A Southern Christmas 2001 - Day 17 (NYE and unwelcome visitors)

Greetings and a happy and healthy New Year to everyone who has stuck with this so far

When last we left the 2001 (soon to be 2002) journal we were on our way to Prydz Bay where Polar Bird had been beset for the past couple of weeks or more. It's coming up to New Year's Eve and we're still a couple of days away when we had one of our first encounters with unwelcome visitors.

Tuesday 1st January 2002

at sea

It begins quietly. At 1800 we have our New Year’s Eve barbecue on the Trawl Deck. We are almost feeling like we should be in short sleeves. There is brilliant sunshine and  majestic icebergs are drifting by us to regular oohs and aahs and the rhythmic click of camera shutters. 

At 2000 hrs (four hours behind Sydney time) anyone who has access to, or is able to borrow one of the on board satellite phones uses it to call a loved one and share a "Happy New Year, I miss you" message.

Soon it is time for the Beauty and the Beast Party on F Deck where the music is thumping and the most imaginative costumes are on display. It's quite amazing what people can do with a shower curtain or a few plastic garbage bags. At midnight we all hug, agree what a great bunch of people we are and drink toasts to our loved ones.

An hour later the drama starts. But first, let me go back 24 hours to a VHF call Aurora received from Greenpeace anti-whaling vessel Arctic Sunrise who at that time was in the area about 20 miles north of us. She called to wish Happy New Year and mentioned that we should keep a look out for Japanese whalers who they believed were illegally fishing in the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). 

So it is that about an hour after midnight on the first day of 2002, we are greeted with the sight of a small grey-hulled vessel, red below the waterline with a huge harpoon on her fo’c’sle. She has Japanese markings, is hove to and drifting as we come close to her. Captain Tony Hansen hails her: 

“Japanese vessel, this is Aurora Australis, we believe you are engaged in illegal activities, please state your reasons for being 39 nautical miles inside the Australian EEZ.”

There is a long silence and Tony repeats his message. After a further wait we get their response: 

“Aurora Australis, this is research vessel Kyo Maru No 1, please advise your course and position.”

Tony radios our position and course and confirms his opinion that the vessel is acting illegally within the Australian EEZ. He tells them that the Australian Government has been informed and requests the vessel to leave Australian territorial waters immediately. 

After what seems like a period of indecision, Kyo Maru No 1 heads west which is the direction we are going anyway, so we follow her. It isn’t long before looming out of the mist we come across another much larger vessel - the mother ship.

As she comes into view, it is clear she is a large factory processing ship. Water is pouring from her scuppers into the open sea in what we can only guess is the result of attempts to wash down her decks to conceal evidence of her activities. Captain Tony calls her. She identifies as Nisshin Maru and asks us to keep our distance. Captain Hansen repeats his request: 

“This is Aurora Australis, we have reason to believe you are engaged in illegal whaling activities 39 nautical miles inside the Australian exclusive economic zone and we ask you to depart this zone immediately.” After several minutes silence Nisshin Maru repeats her requirement that we remain at a safe distance – other than that she ignores us.

Through binoculars we see she has a banner draped over her stern, “Whales are not endangered…” it says, “…Greenpeace misleads the world.”

Having made our point and reported our position and the situation to the AAD and the Australian Government we go on our way - and no doubt the Japanese mother ship, and how ever many whalers are in her fleet, go theirs.

I didn’t expect to get passionate about this, and maybe it was the disdainful response to Aurora’s challenge, but for a while that night I wasn’t they only one who wished our hull was grey instead of orange and that we might have a small cannon to fire across their bow.

In closing let me also emphatically deny any knowledge of mooning expeditioners. This is nothing more than scurrilous reporting.

Now let's get on with finding and helping Polar Bird...

A Southern Christmas 2001 - A short film

 We put together a few pieces of footage while we were on our trip. I am being a little generous with my use of the term "we" here. While the footage is shamelessly credited to myself and my colleague Yann Moreau, it really was Yann who did most of the artistic and editorial work and I belatedly thank him and acknowledge his contribution.

As I have mentioned in most of my previous posts on this website, please go back to the beginning HERE, if you are viewing this for the first time. It will help make the story (and the films) a little more relevant. 

This first film called Mission Antarctica, comprises selected footage of our voyage south beginning with our departure from Hobart and continuing until our arrival at the sea ice. This is followed by a few pictorial images of the scattered waste we saw at Wilkes and ending with a little self-promotion regarding our contribution to the cleanup program.  

There is a second film called Cleaning up Waste in Wilkes which I'll put up in a couple of days.

I will return to our Antarctic Diary on 1st January. 

A Southern Christmas 2001 - a mid-voyage interlude

I mentioned in an earlier post that I would write in a more detail about the outcome of the waste clean up challenges at Thala Valley and the abandoned Wilkes base.

The most recent diary entry which I posted yesterday was written on 29 December 2001. I didn’t write in the journal again for another two or three days as we slowly made a way westward towards Prydz Bay and Polar Bird, so this provides an opportunity to do just this. 

I mentioned at the start of this series of diary entries (HERE), that the agreement to provide support and sponsorship to the Antarctic cleanup program resulted from earlier discussions with engineers and scientists at Australian Antarctic Division in Hobart.

The Division needed special purpose-built containers which would be easy to load, leak-free and would carry the contaminated soil and waste from Thala Valley at Casey back to Australia for treatment and safe disposal.

Excavated waste from the Thala Valley site needed to be placed into containers which were specially researched and designed by the AAD and Veolia. It was critical that there was to be no contaminated leachate dispersal during storage and transit. The requirement was for a total of 240 containers each of 10 tonne capacity. These sealed small half-height containers (called quarter-heights) were 3m long by 2.4m wide and 1.2 m high. The containers had doors and would be sealed before use. It was critical to make sure that the excavated materials did not comprise large volumes of ice, snow or water.  The containers had been designed so that they could be stacked, and with their low centres of gravity could be stacked close together to prevent tipping.

