Author: Stefanie White

Date: 26/02/14

Returning to visit Scott's Terra Nova hut at Cape Evans was an incredibly rewarding experience. The sun was especially bright that day making our view from the helicopter ride from Scott Base sensational.  Upon arriving we found Adelie penguins and seals playing in the shore break. Entering the hut is a magical experience where one steps back into the time of the historic explorers.  As we walked around the hut I noticed several objects that our previous winter team (which I was part of) conserved and had been returned to their place in the hut by the recent summer team.

The stories associated with artefacts play a major role in their interpretation, historical significance, value and conservation treatment and upon seeing the artefacts we conserved, I felt a personal connection and a new story that I associate with those artefacts. I was reminded of all the conversations, the deliberations, the analyses and the treatments that we carried out last year. I remember the excitement in the lab, when Stefan conserved Clissold's cooking pot, which now takes prime place in the kitchen area of the hut.

Clissold's pot, conserved by Stefan, returns to its central position in the kitchen area of the hut

The Finnesko boots, which I spent so many hours reshaping and rediscovering now hang at the Hut's entrance.

Finnesko boots hang beside the entrance to the hut

Not only did Marie conserve an enamel dish uncovering the residue of caramelized sugar on its edges, but also convinced our chef to recreate a Scott style rhubarb pie in a similar dish at Scott Base, which we all thoroughly enjoyed. That enamel dish now sits on the wardroom table in the officer's area in the hut.

The conserved enamel dish on the wardroom table in the officers area of the hut

I look forward to the stories that I may associate to the artefacts I conserve this year!

Author: Meg Absolon

Date: 11/02/13

What an exciting week it's been for AHT on the ice! A shift change has brought four fresh conservators to Scott Base for the winter-over season and a much anticipated home-coming for the summer conservators and carpenters. For a short time we’ve been a group of nine AHT staff at Scott Base.

Sue, Sefanie, Aline and Meg after fuel refill, Invercargill

The 2014 winter-over team consists of Lead Conservator Sue Bassett (AUS), Stefanie White (IRE), Aline Leclercq (FRA) and Meg Absolon (AUS). Following a whirlwind of introductions, inductions and field skills training we're all excited and ready to unpack artefacts from Scott's Discovery Hut for conservation treatment. And just to top off a fabulous first week in Antarctica, a pod of Orcas swam past the dining room at dinner time. Thanks for the welcome!

Aline, Stefanie, Meg and Sue just landed

Author: Nicola Dunn

Date: 23 December 2013

It’s hard to believe that in early November Sy, Lizzie and I made the trip from Scott Base to our new home which is just a short walk along the beach from Scott’s Terra Nova hut at Cape Evans (built for the 1910-13 British Antarctic Expedition). Travelling in a tracked vehicle known as a Hagglund we headed out across the sea ice following the route frequently taken by members of both Scott and Shackletons expeditions around the shoreline below Mount Erebus. Behind us we pulled sledges of supplies to sustain us for 3 months, and the historic artefacts that we are returning to the hut after conservation treatment.

The Hagglund and sledges on the sea ice outside Scott Base being prepared for the trip to Cape Evans

Our camp is basic but comfortable and we soon settled in and now feel quite at home. Whilst we each have our own tent for sleeping other areas are made up of converted freight containers towed over the ice and left on site from year-to-year. Two adjoining containers are used for cooking, eating and warming-up and the kitchen area has a diesel fired stove on which two pans are constantly melting snow for our water supply.  The views from the windows over the sea ice are spectacular.

Our tents on the beach at Cape Evans with cloud formations around Mount Erebus in the background

We have all the basic staple foods for cooking and Sy has constructed an ice block freezer outside for our meat, cheese and vegetables that need to stay frozen when the temperatures edge above zero during the summer. The kitchen has a gas stove and oven, a breadmaker which I love using, and a yoghurt maker. We carefully sort and label our rubbish and the poo from the bucket in the little toilet block before sending it back to Scott Base and NZ for disposal.

We can communicate with the outside world by radio to Scott Base and by a satellite phone to the rest of the world.  The electricity for computers and charging batteries is provided by solar panels.

