Antarctic Week 2: The glamourous things i've done since arrival

hello everyone, just a quick update! been really busy since we got to station, and it's already been nearly 2 weeks now! andandand...i just realised i've been away for a month as of today! perhaps this 4.5 month stint in antarctica isn't as long as i thought it would be...hmmm.

anyway, just a recap of what i've been up to since stepping foot onto davis station. we were refuelling and resupplying the station to last for one whole year until the next V1 voyage that will be coming down around this time next year. so all we've been doing is unloading cargo and unpacking and storing everything, from food and drinks to toilet paper. basically, i was doing a lot of manual work like a kuli and hauling boxes of cabbages and oranges around. and i never knew this, but a box of oranges is fucking heavy.

been settling into a routine at station so far and getting to know the place. when we first arrived, we were brought around on a tour of the station and just to familiarise ourselves with all the buildings. there about 9 major buildings on station and two of them are for accommodation purposes. the first day or so when i got here, it got a bit confusing because i'd forget which buildings were what and walk into the wrong one. but i got the hang of it after awhile, heh.

everyone on station is really nice and there is a good camaraderie going on. however, the male to female ratio is highly unbalanced: there's 75 of us on station currently and only 8 of us are female. i've never been put into such a male-dominated environment before but it's been alright so far.

there's also shitloads to do here. there's a climbing wall, two gyms, a pool table, a bar, a huge variety of boardgames, a cinema with a substantial dvd collection, a very well-stocked library, playstation consoles and a nintendo wii. there's definitely no shortage of entertainment. and if we didn't feel like being inside buildings, there's always many walks and excursions that we can go on. so far since coming here, i've walked to one of the islands off the coast from the station that has an adelie penguin rookery (really awesome) as well as a 10km walk to this place called Law Cairn and cutting across the sea-ice to yet another island before heading back to station. it's all good fun and a really great way to see the land.

and i shit you not, antarctica is incredible. it's almost frightening sometimes because the conditions can change so rapidly from being warm and friendly to cold and unforgiving. we've had two mini snowstorms since coming here and it was so bad that it was snowing horizontally! and the silence is the greatest thing that hits you here. when you walk out of the building, you hear nothing. no background humming, no crickets chirping. it feels almost like you're living in a fishbowl with the lid covered.

ok anyway, not such a short update after all, eh? i'll try to put up more pictures asap, for the parents' benefits. but yea, stay safe and miss me!