Resupply (part 4 of 4)
Tuesday 28th March 2000

Finally, the inevitable happened. The weather was beginning to deteriorate and the ship operations had been completed so it came to the time to farewell the summering expeditioners and for the AA to depart. It was quite hard for some of the the summering expeditioners to say goodbye to their home for the past 4 months, with the inevitable tear being shed, and as the last boat ferried passengers out to the AA the remaining 19 wintering expeditioners, including me, contemplated the long winter ahead. It was a sobering experience for me to think that we will be isolated here at Mawson for the next 8 months but we were also all looking forward to some rest to recover from the long hours put in during resupply and the challenge of the winter that lay ahead.

At meal times during resupply we had an interesting view out of the Red Shed Mess window.

The photo to the right shows the last passenger boat out to the AA taking with it the remainder of the 1999/2000 summer expeditioners.

Farewelling the RSV Aurora Australis as it leaves Horseshoe Harbour where it is customary to use some out of date flares to mark the occasion.

Cheers,

Kym

Back to part 1, part 2, part 3