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 | |  |  | Unloading the ship | Tip Rating:   |  |  | |  |
ANARE, the Australian antarctic expeditions, unloaded the ships in the 1960s using pontoons and WWII-vintage amphibious Army DUKWS, as seen in this photo. Most cargo was in boxes, diesel fuel in drums, and these were lowered to the waiting DUKW or pontoon by sling from the ship, then manhandled at the other end. It was heavy work. The occasional large item, such as this new Ruston generator for Mawson, needed two pontoons - so they were lashed together and bridging timbers placed across them. The generator came equipped with skids, so once at the shore it was simply pulled into place by either a DUKW or a bulldozer.
Much of our equipment was of ex-military origin, that is why many people in this photo were wearing windproof WWII paratroop jackets.
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| | | | Ranges inland from Mawson : David Range | Tip Rating: | | | | |
Slightly to the southwest of Mawson, the David Range runs generally north/south. A little south of it is the double-topped Mt Hordern. The route we followed inland from Mawson on the Spring Trip (see 'off the beaten track' tips) passes through the gap between the two, then heads further south past Mt Twintops, nearly 20 km further and not visible in this photograph.
Before the spring trip could commence, it was necessary to take accurate astronomical fixes from the base point of the survey, on an island offshore from Mawson. Getting there was simple, just a matter of driving across the sea ice. But doing the survey work was slow and cold, so down-filled suits were needed.
In the main photo you see the survey measurements being taken, with the North Masson Range (which has Mt Rumdoodle) to the left on the horizon. Mt Hordern is just visible above the nearest person, with The David Range further to the right. The second photo is taken from Mt Twintops, about 50km inland, looking back north to Mt Hordern.
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| | | | Making a landing | Tip Rating: | | | | |
One of the main highlights of any Antarctic cruise is the chance to set foot on shore, of course, and on a large ship like the Marco Polo these events are carefully co-ordinated. Incidentally, if booking a cruise on a larger ship do make sure that landings are part of the deal. Some of the bigger companies take you there just to gaze on the sights from the deck - but would you really want to go all that way and not be able to say you walked on the Antarctic?
Our cruise included three landings on shore (two on islands, one on the Antarctic mainland itself) and a zodiac cruise without landing in a fourth location. All these are subject to weather conditions of course – we were lucky and had no disruptions to the schedule, but this is the Antarctic so don’t count on everything going according to plan!
On landing days we were allocated a time slot, and these were rotated fairly so that everyone got a chance to be in one of the first groups at some point in the trip. The Antarctic treaty stipulates that no ship may land more than 100 people at a time, and that everyone must stay in very carefully controlled areas to limit damage to the environment. This lead to the rather incongruous sight of a row of traffic cones on the shore marking where we were allowed to tread! Crew members are scattered around the area too, to make sure no one strays outside the permitted area – a shrill whistle alerts anyone who does step off the path. This may all seem a bit restrictive but it’s designed to preserve the purity of the ecosystem and who can argue with that?
There is also an important rule relating to the animal life you will encounter, namely that you shouldn’t go closer than 5 metres of any animal or bird, and 15 metres in the case of leopard seals. But luckily for the photographers among us no one has succeeded in teaching the penguins that rule and they’ll happily approach you!
Don’t expect peace and quiet – penguins are noisy creatures! And the ground underfoot is thick with smelly penguin droppings, so don’t expect pristine white snow either. In fact it’s so smelly and messy that the ship’s crew are on hand with buckets of water to sponge off your boots before you get back into the zodiac – and even then you’ll be asked to take off your boots on arrival back at the ship and carry them to your room. But it’s all part of the experience, even if the smell will linger with you for weeks to come!
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| | | | Ranges inland from Mawson : Rumdoodle | Tip Rating: | | | | |
One of the most popular books at Mawson in 1966 (and the other Australian stations) was called "Rumdoodle". Written by WE Bowman, it was about a mythical expedition to a mythical mountain called "Rumdoodle". While it may not resonate in quite the same way to anyone who has not been in an expedition environment, we (and previous expeditions) found the book absolutely hilarious, as a satire on expeditions in general. Between the pages were a recognisable crew of misfits, drunks, incompetents and fakers, forever asking their idiot leader to send more 'medicinal champagne'. Not only was it popular, in 1959 it provided the official name for this mountain in the North Masson Ranges, about 15 km to the south of Mawson.
In 1966, a field caravan was permanently stationed there for short breaks from the station. Here we see a SnowTrac and a dogteam out for a day's run.
The book has been republished several times and there even is a webpage on it, at http://www.rumdoodle.org.uk/ . A highly recommended read.
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Before I went to Antarctica I assumed that all icebergs were much the same, though varying in size of course, and that they were more or less white. So I was stunned by the variety of shape and even more of colour. The white is variously streaked with wonderful shades of blue, from turquoise through to deeper shades, and many of the bergs are shaped like beautiful sculptures.
There are many types of iceberg, categorised by both size and shape. For instance growlers are small, less than 1 metre by 5, and bergy bits just a little bigger, about 1-4 metres in height and up to 14 metres long. Tabular icebergs have steep sides and a flat top (see my second photo). Other shapes include Dome (with a rounded top), Pinnacle (with one or more spires) and Wedge (with a steep edge on one side and a slope on the opposite – possibly the shape we saw most frequently). Then there is pack ice (just what the name suggests), brash ice (lots of broken-up pieces which made it difficult at times for the zodiacs to find a clear route to shore) and more.
As everyone knows, most of the iceberg is beneath sea-level, but what I hadn’t realised is that they can flip over. What happens is that the submerged portion is gradually eroded by the sea until it becomes smaller and lighter, and the whole berg tips over to restore the balance. Mt main photo shows one of the zodiacs from the ship passing a berg that must have flipped onto its side quite recently, as you can see the edge of what was the wider above-sea-level portion – enlarge the photo to see the scale of the small boat next to the iceberg.
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on October 1, 2006
on January 28, 2005
on January 26, 2007
