tiabunna's photos with the keyword: base

Larger version in note. Dumont d'Urville is the main French base in Antarctica and the stepping-off point for expeditions to Concordia, the joint French-Italian base 1100 kilometers inland. This is immediately to the right of my previous panorama at the station: www.ipernity.com/doc/tiabunna/29909935 Those ropes in the foreground are blizzard lines. When it is pitch darkness, with the wind blowing at 150km/hr and visibility reduced to arm's length by drifting snow, it is imperative to closely follow (ie keep holding) these very specialised fences. Happy Fence Friday!

From an old slide. As we sailed out of the harbour at Mawson, a number of us stood on the bridge deck, watching as our home of the past year receded into the distance. Little was said, but the expressions tended to be pensive.

From an old slide. As the "Nella Dan" left the harbour heading North, there still were jobs to be done on the ship, such as checking the Fairchild Hiller FH1100 helicopters. The small orange boat is the "Macpherson Robertson", used by ANARE as a general work boat. Named after the owner of an Australian confectionery company who had been a major sponsor of Antarctic exploration, it was usually referred to as The Lollypop.

From an old slide. I was fortunate to have a trip over Mawson in one of the helicopters carried by the Nella Dan. This is taken roughly toward north, with the station area in the lower right on the shores of Horseshoe Harbour. The dotted lines on the snow at lower left are the doglines.

From one of the gritty "home developed" Ektachrome slides taken in 1966. Out on the sea ice among the islands near Mawson, for a practice run with the dog teams.

From an old 1966 slide. This was a time exposure of the aurora to the east of Mawson, looking past a living hut named "Balleny" (the living huts were all named after early Antarctic explorers). To give some idea of the intensity of some auroras, this was taken on 25 ISO film!

From a 1966 slide. Mawson lies under the auroral oval, the annular zone around the south magnetic pole where auroras are most prevalent. In plain language, there was an aurora most nights. This is from one of the Ektachrome films we "home developed" while there.

From an old slide taken in 1966. While up at Rumdoodle I was taken by the wide-angle reflections of the surrounding area in the shiny hub cap of the VW "Antarctica 3".

From an old slide, taken not long after arrival. That's a slightly younger (and slightly out of focus) me standing near the old meteorological office (at that stage used as a store), with new supply boxes still strewn around. This was taken very early in the morning, with the first light colouring the thin cloud and an impressive wall of drifting snow in the distance beyond the Casey Range (itself some 30km away). The scene here is almost identical to that largely blotted out by drifting snow in the earlier "blizzard" shot.

From an old slide. When you photograph weather going past at 140 km/hr (75 knots), using 25 ISO film in low light, you finish up with a long exposure and a blur that looks more like fog! This image was taken from the window of the Meteorological office. Blizzards were common, with typically one or two of significance monthly. This blizzard arrived just when we took over from the previous expedition, in fact the change-over celebration party was on at the time. I found myself on shift that evening and also the following morning, when I took this photo. The highest wind gust went to 105 knots (about 195 km/hr) and during the night the Nella Dan broke her moorings and began drifting. Fortunately the Captain and senior engineer had stayed on board with a skeleton crew and were able to run the ship against the rocky shore under half power, keeping her there that way until the winds subsided a day later. See PiP. This is best viewed on black (press "Z").

From an old slide. Everything was taken ashore in the DUKWS (WW2 vintage amphibious vehicles): people, boxes, and hundreds of fuel drums.