Hey all,
Just wanted to let you know that the latest version of our Bunting is vailable on the
Gough52 page . It is our June
version, so slightly delayed I guess. To throw a cliche into the air, Time is really flying". I think it is 6 weeks before takeover starts. I also spoke to the new team leader on the phone a couple of days ago,
which made we realise that our lease on "ons huise by die see" is almost finished. I have mixed feelings about going home, I'm really going to miss the island, but it is going to be good to go home and see all the family and friends again. I guess I will need to start showering once a day again . . . . grin.
I have attached a photo taken about a week ago. Petrus and I took a walk to one of the smaller hills above the base which has no official name, therefore we know it only by it's height of 960 (feet). There is no set path to 960, so was a bit of a cross country trek to get there. Luckily due to the time of year, most of the plants have died back so it was fairly easy going. The view in the photo is looking north. You can see Penguin Island in the distance, and the nearest bay that you can see is known as Quest Bay. The site of the original base on the island, is at the mouth of the river running down The Glen, which flows into Quest Bay. (Hopefully that makes sense?).
We camped at the site of the old base at The Glen over a month ago. I
found it really interesting to see the old foundation and see the various names that had been cemented and scratched into the rock. On one of the rocks we could make out the date 18**. We weren't sure about the last two digits but no the less it was from the 18 hundreds. At the Glen there is also an old sealers cave that sealers dug into the rock many moons ago for shelter and a place to store tools etc. I have also attached a photo from that trip. Our tents to the left are pitched on the site of the old base. The sealers cave is just to the right of the tents. I was really surprised how close the old base was to the sea. Probably about 50 m. We found pieces of driftwood behind the foundation of the old base, so the waves must at times break over the old foundation. You can see some rubbish that was washed up on the beach bottom left of the photo. In the middle of the photo are two cement plaques from previous teams. If I remember correctly the one on the left is from Gough 2 and the other from Gough 7 (I'm in Gough 52). Ross and Martin (They were visiting us for a month) are busy putting the stove on for some coffee. Unfortunately during our whole time there the weather was a bit dodgy, so we had to make use of the natural overhang seen in the picture to be able to cook our meals out of the rain.
Thats me for now, take it easy
