Thursday 21st February
Well I made it, my last day in penguin land. All that's left to do is pack, reflect on the last four months, and not miss the air bridge tomorrow morning.
I had a list of things I wanted to see and do while I was down here, and I am pleased that I managed to do pretty much all of them. I've been on four heli trips - to Sealion, Carcass, Volunteer and Bleaker. I was privileged to have a seat on the herc for the Cold Stare trip to South Georgia, and have visited pretty much all the settlements in the east island that I wanted to see. I've been to the bizarre tourist attractions that include having tea and cakes in a lady's front room, visited museums and cemeteries and seen some of the little monuments. I enjoyed escaping the confines many times to Stanley and it's surprisingly good restaurants and uncanny resemblance to British life. We even left our mark at the totem pole. The only thing on the list I didn't do that I really wanted was a flight in the big yellow helicopter. That was a shame, but I have done it before. And also, the Winchman from when james and I had a flight at Chivnor two years ago is here at the moment :) so that's nice.
I've also had some really good times in MPC itself, with its stupidly long corridor that ices over in the winter. I got fully involved in the social side of things here, including formal black tie dinners and fancy dress parties. I've experienced many of the bars at MPC, each with their quirks from the forfeits at Timmy's bar, the drinking games in The World Famous Crab and Sprocket, darts and curries in Brintel, and watching grown men try (and fail!) to get their bums on the ceiling in The Goose. Well done to james who was the nearest anyone came in a long time, and congrats on winning that lunging competition... I'll miss the bad met banter in the Officers Mess bar, and being able to escape it in the Sergeant's. I'll especially miss ordering 8 jägerbombs, 2 gin and tonics, 2 rum and cokes, 3 lagers and then being asked for "four pounds eighty three please." Crazy.
The thing that has made my tour so enjoyable though is the people. We, as a met team, were in a good position in that we get to spend time with lots of different people as our customers here are varied, and good friendships were made with a few different groups. Mostly the SAR and Typhoon guys. Every social gathering of late has included them and I hope the SAR-Met-Typhoon love affair continues once our groups are replaced with the next. As for the met people themselves, I had met a few of them briefly before coming so knew they were a nice bunch. I thought we would have a good time socially, but I didn't expect to make such great friends that I'm sure will be around after all of this is over. Back in August when I was told I had got the job in Exeter, of course I was excited about moving down there and being with James again, but I love my job in defence and had been a little sad and worried if it was the right thing to do. But after meeting my new colleagues down here I know for sure that I am really going to enjoy my new job and am not looking back anymore.
I must say, this detachment has been very different to what I was expecting. I thought I would come here, meet a few crusty old men and a couple of people from ops who I probably wouldn't get on with. I fully intended to use my time just to save, hit the gym, hard, see some penguins and just go to work. Instead I gained half a stone (damage control the past few weeks has put me back where I started though. Thankfully!) made some lovely new friends and have had a thoroughly great experience from start to finish.
Though I'm looking forward to a cup of Yorkshire Tea with real milk.
Goodbye penguin land x
Thursday, 21 February 2013
Sunday, 17 February 2013
Day 98: Penguins and parties
Saturday 16th February
Wow I can't believe I'm into my last week.... It's flown... anyway, don't want to dwel on that right now!
So, back to today! The past few days I have been working on the forecasting side. It's a lot busier than the observing side of the office, so appologies for not being "around" as much on here or on facebook lately. I really enjoyed forecasting actually, and would be quite keen to come back here in the future to do longer than just a week and a bit doing that job!!
So Saturday was my sleep day, and Katie was off too. She's been here a week but due to weather and fires on the west Island hasn't been out on a heli trip yet. It seems I have been very very lucky that I have been to all of the places that I wanted to visit in my three month tour. I had put mine and Katie's names down to go to Bleaker Island today, and luckily it came off! Bleaker Island is to the south of MPA, just before you get to Sealion Island. My very own forecast of fair weather cu had come off - it was bright and sunny. The wind was however quite a bit stronger than I had forecast (I'd gone for 15-18 KT and it was more like 25-30 KT. Oops). But never mind!
Kaite and me were boh coming off night shifts, but the excitment of penguins and a hogie (like a subway!) were enough to keep us awake!! We arrived at around 11.15 and were met by Elaine, the owner of the island, who had made tea and cakes for us. Lovely!
