Climbing the Ridge.
I wont be able to post for about 12 days , as Im off on a traverse to a spot called Law Dome. We have a couple of automatic weather stations that require maintenance. This maintenance will probably mean digging them out from meters and meters of acculated snow !! . Will be taking the trusty D-7 That machine can carve a rather large trench .
If all goes well , we will be back in under 2 weeks.Until then , have a Happy Day :-)

Blue skies!!!! This is the first real stunning Sunday we have had in 6 weeks. Not a cloud in the sky. So Lloyd our Doc , Cliff a met Observer and I went for a 3 hour wander over to Budnick Hill , and then a side trip to spot a pregnant Weddell seal , and then up the back side of Reeves Hill , back to Station.
While wandering we came across Joe one of our Plumbers checking out the view from Reeves hill.Cliff manged to clone himself in Joe's sunnies.
Arnt Pregnant ladies beautiful??

A very interessting rock formation on Shirley Island. Must have been some pressure here at some stage.
Policy here is that we are not allowed to remove any rocks from Antarctica. Seems bizzare, but I guess the divison is worried that if we all take home a rock , it wont be here anymore ??!!!
The Wind on the Moraine line. When we are out and about around station we always keep a keen eye on this ridge line. If we see this sight , Blowing snow , we have half about 15 mins before it hits station. 

Shirley Island .The Pink Lake. This lake is frozen at this time of year , but due to the Penguin Guano , it has a pink hue to it which remains even when frozen.The multitude of Adelie Pengins that inhabit this Island eat Krill . Krill are pink in colour , like a small prawn, hense the pink Guano lake. 

A typical Casey sunset...... I'll be taking as many of these as I can, as in a month or so the sun wont set again for a long time. 

A stunning Wilkins sunrise. 

We arrived back on station to a travisty . A fire in Hydroponics!! A vacume cleaner had self ignited and burnt itself into a pile of smoldering plastic cause massive smoke damage to the hydro room. This fire was a great test of the fire team and two of our guys went in with B.A gear on and put the fire out.No one was hurt.The down side is no more fresh greens this winter :-(
Very sad Tomatoes... 

A halo around the sun at the Antarctic circle.
The road train Antarctic style. The 1/4 height at the rear is full of 44 gallon drums of fuel for the dozer and generator 

Wed , Thrus , and Friday involved a traverse to the Wilkins Runway site to maintain the Winter Berm.This is a 3 meter high mound of snow that the static vans(ones without an engine) stay for the winter. Having the sleds high stops them being buried in snow.
Just the Machine for the job...A shot just for Drew!!
But the snow does accumulate in the lee ward side of them. This is what we have to remove. The excess snow from behind the sleds. Its a two day job to push it all away.

This was my Monday. Spend sitting in this crane while a couple of other expeditioners hung about in the man cage replacing a damaged panel of the Anaresat dome. Inside this dome is our sat. dish that gives us all our contact with the outside world. 

A visitor at the wharf.  

A stunning cloud day. The result of 3 weeks of wild winds.
 

01/06/2006
An apt still stunning sunset to celebrate the day of my birth!! Thanks Ma ,Thanks Dad!!

Robbie , our chef asked me what type of cake I would like , So banana was the request. We havnt had a banana here since feb , but the puree in the cake wasnt too bad.