We delivered the first 120 of these containers aboard Aurora during this trip. The balance were to be delivered the following year.

So how did it go?

The good news is that it went very well.

In early 2004, the Australian Government reported that it had successfully pioneered ways to clean up the frozen waste left at old tip sites in Antarctica. The Government was able to announce that Thala Valley had been cleared of all refuse dumped in the years leading up to the mid-1980s. Rubbish accumulated when all nations in Antarctica, including Australia, simply threw away old machinery, oil drums and the like in a rubbish tip where it froze, became snow covered and so was left out of sight and out of mind. The Thala Valley site had been a test site and a crucial first step towards cleaning up all of Australia’s Antarctic legacy sites. The Government went on to say that AAD had worked cooperatively with the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service and the Tasmanian Government to deal with the waste. A follow-up inspection of the Thala Valley site had found the clean-up program had been a total success.

Subsequent work over the past ten years or so has focused on exploring ways of remediating contaminated frozen soil in situ, thus obviating the risks associated with transporting large volumes of waste to Australia and the accompanying bio-security risks that this presents. 

It remains to be seen whether the expertise which has been gained from these exercises will be successfully employed at other Antarctic sites, particularly Wilkes.

There is still much to be done in 2024.  Two years ago (in 2022) the Australian Government announced a $800 million dollar budget to be spent over the next 10 years to bolster Australia’s scientific and strategic presence in Antarctica. Of this about $14 million was earmarked for cleaning up legacy waste. Research scientist, Darren Koppel of CSIRO provided information on the status of Wilkes in an article published in The Conversation under the title (in part) Dead Dogs, Leaking Oil Drums and Batteries

As recently as June this year, a French inspection team reported on a visit by a high-level scientific team in accordance with the Antarctic Treaty and its protocol on Environmental Protection.

Among other observations, the inspection team found the deteriorating state of the abandoned Wilkes site concerning. They reported that the presence of buildings partially or completely covered, along with waste and contaminants of various kinds and in significant quantities, poses a clear risk to the Antarctic environment and its dependent and associated ecosystems, including marine ecosystems.  The inspection team praised the efforts initiated by Australia to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the site and the risks posed to the Antarctic environment. They encouraged the continuation of these efforts and the establishment of a site clean-up program, while being mindful of environmental, logistical, and financial constraints.

There is no doubt that it is a continuing challenge, that has been reviewed and strategized over for many years now. Modern ground penetration radar using drone operations continues to provide more access to information, but it must be said that time is not going to wait forever, and recent reports of oil slicks and floating drums are not to be ignored.

For over 99% of its surface Antarctica is a barren, dry, inhospitable land. There is less than one percent of the Antarctic land mass which supports life including lichen, mosses and terrestrial algae and it is this one percent that needs to continue to thrive, if they are to survive. Antarctica is home for at least half the world’s penguin species, more than a dozen species of whales and dolphins, over 30 other species including seabirds and seals and more than 8,000 marine species most of which are unique to this area. All this of course, is taking place in the same area where all the human activity has taken place; hence the need for Australia and other Treaty signatories to continue to support these cleanup and rehabilitation programs.

We can and must continue to encourage and support the great work being done by the scientists and technicians from Australia, New Zealand, France, China, the United Kingdom and many other parts of the world who are committed to honouring our mutual Antarctic Treaty obligations.

More tomorrow…

A Southern Christmas 2001 - Day 14 (en-route to Polar Bird)

 As you will remember from yesterday's post, we have left Casey to an emotional farewell and are on our way, not home, but further west toward Prydz Bay and one of Aurora's sister ships, Polar Bird, who is not an ice-breaker but is described as being "ice-strengthened".  She's stuck in ice and has been so, for a couple of weeks now, so we're going to see if we can help break her out and get her back on her way.

So, on to Polar Bird…

Saturday 29th December 2001

at sea (64 deg S, 95 deg E)

And so indeed to Polar Bird…

Much of the information I have passed on over the past couple of weeks has been made possible because I’ve been able to frequently refer to an excellent publication by Bernadette Hince entitled The Antarctic Dictionary.  It was here that I found the meaning of the word besetment, which says in part:

“…The immurement of a ship in sea-ice. When a vessel is so completely hemmed in as to have lost its liberty of motion it is said to be beset.”

Well, Polar Bird is most assuredly beset. She is in 10 tenths ice about 30 nautical miles from the open sea. Quite a challenge for our little orange roughie, but one thing which is for sure, Captain Tony Hansen and his crew with the help and support of Voyage Leader, Greg and his team will give it their best shot. Behind us, about five days away, and en route to the Chinese Antarctic base, at Zhongshang is the huge ice-breaker, Xue Long (Snow Dragon). We hope she won’t be needed – but it’s comforting to know she’s not far away.

At about 2.30am as we are passing to the north of the Shackleton Ice Shelf, we run into thick new sea ice. Icebreaking mariners describe the conditions of ice in tenths; thus Polar Bird is beset in 10 tenths pack ice. This morning’s ice is 9 tenths new pack ice. I have been awake until past midnight sending an earlier report and catching up on sorting photographs for later transmission, and I have thus only been in bed for a couple of hours when I am wakened by the sound of ice growling against the side of the ship and the shuddering of the vessel as larger floes are dragged beneath us and demolished by the huge variable pitch propeller. We have slowed considerably.

I decide to visit the ship's bridge and am greeted by the sight of ice in every direction, and little ocean to be seen. Now for the first time we are witnessing what icebreaking is about, and the difficult task ahead of us with Polar Bird still 200 miles to the south-west.

Tony has been on the bridge for about 20 hours at this stage and as I arrive, he is donning his heavy weather gear in preparation for a climb up the mast to the observation platform. There, for the next hour, he peers through powerful binoculars looking ahead and around for clearer water while passing instructions to second mate, Jake who is at the wheel (it's actually a joystick rather than a wheel).