The camp at Cape Evans with our tents in the foreground, the green accommodation containers, red and black conservation laboratory and Terra Nova hut in the far distance

Working in Scotts hut we find ourselves asking questions about the daily lives of the men that lived there, and these often echo questions asked by friends and family as they try to imagine our camp set up. If you have any questions about how we live – just ask.

Author: Nicola

Date: 11 October 2013

Temperature: -25C

Wind speed: 10 knots

Temp with wind chill: -37C

Sunrise: 5am

Sunset: 10.20pm

When we arrived at Scott Base, Josiah and I joined a small team of 10 people who had just spent the winter on the ice. Whilst it was busy, it was also relaxed and quiet, but suddenly it’s all change. The summer season has begun and the base population has swollen to over 50 excited people, many of whom have not been to the ice before.

Preparing dinner in the outsoor kitchen © Issac

Last weekend we got to know some of the new crew as we joined them to learn Antarctic Field Skills from the specialist trainers – how to survive in the Antarctic environment, while working, having fun or in an emergency. 

We put together sleep kits of layers of thick sleeping bags, collected food supplies, learnt how to light camp stoves in sub-zero temperatures and discussed how to protect ourselves from frost bite. We then headed out to spend the night camping in tents similar to those used by the early Antarctic explorers.

Breakfast time in a blizzard - warming tea, Milo and porridge © Nicola

That evening, after digging a kitchen area protected by snow blocks, we heated water and dined on packets of dehydrated food. When we turned in at 11pm it was still light and the weather perfectly calm. But this is Antarctica! Overnight the winds increased and in the morning we emerged from our flapping tents into near blizzard conditions. Although I’ve done field training on my two previous trips to the Ice it was always in fine conditions, so I really enjoyed experiencing some ‘real Antarctic weather’.

Preparing to de-camp

Thanks to the training Josiah and I now feel confident as we make plans to head out to spend three months camping at the historic hut sites.  We are definitely looking forward to the experience. 

Yesterday evening the AHT team, along with a few other intrepid explorers under the guidance of the expert Mike Rowe, climbed Castle Rock, a prominent landmark on this peninsula which was often mentioned by the early explorers. Castle Rock is a reddish volcanic plug standing up sheer from the top of the ridge of the peninsula.

Castle Rock prominent on the ridge line between Scott Base and Mt. Erebus © AHT/Josiah

We rode a Hagglund snow vehicle out about 3 miles to the base of the rock, then climbed around the side to the top in time to watch another fantastic sunset. The view from the top of the castle is stunning. The mighty volcanos Erebus and Terror, which form the backbone of Ross Island, dominate the eastern horizon.

Mt. Erebus and Mt. Terror from Castle Rock © AHT/Josiah

The conservators atop the Castle © AHT/Josiah

To the south is the ice barrier and White and Black Islands. To the west, the ridge tapers off to where Scott Base and McMurdo sit on either side of Observation Hill on the edge of the frozen sea. Across that sea Discovery Peak dominates a jagged range of mountains and glaciers that hold back the ice of the Antarctic plateau. To the north, we looked toward Cape Evans where we will be spending most of our summer, and beyond it to distant Cape Royds where some open water is showing beyond the edge of the sea ice.

Cape Evans, Cape Roys and Delbridge Islands © AHT/Josiah

Sunset over the Royal Society Range © AHT/Josiah

As the sun abruptly set behind the western mountains this tableau turned to gold, to fuchsia, and to plum.

Mt. Erebus as the sun sets © AHT/Josiah

The ever whistling wind stung our cheeks and noses but it was hard to tear ourselves away from the spectacular view to hike back down to the Hagglund to return to our comfortable Scott Base. I hope that we may find another opportunity to go up to Castle Rock, but as the days rapidly lengthen I doubt if we will have another chance to see a sunset from up there again this year.

Catching the Hagglund home © AHT/Josiah

Author: Josiah Wagener

Date: 10 September 2013

Temperature: -36.7C

Wind Speed: 8 knots

Temp with wind chill: Approx -50C

Sunrise: Around 8am

Sunset: Around 4.30pm

Greetings. This is my first trip to Antarctica so it is an all new land of wonder for me. Nicola and I joined the AHT team on the Ice just a week ago and will be taking over the blogging duties from here. We were most fortunate on our flight down to have clear skies and a plane with plenty of windows for a fabulous view.

