Air NZ Blog #3 - Ash

It’s been a busy week down here for myself and the team preparing for the ANDRILL (Antarctic Drilling Project) overhaul. We needed to free up space in the storage containers that are currently holding construction and recycling waste, surplus equipment and building materials and after a huge juggling act over three days spent reorganising everything we managed to have an empty container. The containers, which will be used to ship the ANDRILL rig back to New Zealand, are currently full of support equipment which needs to be relocated to our empty container before this can happen.

Our first piece of support equipment out of the container was their parked up Hagglund. This hasn’t run since 2010 and so I whipped out the batteries and allowed them to thaw out for a day before charging them up for another two days to get them back to life. Copious amounts of CRC engine start was then used to help coax it back to life before we could drive it away.

Our next mission was to release the snow drifted drilling rig, containerised workshop and generator shed. The drilling rig and support containers are all mounted on giant skis/sleds to allow for mobility and ease of relocation. The drilling rig weighs in at around a hefty 50 tonnes and so two D6 Caterpillar bulldozers were brought in for some serious muscle power.

After pushing away the snow drifts we hooked up the bulldozers. One at the front pulling and the other at the back of the rig, pushing. It took a lot of effort to persuade the rig to move away, with both bulldozers straining away at the load. A few gentle nudges finally helped to break it out of the snow’s icy grip. That was one item freed but the containerised workshop and generator were still buried in three metres of built up snow drifts on both sides. I could walk straight up the snow drift to the roof of the containers without a step up. This snow took quite a while to clear away and eventually we dug out the towing shackle arms before once again engaging the push me-pull you technique with the bulldozers. After we had everything out, we hooked up the drawbars and strops and headed back to Scott Base with our impressive convoy of two bulldozers, drilling rig, two containers and a Hagglund.

The ANDRILL rig is now located by our transition point only five minutes away from base. This will be so much easier to access now it’s at our doorstep. Next week the Gough’s driller, from Christchurch will arrive and I will be assisting him with the breakdown and containerisation of it all.

Event No. K131 left Scott Base this week. This is a field camp within McMurdo Sound. The team will be melting holes through the ice and taking profiles and samples to better understand the relationship between sea ice, ocean and the atmosphere. This is headed by renowned Antarctic scientist Dr Tim Haskell, who has visited Antarctica a massive 57 times and has been coming here since 1978. I would watch him walking around the yard with exposed bare hands and head whilst I was bundled up in five layers of clothing to protect myself from the -32 C temperature – the man must have anti-freeze in his blood!

We assisted in getting his containerised field camp ready for leaving and it was great to have a look through it all. Shipping containers on skis have been modified to provide the following services: a generator for electrical power for the entire camp, bunk house with sleeping for four people, mess/kitchen container, science containers and a refrigeration container. All up there are seven containers making for a mini container village, just like Christchurch city centre.

I’m slowly getting used to the temperatures down here and how to dress appropriately. It is a bit of a juggling act especially when some of the activities that I’m doing are quite physically active. I’ve now found that if it is only -20C, I can get away with only two layers which will let my clothing breath accordingly. The other day it was a balmy –9C and I was in just a single layer! You do have to be very well prepared though, as it soon clouded over and the wind picked up and it dropped to -30C and so on went the extra layers we were carrying.

The other day when Craig, the mechanic and I were driving out to Willy’s Airfield (Williams Field) to resurrect the D6 bulldozer. I looked around outside and the sky was a crisp blue, there was no wind and the views of the surrounding mountains were stunning.

I turned to him and yelled out over the roar of the Hagglund, “What a great day to go into the office!”

He replied, “Mate, I was just thinking the same thing!”

We are blessed to be here with this opportunity and when the scientists recognise me as the Air New Zealand secondee they always come over and say how appreciative they are for the support Air New Zealand provides for their research through the New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute.