Sun set on way back from Woopwoop

... and some ice

...and I have many names

I got to thinking the other day, as I watched the editing of our station DVD, how everyone has a nickname down here. They have been as significant as a shortening of a persons first name to far more outlandish concepts. Having the curse of being know by my middle name for all of my life (thanks folks... you twonks) meant I was fair game. Having one of the largest appetites but lowest weights, made me fair game. Being Met made me fair game. I think at one time or another I have been called as many names as there are people on station, almost.

B2, Second Brian to be an expeditioner for 2011 Winter. The other went to Casey.
Kenny, mis pronounced McKechnie as McKenny.
Hobo, my love of beanies.
Wino, kinda says it all. Sort of goes with above.
Pip/Pippy, Philip... once people found I had a first name.
Princess, Because I can be a La la.
Third weather girl, because I am the third weather girl.
Homo, because I am the third weather girl and a bit of a La la.
Weirdo, because rumour has it I am a bit odd.
RBB, AKA Rice bubble buddy.... partaking of rice bubbles of an evening with an equally weird fellow.
McFadden/McFadds, Apparently an equally bad musician.
Bri-han.
Bee-rian.
Mc-ECH-ni, High enphasis on "ech" to sound like an Adélie penguin going "Hark?"
[Adélies tend to have two main calls: Hark (angry) Hark? (inquisitive) There is a third call where they are angry and confused but it's hard to pick]

In the end I am mainly known as B2, Weirdo, Bri-han, McFadds or McKechnie. That or Brian.

I am also known for flipping the bird... and for a fictitious tapeworm that people swear is keeping me thin.

There are no photos this time :P

Bai now

Pictures... finally

Just a pic or two from the last part of my stint. No stories to go with them, I am sure you can work out what they are.

FYI

Hi all,

Soon I'll be home, soon I'll be getting off a ship. I have not authorised nor am I about to, any people to meet me at the wharf. This is a high security zone and they wont let you in. NO VISITORS!!! I'll catch you up in my own time, don't pre-empt a visit for me... I have been away for a year and I don't want or need any fucking surprises!

Cheers

Sørsdal Glacier

Delayed post

Heading out for a jolly, maybe have some pics for you once I am back. I had a short trip out Sunday and took a couple of shots but right now my room is in a state of chaos as I pack my gear for RTA (return to Australia) and the thought of playing with my camera daunts me. I could have done an update or I could have stopped procrastinating and got the job done, I floated somewhere in the middle.

Type soon,
Weirdo AKA Brian

In the meanwhile

A photo courtesy of Boj not tomato related... actually it is kind of... this is on the way back from hydro during winter. Melodramatic pose to reflect the harshness of Antarctic environment... nah... Just Boj playing around with light and me looking cranky ;)

Close to the end

Really starting to sink in that I am going home soon. Pulled our one big tomato for the season (compared to cherry toms that we have planted). 380grams! Compared to the usual 30grams from the normal varieties we had planted we're pretty stoked. Photos to come once I get them off Boj. Not really that enthusiastic about waffling for now, pic posted soon. Be pulling the garden out for the season soon too.


Toodles

Oktoberfest

Big beer fest. Lots of fun. Pretzels were made made in preparation, fun was had. A good variety of beer was brought out for the occasion, fun was had. Two pigs were spit roasted, fun was had. Lots of beer was drunk with pretzels and pork eaten, you might have heard that fun was had!!!

Making pretz

Making pretz... errr

And Umm, making more pretz

A Pig's head

Not much news, no new photos

So I raided the archives. Back from the Rauers:

Busy week

Been a busy week. Had a combination of obs shifts, furniture moving, cooking for the crowds and in between, a bit of fishing too. Started the weekend past with a hangover to end all. Got out for an hour or so on Sunday to fish, cooked all day for Tuesday and helped Davis move into the New LQ on Thursday, every other day was weather obs. See some pics taken by Ray Morris for the Davis website weekly newsletter.

Second thing I have ever caught, first being a flip flop 25 odd years ago. I'd say thong but everyone then checks if I am being sleazy... nope just a grubby old flip flop and an Antarctic fish. Not bad I reckon.

An imaginary game of pool, creatures of habit.

The Rauers Trip

Back from a traverse to the Rauer Island group

Hi all, been out the last couple of days. Went south over the Sorsdal glacier with 8 others where we trekked to the Rauer Island group. Lots and lots of trouping around taking photos and exploring. A great time was had.

Quiet times

Went out for Justin's B-day. Camped on Pintado Island, south of Davis station. Sorsdal Glacier in view and an aurora.

Hagg with aurora

Brighter Hagg with aurora

Sorsdal glacier behind tents

A trip down a lake, some lights on the ice

Went for a cruise on the weekend, took the R'mit Van AKA the RMIT van AKA the van made by RMIT way back when. Basically Cookie, Tulloh and I were grey nomads driving a Hagg with a trailer up frozen fresh water lakes and taking pictures of them with coloured lights shone in them... like these:

View from my back porch

So, I don't know if you guys are sick of auroras yet. I guess I am not :)

Here's some more southern lights photos taken 5 minutes ago. This is after walking 20 feet from my room, past the stairs, out the cold porch and out onto the snow drift out the back of SMQ (Sleeping and Medical Quarters). Turning roughly south or right from the back door and looking up over the new LQ (Living Quarters) this is the view tonight. Enjoy.