As we proceed further into the ice, we are for the first time seeing Aurora in action, doing what she was designed for. As the snub-nosed bow slowly pushes ahead, a long crack develops in the ice moving away from the bow which gradually widens as the vessel forces its way through. Occasionally the bow will ride up over the top of a floe and bring the full weight of its ballast filled for’ard end down on to it – an impressive experience. All this time, the skipper and his team are looking for a water sky, a thin strip of blue or darker grey sky, low on the horizon which reflects distant water (as opposed to an “ice sky” which reflects the ice).

There is none to be seen, and after an hour of this, it is decided to reverse our track, back to where we started and head further north looking for a clearer passage through to Polar Bird. It’s going to be a long and tiring few days for these guys.

A Southern Christmas 2001 - Day 13 (leaving Casey)

Welcome Dear Reader, to Day 13 when we say farewell to Casey and leave on our mission to help our mates stuck in the ice at Prydz Bay. If you're reading this for the first time, may I suggest that you visit HERE and start from the beginning. You will have a little catching up to do - but hopefully it will be worth the effort.

I will talk further over the next few days, about the Antarctic clean up, what eventually happened to our containers and the waste at Thala Valley, and the ongoing saga of the Wilkes clean up.

Until then - please read on...

Friday 28th December 2001

at sea (65 deg S, 110 deg E)

Today we left Casey and are presently steaming in a north-westerly direction as we make our way around the ice shelf towards Polar Bird about 4 days sailing from here. As I wrote a few days ago Bird has been beset in heavy ice since before we left Hobart and our mission is to reach her and break though about 15 miles (28 km) of ice to let her out so that she can continue her own mission which is to refuel and resupply Mawson Station, Australia’s most westerly Antarctic base. I’m sure we’ll have more to say about this over the next few days.

Our last day at Casey has been a moving day in more than one sense.

It is moving in that it is the day when all last season’s winter and summer expeditioners say farewell to the place which has been their home for many months. The summerers came south in September and have been in Casey for the past three months. These are mostly scientists and researchers, engaged in a wide range of activities associated with the very special flora and fauna in this part of the world and the impact that previous and future visitors (including tourists) will have on the long-term survival of this fragile territory. Many of the summer scientists have been engaged in assessing the impacts that the Thala Valley and the Wilkes waste tips have had on the marine environment. Some examples include studies of the impacts of contaminants on frozen groundwater and the consequence of waterborne pollution on the marine sediments in the surrounding waters. 

Of course, not all the people on Station are scientists. There is a need for plant operators, diesel mechanics, riggers, carpenters and plumbers and, of course, the most important man on the station, the cook. Altogether there were about 30 expeditioners who spent the summer season at Casey.

The expeditioners for whom most respect is reserved are however, the winterers. These 15 or so people arrived at Casey in December last year and have now spent a year at the Base. These are the people: the meteorologists, the communications technicians and tradespeople who have maintained the station and its presence through the long freezing winter where temperatures are 50 degrees below zero, and winds 300 km per hour and who then continued through the busy, only slightly less cold Antarctic summer when the station population increased from 16 to 50.

Today is also moving in the sense that there is a lot of emotion as one group of expeditioners farewelled their home for the past several months and another group, the sixteen 2002 winterers were left to manage and maintain the base and prepare it for next year’s summer expeditioners who will be back in September 2002 to commence the next cycle.

The formal handover from 2001 expeditioners to the 2002 group took place in the Red Shed at 9 am. Some of those leaving were already on board Aurora and only a handful of round-trippers like me were there to witness the little ceremony. First, were awards of the Antarctic Medal made to expeditioners who had made outstanding contributions during the past year. This was followed by the formal handover of the “keys” to the Shed from outgoing Station Leader, Paul Cullen to new Station Leader, John Rich. As a final token, Paul presented John with the last resort survival package to enable him to endure the ultimate catastrophe should everything that could possibly go wrong eventuate, a bottle of 12-year-old single malt whiskey.

It was also time to say our farewells and best wishes to the winterers we were leaving behind. Those of us that had come down on Aurora for the round trip had made good friends with them and there appears to be little doubt that the station will be well looked after by John and his team.

John’s parting words to me were, “Don’t worry Mike, we’ll make sure that we look after the rubbish and have all your containers ready for you to collect next season.”

Aurora’s little work boat was used to ferry the outgoing expeditioners and their bags out to the ship, which was a hive of activity all morning. After the relatively quiet trip south where the total number of souls on board was just sixty, our numbers have now increased to just under a hundred and the lines at mealtimes are suddenly much longer. A whole lot of new faces have joined us, some still with heavy beards, some whose winter whiskers have been freshly shaven; and a variety of hair colours – greens, blues and gold which will no doubt be allowed to grow out as they return to a somewhat more conventional existence over the next few months. Many will be back next summer.

By 12.30pm, Captain Tony Hansen was ready to lift anchor and depart. The last passenger was on board, all the samples from all the experiments were stowed, the boats and barges which we brought with us, and without which the cargo handling couldn’t happen had all been lifted on board and safely lashed to the deck. Returning expeditioners and round-trippers gathered on the decks as we started underway. From Casey, an orange smoke flare was lit as a traditional farewell and a few bright glowing red and orange lights were seen outside the Red Shed as the winterers gave us their traditional send-off. Aurora sounded a long loud blast on her foghorn and headed out of the bay. There were quite a few with lumps in their throats as we watched Casey disappear and a couple of burly expeditioners later mentioned to me that they were glad to be wearing dark glasses to hide their tears.

And so to Polar Bird…

A Southern Christmas 2001 - Day 12 (A jolly)

 Greetings readers, where ever you are. I trust you have had an enjoyable couple of days, and if you been fortunate enough to share it with your family and loved ones, even better. If not, my thoughts go out to you.

