The icebreaker cometh, the icebreaker leaveth. With bad weather approaching and the station wharf still iced in, the Aurora Australis has headed back to sea. This delays resupply and refuelling until next week when the weather (hopefully) settles a bit. We still can’t access the water so we’re keeping ourselves busy with terrestrial toxicity tests with an adorable rotifer species, our algae Prasiola crispa, and a moss.

 

Also, turns out you can hold your phone up to a microscope and get a pretty good video… it just takes steady hands and some multitasking to follow the critters around.

 

 

With resupply delayed, the bar is open again! So it’s turning into a festive Christmas after all (even though it’s still ‘delayed’ until we finish resupply).