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JAN16.html GETTING ESTABLISHED
16 January 1995We look around where we are supposed to be putting the survival hut. There is hardly any snow over there and it is too far too trek with all the gear. We want to move the heavy generators by sled so we find a place just over the main ridge to the East of Boat Harbour just outside the historic area of Mawson's Hut. We have been given a license to erect our survival hut and one of the conditions is that it is not within the historic area. The place we have chosen is good and it looks like it will be sheltered a bit from the winds. Today we have to move the generators across the ridge and then we'll start building the foundation for the hut. Some of the electrical equipment got wet and we're not sure that the inverter is going to work or if it is going to allow us to drill holes in the rock. We need to drill into the rock so we can tie down the hut with wire cables and chain. During the winter we expect winds more that 300 kilometres per hour and we don't want our shelter blown away. On the trip down from Hobart the radio on "Spirit of Sydney" was working okay but the conditions were not very good and we had trouble getting the radio signal out. I'm eager to try the satellite phone that COMSAT Mobile Communications lent me. I'm standing about fifteen feet from Mawson's Hut trying to shelter from the wind. It is blowing about 25 knots. The phone works! "Expedition Ice-Bound," I hear Mary Ann say. She works in our office in Warriewood, New South Wales. The phone connection is incredibly clear. Everyone smiles around me as I begin to tell Mary Ann all that we have been through. The sun is shining and there's not a cloud in the sky. The crew has been fantastic even though every single one of us was seasick when we left Hobart. The weather was very rough the first few days. Slowly they all started to feel better and began eating. We had a few troubles on the trip. We thought we lost the foredeck hatch and lots of salt water got into the forward compartment but luckily it was only the acrylic that popped out of the metal surround of the hatch and we caught it before it got washed overboard. We burned out a bilge pump but Steve, the skipper of " Spirit of Sydney" was able to fix it while we were at sea by working head down in the engine room and replacing the impeller. Everyone stayed in good spirits and worked like a team. The tougher it got the more we laughed. The crew consists of Steve Corrigan, the skipper; Sue Barber, Jay Watson, David Ferrall, crew; Wade Fairley, photographer; and Margie, my wife. I have a lot of work to do and I have to get back to it. Today
we are going to put down a wooden foundation for the survival hut.
We measured and cut all the timber in Sydney before we left so the
job should be easy. It should just be a matter of lining up the
holes and bolting the pieces together. I'll let you know how it
goes. Bye for now. Keep warm, |