If you have been observant, you will be asking yourself, what happened to Day 11? An excellent question. I have no idea either, it was over twenty years ago, and since it is true that I did not add a diary entry for every day, I am going to assume I was too busy working on the project to spend more time writing my journal. Or maybe the book I was reading was simply too unputdownable (it was Lord of the Rings if I remember correctly). We'll never know.

It's not the first time there are missing entries from the journal, but I will continue to post them on the same date, consistent with the date they were written, so that the continuity is still there.

Enjoy...

Thursday 27^th December 2001

Casey Base

Today was a day for a jolly. In Antarctic terms, a jolly is defined as an excursion away from base for recreational purposes. The expression probably goes back to the eighteenth century when the jolly boat would be used by seafarers for occasional jaunts.

Our jolly was to visit a refuge about 15 km south of Casey base called Robinson’s Ridge, or more simply Robbos. We travelled there by Hagg, those wonderful tracked all-terrain vehicles, built in Sweden with a Mercedes-Benz engine which go almost anywhere and are built to float if they fall through the ice, which they occasionally do, but not on our trip I’m pleased to report.

Martin Riddle, who has been our host for the past couple of days, was our driver and tour guide again today as seven of us climbed into the front and back cabs of the Hagg. Passengers in the front cab ride in comparative comfort complete with headset communication and relatively comfortable seats. The rear cab is usually reserved for the gear but has bench type seats which three of us were able to squeeze into and for safety purposes, we were provided with a two-way radio in case of emergency.

It was a great opportunity for us to look at some of the real wilderness and desolation of this great white continent. When we stopped about halfway through our journey for a photo break it was clear to us all that like all the other coastal stations, Casey Base makes up but a miniscule portion of this vast region. All around us, for as far as we could see was whiteness. The landscape to the east and south of us slopes gently away to what eventually becomes the great Antarctic plateau. To the southwest, we could see across Newcomb Bay and beyond to the massive Vanderford Glacier, which although wider at its mouth than the entire Casey station limits, is itself comparatively small by Antarctic standards.

Now is a good time to mention that when I say we stopped for a photo break - that is all we stop for in this untarnished wilderness. There are no trees behind which one goes to relieve oneself, everything that gets taken in, must be taken out. If you need to relieve yourself, take a plastic bag and bring it back with you because under the conditions of the Treaty, everything that is waste or no longer being used must be returned to Australia. This is why it is so important to rectify the mistakes of our past – not just in Australian Antarctica, which is just an example, but in the whole area of human development and activity – and make good the damage we have already done.

We arrived at Robbos in bright sunshine, and a temperature of three degrees below zero, almost warm enough for short sleeves. No wonder this is a popular spot for jollies with the expeditioners. We really were in a most beautiful part of the region. At Robbos we could see across to the penguin colony on Odbert Island and as we sat on the rocks overlooking the bay, we were able to watch in fascination as a couple of these curious and wonderful creatures, the Adelie Penguins came along to inspect us.

Penguins are the icons of Antarctica. They live only in the southern hemisphere from the Antarctic to the Galapagos. They are flightless birds which spend most of their time at sea where they feed on fish and krill, and coming on land for extended periods to breed.

They have no land-based predator and thus appear not to fear humans. They are apparently quite short-sighted and it’s most amusing to watch one of these creatures standing about two or three metres from us and quizzically turn its head as though to peer more closely through one eye. Then it will turn and dive back into the sea, where at once it is transformed from a comical and awkward little land animal to a graceful and elegant amphibian powering through the ocean, like a soaring porpoise. The greatest feat, and a marvellous spectacle to observe, is the penguin’s trick of projecting itself out of the water in a vertical standing position, to land upright on the edge of the ice, several feet above the water it has left. When several of them do this together it almost makes you want to clap your hands as a sign of appreciation for this wonderful trick.

A Southern Christmas 2001 - Day 10 (Thala Valley)

So on to Day 10 of these Antarctica travels. 

The entry for Christmas Day 2001 was quite short, and concentrated on the main purpose of our visit which was to carry out the Casey waste clean-up. I was unashamedly enthusiastic in discussing the far-sightedness of the Australian Government in making things happen to clean up the environmental carelessness of past years. 

The process is still underway in 2024, and although it's taking a little longer than we might have hoped for then, I'm reminded of the words from a little film we made at the time from Dr Martin Riddle who was in charge of human impact studies: "It's going to take years."

Tuesday 25^th December 2001

Casey Base

Late yesterday, having recovered from our exciting morning in the IRBs, and with cargo unloading well and truly underway, Yann and I went ashore again, this time to have a look at the Thala Valley tip site.

The old Thala Valley tip is within the Casey Station limits, in a small valley running into Browns Bay, itself a small inlet forming part of Newcomb Bay. It was used for about 20 years starting some time around 1965 has about 3,000 tonnes of waste, all of which is to be removed and returned to Australia as part of an international agreement known as the Madrid Protocol. As I in an earlier entry, the volume of waste at Thala Valley represents about one tenth of the problem at Wilkes.

The reason there is so much less residual waste at Thala Valley than Wilkes (which was in operation for a much shorter period) was the early practice of icing the waste. This entailed dumping the waste on the thick sea ice of the bay during the winter period and letting it sink into the bay during the summer melt. Out of sight, out of mind.

It has to be said that it is easy now in 2001 to condemn the practices of those earlier expeditioners, but also very unfair. These activities took place long before Rachel Carson and her classic, Silent Spring made the world sit up and take more notice of the environment and the practices at Antarctica were little different to any of those carried out at that time by any municipal council anywhere in Australia, or other parts of the world. We understand so much more now and the Australian Government is to be applauded for its initiative in mounting this clean-up operation as part of its Treaty obligations.

