Deans Birthday party

The big saturday showdown


My turn for a day in the kitchen, saturday night, the best meal that Halley has seen...but it wasn;t this saturday but i did my best and nobody choked on the olives so i was happy. Three courses for 17 people takes a bit of planning and you know how i love to plan things in advance. Nice apron though.





well i have to say the colour of this fellow had nothing to do with my food. At least i hope not.

As it turned out it was the comm;s managers birthday and so the theme was cartoon characters. so who is this????







then we had somebody with a box on his head and a face like a cat.

we all know who these are?







tamsin the turtle, as ever battling to save the planet or her beer.











mmmmm, a smurf, can anyone guess the other? standing outside at -30 for 10 minutes can make you this colour. Don;t try it at home.









hey its that guy with a box again and a guinness but can he dance?






And last but no-way least, the group as a whole....since i was spending many hours during the week deciding what to cook and prepare for saturday's meal then i didn;t have much time to prepare a costume, yeah right, so i picked up what i could and went back to prehistoric times...

team echo sledging winter party

Camped on a solid plateau in the middle of the brunt ice shelf, with temperatures -20oC, a gas stove and sleeping bags to keep us warm. Its amazing what you call home.

It was me, mark (electrician), andy (vehicle mechanic) and sune (GA).



This was the coldest yet sunniest trip so far. It was assumed that as the season progressed then the weather would get colder and harsher as compared to the earlier trips. The trips were always weather dependant and lasted upto 5 days, although one group stayed in the tents for mush longer. Here we enjoy the sun with and without shirts for 10 minutes (its all about the best tan down here) although its still -20.


Once the sun goes down then you feel the cold the most. The sunsets are amazing and clear but once you are settled in the tent with stove and tilly lamp going you do not want to leave the tent for anything.
We ponder whilst we decide who goes first for the abseil into the abyss. At -20 its all hard work.





A super silly hat and glove shot of me.









Walking the line, roping up as we walk across the ice shelf which is full of crevasses. Its an interesting and daunting time. We go in pairs a rope's length between us and an ice axe at the ready should anyone fall into a crevasse.




someone has fallen in...

Nope, its just an ice cave. Down we go to have a look and see what we find???????





This is amazing. Its a bit of squeeze to get in but it all seems so delicate and brittle.

The ice is really so blue and the crystal structures so fine and detailed. Its like being in the centre of a million chandeliers. A tug on the rope and its time to let the next one down.