Post the Twenty-Eighth

The end is nigh!


Well, not that nigh.  The Aurora is on her way, but it will be some time before she gets here, and then once she's here there's quite an extensive and involved resupply to take place.  Only once that is done shall the end of my time at Davis have come.

However certain things have to be done before we can leave, and one of those is to get our 'unaccompanied baggage' checked in well in advance.

Each of the passengers on the Aurora is entitled to only 30kg of cabin baggage.  This means that anything over and above that limit must be packed into shipping containers as cargo, and is known as unaccompanied baggage.

So!  I have to determine those things that I can live without on my last two weeks on station and on the ship, and pack them up.

Packing *sigh*

I won't have access to them immediately upon my return, either.  They'll be sorted with the rest of the RTA cargo in Hobart, and returned to me after that has happened.  So I have to be fairly judicious about what I select as unaccompanied baggage.

(By the way, it wasn't really that messy.  I wanted to convey a sense of chaos, so I cast some other stuff around to make it look worse than it was.  Eh.  Creative licence.)

le sigh

After putting off my procrastination until later, however, I got the job done.  And here are the cases full of my stuff that I don't *sniff* need for 7 or 8 weeks.

That done, it's time to schlep them down to the Green Store, where Storeman Extraordinaire Paul Endersby will process them for packing in the cargo.

Green Store

It's an extremely busy time for Paul.  Not only is there everyone's personal effects to deal with, but also a whole load of other RTA cargo, including scientific samples and equipment.  There is also old machinery that has been replaced, and waste and recycling that have to go back to Australia.   Poor Paul doesn't get much rest now.

And there's my stuff amidst a pile of others' stuff.  Le sigh.

Getting ready to be cargo-ified.

 And while we're in the Green Store, let's have a quick look around.  Yes, let's!

One half of the area is taken up with a gargantuan compactus.  This is like nothing you've seen in the office, though.  There are five massive bays, and the compactus is opened by machinery.  You wouldn't want to try to open this baby by hand.

In this photo the first four bays are closed, with the fifth (and furthest) is open.

Mammoth

 To give you an idea of the scale, here is the view down that fifth bay.

Leviathan

No doubt there are many bigger, I but I was impressed.  Mind you, there are those that would say that I am easily impressed.

Emerging from the compactus half of the store, I see Joseph and Scott leaving the store mezzanine.  Smile for the photo, Joseph and Scott!

Boffinage

Or not.  Whatevs.

So, what mysterious things lie up the stairs on the store mezzanine?  Where had Joseph and Scott been?

Shall we go up and look, girls and boys?

OK then!  Let's do that.

At the top of the stairs is the landing, and to the right is a room.  Inside that room we find...

Pleasure

...a sauna, a yoga/exercise mat, and a spa!

To the left of the landing is another room.  Inside that room we find...

Pain

...the CHAMBER OF HORRORS! Omigod, run, run!

So the Green Store, aside from being the point of ingress, egress and storage for all cargo on station, also doubles as the centre for some on-station recreation.  As you can see below, it is also the home of the the station's climbing wall.

Use the stairs, stupid.

This is apparently the shrine for all of the station population's adrenaline junkies.  I'm never around when they come to worship.  I wouldn't want to get any of their crazy on me.

And that's it.  As I say, we're not at the end of our stay yet.  But the time on station is fast running out.  Probably another two weeks only.