We had until 3.15 to look around, and there were a couple of different "hot spots" to cover, so we quickly got on our way, in search of rockhopper penguins. We walked forward in a straight line, and came to a group of cormorants. There were loads of them, and also loads of dead animal carcasses on the ground. Spooky. One bird seemingly took a swoop at us, but I think he maybe didn;'t see us as they are generally quite friendly, and we weren't that close. They absolutely stunk, so we kept going! We came to the sea, and noticed that the rockhoppers were actually a little bit to the right so we set off following the coast line. We were blocked by a huge mass of tussuck plants. We though we would be able to get through it quite easily if we kept to the coast line, however it got was quite 'cliffy' after a while so we were faced with no choice than to walk through the now neck high, thick tussock plants. Ooops. I don't think Elaine would have been too happy with us. Of course, we were as carfeul as we could and tried to take the quickest route out towards the land rather than towards the rockhoppers. We lept getting lost, and even when we got out and headed to where the path to the rockhoppers were we still got lost in the middle of a tussuck jungle!!
We found the rockhoppers in the end, and they were very cute. They were a lot more docile than the ones on Sealion Island, and we didnt' see them do too much hopping. But it was nice anyway!
We then went off in search of Sandy Bay, which was again another beautiful white sandy beach. There were Gentoos there, which are Katie's favourites, so that was good. The water was really clear.
We set off back towards the settlement, and managed to get a bit lost and ended up walking prety much the whole stretch of the island!! Oh well! We made it back just in time for a cup of tea and a bit more cake. Yay! I managed to fall asleep on the 15 minute flight back to MPA... zzz!!
Just enough time to have an hours sleep before getting ready for the fancy dress BBQ in the officer's mess! I of course went as a penguin, and James gave his penguin onesie to Katie to wear, as he didn't want to look like a couple's fancy dress. Katie wore a crown and went as a King Penguin, and I made a necklace out of pasta so was a Macaroni Penguin. Yay! Everyone was in a bit of a buzz, and it was a really good fun night. Yayyy!
Wow I can't believe I'm into my last week.... It's flown... anyway, don't want to dwel on that right now!
So, back to today! The past few days I have been working on the forecasting side. It's a lot busier than the observing side of the office, so appologies for not being "around" as much on here or on facebook lately. I really enjoyed forecasting actually, and would be quite keen to come back here in the future to do longer than just a week and a bit doing that job!!
So Saturday was my sleep day, and Katie was off too. She's been here a week but due to weather and fires on the west Island hasn't been out on a heli trip yet. It seems I have been very very lucky that I have been to all of the places that I wanted to visit in my three month tour. I had put mine and Katie's names down to go to Bleaker Island today, and luckily it came off! Bleaker Island is to the south of MPA, just before you get to Sealion Island. My very own forecast of fair weather cu had come off - it was bright and sunny. The wind was however quite a bit stronger than I had forecast (I'd gone for 15-18 KT and it was more like 25-30 KT. Oops). But never mind!
Kaite and me were boh coming off night shifts, but the excitment of penguins and a hogie (like a subway!) were enough to keep us awake!! We arrived at around 11.15 and were met by Elaine, the owner of the island, who had made tea and cakes for us. Lovely!
We had until 3.15 to look around, and there were a couple of different "hot spots" to cover, so we quickly got on our way, in search of rockhopper penguins. We walked forward in a straight line, and came to a group of cormorants. There were loads of them, and also loads of dead animal carcasses on the ground. Spooky. One bird seemingly took a swoop at us, but I think he maybe didn;'t see us as they are generally quite friendly, and we weren't that close. They absolutely stunk, so we kept going! We came to the sea, and noticed that the rockhoppers were actually a little bit to the right so we set off following the coast line. We were blocked by a huge mass of tussuck plants. We though we would be able to get through it quite easily if we kept to the coast line, however it got was quite 'cliffy' after a while so we were faced with no choice than to walk through the now neck high, thick tussock plants. Ooops. I don't think Elaine would have been too happy with us. Of course, we were as carfeul as we could and tried to take the quickest route out towards the land rather than towards the rockhoppers. We lept getting lost, and even when we got out and headed to where the path to the rockhoppers were we still got lost in the middle of a tussuck jungle!!
