My Australian Adventures

Sunday, 5 February 2012

Antarctic Voyage 2012 - 05/02/2012 [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

It's been a pretty crappy few days. The CTDs continue, the 12 hour
shifts seem to drag on for eternity, and the monotony of ship life
becomes harder to handle. Everyone on the ship seems run down and
tired beyond normal standards. The topic of conversation has shifted
as people now start counting down the days/CTDs left, and begin
planning their activities upon arrival on terra firma. FYI, it's 8
days until we arrive in Freemantle, that corresponds to 16 CTDs!

On the plus side, the swell was pretty rough the other day (6m ish)
which meant it was too hazardous to deploy the CTDs. As such, I got
to "enjoy" a nice shift off. Unfortunately, there wasn't much
enjoyment as I opted to work on my PhD. I did get a few much-needed
extra hours in bed though!

As of yesterday, the game of Assassin officially ended as I killed
the last remaining victim! That's right, I won!! It took nearly two
weeks, but after putting practically zero effort into the game, I
finished victorious as I shouted "YOU'RE DEAD" to Chris, the person
that had put the most effort into the game, killing 11 people (I
killed 2 including him). I don't think he was best pleased, but he
definitely deserved it. So there you have it people, do not piss me
off because I will hunt you down.

Not much else to report. It's getting very warm now (15C both air and
sea temperature) and we are now further north than Hobart where the
voyage began. I hope you are all enjoying the cold snap in England -
I would certainly like to be back in the polar latitudes.

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Australian Antarctic Division - Commonwealth of Australia
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Visit our web site at http://www.antarctica.gov.au/
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Monday, 30 January 2012

Antarctic Voyage 2012 - 30/01/2012 [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Another week onboard the Aurora Australis has come and gone, and
quite fittingly, it ended with a viewing of the proper aurora
australis, the southern lights!

After a brief glimpse on VMS last year, I was hoping upon hope that
this voyage would bring better weather for an aurora viewing. It took
a while, but after three weeks or so, we were far enough north to
have darkness, far enough south to still be in the domain of the
southern lights, all coupled with a rare clear night in the Southern
Ocean.

Now the Aurora is a pretty temperamental thing, so after hearing
rumours of a display prior to my shift starting, I was dubious that I
would be lucky enough to see anything, and initially I was correct. I
shouldn't really say that I saw nothing as the stars were stunning.
Shooting stars were flying all over the place, the Milky Way spanned
from horizon to horizon, and Mars (I think...) was shining a
brilliant red light down on me. You all know I'm a bit of an
astro-geek these days, so I definitely wasn't disappointed.

After a quick flurry of snow, and a snap decision to ride it out, the
cloud cleared and the stars offered their beauty once more, this time
in conjunction with an auroral display. It was beautiful. A pale
green veil of light seemed to descend from mid-way through the sky,
shimmering gently, and slowly pulsing as the aurora strengthened and
weakened every so often. It was such a strange phenomenon, appearing
somewhat like dawn in the middle of the night sky. Spanning for what
seemed like forever, I just stood atop the ship and watched in awe as
the aurora passed over me and slowly dissipated, leaving behind not
darkness, but the stunning beauty of the stars.

With Antarctica now far behind us, and the ice becoming increasingly
sporadic (no iceberg viewing's for 24 hours), it seemed as if we had
left the polar domain, but the auroral viewing gave all onboard one
last taste of Antarctic life.

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Friday, 27 January 2012

Antarctic Voyage 2012 - 27/01/2012 [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Due to the monotony of marine science work in the Southern Ocean,
away from the ice, it's been a few days since anything particularly
interesting has happened, and thus since my last blog post. That all
changed last night...

