HOW DO WE WASH OUR CLOTHES?
It is a big job when you are more than 2,500 kilometres from the
nearest washing machine. First we had to get water from the lake we
can only scoop out a cupful at a time. The ice is getting thicker
every day and it is harder to chop through it. Then we lug the big
water container back to the hut and heat the water in pots on the
kerosene stove. We used SUNLIGHT soap instead of detergent. Washed
the clothes by hand and then had a real problem. We can't hang them
out to dry. They freeze stiff and when they thaw, they are wet. We
had to hang them in front of the heater a few at a time. It took
FOUR DAYS to dry the laundry. We think it should be in the book of
world records.
GETTING RID OF THE WASHING WATER
The clothes are clean but now we have to get rid of the dirty
water. Once we have filtered it we have to take it down to the tide
crack (a place where the sea comes in between the rocks). It's
about 120 metres to the sea.
IN SUCH A TINY HUT WHERE DO YOU KEEP TWO YEARS' SUPPLY OF
FOOD?
Margie told them we keep it in the "garbarge truck." That's what
she says the 'lean-to' we built looks like. We brought some sheets
of plywood with us on "Spirit of Sydney" and have leaned them up
against one side of the hut. It reminds Margie of the garbage
trucks where we used to live near Manly in Sydney, Australia. The
'lean-to' was a great idea but we didn't realise that snow can get
through tiny cracks. After our first blizzard there was heaps of
snow on top of our supplies out in the 'lean-to.' We had to dig it
all out so that it won't freeze solid when the really cold weather
comes. We have just finished putting silicon sealant in all the
cracks to keep the snow out.
OTHER FOOD PROBLEMS
When the ice-breaker, Kaptain Khlebnikov, brought us our supply of
frozen meat we buried it in the snow. After the blizzard we
couldn't find it. It was under an snow drift more than two metres
deep. We dug it out but now there is another problem. These giant
birds, petrels, have been hanging around and attacking the young
penguins. The penguins try to gang up on them and chase them away
but they aren't always successful. The petrels are meat eaters.
They must be able to smell our meat. This morning when we went
outside we found big footprints, bigger than my hand all around the
area where we have stashed our meat supply. We are wondering if
they are going to figure out how to dig it out of the snow.
WHAT'S THE COLDEST TEMPERATURE YOU HAVE HAD?
So far the coldest has been minus fifteen degrees celsius but it is
still technically summer. When we wake up in the morning it is
minus five in our hut. We turn on the kerosene heater and it gets
really nice, twenty degrees, but then the ceiling starts to defrost
and drip on our heads. Our mattress is moulding and we feel like we
are living in a freezer. Margie wants to defrost it today so that
is our project for now. Once we get all the ice out of here I'm
going to go up on the flat roof and fill all the seams between the
prefabricated panels with silicon sealant.
THE WIND CHILL FACTOR
The temperature is just one part of how cold it feels down here.
The wind has a big influence on how cold it is. The wind here is
katabatic wind. Some times people describe katabatic wind as
gravity wind but really it wind that blows downhill because the air
higher up the hill gets cooled. Commonwealth Bay is near the ice
plateau and the shape of the surrrounding area acts like a
funnel--that's why this is the windiest place on earth. The wind
was blowing at 60 knots the other day and even though it was only
minus fifteen the wind chill made it minus forty.
THE WIND
It can blow up eighty knots for an hour and then within ten seconds
it will die down to ten knots, then a big bullet of wind at it's
back to seventy or eighty knots. The hut gives a lurch and rocks
and groans. We sit here and wonder how much the hut can take. We've
got twelve tie-downs to the rocks. The roof flexes and so do the
walls as the hut moves in the wind. Once the snow comes and freezes
around us we should be alright. These first few weeks are like
taking a new yacht to sea. The first trip is called a "shake down
cruise." You literally find out what is wrong during that trip and
fix it before you go on a really big ocean trip. Well, we are here
and we are having our "shake down" before winter and the real test
of our hut.
FROST NIP
My left ear was uncovered a bit when I was out the other day. When
I came in I said to Margie, "Gee my ears are freezing." Two days
later she realised that I had blisters on my ears. That's frost
nip. The wind-chill factor gets bad that you can get frost nip in a
matter of seconds. The skin on the top of my fingers is starting to
wear through. We wear gloves all the time when we're outside
working in the snow but we still lose sensitivity a bit. Some of
the outer layers of skin may be freezing a bit, we're not sure what
is causing it.
WINTER IS ON ITS WAY ALREADY
Just two weeks ago we had one hour of darkness and this week we
have almost three hours of darkness between one and four a.m. The
harbour where "Spirit of Sydney" anchored is now frozen over. When
it is windy and we go outside it looks like there's smoke from a
bush fire. It is drift snow. It is as fine as icing sugar and it
gets into everything. We even found it under Margie's pillow in the
hut because there was a little crack in the wall. I've got a lot of
silcon sealant and a lot of cracks to track down. I'll go and get
busy. Keep warm, Don
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