11 All things Wilkins and stuff..............

Hello people,

well this week has been a big one, with much on station well under way and much done. As i said in my title Wilkins and stuff...........................so lets get the stuff out of the road as the Wilkins bit is far more interesting.

So two entries ago i attached a video about the Casa 212 that had a bumpy landing at one of our remote field camps.  Happy to tell everyone that they are this week the Pilots and Engineers have come home with a present. While there they obviously had a little spare time on their hands so they found an old chainsaw that was broken and well you know Engineers take a look for yourself................

There is even a coffee jar as a fuel tank......................

Ohhh and i got to add this one a couple of the guys learning how to ski.............I'm mean but its funny.

No as for the main job of the week was the Wilkins mobile garage, last blog you saw it being towed down to station and the sled being put together. Well there is a building that sits on it and that was shat we were building.

It starts like this

and

and inside the 4 containers!!!!

So after unpacking all the containers all 4 of them we started putting it in order and the first thing we needed to make was the back wall as from this point all the rest would be self supporting. It came together very smooth almost too smooth, something mustn't be right as we aren't having any problems.

laying out the back wall on the deck of the sled before putting the walls in.............

Cliff with the back wall on right hand of picture ready to be stood up............

Up she goes..............

After this it all went quite quick but too a fair amount of planning and organizing on the ground before we started to do any lifts. All the bolt holes even lined up, well most of them anyway!!!!!!!!

Lifting a portal

Above you can see we have just finished lifting a roof panel into place and the guys are tieing it in.

Just in case you don't think i work down here i though id add these ones................

Big smiley me in the orange hi vis...........

 Not going to make it too easy for you so turn either your computer monitor sideways or your head and you'll see me drilling.............lol

My favourite job was sitting in the warm cab of the crane as the day before Kenny the slave driver worked us to the bone......................was nice sitting down!!

Kenny trying to tell me something.....................hummm

So all in all it was a very very big week and we even had time to get the mobile rock crusher into the work shop to deblizz it as it was quite full of snow............

Only just fit into the workshop with centimeters to spare.............gaud I'm a good driver!!!!

Looking at a snow filled radiator now that's cooling for you to the extreme.

This belt is meant to carry the finished product after its run through the crusher but in this case its SNOW!!!

Jaw crusher also strangely full of snow..................gaud anyone would think i was in Antarctica!!

This mobile jaw crusher is totally run by hydraulics and your looking at the hydraulic pump gain covered in snow. As i guess you've figured we put it in today in an attempt to melt all the snow out of it over the weekend BUT i highly doubt that is going to happen. When all the snow melts where do you think it goes................................cant go down the drain as its mixed with oil so in the next couple of entries ill show you how we look after all that waste water and how it is treated, only wish there was smellovision for that blog entry.

Tomorrow I'm going to be leading a group of expitionars to a place called Browning Peninsula where there is a field hut. I have been looking forward to this for a long time as last season it was not possible to make it out there due to the melt and weather conditions. This place and another place we will be walking to called Peterson Island are teeming with birds, penguins, juvenile Elephant seals and Weddell seals. So next entry will be a mid week one and I'm sure everyone will like it and ill get to really give my new lens a workout!!

Also today Sunday the 28th November is my Fathers Birthday and id like to say a BIG WHITE happy birthday to you...............im thinking of you Dad!!!

So until then be good,

Michael

P.S............"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."
                  Winston Churchill