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Victoria University Antarctic Research Expedition Science and Logistics Reports 1994-95: VUWAE 39

5 Preparations for the Field

5 Preparations for the Field

i)

Reception: On landing at 0430, Tues 16 Nov, we had the usual friendly welcome (by Scotty), a cuppa and assignment to Q Hut.

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At 1100 we had the Base briefing by the Base Services manager (Graham). He took us through the Base services and protocols.

At 1400 we had our operations meeting with Alan Wilson. This was particularly useful as we discovered our requirements for 2 stroke fuel and antifreeze had been omitted from their list.

We were also able to rearrange our helicopter moves to a more efficient schedule and replaced our Mt Kempe with a Portal Mountain site.

The tour of the Base at 1500 was particularly useful as it had been almost completely rebuilt since my last visit in 1981. We also had the opportunity of meeting cargo handler Robert Mataroa (Mat) and the field support officer, Tom Hopkins.

Our AFT was confirmed for the following day (Wed 17th) and our briefing was given by the Field Training Leader, Warren Herrick.

ii)Field equipment. The bin containing our shipped equipment was found safely stored in a container. We were able to obtain our mogas in sealed gallon containers from McMurdo and the engineering services manager, John Williams, assisted us with our antifreeze requirements. Nerida's special non-cereal rations could not be found and Tom gave us great assistance in locating and substituting in our food boxes, suitable items from the general store.
iii)Antarctic Field Training. This took place Wed 17th and Thurs 18th Nov. We found this enjoyable and useful. Adam and I had previous survival training but it was good to have a refresher. The rope training came in useful during our field work (see later). One particularly good aspect of the AFT was that it was generally tailored to party requirements.
iv)Delays at Scott Base. There were none. After returning from AFT pm on the 18th we flew out at midday, Fri 19th. We had to work hard to prepare our equipment in time but we did not mind that.