Post the Thirteenth

So.  There I was, casually putting the finishing touches to the latest piece of literary genius when the phone rang.  It was the Station Leader.



"Hi Bill," I said, "What's up?"

"G'day Jeff," he responded.  "There's a helicopter heading down to Zhongshan to collect Sandra, leaving here at 1630.  There's a spare seat on it.  Would you like to sit in it?"

Needless to say I didn't need to give it much thought.

Bill has made a point of taking every possible opportunity to arrange for each member of the Davis crew to see as much as possible while they're here.  I just happened to be one of the lucky first.

So at the appointed hour I arrived at the heli hut, survival pack in one hand, camera bag in the other, Swim-Swim in tow.  Evidently Swim-Swim loves air travel; a rarity among his kind I'll warrant.

And inside the hut, who should be their but our erstwhile chauffeur du ciel, Dave Pullinger.

Dave.  Again.

On this occasion though, Dave wouldn't be doing the honours.  The man charged with getting us to and  from Zhongshan on this occasion was the other pilot, Ian Porter.

Cheeky

Ian hadn't yet flown to the Chinese station, so he was looking forward to it as much as we were.  But in a very cheeky manner.  Ian is a bit cheeky.

Out to the helicopter we went then.  Swim-Swim got a bit ahead of himself.

Keen

However, he and I were to be sitting in the back for this jaunt.  So I bustled him out of the front seat and we buckled ourselves in at the back.

Sitting next to us was helicopter engineer James, who also had not been to Zhongshan and was therefore also looking forward to the trip.

Chuffed

And come to think of it, I was in reasonably high spirits myself.

Tickled pink

And so we were all ready to get going.  Ian underwent all the necessary rituals to propitiate the Gods of the Preflight, toggled some switches and manipulated his joystick, and we were away.

What follows won't have too much of my usual blah blah, you'll be relieved to hear.  I think the photographs speak for themselves for the most part.  One thing it is important to keep in mind is that perspective is hard to judge in Antarctica.  Because there are no points of reference (such as trees, buildings etc.) it is very difficult to judge the size of things.

(A reminder too that the photos on this page are actually links to larger versions of themselves.  Click on the image to enmammothise it, to get the best detail).

Take it from me, though.  With the exception of the first picture, the features you will shortly be looking at are very, very large indeed.

So, right next to the helipad is The Tarn, which is where all of the station's drinking water comes from.  Not very spectacular, but it was there, and I photographed it, so you will darned well look at it and stop complaining.

Tarn

The main feature between Davis and Zhongshan is the Sørsdal Glacier, an eye-wateringly gargantuan river of ice flowing down from the Antarctic Plateau into Prydz Bay.  Most of this next group of photos will be associated with the glacier.

Here's where the Sørsdal Glacier meets the Vestfold Hills.

Here a tongue of the Sørsdal flows down to the sea.

In this next one, sea ice has sealed the end of the glacier.

I also got some video, hoping that it gives a better idea of the scale.  But, like most things, I reckon you had to be there.  But see what you think.

And in this one, bergs that have calved from the glacier are trapped in sea ice.

How about the colours of these melt lakes?

All the while, Swim-Swim has watched, enrapt.

Entranced

This is something else.  Here is an emperor penguin colony, and I was thrilled to have been the first to pick it from the air.

No comments about Happy Feet, please.  There is a biologist at Davis here whose skin turns green and whose shirt rips apart at the mere mention of that movie.

I later learned that this is the Amanda Bay emperor colony.  It was named in the 1950s by an Australian pilot who discovered it whilst flying over it.  (And looking down at the time, one presumes.)  The reason for the name?  He had recently discovered that his daughter, Amanda, had been born shortly beforehand.

Awww.  (I won't be having too much 'cute' in the blog.  Make the most of it.)



After 45 minutes of flight time, we arrived in the air above Zhongshan.

They were undergoing a resupply, with the icebreaker Xue Long sitting some way off in the sea ice, and a clunking great big Kamov Ka-32 helicopter ferrying cargo to the station.  We had to hold off while it made a delivery and then left before we could land.  And seriously, we didn't want to argue with that Kamov!

You can see the two helipads on the right hand side of the picture, one with a recently delivered white cargo back beside it.


So, we landed, and while we sat on one helipad, the Kamov kept making its ferry runs to the other pad.  Those blades counterrotate, which is why this beast needs no tail rotor.

Brutish

It made a hell of a racket into the bargain, as you might imagine.  And the downwash from those blades was astonishing.  (Astonishing!  That's for you, Emesha).  The guy whose job it was to unhook the bulka bags from the sling actually had to lean into the wind to get to them.  Have a look!

Astonishing

Here is some video of it making a subsequent delivery, just to give you an idea of the noise.

After a bit of a wait we got our passenger and headed back to Davis.  And past more glacier.

And then we were back home.

In this photo, you can see a few of the buildings I have photographed in previous blog posts.  In particular you can clearly see my pad, the red Summer Accommodation Module not far from that giant penguin egg.

Chez nous

I don't know if I will have another opportunity to fly.  The balance of probabilities is not in my favour.  So I would say it is unlikely. 

BUT THAT WAS SO COOL!