The Voyage South

20/11/09

After 20 days of sailing on the Aurora Australis we have finally made it to Davis! Here’s a voyage recap….On the 30th of September we left Hobart, after much grumbling from everyone that family and friends weren’t able to wave us off at the wharf. I’ve no doubt it’ll change back to the usual status quo next season...people were NOT happy. Anyway, the first few days at sea were fairly uneventful, although the ships cooking has gotten better (if that was possible) and I chug down a healthy slice of cheese cake and ice cream with every meal. There’s fruit galore (might be the last good fruit for 6 months) along with the blue cheese, prawns, stakes and anything else delicious. Stomach: 1, self control: nil.

The seas picked up around 50’ latitude south, winds hitting 60kts and swells 6-8m with seas 2m on top of that. Good fun if your lucky enough not to get sea sick (which I don’t). Good times watching the lighter folk get flung off their chairs and seeing coke floating through the air at meal times. Passing time by seeing who can get the best photos of water crashing over the bow, trying not to get blown off the monkey deck, training for our onboard rowing machine comp or generally lazing around like seals watching DVDs and reading books. Our first iceberg was spotted at 54’30 lat…much more north than expected, but a welcome relief to the non-views of the horizon. It’s been slow going…at 5-8 kts we’re not breaking any speed records. The pack ice is unbelievable, it's truly an amazing experience and when you throw seals, penguins, sea birds and the occasional whale into the mix, its one part of the world you could never forget.

It took 20 days to reach Davis, the last 3 days we travelled only 5km, ramming our way through the fast ice. The ship is still parked 3.49km from shore, with the station resupply happening over the ice. I’ve been posted as a ship dogman (the guy who helps with attaching cranes to containers and containers to trucks). This all happens on 1.5m of seas ice and the trucks travel down an ice road to get to station, where they are stacked up on the ‘beach’ ready to be sorted after resupply.

Ill give a station description and resupply update next week. Stay tuned!