The Voyage Home

Re-supply is finished, and it's time to leave.  We're flying to the ship by helicopter, and have to wear flight suits.  After we're all dressed, we wait...

Then fly, three at a time to the Aurora Australis.

And leave Macquarie Island behind.

Hobart, Tasmania is a three-day voyage away.

The Aurora is a 95 m ice-breaker, and relatively comfortable -

in good weather.

The last day of the voyage, the weather kicked up and the sailing was a bit rough.

But Friday morning, we arrived in Hobart on a beautiful autumn day.

The trip is pretty much over.  A few days in Hobart, a few days in Melbourne, and then back to Tucson.

Re-supply

The ship has arrived to take us home and re-supply has started.  All the non-burnable trash from the past year has to go back to Australia.  And various goods, scientific samples, personal belongings, etc. also need to be loaded onto the ship.  Here's a lineup of palettes ready to go back.

The ship, the Aurora Australis, appeared Wednedsay morning off the West coast.

And then moved around to the East coast, which is much more protected.

The ship carries three helicopters that are used for ferrying people and supplies.

Steve is in charge of the helipad area.

Both the ship and the station have Zodiacs that carry people back and forth.  The new winter crew has arrived, along with quite a few additional people from the ship.  These include equipment operators, communications people, etc., as well as scientists and meteorolists here to service equipment and work on studies for a few days.  The ship is returning from Davis station in Antarctica and passengers are anxious to get off and spend a few days on dry ground.  The station's population has doubled from about 30 to 60 and a bit.

There is also a LARC, and amphibious vehicle on the ship.  This is used to haul passengers and cargo.  It's an old military vehicle built in the US in 1964.  There's nothing else like these antiques, so they keep them going.  


Re-supply should take about 4 days.  Normally the station is re-fueled but, due to technical difficulties, no fuel will be off-loaded this year.  This should speed up re-supply.  Then it's a 3 day boat trip to Tasmania.

Brothers Point

We recently hiked down to Brothers Point along the East coast.  Here are a few photos of that trip.  It was pretty rainy and miserable on the way down, and I didn't take the camera out at all.  It's about a two and a half hour hike, at the end of which is a hut that consists of a fiberglass bubble that can be airlifted into place with a helicopter.

Inside, it's a bit crowded, but cosy and warm...

with a lot of condensation.

Weather for the hike back the next day was somewhat better, although with some rain, hail, and snow - and, of course, wind.  Ian and Ben headed down to Hurd Point at the South end of the island, and right into a very strong South wind while I headed back to the station.  Here's a dead elephant seal that the birds hadn't gotten very far into.  

Here's one that a bit older.

There are some Royal penguin colonies along the way.

They're particularly beautiful birds with extravagant eyebrows.

Every once in a while, a fur seal jumps up out of the tussock grasses and barks and scares the bejeesus out of you.

Here's a shallow spot that the King penguins like to lounge in.

The nuggets are about half way from Brothers Point to the station.

At Gadgets Gully, close to the station, there's a King penguin rookery with fuzzy brown chicks.  

The station - home again.  And into the spa with a book for a little relaxation!

Boating

Last weekend was perfect weather for boating.  The hut at Green Gorge needed a new wind turbine, so we used the opportunity to take out the Zodiacs.

The water is ice-cold, so it's dry suits all around.  Not very comfortable, though.

We had two boats in the water, one with Ben, Ian, and Barry; the other with myself, Sharon, and Rod (with a bit of switching around at Green Gorge).

Here's a bit of scenery on the way down the coast.  Green Gorge is about a 45 minute ride by boat - or a 5 hour hike by land.

The Green Gorge hut is in a spectacular location that is very popular with the King penguins.

They seem very happy to get some company.  Here they are crowding around Ian and Rod.

And me.

A shot of the kelp beds as we pull out of Green Gorge and a penguin colony on the way home.

And one more.

The Station

Macquarie Island was island was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1933, stopping the exploitation of wildlife that had been going on since its discovery in 1810.  Australian National Antarctic Research Expediitons (ANARE) established a station here in 1948.  Today, the station houses approximately 30 to 35 people in the summer and 10 to 15 during winter.  The station is located on the isthmus at the North end of the island as can be seen in these photos, taken facing North.  The big ball is an antenna. 

To the left of the ball are two lab buildings.  Our labs are pretty nice, and quite well outfitted.

 

The North side of the station has all the living quarters - here's Garden Cove, the building I'm in.  And my room.  A bit small, but very functional.  There are eight of these rooms in Garden Cove.

Looking South from Garden Cove, the building on the left is the mess hall/surgery.

The mess hall has a bar at the end.  The brewery supplies home-brew beer, which is popular in the evenings before dinner.  There's a big screen for movies.  The kitchen comes stocked with a chef (Rod), seen here.

To the right of the mess is the trades shop.  The station has carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and a mechanic (the dieso shop is over on the South end of the station).  Upstairs is a library, sewing room, computer room, small gym, and movie room.  Further to the right is the store, with walk-in coolers and freezers for food, and room for basketball, badminton, and volleyball.  This season the asbestos siding was replaced.

The station has a number of other buildings as well (main power house, auxilliary power house, gym, two more living quarters).  In this view from the North you can see the ham shack up on the hill - a great place to watch a movie.

In addition to the buildings on the station are five field huts that hold three to four people.  Here are photos of Green Gorge (left) and Brothers Bay (right).