Report 103 -- Thursday 5, October, 2000

REPORT 103

DATE: Thursday 5, October, 2000

UNIVERSAL TIME: 0500

LOCAL (SHIP) TIME:1600

AUSTRALIAN EASTERN STANDARD/SUMMER TIME: 1600

POSITION:-46 47.15 142 06.113

HEADING: various

CURRENT SPEED (KNOTS): stationery at sediment trap site

DISTANCE TO NEXT WAY POINT (NAUTlCAL MILES): 19.5 to next sediment trap site

DISTANCE COVERED LAST 24 HOURS (NAUTlCAL MILES): 213.3

WEATHER CONDITIONS:  partly cloudy

AIR TEMPERATURE: 8.6 degrees C

SEA TEMPERATURE: 10.1 degrees C

SEA CONDITIONS: moderate to rough seas with a heavy swell

ICE CONDITIONS: nil

REMARKS:

Ship still rather quiet with about a third of expos up and about; Arrived sediment trap site at 1500 (Iocal); Talked to trap and released - currently looking for trap but no luck so far; Expos are stationed on monkey island and heli deck as lookouts.

Regards

Suzanne and Gordon

******************************************

Gordon hasn't taken us about much so far. We are quietly sitting on his desk in his cabin and talk amongst ourselves, We are all newcomers to this Antarctic business but have been sneaking a look at Gordon's notes and papers and have some idea of what is happening. Perhaps we should introduce ourselves first.

I am Berkley and the author of this diary .I originated in the USA from the John Husmann Elementary School at Crystal Lake, Illinois. I was sent to Australia by our class teacher Betty Trummell -following in the paw prints of Brownie who traveled to Antarctica earlier this year with Gordon. I am part of a Geobears project at the school and am one of many bears who will be traveling the world and sending stories and information back about their travels and adventures. I'm only a little fellow - about 20 cms, I am white and have black and red stars all over me with a little American flag attached to my chest. I am also proudly wearing a little badge loaned to me by a wonderful lady with whom Gordon and his wife Pat had dinner last Saturday - it is a 'Check Hostess' badge -Bubbles (I'm sure she won't mind me calling her that) had worked as a Cabin Attendant with Australia's airline Qantas in the days when cabin staff were called Hostess. But enough about me for now.

My best new pal is OzGold -she looks much like me but she is green and gold and has a running figure embroidered on her front. Green and gold are very much Australia's national colours when it comes to sport. and Australia has just finished hosting the Olympics.

Oily, Millie and Syd are three very cute Australian animals who came down specially from the Olympics in Sydney to join this expedition. Oily is a kookaburra, Millie is an Echidna and Syd is a Platypus. I've already told my school about these three and they are going to look up the Internet or other references to learn more about them.

Breena is a real little fellah -she is a trainee Seeing Eye dog. She has a little red coat and has a really cute brown button nose. We all love her dearly,

And our last companion, well what a strange chap, Calls himself Puff -he's actually a dragonfly but thinks he's a magic dragon which is why he has affected the name "Puff".  He has six legs, many rings on his tail, multi-coloured wings and also came from the home of Bubbles (and John). He's wearing two brooches - one of a yacht, one of a shark. How weird can you get?

We are all pretty tired tonight so won't keep you much longer. Our journey started when we left Port Arthur late in the evening of 3 October. We initially head roughly south of Hobart to about 47 degrees and 54 degrees south where we are to retrieve some sediment traps and deploy new ones. We'll tell you more about these when the operation has been done. We'll also be deploying a Continuous Plankton Recorder. I believe Brownie did some of these earlier this year so it might be a good idea to look up the diaries of his trip to find out a bit more. On the 7th or 8th we should be finished here so we'll turn more to the South West and aim for Davis station on the Antarctic continent-we expect to arrive there on the 19th October for a 5 day stay before heading to Mawson where we expect to be from 29 October to 1 November. From there it is a trip heading north to Heard Island (6th to 8th November) before turning Northeast for Fremantle in Western Australia which we expect to reach on 16 November.

TTFN (this is new Antarctic talk - it stands for "Ta Ta For Now)

Gordon Bain Deputy Leader Voyage 1 2000/2001 Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions; gordon_bai#aurora.aad.gov.au