Rothera Life

Hello all!!!!
I am a bit delayed in letting you know that I have safely made it here to Rothera, but better late than never!

Twin otter in flight

After a long day of flying from Europe to Punta Arenas, we got laid up there for a few days before the weather cleared up enough for us to catch our flight to Rothera. Even then we actually only made it half way on our first attempt, having to turn around and head back to Chile due to a thick fog that was going to beat us to our destination.

ROTHERA!!!!

Needless to say, we were all ecstatic when we finally got to see Adelie Island and Rothera's distinctive green buildings out of the window as we flew over the stunning landscape that is now home.

But I'm not sure stunning quite cuts it as a descriptor.

Once we arrived and were promptly fed (something that happens every two hours around here), we had to sit around for a few training sessions and some orientation around base. After that we were able to wander "around the point" and meet some of our fellow mammalian friends - the elephant seals that very much liter the station (and are slowly encroaching more and more up to the buildings).

Leopard seal napping on an ice-flow

Otherwise we have a few other furry friends around, the Weddell seals, Crabeatears and even the elegant Leopard seal (which every time they are spotted we are on hold for diving operations). And we have spotted a few little groups of Adélie penguins waddling about base as well as the occasional Emperor.

Within our first week on base, most of our days were occupied with different bits of training, including some refreshers on the rope training we did a few months ago.
This time however the practice actually involved jumping off a snowy cliff instead of just lying on the grass pretending. It was also followed by an overnight in tents and some decently windy conditions, where we got to set up camp at the base of our local ski run, and eat old military ration packs.

My saviours!

Field training

After all that training and initial excitement, the most exciting part began for me when I got to finally get in the water for a dive! I had been a bit sniffly for the first few days at work, so was content sitting on the boat and helping with the surface side of diving operations here up until then.
But wow was it worth the wait, even on the "boring" dive near the wharf, I was reminded how great the visibility is underwater here and just how colorful everything really is.

As seen from the boat, 6m above the divers

Last photo by my camera.... :(

Sadly that dive also got the best of my new camera, so I will be doing my best to get that replaced quickly!

Now if you remember, I'm a bit of an avid skiier aswell, and have sadly not really gotten the chance to do much downhill skiing in the past few years.

Being towed up behind a snowmobile is great fun

Back on skis!!! At Vals

At Rothera we have the ability to just grab some skis and head out across the runway to ski down "the ramp", where we take turns towing each-other up the hill behind a snowmobile, or go a little further to Vals for a bit more skiing. And those are just the runs easily accessible on our own! With a bit more training and time I should be able to get out to some other areas in the company of a field guide and get some more skiing in!

Needless to say, this is my sort of heaven on earth. Getting to dive, and ski and have great company while looking out the window at some of the most stunningly rugged mountain landscapes and wild animals is truly exceptional.

I'll be back with some more technical updates in a bit, but for now I hope you enjoy this first set of photos and stories, and are staying happy and warm in this approaching holiday season!

After work drink on a "dingle" day!

Oh, and if you hadn't noticed, I chopped off all my hair on arrival to Rothera. The idea behind this was that men often grow their beards out during their Antarctic stay, and for lack of sufficient facial hair, I figured I would allow my hair to grow out and be a bit of a descriptor for how long I have been down here. 

It's the Final Countdown

Why Hello again!

Before I launch into this post, I have a few business things to address:
Firstly, I finally managed to open the blog so that anyone can leave a comment without having to sign up to anything - so please feel free to leave me a quick word if you are inspired to!
Also, as this is my last posting from civilization, I figured I would give you the address at which to reach me with snail mail (but legend has it, the Falkland Islands are a bit of a black hole for mail so nothing too important - please!). But keep in mind the best way to get a hold of me will be via email, or to give me your number for me to call you. That being said, the mailing address is:
Rothera Research Station
British Antarctic Survey

Stanley
Falkland Islands
FIQQ 1ZZ
South Atlantic

Now, back to the fun stuff! 

After the excitement of my week in Girton and the Winter Teams Training there, some of my colleagues had the chance to go and enjoy the next few months at home. Several of us, however have been meandering the United Kingdom attending various training modules in different cities. I was hoping to share a bit about those different courses with you so you can see how they might be helpful for the next 15 months. 

My itinerary started with Training in Personal Survival techniques, whereby we were learning how best to survive at sea should our ship run into trouble (mind you, I am not scheduled to travel by sea as is, but will be flying all the way down to Rothera). 

For this we sat in a classroom for half a day, discussing maritime laws and procedures (and trying on various exposure suits), then spent the afternoon jumping into a pool from various heights, deploying life-rafts and generally floating about in fetal position with our life jackets on. 

