Antarctic Training part 2 - Search and Rescue

The next part of training involved all expeditioners.

Macquarie Island lies approximately halfway between Australia and Antarctica - 1,496km south SSE of Tasmania and 1,294km north of the Antarctic Continent. It is at 54º 30' S, 158º 57' E.  This puts it right in the middle of the 'Furious Fifties', making it a very remote, windy and cold place. It is also the exposed portion of the Macquarie Ridge, which is where the Australian plate (Tectonic) meets the Pacific plate. It has steep rocky slopes near the coast.

Macquarie Island looking south showing rugged slopes and adverse weather

Rugged steep coast of Macquarie Island (picture by Aleks Terauds)

All these factors make the island a dangerous place. If anyone is in trouble or injured on any part of the island, it will be up to the rest of the Macca community to deal with it.

The only way to get around the island is by foot. It is within the realms of possibility that someone may have to be rescued from the other end of the island. This would be an arduous task if that person had to be carried back to station on a stretcher. That is 34km over rough terrain.

The reality is that every Macca expeditioner is a member of the Search and Rescue (SAR) team.
During the SAR training it was often emphasised that it is paramount to assess the risk of anything that one does on the island. If anything were to go wrong it would have consequence for every other person on the island.

The first part of our SAR training took place at Bruny Island.
After catching the ferry at Kettering we drove to the CWA (Country Womens Association) community hall at Barnes Bay.

Our first exercise was in navigation - use of a compass and map. In particular we learnt the grid referencing system on the maps that we have access. The maps do have Latitude and Longitude grids, however we mainly use the UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) grid system. This is fairly simple and easy to follow. Essentially the map is divided into 1km grid squares and the UTM system means that any point on the map will have two 7 figure numbers (basically x and y co-ordinats). 

The last four numbers in each group can 'guide' you to the nearest square metre on the map. For our purposes we could work out a position on the map within a 100 square metres. I will go into the UTM system on a later blog. For those who want to find out more here is site on How to use UTM

Navigation exercise on Bruny Island - using a map and compass 

Later in the day we split into 2 groups. Each group had several co-rdinates (UTM) given to them. We then hiked through the country side using a map, compass and sometimes a GPS to make our way around a circuit. 

Navigation Exercise - making our way to the next co-ordinate

Navigation Exercise - using a map and compass to find our next co-ordinate

Navigation Exercise - In thicker bush it may be harder to find the next land-mark
 

During the navigation exercise we each carried our own pack which contained survival gear and extra clothes, food and wet weather gear, so as to simulate what we would carry out in the field on Macquarie Island.

Navigation Exercise - Each person has to carry a survival pack (around 15kg)

We arrived back at the CWA hall in the evening, just in time to help the other group prepare the evening meal. 

After the hike we enjoyed a pasta meal cooked on a trangia stove

 

After the meal we had a training session in the hall - Sub-Antarctic Survival. 

We then spent the night out under the stars - sleeping in a bivvy bag. 

The bivvy bag is part of the survival kit - Essentially it is a bag that one can get in to that will provide a weather and windproof shelter. 

If out in the field, the weather deteriorates or if you sustain an injury and it becomes unsafe to progress to the next shelter - the bivvy bag becomes your survival shelter. 

SAR training - spent the night in a bivvy bag on a thin foam mattress and whatever else was in the survival pack. 

It wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. It is quite roomy and I was dressed in my thermals, and fleece. The spare clothes and other gear that I didn't wear, did provide some sort of cushioning.

The next morning we were given a talk on the hazards on Macquarie Island. Then after being divided into small groups we went through a SAR planning exercise. 

We were given a scenario - a person injuring themselves (unable to walk) somewhere on the island. Knowing what SAR equipment is available (in many locations strategically placed around the island) we had to plan the search and rescue of that person with the resources available to us.

In the afternoon we left Bruny Island and made our way back to AAD headquarters for some further training in SAR.....