Folks, if my memory serves me correctly I believe my last post was made up of November’s activities… theres not much I can say to that other than if youre still interested im sorry for being so neglectful! If I was into “new-years resolutions” I would make one here to be more consistent with my blog postings, but im not so all I can do is try.
The Antarctic summer has surprised me, it’s much more summery than I had imagined actually. On still and sunny days I have even sat outside on the Redshed porch sunbaking, sans t-shirt! Its not all good though,
The Melt is making life difficult for anyone wanting to go on jollies. Skiing to Wilkes for the night might become the only option for the rest of the summer. There have been several minor quad boggings while on jollies, and one on a recent trip to Wilkes was so well bogged it resulted in a call to station for a hagglunds to pull it out (far bellow). After wading around in thigh-deep water trying to get it out I decided I’ll be more accepting of cold water in the surf from now on.
A few days later we had a hagglunds seriously bogged in the same place, which took two attempts and our big Challenger to retrieve.
Trips to Shirley Island have now stopped (late December), but I was lucky enough to get across one last time just as the chicks started to hatch! Its an amazing thing, but the eggs of the whole extended colony will all hatch within 1, 2 or maybe 3 days of each other. Im told the hatching can be predicted almost to the day each year, and is always around the time of the summer solstice (December 21).
I have to say I was pretty blown away by the few chicks that I did get to see. Seeing the adults feeding the young ones was great, because you know how long they’ve been sitting/laying there on the egg waiting for it to hatch. I also saw one chick trying to break out of its egg, with the mother/father helping, but those photos didn’t turn out as well as I had hope.
The whole thing was pretty amazing. It makes you wonder whether the penguins realise what is inside their eggs, or whether it is just an instinct to sit there, or whether they know when the egg is getting close to hatching. Theyre very protective, thats for sure, but some who have lost their egg (probably to skewers) will often sit on a large egg-shapped rock.
There is still a small bridge of ice to Shirley now, but it is very thin, and receding. I wouldnt like to be trying my luck getting across. Its a very different island now though than when I first saw it 2.5 months ago! The receding sea-ice has now exposed some spectacular ice-cliffs nearby: within the recreation area and close to Shirley. The photo below shows 6 black dots (penguins) waddling on the edge of these cliffs.
With Shirley now out of bounds we have started making more use of the recreation area for our short walks and afternoon jollies. The area isn’t large, but its big enough to get out of sight of station if that’s what you want, and there are some nice areas such as the old Casey Station and wharf areas, which penguins and seals often visit.
While not everyone is into hiking within the
rec area I have a few good friends who really enjoy it. Below are 2 summer-only expeditioners, Jenn and Sean (aka Candy), who I'll definitely miss once the last ship leaves in mid Febuary.
And what would any weather observer's blog post be if it didnt include a few funky photos of clouds? The first photo below features our sun gauge. The sunlight passes through the glass ball and is concentrated enough to burn through the highly sensitive card, which we replace every day.
Being only 2.5 months into my 1+ year stay here im not sure if I am actually allowed to say I miss anything yet, but apart from my Eb, my family, and my friends, if there was one thing I would say I miss right now it would be stars... I havent seen them for about 1.5 to 2 months! It may not sound like long, but it must just be one of those things we take for granted. I think my opinion of them may change over winter however, i'll keep you posted, albeit irregularly.
Folks, if my memory serves me correctly I believe my last post was made up of November’s activities… theres not much I can say to that other than if youre still interested im sorry for being so neglectful! If I was into “new-years resolutions” I would make one here to be more consistent with my blog postings, but im not so all I can do is try. 