The Thala Valley site will provide important information before the main clean up at Wilkes commences. A few years ago, when the decision was first taken to clean up the Thala Valley site, the bulldozers were moved in, and the clean-up was started with enthusiasm. It was soon noticed that the clean-up was in danger of causing more harm than good, as runoff waters and leachate plumes began to appear. During the thaw a small river runs through the valley and without due care, the river carries the waste residue and leachate straight into the bay.

A diversion for the river has been built and the first project of next summer will be to install a leachate treatment and collection system and impermeable gabion walls which will prevent run off causing more damage to the bay.

Yann and I, and our colleagues in Australia and France are excited to be involved in this initiative and I'm looking for the next few years as the cleanup progresses at Thala Valley and at WIlkes.

A Southern Christmas 2001 - Day 9 (fuelling Casey)

 Here we are at Day 9 of our Antarctic Mission. If this is your first time on this site, please go back to the beginning (HERE)  - otherwise read on...

Monday 24^th December 2001

Casey Base, Australian Antarctic Territory

Aurora’s mission here at Casey is to complete several assignments which include re-supplying the station with fuel and provisions, taking on board Return to Australia (RTA) waste and unaccompanied luggage, delivering the dozen or so winterers who will occupy the station for the next 12 months and providing a passage home to the 40 or so expeditioners who have spent the past three months to a year at Casey.

Of these tasks, the most critical and sensitive is the delivery of sufficient fuel to get them through the year. Aurora’s task, anchored as she is in the middle of Newcomb Bay, about one kilometre offshore is to deliver via hose line over 600,000 litres of an extremely low-wax fuel oil known as SAB (Special Antarctic Blend) which has been formulated for use in extremely cold conditions. Obviously, given the extreme sensitivity of the environment this is one job where care and attention are paramount.

The hose unwinds from a large hose reel on the shore and its end is ferried out to the ship via the inflatable rubber boats (IRBs), also known as Zodiacs. These dynamic little craft, powered by 35 KW outboard motors provide a great service for both scientific and operational activities. Once the hose is connected to the vessel fuel transfer begins and continues for the next 24 hours or so.

Throughout the day, as the pumping continues, two Zodiacs, each with a two-man crew continually patrol the 1,000 metres of hose between ship and shore. The biggest danger to the hose-line is caused by small icebergs (known as bergy bits) which continually threaten the hose-line as they drift toward the shore under the influence of the constant northerly offshore wind that challenges the operation.

Having both confessed to some prior experience in small boats, Yann and I are listed for duty between 0400 and 0800 on Monday morning. We present ourselves to the bridge at 0345 and after a quick trip ashore where we exchange our polar gear for Mustang flotation suits, are each assigned an IRB where we are teamed with a more experienced crew member from Casey station. I am partnered with a surveyor named Tom from a firm of Australian consulting engineers working on the new aircraft landing strip project. Yann is teamed with Chris, a pink haired communications guy from Hobart, known as Pepé who is also an experienced boat-hand.

For the next four hours, our task is simply to keep the bergy bits away from our precious hose line. The term bits is misleading. Some of them are the size of a small house. The smaller ones can be pushed ashore or grounded in the shallows away from the hose line with our Zodiacs acting as tugs. If this isn’t possible, we manhandle the line out of the water and physically lift it over the ice. Smaller bergy bits can be pushed under the hose.

Our biggest problem arises within the first half hour of our shift when the motor in the Zodiac I am sharing with Tom decides to call it a day at a time when one of the house-sized bergy bits is drifting towards the hose line at an alarming rate. The four of us try hard to lift the line over the berg, but the berg is about 3m high, and it isn’t going to happen, particularly with one of our craft disabled. Pumping is stopped and the line is filled with air. With much maneuvering and great work from Pepé, the line is finally lifted over the berg and down the other side. Our efforts to restart the motor are successful in that mystical way that only outboard motors and lawn mowers demonstrate, and we have fewer problems for the rest of our watch.

The time passes quickly, and we forget about the freezing water and leaking gloves, and the snow and icy wind which is driving into our faces. It is exhilarating work, and it’s great to be alive. Pumping finishes just as our watch ends. In total 630,000 litres has been pumped ashore in about 22 hours with not one drop spilled.

Breakfast tasted good this morning.

A Southern Christmas 2001 - Day 8 (at Casey and Wilkes)

 It is a pleasant surprise to see how many people have been reading these little posts. The last time I looked at the data, it showed that there have been more than 200 views and the number continues to grow and since one or two folk have asked me to keep going, I will. I require little encouragement.

As I state at the introduction to each day's entry, please start (HERE), if this is the first time you have visited this site.

The last entry of my journal had us arriving in Casey base, so as many a schoolboy saga would say, now read on… 

 

Sunday 23^rd December 2001

Casey Base, Australian Antarctic Territory

Finally, we are here, and nature has provided us with another bonzer day. If this is Antarctica, move over Gold Coast. The sun shone from a cloudless sky, with hardly a breath of wind all day - what was Scott’s problem?

A sobering moment came later today when we heard the three-day forecast. In short, make the most of this, the blizzard is due within the next couple of days.

Shortly before breakfast we dropped anchor in Newcomb Bay about a kilometre offshore from the characteristic red, orange, green and blue sheds which we had seen on so many photographs and films featuring Casey. The Base is just over 30 years old, having been established in 1969 when Wilkes, on the opposite side of the bay, was closed because of snow accumulation and poor site selection - but more on Wilkes later.

The Casey Station Leader is Paul Cullen. He has spent the past 13 months here and like almost all the fifty or so people on station, he will be returning to Hobart with us. Paul came on board and warmly welcomed us to the Antarctic continent. We had earlier all received an email explaining the rules of the Station, but it was clear from Paul’s personal address that his mission, before he leaves this place is to ensure that we all accomplish what we have set out to achieve by coming here.

Yann and I were on one of the first boats ashore and a small group of us were soon carefully descending a rope ladder from the ship’s side on to a barge and into waiting inflatable rubber boats (IRBs), also known as Zodiacs. We were to become better acquainted with those little IRBS over the next 24 hours.

