Just a test post , its been so long since I've done this !!

Early Morning at the Skiway

WILKINS INTERNATIONAL RUNWAY
ON FINAL APPROACH

Cutting slots into the ice to allow for the instalation of anchors for an Auotmatic weater station for the Skiway.

Winding up the season !! digging our way into the conatiners towards the end of the season wasnt such an issue as the last 7 weeks have been Blizz free.



We moved 55 drums of fuel to Wilkins Runway for fueling the Casa 212's ferry tanks .The Sliver Chalet , ( rear of picci became the pilots sleeping quarters prior to the 11 hour flight.

One of our CASA 212's comming in to the Skiway

A hunting leopard seal has these two Adelies in a bit of a spin. After a while watching , the seal missed out on his meal.

Looking out the Jump door , is amazing . The pilots crack the door about 12 inches , and we are rewarded with a view like this !!

A self portrait up on the Plateau.

A sight a long time comming , a commercial airliner taking off from Casey Station. (Wilkins Runway )

Heres Jason doing his best Fred Flinstone Impersonation. He's actually doing work to the avionics of the CASA212.

Heres a shot from Davis station. One of my friends Brad Dennis who was here last winter has gone to Davis for the summer. He took this pearler of two fighting seals.

An Australian Milestone, the first Airbus to land in Antarctica.This will start a new era in Aussi Antarctic expeditions. With passengers being able to fly down ,in 5 hours instead of the 7-13 day voyage by ship.
The A-319 airbus landed last night at Wilkins Blue ice runway with no problems.

A shot of the Bunger Hills from the air.

Sitting down behaving myself !! As you can see the plane's interior is spartan. The drums tied down beside me is the fuel we cached at Bunger Hills.

Locked in Bergs.From 5000ft

Casa 212 on the ice at Bunger Hills.

Heres the scar Ive put on our earth , the skiway. I got on a flight 2 hours west of here to a spot called Bunger Hills. Its a deep field Australian base. We cached some fuel out there and returned some old stock of Aviation fuel.
Its a bizzare sensation , flying along with nothing but ice and snow , then over the horizon some rocks appear , which is an area of some 4o miles square of mountians and frozen lakes.

AS you can see the weather forcaster was spot on , as the sun popped out under the clouds , the definition improved and the planes popped out of the sky. They landed at a bit after 10 pm. A long day , as the call went out at 2pm that they were going to fly . We start work at about 8am , so a sleep in was the order of the next day.

Finally , a weather window opened up and we have now recieved our Casa 212-400 on station

This is a sunlight recorder.when the sun is shining, It refracts the light and burns a hole though the paper. Thus giving an accurate count of hours of sunlight.

Looking down into the Shirley Channel. Been doing a few trips here while we can, as the sea ice will soon be gone.

Snow Petrels on Reeve hill.

A young Elephant seal. They dont usually spend to much time in this area , their wallow being down on the Browning Peninsula. A bonus !

Another Adelie at Shirley Island. With still no planes arriving, our evenings can be spent exploring the recreation area.