Jollies, SAR training and medivacs

It is surprising how much actually happens when you look back over a few weeks in your life.  At first I really didn't think there was a great deal to talk about, but there turns out to be one or two interesting things that have popped up over the last month.  A little drama that we had down in this part of the world recently was the medical evacuation of a Chinese expeditioner from the Chinese base Zhong Shan.  The expeditioner didn't come off so well after his abdomen met with an excavator bucket.  This resulted in some major surgery, a helicopter flight to the Davis region, a plane ride in a CASA to the Wilkins runway at Casey and finally a flight on the Airbus from Wilkins to Hobart.  Thankfully, after further emergency surgery in Hobart, the patient is making a steady recovery.  As I am one of the lay surgical assistance here at Davis, I was flown up to the skiway to lend a hand if necessary, in the patients transport from helicopter to plane.  There turned out to be more than enough help however.

Australia Day was also a rather eventful day, with lots of semi-naked swimming, barbecues and beach cricket.  The weather wasn't exactly conducive to swimming though, as the water temperature hovered around -1.8 deg C, with similar air temperatures.  So needless to say, I didn't last that long clad only in my mankini.  The nightmares and counselling will though, for those that were unlucky enough to see me.

And more recently the SAR (Search and Rescue) team had their first full day of training.  This involved doing cool stuff like flying in helicopters, hanging from ropes and doing some basic mountaineering techniques.  It was probably one of the more interesting days I've had since being here and is why I wanted to come down here in the first place.  The day was spent in one of the more spectacular parts of the Vestfolds and was accompanied by some beautiful weather, which consequently, has started to become cooler and more Antarctic-like in the past couple of weeks.  We now have darkness at night and we all find ourselves looking forward to a clear evening sky so that the Aurora Australis can finally be viewed.