After the run and before the 15km bike ride.

Super woman terri

Today was the annual 10km run and I think 21 people started and 19 people finished. Claire and I finished with two of the boys behind us having been lapped a few times by Matt Doc the winner. Claire dressed up as a brownie in her original brownie outfit.

I went for a 5km row this morning and then was meant to go diving however, there was a lepoard seal so instead I bicycled 15km on the runway. So to see out 2009 it was 5km row, 10km run and 15km bike ride and I am going to regret it for sure tomorrow morning!

It really was a beautiful day for it. Time for dinner and then the garage New Years party. Happy New Year to all of you.

When I got to Rothera in November there were 6 boats on base. However, we have parred down to 3 RIBS. The three flat bottomed inflatables were a little worse for wear. Two were not really repairable and were taking up room in the boatshed while the three good boats were sitting outside in the UV. So now we sent two back to the UK for disposal, one to the falklands for a project on some lakes and to be sold and are left with Erebus, Stella and Terra Nova. A nice little fleet that can fit in the shed. Hoping for a new boat next season as there are four major uses for the boats so another would make life easier – Diving, Terrestrial science, Seach and Rescue and CTD work.

Elephant Seal at Lagoon – there are lots of them and they are very smelly and noisy. They dont have much speed or stamina and can cause a lot of damage to the huts etc. They have also sunk one of our boats in the past by mating with it so we are now no longer allowed to leave the boats on the islands and stay in the hut overnight. Instead the boatman i.e. myself has to act as a taxi service.

Yesterday at Lagoon there was a whole pile of them and you could see the warm air rising off of them creating a mirage above them.

Today for the second day in a row my dive was called off due to a Lepoard seal and then an orca. So instead the floors are getting mopped in the boatshed and the boats are getting a powerwash and the engines are getting serviced. We don’t have SAR or any island science going on and we did all the depot work on monday and tuesday. Tomorrow is a half day of work and then the 10km run in the afternoon. The New Years Eve party will be in the garage and the band have been practicing.

Meet Bubba the base bird or more accurately Clem’s bird. Bubba follows Clem around like a dog it is really cute to watch he comes back each season and is 28 years old. You can read about skuas here. At the moment they are nesting so are more agressive than usual so when we are on the islands or walking around the point it is best to have a stick to fend them off. There is a melt pond at Anchorage which about 100 live around and wash in in the sun. I have video of both Bubba and the other skuas to show people when I get back.

Three wise men (Dickie Winter Base Commander, MVT Bonner Lab Manager, Simon Field Ops Manager)

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Angels (Beakers and Claire Doc)

Mr and Mrs Clause! (Matt Doc and Johnny Mech)

Some things in Antarctic waters are much larger than anywhere else one species is that of parbolasia corrugates a giant antarctic marine worm. This picture was taken by the marine assistant at Rothera – Terri.

Terri on christmas eve doing CTD

Today was the most beautiful day of the season and luckily for me I wasn’t on SAR! It is still stunning outside at midnight! This is the problem with continuous daylight you never want to go to bed when it is such amazing weather and you also can’t stand being inside.

We left at 10:30am and got back to station at 5:30pm after bagging all three stork peaks. We started at the northern end of the range and worked our way along the traverse which was rocky at some points and had lots of snow in other areas so we had to take our crampons on and off. There was a group of 8 of us and we roped up in two lines of four people in each. Lots of tea and cake breaks were required especially as the scenery was so breathtaking. We could see the islands reflected in the perfect calm of Ryder Bay. On my radio I could hear the coxs on SAR enjoying time on the boats out on the water as many people on base decided that was the place to be on such a beautiful day.

Two weeks ago I felt very ordinary as we had open mic night in the bar. There really is so much talent here at Rothera and lots of it is hidden under a bushel as it were.

Lots of people got up with immense talent playing instruments. Unfortunately due to the bandwidth limitation I can’t put a video up. We had banjos, guitars, electric guitars, piano and Mel’s beautiful voice. It went on until late friday night.

My presents – a fruit bowl from Clive and a painting from Matt Doc

Claire and Adam at dinner

Clive and I at dinner

My present to Claire the bookcase finished and filled!

Back to work this morning Boxing Day at 7am with two hands stitches are out. Christmas was amazing day off. I have this evening off and tomorrow. Already done one SAR today for the airplanes and will be taking a group to Lagoon to stay on the island tonight at lunch time. Meantime catching up with some work in the boatshed and helping in the kitchen. It is a beautiful day down here and I need to go work off christmas dinner! Love to all.

All day you can hear the ice shifting and sometimes at night you will hear what sounds like thunder or artillery fire. The other night I was sitting up at the memorial at 10pm and saw a little bit of snow moving on the ice cliff at south cove. Unfortunately I didn’t get my camera out quickly enough but this picture shows the brash ice and the waves created by a large calving from the cliff and you can see the fresh blue ice.

It reminds me to stay a sensible distance away when I can in the boats.