26 BBQ Antarctic style, Wilkes this season, Bio pile news and much more...........

Hello dear friends,

here we are another week down and not that many to go, its getting to the pointy end and there is many mixed emotions running around in my mind. What to do when i get home is the first one and the second is how am i going to fit when i want to do in!

This past week there wasn't really a hell of a lot happen but that being said when it dose happen it happens all at once. Work this week we reached a mile stone with the excavation being back filled and the first of the bio piles being completed before i was told that it needed to be ripped up again to have its secret herbs and spices in.................and all this after i had made it all beautiful.

Here is one of the holes and in the hole is Bec cleaning out all the nooks and crannies of the contamination.

Dan is also there holding that pole which is actually a GPS. He is plotting the hole so that an accurate map of the excavation can be made. You can also see that red hose, it is feeding compressed air to a air spade which also helped move some of the more finner material out of the hole.

One of Johans inventions, an old track off one of the machines which was used to scrape out some of the finner material and in conjunction with the person using the air spade.

What someone looks like after using the air spade...............................don't know what she was saying as i was laughing too much!

At one point while driving the "Tiny Tim" 5t excavator i turned around to see OLD Timmy what looks like simulating a good fishing yarn!!

Friday Maso, one of the other plant operators, decided that we needed to have a BBQ as we hadn't had one in a fair while. So as the weather was turning bad we brought up a small shipping container and put the BBQ into that so we could have it................

It worked a treat and here is Ed giving us the tour......................................................

Thought i would have a play with the macro settings on my little point and shoot and i was quite happy with the results........................

Then there was young Tommy he decided to go for a run it that weather. I think he needs his head read!!

Now its Wilkes time....................................and before i get into it too much have a look at the video and also if you didn't have a look at my earlier blog entry HERE there is lots more info there and links to other web sites that are really interesting too..............

Tomorrow we are going to have our FIRST flight of the season as the weather seems to have turned a corner and it is getting nice and cold. Last Thursday the melt lake behind the red shed froze around lunchtime and hasn't melted since and for the last 4 days temperatures haven't got above -6c. So all is looking very positive for the first flight. I hope it comes in too as Rowdy might get even more vocal if he gets stuck here if you can believe that. He has been permanently smiling since it was mentioned that he might be going to Davis for the winter. 

He was explaining to me about this seasons hair style. Last season it was a Mohawk, this season it was a duohalke. Mohawk was for one season at Casey this season as he had been here before it was two and now going to Davis he will be going to a Mohawk. Tonight he walked into the bar and he had shaved it all off i guess in preparation to entering civilisation again. Not that they will be ready for him not only will OZ no be ready for him but neither will Davis when he eventually gets there!!

Yesterday the CASA 212 planes that had been here all season (including the damaged one) departed to head home and after a 11 1/2 hour flight made it safely back to Melbourne meaning that one the flight with Rowdy there will also be the CASA engineers in James and Rodger.

Dodge (not a typo) gave me some pic as i needed some fluff to bulk this blog entry up a little which was nice wasn't it.................................

  Pic : Rodger Shulz

  Pic : Rodger Shulz

  Pic : Rodger Shulz

 Pic : Rodger Shulz

Well i know this is a relatively short one compared to my previous blogs but with all the video editing there was trust me there was as much effort put into it.  Thanks Rodger for the fluff shots and very nice ones at that arent they!!

So on that high note i will leave you to your sweltering heat while i am starting to cool down. Hope everyone is fit and well.

Take care,

Michael

P.S.............."Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."
                        Albert Einstein