We have finished two days of initial field training for the wintereres now. On Thursday we were out on the sea ice with quads learning how to control them in slippery conditions and how to gauge the sea ice thickness with auger drills, and yesterday we did navigation in the Vestfold Hills. They look very much like a slightly less extreme version of the McMurdo Dry Valleys with lots of extremely interesting geology around and of course those amazing dolerite dykes cross-cutting the landscape everywhere. In between all the science and the station duties we will be doing I am very much looking forward to getting more familiar with the terrain here. There is also a small lake right next to the station and a roundtrip there on the gravel road is about 6 km - this makes awesome offroad running. I managed to get out for one run the other day and it was absolutely fantastic!

Today I am on slushy which involves kitchen and generic housekeeping duties around the station main living area building (LMQ). Everyone gets rostered for a day or two every few weeks in the summer (every couple of weeks in winter) and everyone also participates in Saturday duties, which are done in the sleeping quarters and accommodation areas (SMQ and summer accommodation). And when there's snow we go out and do some shovelling - right now there isn't much around anymore as the summer is quickly approaching. From the Vestfold Hills yesterday I saw how close the open water is - and it really isn't far away - it is only a matter of a couple of weeks now and the sea ice will no longer be there.