tiabunna's photos

From an old slide. This shows most of the isthmus of Macquarie Island, between North Head (from which it is taken) and the main plateau to the south, also most of the ANARE station.

From an old slide. These conditions were known as a "Freeze-up", not least because the pipes bringing our water supply from the plateau sometimes did just that. Fortunately this usually lasted only a few days. The row of nissen huts were primarily for storage, the small yellow building with the cross was known as "Chippy's Church" and was the station brewery. In the right foreground is the kitchen/mess, while the main accommodation block is in the foreground, hidden below the brow of the hill.

From an old slide. View southwards down the "main street", past a hexagonal storage hut from the earliest days of the ANARE Station, then the Met office and balloon shed, with the newly installed WF2 radar to the left and the main bulk of the island beyond. There was a forest of large radio masts to give VHF communications. Most of all, one of the regular drops of snow - the weather here today reminded me that winter is again coming. If you wish to see a "live" view of this area, the Australian Antarctic Division has a webcam viewable at www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/macquarie-island .

From an old slide. This was taken just moments after my previous shot. As I commented, successfully launching the large balloon, radiosonde (the white box for sending temperatures) and large radar reflector (the funny mesh thing in the middle) was tricky on windy days such as this one: note the relative angles of the balloon, pulling hard, its payload, and the horizon.

From an old slide. This was some years before ozone depletion was recognised, but scientists wanted more data on seasonal changes to temperatures in the high stratosphere. We had a supply of special high altitude balloons for launching on set dates, but on windy days it was a tricky process and required lots of coordination for two people to successfully get the balloon, radiosonde (temperature sender) and large radar target away.

They don't come much more common than these, but I was delighted to find this House Sparrow in the Callistemon bush outside our motel room in Junee. Besides, it gave an excuse to play with the long lens. :)

From an old slide. At various times through the year, we were visited by Leopard Seals (Hydrurga leptonyx) which normally live in the sea ice around Antarctica. They gave an almost reptilian impression and moved quite slowly with a caterpillar motion on land: in the water they were superbly manoeuvrable. They also were able to open their jaws to an incredible extent, showing most impressive teeth (though sadly this one was not preforming for the camera).

More's the pity the female doesn't have more colour, more's the pity also that she persisted in hopping about among the shrubbery instead of coming into the clear...