We set foot at the busy landing wharf area which looks just like any working construction site that you might see anywhere in the world. Here we became acquainted with another form of transport with which we were to become familiar during our stay – the Hägglunds. The Hagg as it is more simply known, is a tracked all-terrain diesel-powered vehicle with an enclosed cabin connected to a tracked trailer cabin. The Hagg and the quad motorcycles have long since replaced dogs and sleds as the means of transport around Antarctic bases and all Antarcticans are appreciative of its value and reliability. Paul Cullen was our driver, and we were driven the half kilometre or so, up the hill through a narrow laneway of packed ice and snow to the heart of Casey, the Red Shed.

This is the home of the Caseyites – a two-story, steel-clad red building which houses the dining room, kitchen, lounge and bar of Casey and accommodates most of its winter and summer expeditioners. It is also the home of the library and the cinema (the Odeon) and is the place of congregation for all. Although modest and unprepossessing in outside appearance it provides a warm, lodge type atmosphere once inside. We stamped our way through the double entry doors, shaking packed snow from our feet as we walked in. Our heavy sheepskin lined Sorel boots and windproof Ventile outer garments were removed and left close to the exit door where we signed the fireboard, a critical requirement for everyone entering or leaving the Red Shed. This is how our hosts know who is in or out and where we are (particularly visitors); all of which is important in an environment where fire and blizzard will not forgive the careless.

Our mission today was to visit Wilkes station and after a welcoming cup of coffee and a quick lunch, we made our way to the stores shed to get survival packs needed for our short trip to Wilkes. All travellers who go off station must take a survival pack – even an hour’s journey could, in the case of an unexpected snowstorm require an overnight stay in poor conditions. The pack contains sleeping bag, bivi bag, essential rations and first aid kit.

Our host was Dr Martin Riddle, Program Director for Human Impact Studies at AAD and who has been in Casey for the summer. Martin is a marine biologist and is responsible for much of the work which is carried out at the Antarctica bases and surrounding waters. He is thus greatly involved in the work associated with the waste clean-up at Casey’s Thala Valley site and at Wilkes.

Wilkes Station was formally a US base, established in the International Geo-physical Year of 1957. It was handed over to Australia in 1959 who operated the station until the late 1960s after which the replacement site at Casey came into operation as Wilkes slowly became buried under its accumulation of snow and ice. The station is directly opposite Casey on the other side of the bay, about an hour’s Hagg ride away. Both stations are clearly visible from Aurora as she sits easily at anchor in the middle of the bay.

The clean-up at Casey’s Thala Valley site with its 3,000 tonnes of waste and contaminated soil which will be removed over the next three or four years via our donated purpose-built bins is a test for the ultimate clean-up at Wilkes. Wilkes has ten times more waste than there is at Casey and the landscape from one end to the other at

Wilkes is strewn with discarded fuel drums (some empty, some full), tin cans, containers, buildings and gas cylinders. It is only by using the information learned from the Thala Valley clean-up that a clean-up at Wilkes can be planned and executed.

There are at least 3,000 two hundred litre (44 gallon) drums at Wilkes which at one time contained diesel or fuel oil. Wilkes is a land-based Marie Celeste literally frozen in time, with stores and provision abandoned without prospect or expectation of recovery. Boxes strewn around the area contain antique tins of Golden Circle fruit salad, Holbrook’s sauce, and other unmistakably Australian provisions. Although we didn’t see any use by dates, all the products were marked in pounds and ounces, with many familiar names from the past such as Vesta soap.

Quite clearly, it is not just a simple case of marching in and picking the stuff up. The risk to the environment that wholesale collection of materials will cause has to be assessed, hence the requirement to understand the outcome of the Thala Valley process. Equally there are items where further delay will certainly cause damage as old cans of powder slowly rust away and are in danger of creating a condition where there will be nothing to collect but scraps of iron oxide and whatever was in these cans whether it is soap, caustic or worse will be absorbed into the environment. The risk with the oil drums is even more unambiguous. Leave them and they will surely and eventually deposit their crud on the landscape; disturb them without care, and it will happen anyway.

It could be argued that the Antarctic continent is vast and that the amount of pollution caused by human impact is minimal. However, when one considers that these bases are situated on one of the few partially ice-free areas on the continent, representing less than one-tenth of one percent of the land mass, and that this is the very reason why much of the flora and fauna need access to this region to breed and survive, then the argument becomes more difficult to sustain.

AAD and the Australian government are to be applauded for their efforts in developing an ambitious program to meet their Madrid Protocol commitments and for the first time Yann and I were able to fully understand the enormity of the task which Martin Riddle, Tony Press, Kim Pitt and the team at Kingston and Casey are facing. I’m so pleased that we can help in making this program happen.

As we walked through Wilkes on what was really a magnificent summer’s day in this ice paradise an occasional lone Adelie penguin would approach us, and cocking its head to one side and peering at us through a single eye, would curiously but fearlessly assess us. The penguins seem as interested in we creatures who, like them, walk upright and pose no immediate threat, as we are in them. Let’s hope they are right, and it stays that way.

A Southern Christmas 2001 - Day 7 (Christmas Day in the ice)

Well, here we are dear reader, a week into my self-indulgent trip down memory lane. I hope you are still with me.  If this is your first visit to this site - please go back to Day 1 (HERE) and rejoin us when you have caught up. 

Christmas Day at sea - let's get into it...

Saturday 22nd December 2001 (Aurora’s Christmas Day)

at sea (66 Deg S, 110 Deg E)

Early tomorrow morning we arrive at Casey and work will start straight away on the jobs of getting fuel ashore to the Station and commencing cargo operations. December 25 will be just like any other working day, with too much work going on for anyone to take more than just a moment to celebrate the day. So we celebrated Christmas Day today, December 22 while we are still about 60 or so miles from Casey Base. For the same reason, a similar event was taking place in Casey as like us they celebrated early in anticipation of the work to come over the next few days.

