| Re-supply
and Winter Changeover. [pg1,
pg2,,]
Re supply / Changeover
is always a hectic and somewhat stressful time, everyone on
the station, and on the ship pitches in to get the job done.
It's a race against time to take advantage of good weather,
and then do what you can when the weather turns foul.
Choppers are flying in
and out. IRB's
and Larks (amphibious vehicle) are breaking through the surf.
Goods and materials are being loaded and unloaded both ways.
Fuel is being pumped from ship to shore, and in between, if
you are a Winterer, you have to get handed the relevant job
information from the previous winter personel. And for the
departing Summer and Winter personel it can be a very emotional
time as they get ready to leave a very special place that
they have called home for many months.
All
in all the re-supply and changeover was acheived in less than
six days, this included unloading enough supplies and materials
for 14 people for over 12 months, pumping of 216,000 litres
of Special Antarctic Blend (SAB) fuel to run the station for
over 12 months, transport to and from the ship for daily passengers
on round trip science programs and to remote locations by
chopper, retreival of 2 remote field huts to be taken back
to Australia, re-supply of 7 field huts by helicopter,
back loading of all the
Return To Australia (RTA) cargo which includes non burnable
rubbish and expired assets, and other miscelaneous jobs which
required the use of choppers or small boats. While all this
is going on the station must be kept running and most have
to do their everyday jobs as well.
| |
|
Meggsy
launches the IRB's for another days operations |
The
IRB's are used for ship to shore transport |
|
|
The
amphibious Larks are used for ship to shore cargo. |
RTA
cargo is also backloaded onto the ship |
|
|
The
Choppers get a hammering while the weather holds out |
Re-fueling
the Choppers as the end of the day draws near |
|
|
Recovering
field huts which are no longer used |
Back-loading
the hut onto the ship |
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