Break downs, Hydro and Fun (not really)

Sorry been a bit distracted of late with some equipment failures. More info on that when I have it going.

In other news though, Hydro supplied a whopping 8.4kg or there abouts of tomatoes this month. In the game now.

A view on long fjord

Pre time lapse shots

I have been playing with the time lapses again... but I have a smudge on my lens, GRRR!!!! I will address that and try again, in the meanwhile, enjoy the rather pretty pre-lapse shots. Blues and purples in this Aurora :D

Forgot to say, WELCOME TO DAVIS. Little late I know.

Night time exposure. Full moon casts shadows and with right exposure it looks like daytime with stars :) YOIY!
B2

Aurora time lapse

Justin, the chef, and I had a pretty casual day in the kitchen this Thursday. I was slushy, aka dish pig, but it was such a nice day outside that we took time to take the odd photo or two at quiet periods. Later that evening we set up our cameras for some time lapse station photography. These two being my first, they are a little amateurish, but they do the trick.

Cheers

B2

Blizzards, I'm over 'em!!!

OK, probably the last of the Bliz beards... I kinda shaved. These last two pics might be the best I have for a while yet (still have a goatee)... Blizzards have dropped in novelty. Having them go for more than a day at a time means daily tasks get harder and harder to do over the duration. I am sick of having to dig out the hydroponics facility just to check the water for example. Anyway... pics of what is probably my last Blizz beard.

Oh, and hydro has caught up with last months tomato yields already... getting there!

B2 out

Blizzards, two of them!

Well we have  had a run of blizzards recently, two almost back to back. On the first one I got another good blizz beard but had no camera and wanted to get the ice off my face once inside because it was cold. I tried again on the next blizzard but the results weren't nerely as good. I will try again next time :)

Invisible beam

The German Lidar, an upper atmospheric instrument used over Winter by Bernie (real name Berndt) was thought to be invisible to human eyes. This turns out to be not the case! Australian Lidar operator, Laser Dave, discovered this.

On a walk past the German laser to Australia's he picked up a slight movement out of the corner of his eye. The movenment was in fact his own but the way the stationary beam appeared to move with respect to the backdrop of stars was what caught his eye.

Operating just on the threshold of human vision, cameras detect the beam much more easily. So check out the pics. There have been various descriptions of what the German Lidar looks like to the eye, but I would say this: It is barely perceivable at first, though I had just stepped out from Hydroponics and my eyes needed a long time to adjust to the dark. It looks like a very faint spotlight, the beam doesn't appear sharp and defined like lasers in the visible range but rather diffused and much like a torch beam lit up by smoke or haze, but more faint.

Just playing, getting the hang of night shots

Better ones to come, getting ready to take advantage of the lack of light while I still can. Looking forward to the upcoming meteor showers.

Meanwhile, Davis with Lidar going and slight aurora.

The Dip Itself

Vids speak louder than words, sorry about the swearing :)

Midwinter

This post will just be a brief run down until I can get some other peoples additions and slap them in. Mid winter celebrations went something like this:-

-Brunch (delicious!!! Eggs Benedict or Florentine, I cant remember which)

-The dip, hilarious!!! 95% of the crew got wet, this is meant to be pretty rare with only 75% the usual. Vid to come.

-Dinner. Amazing, 24 dish banquet. Each dish was assigned to one person for table delivery and done so specifically with them in mind. Mine was a veal dish with hydro salad. Well chosen for me I think. My dish...

-Presents. Everyone made a present for another person here in Kringle type hat draw. I got Hoops and gave him the Davis beard achievement award with a stencil drawing likeness of his face based on my screen printing days techniques. I got a Hellraiser style puzzle box with a "B2" mini hip flask hidden inside. WIN

-Festivities, Bands, poems, videos. FUN, a great night was had.

Anchorage Island, sans tripod

There was a lunar eclipse visible down here but I slept through it!!!

Well, realizing this once I had awoken today, I decided to go for a walk. Anchorage Island is roughly north west of Davis and about 2km away. A bit before smoko I took ice axe, radio and camera in hand and went for a wander. With the sea ice lit clearly by the bright moon I had a rare experience, a quiet moment to myself. Funny that we 24 expeditioners have come to a place considered the most isolated on the planet and yet sometimes it can can feel so crowded. I had a light in my pocket to negotiate the tide cracks at the base of the island and made my way to the top where there are three memorial crosses for each of the expeditioners that passed away down here between 1985 and 2005.

Apologies for the "hyper-shake" No tripod and cold hands made for fun with long exposure. Added bonus that my point and shoot camera is not flat bottomed so tends to want to fall over a lot when you sit it down. These were the best shots I could manage.

At the base of the island

Cross to south of island

Cross to north of island

View of Davis from Anchorage