Antarctic Week 2: Death march through the Vestfold Hills.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! finally, i've found some time to myself. it's amazing how, even though you're stuck in a place that is almost like a grander scale of Big Brother, there is so much work and shit that ties you down! and i almost can't believe that the weekend has arrived AGAIN! i'm kinda torn between having the weekend roll around because:

a. it's a good thing - it means i'm one more week closer to going home and seeing the real world again! and of course, my baby baklava hoho!

b. it's a bad thing - my antarctic experience is ambling along at a greater speed than i thought AND WHERE DID ALL MY TIME GO!?

anyway, just a round up of what i've been doing this week.

on tuesday, i went for my 24-hour survival training with 6 other people. it was great fun, but rather hellish too - i will explain why later. we started out from station after lunch and was taken by helicopter to one of the huts outside of davis station called Brookes Hut.



each of us were equipped with a survival pack that consisted of: a huge ass backpack, a sleeping bag, a bivvy bag (click on the link - it'll show you an exact photograph of how i slept that night outdoors), a stove, a pot, 3 1-litre bottles of water, a 1-litre piss bottle (you're not allowed to urinate on the ground in antarctica FML), dehydrated food rations, a compass, three maps, a signalling mirror, cutlery, boot chains, ice-axe and a change of clothes plus extra gloves and socks. altogether, my survival pack weighed AT LEAST 15kgs. at the very least.



once we got to brookes hut, we started trekking through the area and walked to a few lakes. these lakes were pretty awesome in that they're still in liquid form - reason being that they're super saline (about 5x the salinity of seawater) therefore they can't freeze. on the first day, we walked to 4 lakes. the first 2 lakes were easy to get to...after that, the walk turned into a death march to hell for me.



firstly, NO PATHS. secondly, walking along the rim of the lake 20m above water level on steep slopes that consisted of nothing but loose pebbles and gravel (scree). i nearly saw my life flash before my eyes a couple of times as i tried to regain my balance by jamming my foot into the scree and hope to God that i won't slip and break my head on some nice antarctic boulder. thirdly, fucking pack nearly killed me because it went above my head level and every time i bent over to steady myself on the rocks, i nearly toppled ass over feet in front of me. EVERY SINGLE FUCKING TIME. fourthly, got lost a few times wtf. fifthly, uber blisters on both backs of my heels.



by the time we got to our campsite, i was a wreck - but of course, still managed to maintain composure abit la. had to put up a strong front because i didn't want to be the stereotypically weak and defenseless asian girl (already, i'm the smallest-sized and youngest one here FML). fixed up my 'bed' for the night (as per the bivvy bag photo up top), cooked my dehydrated rations, ate it with great gusto, chatted a bit, then realised, fuck i needed to go take a piss. that's right evrybuddy, for the first time in my life, i pissed into a wide-mouthed round looptop 1-litre Nalgene bottle. and i didn't even have a FUD (Female Urinary Device to the uninitiated) to help me out because i wasn't issued one FML. but i can tell you with great pride that i did not 'leak' onto the bottle neither did i piss on my own hand. i still can't believe how i did it. i guess desperate circumstances really brings out the talent in some people.

didn't get much sleep that night. next morning, woke up bright and early at 6am and continued our death march again at 7. being an idiot, i forgot to put plasters on my blisters but instead thought that it would be alright if i wore double layers of socks. what a fucking retard. by the time we were about 3km from station, my blisters were wrenching the very living soul out of me. took of my socks only to be greeted by raw skin - my blisters had already popped and the skin that usually forms the bubble had peeled back. FUCKING PAIN LA! ON BOTH HEELS SOME MORE! but once again, i gritted my teeth and like a true hero, told the troop leader that i was fine, just give me a plaster and i'll walk it home.

by the time i stumbled back into station, i was completely totalled. every bit of my body hurt, from my neck, to my shoulders, down to my pelvic bone (thanks to the waist strap of the backpack) and continuing all the way through my thighs, calves and feet. i didn't realise that when the antarctic division said survival training, they really meant SURVIVAL training.

that's about all that was exciting. did more work (in bodily pain, naturally) in the aquarium to set up the water and CO2 systems yesterday and today. other than that - life's peachy i guess.