The day began quietly with Aurora proceeding on her way through sea ice with an occasional iceberg drifting past on one or the other side of us. As the name suggests, sea ice is formed from frozen sea. It is generally about a metre thick, but this varies as the ice is formed and floes drift together. Icebergs on the other hand, originate from land ice. To this we can add all the variations such as growlers and bergy-bits, but more on this later.

Later in the morning, we gathered in the Mess Room to receive a briefing about the day and to listen to some of the things that our expeditioners plan to do during the week we’ll be at Casey. Mark told us about the team of three glaciologists who are travelling with him to Law Dome, an area about eight to ten hours travel by tracked vehicle inland from Casey and, as the name suggests on an elevated plateau. In this area, the ice is over a kilometre thick. Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) have been taking bore samples here which provide information on ice which is up to 100,000 years old.

By testing the sedimentary deposits, salinity and general composition of this ancient ice, we learn invaluable information relating to climate change patterns and conditions that have existed over centuries of formation of Antarctic ice. Other expeditioners told us of the work they are doing on mosses and lichen and its growth rate over many years. In the search for possible forms of life on other planets, the survival and growth of such organisms in an otherwise hostile environment gives tremendous information on what may be expected in these conditions.

Of course, the real highlight of the day was Christmas Dinner. Apart from those on watch-keeping duty, at 3 pm sharp, the whole of the ship’s crew and all the expeditioners sat down to one of the most magnificent feasts imaginable. Honey glazed leg ham, sirloin of beef, roast turkey and cranberry sauce, Moreton Bay bugs, Tasmanian crayfish, prawns, salmon, oysters all made for a banquet which would have gratified Neptune himself.

Toasts to family and loved ones were shared as well as to the skipper and crew, with the loudest cheer of all reserved for the catering staff whose efforts were magnificent.

At 5 pm we eased ourselves away from the tables and gathered under the Christmas Tree in the library to await the arrival of Santa and his elves, and what a great looking bunch they were when they arrived. Earlier, we had all participated in a Kris Kringle where we each put a small gift under the tree for a fellow traveller whose name we had each drawn from a hat.

It was an excellent way to share the pleasures of giving and receiving without knowing the giver’s name. Although the logo on the caps might have been a bit of a clue to the guys who received our gifts!

As the evening progressed the next significant event was the auction run by ship’s captain, Tony Hansen. I mentioned in an  earlier entry that Aurora’s crew have adopted Camp Quality as their sponsored charity. Ship’s bosun, Per gave us all a personal account of the crew’s continuing involvement with this wonderful organisation which has for over 40 years dedicated itself to improving the quality of life for kids facing cancer. 

This was no ordinary auction – the items being auctioned were all the same – hair! Wintering Station Leader, John Rich started the ball rolling by offering his hair and beard for $1,000. John is one of those quietly spoken, gentle men with a Lincoln-like demeanour and a wonderful statesman-like beard which he told us, his wife had never seen him without. The money was quickly raised, and Elvis arrived complete with star-spangled overalls and dark glasses. To the tune of Blue Suede Shoes, John was rapidly transformed into a chrome-dome. A succession of candidates followed including second cook Mark, with his Frank Zappa locks and krill lady, Angela whose transformation from yesterday’s Queen Neptune to today’s Sinead O’Connor was a sight to see. All together about a dozen lined up to be sheared and the next morning at breakfast we suddenly had a whole group of new faces to get used to.

The evening was topped off for me by the most beautiful Antarctic evening I could have imagined. As midnight approached the sky which had earlier in the day, and generally throughout the voyage been quite overcast became clear and unclouded. The sun drifted toward the western horizon and stayed just an outstretched hands-width above the ocean’s edge. It was a great sight to watch Aurora’s shadow stretching to the east and reflecting from a nearby giant iceberg while the sea shimmered like a lake. A great end to another magnificent day in one of the truly great spots to be on Earth.

A Southern Christmas 2001 - Day 6 (Neptune visits)

 If you are reading this for the first time and haven't been following from the beginning - please DON'T! 

Kindly go back (HERE) and read my introduction and journal entry for Day 1 and hopefully we'll see you here soon.

Our days were getting busier - but we were getting closer to our destination and were about to enter the sea ice.  Read on...

Friday 21st December 2001

At sea (63 Deg S, 113 Deg E)

Tomorrow is the official longest day of the year and will be Aurora’s Christmas Day. We will be arriving and setting to work at Casey on the 25^th, so it has been agreed that this year, Santa will make a special early trip to our little part of the world. If tomorrow is anything like as long and eventful and enjoyable as today has been, then we’re in for a treat.

Most of us retired early last night – the ship was taking quite a beating and so were we. We had been experiencing severe gale conditions most of the day and many folk retired to their dongas to ride out the poor conditions.

At around 0200, the sea started to get calmer and by 0230 we were in a sea that was nothing more than a gentle swell. We were approaching the sea ice and by 4 am we were in the thick of it. What a spectacular sight. All day we have made our way through ice which at various times covers from ten to fifty per cent of the sea. It’s difficult to do justice to the scenery by simply writing about it. I’m sure much better poets and literary artists than me have tried and failed.

It is like being on another planet. We have all seen before, on countless documentaries the shapes and the shades of white and blue, but to see it for myself is like nothing I have experienced before. Little wonder that people keep coming back.

At one stage during the day, from horizon to horizon I was able to see majestic shapes of giant icebergs, looking for all the world like mountains, ocean liners, and city skyscrapers. Occasionally a small group of seals would stare at us from their ice floes as we passed and from time to time, we saw the odd minke whale.