Sea ice from the plane

We crossed sea ice about half way from New Zealand.

The Antarctic coast

and had our first view of the coast of Antarctica an hour or so later.

The Victory Mountains

We passed over the spectacular Victory Mountains,

Ross Island and the Ice

and after about 4 hours of flying had our first look at Ross Island, our home for the next 5 months. The broken pack ice meets the more stable sea ice which in turn meets the massive continental shelf ice around Ross Island.

Arrival!

We landed on a runway scraped in the unending flat sheet of the continental ice and set foot on the Last Continent, a vast, surreal, frozen landscape, an entire continent to which no human has ever been native. We are here to tend the few fragile threads that link us to the very first people ever to inhabit this remotest of lands. But like them we will be here for only a short time before returning whence we came, leaving this continent where the icy land, sea, and sky reign majestically uncaring of the few people who come and go upon the surface.

I feel that a good adventure has begun.

Author: Marie

Temperature:-21

Wind speed: 12 knots

Temp with wind chill: -29

Sunrise: N/A

Sunset: N/A

We have been enthusiastic about conserving 100 year-old food products: the great wrappers and labels, the inventive marketing and all the types of lid, cork and sealing we discovered. Even then, companies were offering freshness, purity, expertise and the latest scientific research and up-to-date technology to put on your plate.

An unopened egg powder carton

What a relief to know that 'The operations are under the supervision of a trained staff of experts with the result that important improvements are constantly being made' to your table salt composition. You can be sure that the salt in the tin is the best possible for your ‘bones, brain and nerves'. You can also rely on pickles, as they are 'recommended by the faculty of digestion'.  And, indeed, some of the food is beautifully preserved and looks incredibly fresh.

Some of the sales pitches

But, the top of the range was reached last week by egg powder in cardboard cartons, both for its persuasive sales pitch and actual quality. It is 'not a substitute but pure eggs without shell or moisture', in a new-style patented cardboard carton!  I'm not trying to sell the product, but even the most damaged carton (the one we had to open, sample and empty since it was leaking its contents) was in incredibly good condition. 

The actual pure fresh hens eggs in powder form

Leaflet detailing conditions of use

The leaflet inside was in such brilliant condition that our loud and repetitive 'Oh! My! Gosh!' made our colleague in the next office rush in to check if everything was alright with us.  And, that was the very last artefact I had the chance to conserve at Scott Base before leaving the ice - lucky me!

Author: Stefan

Date: 12 August 2013

Temperature: -20C

Wind speed: 11 knots

Temp with wind chill: -32C

Sunrise: N/A

Sunset: N/A

Working as a team to conserve and restore Bower's Annex, is extremely challenging. Making sense of the mass of wood and its brooding contents often has us scratching our heads. Recently Jaime arrived at the door to my cage (working area) and 'gifted' me a piece of timber. Neither from a Venesta nor a Coleman's solid timber box, the section of wood, would now become an object, and my responsibility to conserve. Jaime had noticed it had some semi-legible bleached print on the surface, where the original paint had eroded away.

Piece of loose timber, suspected to be from a mutton packing crate © AHT/Stefan

After perusing the print again and again, the "From Tho#,  Bor###### & Sons" led me to see if a company called Thomas Borthwick & Son's was registered at the time. By a stroke of luck one of my searches led to a brilliant history of frozen meat suppliers in Australia and New Zealand.

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Cyc06Cycl-t1-body1-d2-d23-d20.html

It appears most likely the section of wood came from a packing crate containing frozen mutton. There are many accounts in the mens’ diaries as they set sail from Christchurch on the Terra Nova of mutton dinners and the gifted carcasses from the Lyttleton community that hung from the rigging.

Mutton carcass in Discovery Hut's store room © AHT/Stefan

There is still 2 freeze dried sides of mutton that reside in a store room at Discovery hut: although butchery styles and size/maturity of mutton will be similar the world over, it's spooky the similarity between the carcass at Discovery hut, and those hung in the Tomoana Freezer Works in Napier, New Zealand.

Tomoana Freezer works, Napier, New Zealand

Thomas Borthwick & Sons are still trading today in Mackay, Queensland, Australia, and are still very much in the meat business.  Sadly however, both then and now, there is no spring Welsh lamb in Antarctica, a far superior beast, especially on the plate.