Polar Radar for Ice Sheet Measurements

Friday 27 October 2000
More cargo operations this morning before Gordon had to head in to Davis to check on some things; Suzanne came out to look after the cargo operations on board while Gordon was away.

And guess what - OzGold and I got to go ashore as well - in Gordon’s bag. Once Gordon had finished doing the bit of cargo checking we went into the main living quarters where the first thing Gordon did was to record that he was now on station - this is for safety reasons, to make sure we can account for everyone in the event of an accident - Gordon also had to ‘sign out’ from the ship when we left there.

After catching up and chatting to a few people, Gordon went off to one of the expeditioner rooms and used the phone to call Hobart. Had a lovely long chat with Pat but then got cut off for a while, and managed to get a reconnection an hour or two later. We had a bite of lunch and then went for a stroll around the station looking at all sorts of things - at the different buildings and inside them, people at work, equipment and so on. It was really exciting. Gordon took lots of pictures including many with OzGold and me.

We noticed the Station was flying the American flag as well as the Australian one and the ANARE pennant. Someone told Gordon this was as a mark of respect for some Americans we had on the trip who are to stay here for the summer - Birgit National Geographic Washington DC, David University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Jon New York but attached to the Leopard Seals program team, but I know it was really because of me Berkley from Crystal Lake Il.

Late in the afternoon OzGold and I did a bit of skiing and walking about with crampons. In between looking at things, Gordon had discussions with all sorts of people about all sorts of things. In the evening after dinner Gordon sadly packed up his bag and we climbed back in again for the Hagglunds trip back out to the ship.
It was a wonderful day.

The refuelling of Davis bulk diesel supplies also finished today - see the special report "Fuel Oil transfer at Davis".