A deep low pressure system passed to our north during the course of
yesterday, and with it, came some of the world renowned Southern
Ocean fury. For much of the evening (remember this is essentially the
middle of the night for me given that I am working the night shift),
I lay in bed attempting to sleep while I was constantly shaken in my
bed, sliding back and forth and side to side with the pitch and roll
of the ship. At this stage, it was bearable, but come 9.30 or so, the
ocean stepped it up a notch. The pitch (the tilting of the ship from
front to back) reached 40 degrees, and the roll (the tilting from
port to starboard) reached 48 degrees! The curtains appeared near
vertical from window, objects were flying all over the place in the
room and I was clinging on in my bed trying not to fall out. A quick
look out the window made for a very dizzying sight - one second we
faced straight into the ocean, the next high into the night-time sky!
After dozing, I woke up to some particularly nasty conditions and
realised my laptop was unsecured on the desk, so thought I should
attempt to get out of bed and put it away safely. Boy was that a
mistake...

And then came my second idiotic moment of the voyage (after running
into the rope). Straight after getting out of bed, with the ship
titled at some ridiculous angle, I was knocked straight onto my bum,
and slid all the way across the floor to the other side of the cabin,
a good 6-7m. The speed at which all this happened was crazy. One
second I was upright, the next I was crumpled on the floor in my
boxers, heading straight for the cabin door! On this apparent roller
coaster ride, I managed to bang my knee (not my injured knee from
snow cricket) on the wall pretty hard, and have been hobbling around
all day. I don't know what it is about me and my knees this voyage.
Remember that I had literally just woken up at this point, and
hurtling towards a door at warp speed isn't something you expect to
happen so I was pretty startled. Upon reaching my final destination
at the opposite end of the cabin, my cabin-mate and I just burst into
laughter at the hilarity of the situation, and continued as such on
and off until the seas abated and we were able to sleep. A small
taste of what the Southern Ocean can produce I'm sure.

Fortunately the seas have died down considerably over the course of
the day, but the impact from last nights drama were clearly visible
throughout the day - chairs knocked everywhere in the mess, objects
strewn all over the floor in the cabins, and bruises from other
peoples falls in night. I'm told the pitching and rolling was so bad
because of the swell and seas coming from different directions,
producing a very confused ocean. This meant we could not escape the
oceans wrath whichever direction we traveled in. Things were bad
enough to prevent any CTDs for the last 18 hours or so (a day off
today!), and a broken generator also didn't help.

On the plus side, I didn't get sea sick, and I'm still alive in
assassin!

p.s. there seems to be a problem with the sending and receiving of
e-mails. If you have sent me one and I haven't responded, I likely
didn't get it...

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Monday, 23 January 2012

Antarctic Voyage 2012 - 23/01/2012 [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Hey y'all,

The voyage has now entered full marine science mode, and as such, the
monotony of ship-life begins. My life now consists of eating and
CTDs, nothing else. Unless I bore you all with the ins and outs of
the CTDs, I don't envisage having much to share over the coming
weeks. I'll be sure to update you when anything interesting does
happen, but I no longer think I can justify a blog a day.

Today, however, something interesting did happen. We saw a jade-berg!
What's a jade-berg I hear you ask. Well, basically, its an iceberg
that has a deep green-blue colour, contrasting with the bog-standard
white iceberg. I'm not entirely sure what forms these, maybe one of
you can elighten me, but I heard discussion of the ice being at the
bottom of the glacier, and thus forming under extreme pressure. I do
have a lovely photo for you all to enjoy, but it doesn't really do it
justice. I love the white and green stripy section - BEAUTIFUL!
Reminds me of a sweet of somesort, maybe a green version of a campino
for those who remember them from back in the day.

Assassin continues...I'm still alive, and so is my victim despite my
scheming.

I have now also run out of the chocolate I brought with me. Bad times
ahead!

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Sunday, 22 January 2012

Antarctic Voyage 2012 - 21-22/01/2012 [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Happy Birthday to me!

No rest for the wicked, even on their birthday. Yesterday (the 21st -
my birthday) the first proper day of CTDs began, and boy was it a
busy one. After probably 4 hours sleep total, I got up and literally
didn't stop until my shift was over 12 hours later. Even breakfast
and lunch (which corresponds to my lunch and dinner) were sat
working! It's not all bad; the crew did bring me out a birthday cake
and sang to me. Unfortunately I literally had to blow the candles
out, take some cake and run because the CTD was just coming up. The
cake was pretty good though, chocolate - YUMMY!