Later in the morning we participated in a lifeboat drill which required all members of crew and expeditioners to muster on the helideck in full survival gear, complete with lifejackets. The drill went without a hitch with expeditioners responding immediately to the seven short and one long blast from the ship's siren over the intercom system. 

A couple of hours later, Yann and I sat in our cabin reviewing our video shoot of the drill. Our cabin door was open and we may have had the volume on the playback just a little too loud. It was a little embarrassing when two or three irate expeditioners, in full survival gear, complete with lifejackets arrived at our door having responded to what they thought was a second drill. Somehow I don't think we'll be allowed to forget this!

Following the safety drill, we carried out our krill trawl. Angela and a team from AAD are here to collect live krill samples (hopefully a few thousand) and carry out studies which will help us further understand these remarkable little creatures. Krill is like a tiny shrimp, as big as your little finger and abundant in the Southern Ocean. They are the main feedstock of most of the Antarctic animals including whales, seals, penguins, birds and fish, yet little is known about them. Many of us gathered to observe the activity on the Trawl Deck as Angela and her team, under the guidance of the Chief Mate, lowered a huge net which Aurora slowly trawled for about 15 minutes. We did this twice, but today’s catch recovered a few jellyfish, some squid and a several tiny fish and worms, but sadly only two krill. We will try again at Casey if time and weather permits.

The highlight of the day’s activities occurred later in the afternoon, just before dinner. To a fanfare of blaring conch horns and drums, King Neptune with his Queen and entourage entered the house  – and what an entourage it was. With a team of fearsome enforcers looking variously like Incredible Hulk, Angry Anderson and Zaphod Beeblebrox (complete with two heads), Neptune and his stunning Queen made their way into the E Deck Mess. Here Voyage Leader, Greg humbly beseeched His Majesty to make welcome those first-time travellers who had entered his Antarctic Domain. There were about 15 or 20 of us, including officers, crew and expeditioners who were venturing for the first time – or in the case of the second mate, had been getting away with coming down here for years without ever once getting caught.

My French colleague, Yann was singled out,  being held accountable for a long list of Gallic transgressions ranging from the Moruroa Atoll and the Rainbow Warrior incidents to the Davis Cup. Yann was sprayed with water pistols (filled with gin) and painted with Vegemite. He humbly apologised on behalf of the entire French Nation and was eventually admitted to the Frozen Domain after kissing the feet of the beautiful Queen and her fearsome King. Bad as this might have been, I believe the worst treatment was saved for the little grey-haired guy from the waste company who somehow managed to carry the responsibility for 100 years of human activity in the Antarctic Region. Since I was the last to be seen by His Awfulness, it seemed they had nothing else to do with the rest of the ice in the bin they had but to put it all down the front and back of my shirt. I think it will be a week before I manage to get all the Vegemite out of my hair.

The ceremony concluded with a sumptuous barbecue on the Trawl Deck attended by all expeditioners, officers and crew who weren’t on watch. There really was no better place to be on the planet.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day...

A Southern Christmas 2001 - Day 5 (first view of the ice)

Please remember, if you're reading this for the first time, stop and go back to the beginning HERE.

Otherwise welcome to Day 5 on our Antarctic saga...

Thursday 20th December 2001

at sea (61 deg S, 125 deg E)

We’ve had the smooth and now we’re getting the rough. It is as if having been granted smooth passage through the furious fifties, we’ve had to make up for it in the shrieking sixties. We crossed the 60th parallel at about 1230 and the barometer fell rapidly.

The big excitement of the day, however, was the iceberg sighting. The first one was spotted this morning at 0230, which ended the ice raffle and raised $150 towards Camp Quality when Ian, one of the meteorologists on the way south for his fifth winter donated his prize. However, since it was at half-past two in the morning, not many people other than Jake the second mate who was on watch at that time, were able to see it. It wasn’t until a little later that morning that we got to see the object for which we had all been waiting.

At about 10 am, a bunch of us were clustered around the bridge when the skipper drew our attention to a blip on the radar about 10 miles dead ahead of us. As we got closer, it loomed out of the mist on our starboard side. It was a monster, looking like a big white rocky island with cliff faces on all sides and waves breaking against it. It was at least 40 or 50 times the size of the ship, like a massive silvery-blue Gibraltar drifting ever so slowly in a northerly direction. It was so close that we could make out the discolouration from some organism, algae maybe, on its upper parts. It was a spectacular introduction to this great south land and filled us all, especially the first trippers with great anticipation of what was to come. We saw another two or three as the day wore on, although most of them were too far away to see their features and were nothing like that first spectacular sight.
After this, the weather deteriorated and by later afternoon we were heading into the teeth of a strong gale with winds of 35 to 45 knots and six to eight metre waves crashing over the bow and occasionally going straight over the top of the bridge. By early evening, our speed was down to six or eight knots as we diverted course slightly further south-south-west to get into the sea ice earlier and provide some calmer conditions.
This would be a good moment to mention the ship’s bridge and the attitude that the officers and crew of Aurora have toward the expeditioners. The bridge is without a doubt the congregation point; and all the officers and crew without exception, make their passengers welcome throughout the voyage. As an old ship’s engineer in a former life, I will always remember that the engine room is the real heart of a ship. This is where you will find the thrust and the muscle and the energy needed to get us to our destination – but the bridge is where the decisions are made; where the eyes and ears see, and the voice communicates. Little wonder that during my own sea days, I would spend as much time that I could on the ship’s bridge, rather than down below in the artificial light of a hot and noisy engine room.
Captain Tony Hansen has been a most gracious and informative host to us all. No question is too inane or pointless and no request for information is too much trouble to answer. Yet throughout this his officers and crew go about the task with an air of professionalism of which the ship’s owners and the Australian Antarctic Division can be justifiably proud.
I haven’t had a chance to talk more about the scientists today. Angela is our krill expert who will be collecting them as we approach the ice edge. Tonight’s krill fishing has been postponed due to the poor weather – more about this tomorrow.