hail King Neptune!

Initiation by the King! Yuk!
Let it be known -
That from the salty, salpy depths we stir.
Your ship makes good speed, but time is ours.
And all that cross the veil of South -
Must stand before the Ocean's Law.

It is declared that Dave Atkins has paid humble and due honour to this passage and is o sound but watery character.
That I, Australis King Neptune, Ruler of the Southern Ocean and its winds, shall take the right to cast an eye upon all those of sodden feet, who wish to cross this Southern realm, and land on icy shores.
So, if pleases us that the holder of this certificate be now dubbed a South Polar Sea Dog, to take pride in the brine that will now course through their veins. And that the same South polar Sea Dog be seen to be a true and trusted salt, respecting all, and will know the snaggletooths and sea devils as friends.


This is probably the worst I have smelt for the entire trip and was after I had already cleaned up with some paper towel. The stench of the old fish guts, kitchen scrapes and juices, Vegemite and goodness only knows what else was enough to make some people vomit when the seas were almost calm!

You really cannot see the fish scales and all of the juices down the back of my neck in this photo. to cap it off the crew turned off the showers for a little while very, very funny!

Helicopters on the Voyage!

I have taken this photo with my head sticking out of my bunk window. This is because you are not allowed to be out on the deck when the helicopters are flying. This is because photographers get in the way and a helicopter had a crash on the boat a few years ago. Bits of the blades went flying all over the shop so unless you are working with them you are not out there.
This ice is really thick sea ice and the boat is purposefully stuck into it, so it does not move! There was some science research going on to find out how far they can send out a Remote Controlled Submarine before the remote stops working. just imagine if they got $3,000,000 stuck in the ice and couldn't get it back out!



This is when we had to push start the helicopter as the blades fell off!
That orange tube is actually the floaties for the helicopter in case it falls into the water. The helicopters have to fly in pairs when it is over water or ice. One of them has to be empty so that it can pick up everyone that gets wet if they are still alive!



This is one of the pilots taking the blades off the a small Squirrel helicopter. They are only made out of fibreglass and have a titanium edge down the front side of each blade. Squirrel's only have one engine and 3 blades while the S76 has twin engines and four blades. The difference is how many people they can take and how fast they can go.

The Icy Bits of the Ship Voyage!

These are just a few images of the ice on the travels of the Aurora Australia on the V1 trip to resupply the Davis Station.

This is a shot off the back of the ship. you can see that the safety fences have been put down flat as the helicopters had already done some work. This is really to show the path of destruction behind the ship. Full ice breaking mode has made that channel through the fast ice(has contact with the land and is locked in). It took the whole day to do that small bit from the open water!

This is what a 'lead' looks like. Leads are what the ship tries to find with the help of satelite imagery. If there are plenty of lead the boat uses them to go through the ice faster. Sometimes the leads run out or the boat has to find another way around. It was great fun to go up the front of the ship as it ramed through these more open areas. Heaps of things to look at. Icebergs, penguins and seals which was such a relief after having more than a week with just water!

This is a piece of the sea ice that has been flipped over. The brown muddy sludgy stuff is a type of algae. The krill and the photosynthetic bacteria feed on this and then the penguins and heaps of other things eat the krill. If the brown algae were not there then we would not have any penguins or whales in our oceans. Global warming can reduce how much of this algae there is as it only grows under the sea ice. No sea ice = no algae = no penguins or whales!

This is me standing on the 'Monkey Deck'(the highest deck outside) with loads and loads of pancake ice in the background. The ship is able to push through this stuff at 8-10 knots without too much trouble.

This is what it looked like when the ship was looking for leads through the ice. At times we went around and around and around or backwards and forwards and backwards and forwards just to get through it without burning through 1000's of litres of fuel.

This is a type of ice that forms on the surface of the water and is really like a slushy! You can see it moving in waves from the wake of the ship. We came across this in the early days of moving through the first year sea ice.

Stormy Southern Seas

Well I am finally at the end of the journey on the ship. I will try to upload a few bits and pieces over the next few days so stay tuned for the updates as they will come as fast as the Antarctic internet can take them. What a relief to be off the boat! I still get a bit queasy watching this video so hope it works for you!