It was a great exercise in teamwork and planning, as we had to go through a drill as if we were to abandon ship. 

           Following this training, and after a short stay in London visiting old friends I made my way over to Alton for a regulator servicing course. 

As divers, our equipment really is our primary life-line, so having the skills to repair it on site (or at least back in the warmth of my office) is paramount to running smooth operations throughout winter. 

 For that reason I have undertaken repairs and servicing training for most components of our diving equipment, starting with the first stages.

The first stage regulators we are using at Rothera are manufactured by Poseidon, so I was trained in their offices in rural England. What this really means is you get to pull apart a bunch of equipment into it's tiniest components, discuss all the pieces that are likely to need fixing, and then reassemble the whole thing. Learning to follow the manual's instructions while also having someone there to ask was very helpful since the next time I am likely to have to disassemble these pieces I will probably be by myself on the other side of the world. 

I also trained with Interspiro in regards to the second stages we will be using, in this case the Divator Mk2 full-face masks ( Commonly known to the commercial diving world as AGA's). These have been modified by BAS to include our bailout system, but that I will explain to you in another blog post. 

Along very similar lines, I learned to pull apart and reconstruct our fire-fighting breathing apparatus, as one of my jobs on station is likely to involve making sure that those are inspected and tested every month. Along with one of my colleagues who IS part of the station fire team, we learned to service this important piece of emergency kit, and also learnt how to explain it's use to our colleagues should they need to use it in anger. 

Technical part of diving aside, one of the better parts of the training period was actually getting a chance to use all the diving gear we will have in Antarctica and get in the water with my new dive buddies! 

And I present to you the winning dive team of Rothera 2016 winter! 

Myself, Ben and Saz testing our our brand new suits!
( Photo from Ben Robinson)

During this week we went over the gear we would be using as some of it takes a bit of getting used to, tested out our new custom drysuits to check for leaks and fit, and most importantly got to dive together as a team and learn about each-other's experience. I'm really very excited to work with these guys, and cannot wait to see the wonder and excitement on their faces after their first Antarctic dive. :) 

Looking trust-worthy, right? 

      In order to fully be responsible for these kids though I had to re-do both my Hyperbaric Chamber Operator and my Diver Medic Technician courses, spending a few weeks in the charming city of Plymouth and a bit too much time pestering the wonderful staff at the DDRC (Diving Diseases Research Center) nearby. Despite having already done these courses in Tasmania two years ago, this time I went in with many very situation-specific questions and was happy to have very competent and helpful answers. In Rothera in winter we really will be operating with minimal staff, so it is paramount to make sure that we can safely cover all responsibilities should something tragic occur. 

During the Chamber Operator training I spent much time discussing the technical implications and procedures for treating an injured diver in a hyperbaric chamber such as we have on station. These treatments are likely to take between 4.5 to 7 hours depending on the situation, and require a fair amount of (at least mental) preparation. 

NOT getting bubbles into cannulated arms.

      In lay-man's terms for those of you who might not know, hyperbaric chambers operate on the principle of an air-tight chamber (anywhere from the size of a bed to that of a small room) in which patients and potentially their tenders are placed. The pressure in the chamber is increased by adding air, essentially dropping the depth of the chamber to what is desired and keeping it at that pressure until a slow ascent (depressurization) is begun. The treatments for divers include the use of 100% Oxygen (more effective at depth) which will help them get rid of any gases they may have accumulated in their systems,  and the physical compression of any unwanted gas bubbles so they can dissolve back into the blood-stream. 

Some of the tools and skills required:
Airways, Neurological examinations, Urinary catheterisation

The dive medic training is mostly so that I may provide immediate medical assistance to my divers and other colleagues should something happen either at the dive site, on station, or in the chamber. We do have a wonderful doctor on station, but it is always helpful to have a few extra sets of hands, and the world of diving medicine and injury is a bit of an uncommon one so the timely recognition of signs and symptoms is critical.

Suturing practices I hope to never use

For those of you who know me well, you know I would absolutely love the opportunity to hone in on my medic training, so the time spent practicing these skills was absolutely not lost. The inclusion of emergency scenarios with a fe other medic students helped to make the whole thing come together quite nicely. 

Sorry for the long-winded explanation of the diving, but as you can imagine that will be occupying the majority of my time once on station so I thought a bit of background information might be helpful. 

Some of the other skills I had to acquire included the use of a "lorry loader" crane, fitted to the back of a large tracked vehicle (now don't get too technical on me with this one please!). We will be using this primarily to lift the dive boat in and out of the water from the jetty, so being comfortable operating it is pretty essential. 