By the end of the shift I was completely shattered, so come 2pm I was
fast asleep. I woke up at 00:30 this morning feeling refreshed and
ready to face another full day of CTDs. Luckily it wasn't as hectic
as yesterday but I still feel pretty knackered. Eventually I will get
used to the night shift...I hope anyway!

In other news, I am still alive in Assassin! Nobody has even made an
attempt to kill me. I also haven't killed my victim yet - however, I
have acquired some assistance and concocted a plan, and come early
tomorrow morning, I'm hoping they have been murdered.

The ship was also visited by two humpback whales today, a mum and her
calf. Typically, I was mid-CTD but I did manage to run out on the
trawl deck and get a quick look of them flapping their fins around.
No photographic evidence I'm afraid - I didn't have time to run up
and get the camera.

The sun is shining beautifully right now but it is bed time for me.
Good night people!

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Friday, 20 January 2012

Antarctic Voyage 2012 - 20/01/2012 - Ship Trail [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

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Antarctic Voyage 2012 - 20/01/2012 - Adam and I wih Antarctica [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

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Antarctic Voyage 2012 - 20/01/2012 - Sunset [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

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Antarctic Voyage 2012 - 20/01/2012 - Iceberg at sunset [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

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Antarctic Voyage 2012 - 20/01/2012 - Beautiful Weather [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

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Antarctic Voyage 2012 - 20/01/2012 [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

It's just before 4pm, and I'm about to head off to sleep. We have
just about reached the start of the I9 transect, and so begins the
dreaded night shift work. 1am to 1pm. Work is expected to begin in a
few hours time with the first mooring retrieval, followed by four or
five continuous CTDs until the next mooring. Due to the depth of the
ocean here (~500m or so), the CTD process will be fairly quick, so it
will be go-go-go from the start of the shift, likely until the end 12
hours later. Fun times! If I don't crash straight after the shift
ends from exhaustion, I will be sure to tell you how it went.

My knee remains slightly swolen, but feels much better. I also had
another accident that I forgot to tell you all. I was rushing up the
outer stairs to get to the monkey deck (the highest place we can go)
to set up my GoPro. Being in a rush, I failed to see a rope that was
placed across the top of the stairs, and ran face first into it, full
force. Believe me, it bloody hurt, and I have a bruise on the corner
of my brow to prove it. Luckily the rope didn't get me across the
neck otherwise I would have likely fallen backwards down the metal
stairs. Also luckily, nobody was around to see me. I'm such a knobber.

A game of assassin has also begun on the ship. The aim is to kill
(not literally) a person who's name you have been given by walking up
to them when nobody else is in sight, and say "you're dead" - quite
tricky! Once dead, you take over their target, and so on until either
you win, or you have been killed. Over 30 hours in, I am still alive
despite walking alone quite often. Others have taken to escorts. I'm
sure I will be killed soon enough...it's just a matter of time.

Not much else to report so I will end it there, and leave you with
yet another penguin photo.

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Thursday, 19 January 2012

Antarctic Voyage 2012 - 19/01/2012 [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Hey all,

I realise it's been a few days since my last posting, but a lot has
been going on.

Two days ago, we left our position in the fast ice off Commonwealth
Bay and said goodbye to the penguins. I was actually pretty sad to be
leaving. Although I'm sure boredom would have soon set in if we were
contained within the ice much longer, the experience of being in the
ice, photographing the penguins, and generally just being in
Antarctica, is one of the best experiences of my life and something I
hope to never forget. I don't think I will be heading back to the
frozen south for a while, so I'm just extremely happy that I got to
experience what I did.

As we left the ice, the weather could not have been better. The sun
was shining, the water was still offering beautiful reflections of
the sea-ice and icebergs, and the Antarctic continent clearly
visible. I stayed up on the bridge watching the world go by for near
6 hours, until I experienced the first sun set in a over a week, and
then called it quits. The next morning I awoke to open ocean and
consequently a slight swell. It was a strange feeling to be moving
again after being stationary for so long. I just hope the swell
doesn't pick up, and the ocean remains friendly for the remaining
three weeks of the voyage. We are currently heading west towards of
the begining of the I9 transect, which is basically due south of
Perth. From here, the proper work begins, with continuous sampling
every 20 miles or so. The sea-ice is now long behind us, with only a
few isolated icebergs in sight.

