After working in Hobart for a few months, the time finally came to head south. My job is such that the two year contract I am on with the Australian Antarctic Division includes two summer seasons (November-February) at Casey Station. It's exciting to head to a new part of Antarctica but I have mixed feelings about missing almost the entire summer in Hobart and being away from Jeff for so long. Luckily, he got a contract working on Aurora Australia, which is the refueling/resupply vessel that comes to Casey station in December so at least there is hope that we will cross paths briefly then.
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| Almost there... |
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| Our ride down was a comfy Airbus 319. |
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| The first sea ice sighting. |
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| Priscilla |
Deployment to Casey involves a very early start at the Hobart airport and then a comfy 4 hour flight to station on an Airbus 319. I don't really know anyone who's heading south with me and Casey is a MUCH smaller station than McMurdo so it's quite a different experience. The seasons I was there, McMurdo had a max of about 950 people. Casey maxes out at about 120 but there are only about 30 of us on the plane and another 15 that are on station and will remain after we arrive. We fly into Wilkins airfield, which is a snow/ice runway on a glacier about 700m higher and 70km south of Casey, which is located right on the coast. From there, we all hopped into Priscilla, the AAD's tracked people moving vehicle for a 3 (ish) hour slow motion (the going is rough so the speed is about a fast run pace) drive to station.
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"Expeditioners", as most of us are called,
waiting for a ride to station from
Wilkins air flield. |
After working in Hobart for a few months, the time finally came to head south. My job is such that the two year contract I am on with the Australian Antarctic Division includes two summer seasons (November-February) at Casey Station. It's exciting to head to a new part of Antarctica but I have mixed feelings about missing almost the entire summer in Hobart and being away from Jeff for so long. Luckily, he got a contract working on Aurora Australia, which is the refueling/resupply vessel that comes to Casey station in December so at least there is hope that we will cross paths briefly then.
Deployment to Casey involves a very early start at the Hobart airport and then a comfy 4 hour flight to station on an Airbus 319. I don't really know anyone who's heading south with me and Casey is a MUCH smaller station than McMurdo so it's quite a different experience. The seasons I was there, McMurdo had a max of about 950 people. Casey maxes out at about 120 but there are only about 30 of us on the plane and another 15 that are on station and will remain after we arrive. We fly into Wilkins airfield, which is a snow/ice runway on a glacier about 700m higher and 70km south of Casey, which is located right on the coast. From there, we all hopped into Priscilla, the AAD's tracked people moving vehicle for a 3 (ish) hour slow motion (the going is rough so the speed is about a fast run pace) drive to station.
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