EDIT: Forgot the watermark, so gotta post again..
Hi All,
Sorry it's been a while since the last post. We're down to the last couple of weeks now, so I'm trying to do as much as I can instead of being in front of a computer doing these things! We've also been quite busy the last couple of days including another night away from base.
So, on Tuesay (the 25th) we hopped in a Hagglund with Ian, and headed out to Cape Royds, to do our survey work on the hut. Cape Royds is the site of Sir Ernest Shackleton's hut from his Nimrod Expedition. This was the trip that he got to within 100 miles of the pole, but realised he couldn't make it to the pole and back alive. In a letter to his wife, he wrote that it is better to be a "live donkey than a dead lion."
This is the first hut to be conserved by the Antarctic Heritage Trust people, and its pretty impressive the state its in. I'd really recommend looking at their website- they do some amazing work. They've moved onto Scott's hut at Cape Evans, but more about that in a future blog.
So our work is looking at some marks which we've installed on the building, and seeing if they're moving up or down. We have marks both outside the hut and on the floor. It's great to be doing work for such a good organisation, and I know that its personally the most rewarding work I've done down here.
Royds is also home to the southern-most Adele Penguin colony in the world. At the moment it's all males sitting on the eggs, while the females are off feeding. The sea-ice hasn't broken out as much as usual so far this year (it's still at Beaufort Island), so there's some concern that the females may not come back, as it's quite a walk!!
So yeah, now for some photos, as I'm knackered after digging a big hole in the snow for our tide gauge calibrations..
I'll try and put another couple of posts up this weekend.
Glen setting up the level outside the hut.
Glen with the instrument inside the hut. Taken from near the door.
Again, Glen surveying inside the hut.
Me on the staff inside the hut.
Some condensed soup tins.
Pure Preserved Cabbage anyone?
Inside the hut.
Mmmmm, Cod Roes!!
Birds Egg Powder that isn't made from eggs?
Boy, what a selection!
The hut, with Erebus in the background.
The hut from the other side. The penguin colony's in the background.
Penguins!
Going for a wander..
Some people are doing some study on them. It's involved fencing some of them off. I wonder how the females get back into the fenced bit. One was trying to escape down the bottom..
Trying to take off..
Lying on the nests..
Bit of a sing-along..
The main access route for them to get to the colony.
A little bit of rearranging..
Me outside the hut with Erebus in the background.
Warren the lone penguin that hangs out at Cape Evans.
He came really close to me!
He only noticed me when I moved- even with my bright orange on!
Wandering off..
Waddling off..
Hi All,
Sorry it's been a while since the last post. We're down to the last couple of weeks now, so I'm trying to do as much as I can instead of being in front of a computer doing these things! We've also been quite busy the last couple of days including another night away from base.
So, on Tuesay (the 25th) we hopped in a Hagglund with Ian, and headed out to Cape Royds, to do our survey work on the hut. Cape Royds is the site of Sir Ernest Shackleton's hut from his Nimrod Expedition. This was the trip that he got to within 100 miles of the pole, but realised he couldn't make it to the pole and back alive. In a letter to his wife, he wrote that it is better to be a "live donkey than a dead lion."
This is the first hut to be conserved by the Antarctic Heritage Trust people, and its pretty impressive the state its in. I'd really recommend looking at their website- they do some amazing work. They've moved onto Scott's hut at Cape Evans, but more about that in a future blog.
So our work is looking at some marks which we've installed on the building, and seeing if they're moving up or down. We have marks both outside the hut and on the floor. It's great to be doing work for such a good organisation, and I know that its personally the most rewarding work I've done down here.
Royds is also home to the southern-most Adele Penguin colony in the world. At the moment it's all males sitting on the eggs, while the females are off feeding. The sea-ice hasn't broken out as much as usual so far this year (it's still at Beaufort Island), so there's some concern that the females may not come back, as it's quite a walk!!
So yeah, now for some photos, as I'm knackered after digging a big hole in the snow for our tide gauge calibrations..
I'll try and put another couple of posts up this weekend.
Glen setting up the level outside the hut.
Glen with the instrument inside the hut. Taken from near the door.
Again, Glen surveying inside the hut.
Me on the staff inside the hut.
Some condensed soup tins.
Pure Preserved Cabbage anyone?
Inside the hut.
Mmmmm, Cod Roes!!
Birds Egg Powder that isn't made from eggs?
Boy, what a selection!
The hut, with Erebus in the background.
The hut from the other side. The penguin colony's in the background.
Penguins!
Going for a wander..
Some people are doing some study on them. It's involved fencing some of them off. I wonder how the females get back into the fenced bit. One was trying to escape down the bottom..
Trying to take off..
Lying on the nests..
Bit of a sing-along..
The main access route for them to get to the colony.
A little bit of rearranging..
Me outside the hut with Erebus in the background.
Warren the lone penguin that hangs out at Cape Evans.
He came really close to me!
He only noticed me when I moved- even with my bright orange on!
Wandering off..
Waddling off..
We stopped in at Cape Evans on the way back- this is Jana, one of the conservators. They were having trouble with the conservation of the stove at Evans, because it had a lot of blubber burned in it when the hut was used by Shackleton's Ross Sea Party...
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