We found the rockhoppers in the end, and they were very cute. They were a lot more docile than the ones on Sealion Island, and we didnt' see them do too much hopping. But it was nice anyway!
We then went off in search of Sandy Bay, which was again another beautiful white sandy beach. There were Gentoos there, which are Katie's favourites, so that was good. The water was really clear.
We set off back towards the settlement, and managed to get a bit lost and ended up walking prety much the whole stretch of the island!! Oh well! We made it back just in time for a cup of tea and a bit more cake. Yay! I managed to fall asleep on the 15 minute flight back to MPA... zzz!!
Just enough time to have an hours sleep before getting ready for the fancy dress BBQ in the officer's mess! I of course went as a penguin, and James gave his penguin onesie to Katie to wear, as he didn't want to look like a couple's fancy dress. Katie wore a crown and went as a King Penguin, and I made a necklace out of pasta so was a Macaroni Penguin. Yay! Everyone was in a bit of a buzz, and it was a really good fun night. Yayyy!
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| Can't really sunbathe on this beach! |
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| Gunna miss these funny little penguins! |
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| Katie looking cheery, despite getting lost in the tussock plants! |
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| Cormorants sat on a cliff |
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| Little Rockhoppers. |
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| Gentoos |
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| Just a seagull |
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| Fancy dress party at MPA. |
Friday, 8 February 2013
Day 88: Wool Spinning
Thursday 7th February
Well I had a lovely day today! It was my day off, so Jayne and I went off to Stanley for the day. I managed to get in touch with the Falklands Tourist Information, who put me in touch with a lovely lady called Margo who runs a spinning group.
We pottered around Stanley in the morning, there was a ship in so it was busy, and had another great lunch in Malvina House Hotel. Lush!!! Bought even more "penguin tat" as James calls it from the gift shop, but I can't help it!!!
We went round at about 1.30pm to the little cabin that Margo has at the top of a very steep hill. The ladies there were lovely and spent ages telling us all about the wool, and how it is made. They have to send the fleece to a mill in Cornwall to get cleaned and to turn it into "top" (the stuff you can use straight away to felt, or as Jayne and I did, spin it into wool!) It then either gets dyed, or you can use it as the natural colour.
We used a white one which was natural sheep colour.
First we used the wheel to spin two bobbins full, then you have to ply them together on another wheel. It was great fun! A lot harder than it looks though!!!!!
Well I had a lovely day today! It was my day off, so Jayne and I went off to Stanley for the day. I managed to get in touch with the Falklands Tourist Information, who put me in touch with a lovely lady called Margo who runs a spinning group.
We pottered around Stanley in the morning, there was a ship in so it was busy, and had another great lunch in Malvina House Hotel. Lush!!! Bought even more "penguin tat" as James calls it from the gift shop, but I can't help it!!!
We went round at about 1.30pm to the little cabin that Margo has at the top of a very steep hill. The ladies there were lovely and spent ages telling us all about the wool, and how it is made. They have to send the fleece to a mill in Cornwall to get cleaned and to turn it into "top" (the stuff you can use straight away to felt, or as Jayne and I did, spin it into wool!) It then either gets dyed, or you can use it as the natural colour.
We used a white one which was natural sheep colour.
First we used the wheel to spin two bobbins full, then you have to ply them together on another wheel. It was great fun! A lot harder than it looks though!!!!!
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| Margo teaching Jayne |
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| First attempt... |
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| Two bobbins of spun wool, ready to ply together |
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| My wool! |
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| Putting the wool on the Skein |
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| Look at my wool I made!! |
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
Day 85: night photography
Monday 4th February
So Jake correctly forecast a clear calm night, so while we were on shift we went to play around in the pitch black to take some long exposure shots of the sky. Jake has just bought a new camera too.
Pretty cool really.
So Jake correctly forecast a clear calm night, so while we were on shift we went to play around in the pitch black to take some long exposure shots of the sky. Jake has just bought a new camera too.
Pretty cool really.
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| Southern hemisphere stars |
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| The air traffic control tower. It looks like a robot!! |
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| The roof is actually green, but the light above the building made it shine red. |
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| One strong light in the distance (our accommodation block, 5 miles away) made this look more like a sun rise than pithc black middle of the night |
Monday, 4 February 2013
Day 84: Volunteer Point
Sunday 3rd February
Yayyyyyy!!! Helicopter trip to penguin land!!!!