I think little Kate would be proud

I also learned ( to my great joy and pride), to use and service chainsaws. 

Yes. 

Chainsaws.

Big ones!

And no, there are no trees in Antarctic for us to be using them on, but we are instead using them to cut through the sea ice so that we may dive. The three day course up near Derby with two colleagues was spent taking apart chainsaws and reassembling them, sharpening our chains and cutting into and down trees. We progressively got to use bigger and bigger chainsaws, but this 3.5ft bar still comes a foot short of the one we will be using at Rothera! 

I definitely did find myself seriously pondering a change of careers as the felling of trees was definitely a lot of fun (though granted, not the most relevant to my diving).

Predictive clothing choices
on baby Kate?

So here I am, only THREE days away from departure, with my brain filled with knowledge I didn't even knew I required, enjoying the last few moments of civilization with friends and family. 

My flight departs on Saturday for what will undoubtedly be the experience of a lifetime, and I frankly cannot wait. Torn between excitement and a bit of trepidation, my bag is mostly packed and most of my goodbyes have been said. For now I'm off to enjoy the unseasonably warm November weather.

muddy runs

I will be writing soon to let you know how the trip down went and what my first impressions of Rothera are, but until then I will let you ponder just how long this travel day is going to be:

I'm back!!!

Hello all! 

My sincerest apologies for never actually getting back to this after my latest update in February. As some of you might be aware, I have since not only returned to civilisation and fresh fruit, but circumnavigated the Australian continent alone, living in a beat-up station wagon.

I have been present at three absolutely fantastic weddings

Laine and Zach got hitched!!!! 

Got to attend a stunning Indian wedding for Shreya and Prushottam. Not to mention this obnoxiously beautiful bridal party and wedding :P I love you Ema and James! 

I also got some quality time catching up with friends in Hawaii,  Seattle, France and a few English cities

High-school reunion 

Family reunion! 

Hawaii holidays!  

Spent my birthday with these crazy kids 

I could most happily write a few novels on the incredible road-trip throughout Australia for three months, but this blog is focused on my time in Antarctica. And since I presume that is why you are so kindly lending me your eyes, I will stick to that narrative (but give you a few bonus photos nonetheless).

Rainforests 

Red earth roads

Coastlines 

Skies and sunsets galore

Bushfires

Incredible cultural history 

Wicked rock formations 

Mines

And forests 

Oh, and the most fascinating wildlife! 

But really, the reason I am back here is because I also accepted a job returning to the frozen land for some more diving!!!!
On that note, I am incredibly flattered and proud to tell you I have started my role as the Field Diving Officer for the British Antarctic Survey station of Rothera.  This is an 18-month contract,  of which I spend about 15 continuous months in Antarctica, working to maintain safe diving practices to collect data from underwater year-round.
As you can imagine,  this work involves a lot of training and responsibility.  As such I am in the middle of a two-month period of pre-departure training,  travelling throughout the United Kingdom to various cities to learn different skills that will help me over the course of the next year and a half.

This all started with a chance to meet everyone newly employed by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS)  for a week at Girton College in Cambridge,  hearing about what to expect on a British base and mostly meeting these expeditionners with whom I will be spending such a long time living.
Here we exchanged stories of previous lives, anticipation and fears for the one on which we were embarking,  and got many answers to questions we had not even thought to ask yet. We spent three days doing advanced first aid, and learned in the process that we really could trust each-other.

Following the initial week, the winter expeditionners were siphoned off and taken to camp in the countryside,  learning to use ropes, stoves and teamwork to solve many problems.

I am clearly in good hands being rescued

High ropes course 

Blizzard navigation training 

This was our first time truly meeting the team with whom we would be isolated for winter (7 months!!! With only them!!!).  In my case, it was meeting the 20 others with whom I will be cooking,  diving, cleaning, eating, and most importantly enjoying Rothera station.  And what a great team!

I just wanted to at least begin to get you up to speed on my life, and the fact that the outstanding adventure that first motivated me to write to you has actually manage to perpetuate itself into a much longer and  even less believable story. As this new adventure has officially begun (the season of summer has officially begun at Rothera a few days ago) I will be updating you before I depart for Antarctica - a date planned for November 21 2015 - to let you know a bit more about the training I have been doing.



For now, thank you for being so patient with my blogging lapses.

I am just incredibly grateful and feeling like the luckiest woman on earth to have the chance to have lived these adventures and shared in these lives and cannot wait to see what comes next!