Our second special occasion was held last night, with a fancy dress
theme allowing you to dress up as anything begining with a C, T, or D
(if you remember, the CTD is an ocean instrument measuring
conductivity, temperature and depth). I was not particularly
inventive, and dressed as a cardboard box, which literally involved
putting a box around my torso. Easy. Other people went to much more
effort than I. A few items were also auctioned to raise money for
charity - the ships flag, the map used in Commonwealth Bay, and two
paintings the artist onboard has done. In total, $10,000 was raised
with these 4 items!!! Some people clearly earn too much money. Even
the opening bid was beyond my budget.

We should arrive at the start of the transect tomorrow, so I'm
attempting to wake up early in order to get my body in 1am-1pm
mode...I'll try and post some more photos tomorrow - I took 600 on
the evening we left the ice so it may take me a while to sort through
them...

Good night all!

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Monday, 16 January 2012

Antarctic Voyage 2012 - 16/01/2012 [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

I hope you all enjoyed the many photos I posted earlier. I will try
to continue to do so as long as I have good photos to post.

We were once again blessed with beautiful weather for the majority of
the day, with blue skies and the sun gracing us with their presence.
As such, heli-ops began bright and early, taking the last of those
people to Mawsons Hut for the official ceremony. After some 4 days or
so of waiting, some people were literally on land for an hour and a
half - they went to the ceremony and basically came straight back
again before the weather turned (which it did). It seems fairly
ridiculous to me that so much money has been spent keeping the ship
here just for an hour of speech-reading. Who am I to complain though,
it allowed me to play with the penguins!

With heli-ops occuring for a large part of the day, we were banished
to the confines of the ship as our pen of sea-ice was being used as a
heli-pad. I did manage to get out and play for a short while though,
and saw yet another chinstrap penguin (or was it the same one?), and
also an emperor. I later saw a whale (probably a Minke) from the
heli-deck, and also an albino penguin!! I thought those that pointed
said albino out to me were playing some sort of joke, but when I
looked, there was an albino penguin - instead of black feathers, it
was sort of a creamy colour - it was also being bullied by the other
penguins...Unfortunately I was too slow to change lenses to get a
shot of it. You will all just have to use your imagination instead.

After 3 days of waiting, we also finally got to go out on the water
in the zodiacs. Just before getting aboard, a group of 3 or so whales
were spotted in the distance, so after climbing down a precarious
ladder on the side of the Aurora onto the zodiac, we headed straight
for where we spotted the whales. Unfortunately, there was no sign of
them, but we then got a radio call from the ships captain saying a
whale was spotted near the ships bow. We zoomed (or fanged as the
Aussies say) straight back towards the Aurora, and spotted another
Minke. It didn't want to pose for any photos unfortunately, but
still, a grand total of 5 whales for the day (and the entire voyage)
isn't too bad. I also got to see two more emperors on the edge of the
sea-ice. One was a juvenille, and still had a small amount of
youngster plumage on it's back - the other we think was it's parent.
At the begining of the trip, the weather was pretty fair, so we had
some nice reflections of the icebergs in the glassy water. After
being out about 15 minutes, however, the weather turned and it
started to snow, reducing the visibility. Still, it was great to be
able to head out on the water, and see the Aurora from a distance
amongst the sea-ice. I thought the zodiac trip may help make up for
my lack of standing on the continent, it doesn't really, but was
still an amazing experience.

In other news, I reported yesterday that I hurt my knee playing snow
cricket. Well this morning, I woke up and it was still hurting pretty
badly, forcing a quick trip to the doc. Turns out my knee is swolen,
but worry not. It's nothing serious. This is why I don't do
exercise...

We leave Commonwealth Bay tomorrow, and say goodbye to the VIPs as
they head to Dumont D'Urville, Casey, or McMurdo stations to catch a
flight home. The science therefore begins very soon.

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