Month: March 2020
Farewell Macca
We’re all packed up and it is time to head home. Farewell Macquarie Island station, I hope you guys have an awesome winter season. The ship is now heading back to Australia, and should arrive on Wednesday.
Final day at Macca
Well it’s the final day here. Just need to finish off refuelling the station, do a final passenger retrieval, then we’re away. It’s been a busy but rewarding resupply week.
Cargo Ops complete
After a busy week of long days, cargo operations are now complete. Probably the most interesting lift I got to see was the station’s new Polaris vehicle, lifted off the deck by one of the squirrel helicopters. Thursday was a...
A day at Macca
Yesterday we had really good weather conditions to get passengers ashore, so I took the opportunity to “head into town” for the day. After a few small comms jobs and helping to unload the food into the green store, I...
Voyage underway
We’ve now been at sea for two days now, and making good progress as we head towards Macquarie Island. It’s a very short transit compared to the Antarctic continent stations – leaving Hobart we get to Macca in under three...
Voyage 4 departs
After 30 years as Australia’s Antarctic icebreaker, the Aurora Australis, affectionately known by expeditioners as the “Orange Roughy” departed Hobart 5pm yesterday afternoon for her final resupply voyage south. We had plenty of farewell waves from the Shipping team on...
A trip up to Mt Field
With pre-departure week complete and a long weekend here in Tassie before voyage departure, I made a quick trip up to Mt Field National Park, a little over an hour west of Hobart. The views are spectacular!
Pre-departure week
This week I’m back in Hobart to prepare the ship for Voyage 4 (V4) Macquarie Island resupply. When at sea the ship has multiple redundant satellite communications links, so it’s important to verify everything is “ship shape” (excuse the puns)...