Somehow both James and I managed to come away with sunburn, even though it was pretty much overcast all day long! I have wanted to go to Volunteer Point since I got to The Falklands, but wanted to save it for a day off with James. But heli trips sometimes get cancelled, so it was a bit of a risk leaving it so late into my tour. But it all worked out OK, and we were dropped at heli HQ at 9am ready to watch the safty brief.
One the wall was a map of Volunteer Point. When I went to Sealion island (wow, three months ago almost...!) It is quite a large island, so you can easily fill the 4 hours you have there. But Volunteer Point is literally just one beach. But this place was litterally just one beach, and you could walk maybe half a mile each way from the landind site. We were the first to arrive at the heli place, and while we were waiting we were looking at the tourist information guide for Volunteer Point on the wall. It showed where to walk to see the penguins, and on the map there was a box over the beach saying "WARNING: Beach prone to large surf." With an hour before take off, James went to see the loadies to see if he could take his board on the helicopter. Apparently it was fine, and they even gave him a lift back to the accommodation block to collect it.
The flight was only twenty minutes, and one little girl was sick the whole way there. Poor thing.
We were dropped off, and informed we had 5 hours before we would get picked up again. Wish I'd brought a book... It took about 10 minutes or less to get to the beach, which was again another pretty white sandy beach. Straight away we saw a group of King Penguins. They are so pretty. Well, I'll let the photos do the talking. We then walked about twenty minutes up to where their colony is, and saw the last of the babies. Most of them are all grown up now and look like adults.
After we'd done that we went to the far side of the beach, and found some shelter from the wind. The waves looked pretty pathetic, 1ft at best. But as he'd gone to the trouble of bringing the board, James thought it was worth a go and managed to catch a few waves.
Sorry a lot of the pictures are the same - I took loads and struggled to get only 10!!!
Yayyyyyy!!! Helicopter trip to penguin land!!!!
Somehow both James and I managed to come away with sunburn, even though it was pretty much overcast all day long! I have wanted to go to Volunteer Point since I got to The Falklands, but wanted to save it for a day off with James. But heli trips sometimes get cancelled, so it was a bit of a risk leaving it so late into my tour. But it all worked out OK, and we were dropped at heli HQ at 9am ready to watch the safty brief.
One the wall was a map of Volunteer Point. When I went to Sealion island (wow, three months ago almost...!) It is quite a large island, so you can easily fill the 4 hours you have there. But Volunteer Point is literally just one beach. But this place was litterally just one beach, and you could walk maybe half a mile each way from the landind site. We were the first to arrive at the heli place, and while we were waiting we were looking at the tourist information guide for Volunteer Point on the wall. It showed where to walk to see the penguins, and on the map there was a box over the beach saying "WARNING: Beach prone to large surf." With an hour before take off, James went to see the loadies to see if he could take his board on the helicopter. Apparently it was fine, and they even gave him a lift back to the accommodation block to collect it.
The flight was only twenty minutes, and one little girl was sick the whole way there. Poor thing.
We were dropped off, and informed we had 5 hours before we would get picked up again. Wish I'd brought a book... It took about 10 minutes or less to get to the beach, which was again another pretty white sandy beach. Straight away we saw a group of King Penguins. They are so pretty. Well, I'll let the photos do the talking. We then walked about twenty minutes up to where their colony is, and saw the last of the babies. Most of them are all grown up now and look like adults.
After we'd done that we went to the far side of the beach, and found some shelter from the wind. The waves looked pretty pathetic, 1ft at best. But as he'd gone to the trouble of bringing the board, James thought it was worth a go and managed to catch a few waves.
Sorry a lot of the pictures are the same - I took loads and struggled to get only 10!!!
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| Pretty King Penguins on the beach at Volunteer Point |
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| Hard to miss the King Penguin colony...! |
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| Aww |
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| The last of the babies, all grown up! |
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| They are smaller than they look in the photos!!! |
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| Penguin fight! |
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| Retaliation |
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| James with the penguins |
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| Random Magellanic amongst the kings |
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| Managed to get a bit of surfing done! |
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| Baby Magellanic coming out of his home |
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