David L. Harrowfield's Diary
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Thursday 25 January 2001, Law Base
Jim was up pretty early today and made several Scotch egs for tomorrows celebration then later on we carried out some measurements of rock hardness at his erosion measuring sites where it was interesting to see the extent of flaking on the rock surface. This evening Paul cooked a fine dish of ravioli flavoured with chopped bacon, and a tomato and chili flavoured sauce.
Friday 26 January 2001, AUSTRALIA DAY
Again Jim was up really early and by the time I appeared in the mess hut, he had made a large bacon and egg pie, a meat loaf and a meat curry. I continued with a few slope angle measurements of one of the rock glaciers near the hut and then made some cheese dishes to have with our lunch. By two o'clock the first visitors, eight from the Chinese Station arrived and were seated in the hut. They included the station leader Mr Liu Shuyan. Soon afterwards four Russians arrived and included their leader Mr Sergei Borzenkov who was immaculately attired in sports jacket, pressed shirt and the ANARE tie presented by Jim. For the next two hours there was much hilarity and many photographs including digital shots and video were taken. The table was covered with food and an assortment of drinks with little left by the end of the day. The gnome Garth even participated. Finally group photographs were taken outside, with the mess hut and flags flying in the background. With the ANARE pennant made by my friend Monika, having the logo displayed on one side only, and the wind blowing from the wrong direction, the flag was proudly hung within the mess.
Saturday 27 January 2001
We had many laughs this morning over the various celebrations held yesterday at Davis Station. Learned of these during the 9 a.m. radio sched. A small amount of snow fell this morning but did not lie on the ground long. There was little to do but to sit inside and it presented a good opportunity to clean the boots issued to me by the Antarctic Division. Later in the day, we made our weekly visit to the Chinese station where it was wonderful to have a shower and to experience clean hair again.
Sunday 28 January 2001
Not such a bright day again today and I spent the entire morning calibrating instruments which will be used for analysing the samples of water Jim and I will collect from some of the lakes in the vicinity of the three field stations. Later in the day I tramped away from Law Base to look at the rocks and landscape in two valleys. The evening was beautiful and I spent a while sitting on a rock at the end of a spur. From here I had a marvellous view of the face of the Dalk Glacier and of the Polar Plateau. With exception of the sound of the swell on the sea against the ice and rock cliffs and of the swell lapping under the edge of floes, there were no other sounds. I then headed up another valley and thought to myself, perhaps I am the first person to walk over this particular part of the landscape. In Antarctica in places like this, footsteps and evidence of other human activity such as vehicle marks, last many years and I certainly did not see any evidence of these. It was a wonderful feeling of being alone and being able to record on the spot, my feelings of this unique experience.
Monday 29 January 2001
This morning I had a marvellous two hours away from the station. Jim arranged for us to have a trip to Stornes with a view to locating a geological formation for Professor Pat Quilty and an island recorded many years ago by Norwegians. We landed and spent time walking about the landscape which was quite different to that of the Larsemann Hills. While the island we were looking for was sighted in the distance, we decided not to continue to it and in any case, since it has a penguin rookery, we would not have landed. Back at Law Base, Jim and I assembled our water sample bottles and headed off in opposite directions to collect samples. These were analysed in the mess hut and then stored in the portable freezer. Rounded off another good days work with a convivial yarn in the mess hut.
Tuesday 30 January 2001
I spent all morning packing scientific equipment and sampling containers for return to Davis Station then after a light lunch, I headed back to the valleys where I have been making notes on the landscape. My note taking did not finish here as back at camp I then made detailed notes from my field book. Had a fine meal of steak with onions, potato wedges, corn and peas, which we shared with Bobby (Dr Peng Bibo) and Xu Zhonghua from Zong Shan Station. Had a very enjoyable chat with our guests after dinner.
Wednesday 31 January 2001
Worked around camp all morning and following a request from Sasha (Dr Alexander Petrov) I headed to Progress 2 Station and collected samples from the lake from which the Russians draw their water supply. It was good to be able to do this work for another country participating in Antarctic research. The day remained fine and calm and walking back over the hill to Law Base, it was interesting to see the extent to which icebergs have melted. From time to time, the sound of thunder is heard, as huge blocks of ice break off the bergs which are only a short distance offshore, or from the face of the Dalk Glacier. At camp I packed up the samples for Daniela and the day ended with a superb view of two sundogs. These were oval-shaped displays of the colours of the spectrum (as in a rainbow), with a faint round shape of the sun in the centre and positioned one on each side of the sun. Another atmospheric phenomenon termed a 'sun pillar' was seen at Davis Station and appeared as a bright shaft of light extending vertically above the sun.