My home at Casey

I thought I'd give you a little insight into what my new home at Casey is really like.  The "Big Red" building houses the living quarters, kitchen and dining, bar and recreation spaces.  All beds are currently filled, so on our arrival, a few more spaces needed to be rustled up.  Along with a few others, I'm in a shipping container not far from the main building.  Jokes aside, it's not a bad spot.  The worst part is the necessity to dress up each time you make a trip, whether it be to the bathroom, the mess or just to check your email.  I have a bottle by my bed which makes the trips a little less regular.

I'll have to practice the stitching of photos, but this gives a little perspective as to where I'm living.  I have my back to the sea.  My guess is it's maybe 400m or so to the water, or the edge of the sea ice.  The little green shed is my container - shared with Geoff and Peter.

Casey's Bar.  A busy place come knock-off. 

My cosy abode.

The "Wallow"... 

Lounge area at Casey.  From the lounge you look out over the bay to the north. 

The ever changing features of the surrounding landscape mean it's never a bore.

 I'm skipping back a little way, to the pressure ridges at Scott base.  The folding of the sea ice is formed seasonally, and is really quite magnificent.  We visited while killing time at McMurdo.

Part of the team amongst the pressure ridges.  We had a guided tour of the ridges and saw some spectacular sights.  It was here that we saw a Weddell Seal and pup (see the last blog for a picture), they use the openings in the ice to gain access from the water.

Take off

So the time finally came, and we headed south - be it a little later than expected.  Some poor weather followed by the sad news of a French chopper crash delayed our departure from Hobart.  Our flight from Hobart headed direct to Antarctica, a four hour flight landing at McMurdo - a large US base located east of Casey.

Our next leg was then delayed by further poor weather.  The poor weather wasn't actually at the McMurdo end though, but rather at Casey.  So being stuck at McMurdo with the Yanks ended up being quite a welcome addition to our Antarctic adventures.  We explored a few of the local attractions - the Ob Tube, down under the sea ice, the Old Scott Hut, and over the hill we went to Scotts base (NZ). 

Airbus A-319 on the air strip at McMudo.  Check out the skies!

View of McMurdo form Ob Hill

One of the Yanks Tanks.

Weddell Seal by the Pressure Cracks at Scott Base

Aboard the Herc which took us through to Casey.  First attempt was a no go, having to turn around three hours in.  Second try was a smooth flight of about four hours, landed on the Casey Skiway.