Chapter 30 
Watch out for three-quarter time — keep your energy up
Our final weeks in Antarctica went by in a blur. The energy that returned to the station was unbelievable and we went from stagnant to staccato almost overnight. Everyone wanted to maximise their last few weeks so I spent a lot of time organising offsite excursions, filling rosters and keeping up with the demands of head office.
Where to next?
One of the biggest demands was the final report. I had been working on this on-and-off for a good six months already, filling in pieces as and when they happened, but the report needed an overriding narrative. I was very happy with our expedition and the report reflected that.
Thursday 18th August
A really productive day. I finally finished writing the Operations Report. It has taken so long but it's worth it. I hope it doesn't upset too many people, but hey, it's my report and I've written it to say what needs to be said. In my opinion.
I also wrote the monthly report and the latest version of our newsletter for distribution to the families back home. I feel quite happy and relaxed now.
Flat Darcy arrived from the Balranald Primary School. They faxed down a drawing of a person based on the children's book Flat Stanley. We cut him out and stuck him on cardboard to be photographed around station for their school project. We set him up and took pictures of him drilling ice, driving a Hagglunds and doing some cross-country skiing. Our team had such fun putting Flat Darcy in funny, and often ludicrous, Antarctic situations that the school asked if they could send down more Flat People! So now we have a whole family of Flat People. It's hilarious. The schoolkids even added a little bio about what their particular Flat Person was like, and we did laugh about Flat Rosa who liked ‘cooking, cleaning and walking the dog’. Get a life, Flat Rosa!
Minor issue with Flat Barney — we tied him to a Met weather balloon for a photo. Unfortunately we forgot to tie the balloon down and powered by a full load of hydrogen the weather balloon, and subsequently Flat Barney, took to the skies. Oops. Have to explain to that child that Flat Barney is off on a traverse … for a long time.
It's a nice break in the day-to-day rhythm to have the Flat People and it also makes us feel proud of what we're doing here and reminds us we are somewhere special.
I started thinking seriously about what I would do on my return to Australia. I knew that my leadership skills had increased massively over the past year and that I was ready to take on an executive role within Parks Victoria. But another big part of me wanted to lie down and rest for a very long time. Mark Stone offered me a great role as Chief Ranger of Port Phillip Bay on my return. I was in two minds but I accepted. They had shown me great loyalty and it was time to repay it.
Monday 22nd August
A busy day, even if it was spent working on my CV. At least it's current now and I won't have to update it for an executive application. I hadn't realised how much I have done until I started writing it down for this.
What is not appearing on the CV is my judgement and intuition. I reckon it's now really good. This experience has been incredible. I've gone from second-guessing my every move to acting with confidence in a wide variety of situations.
I'm also toying with the idea of doing an MBA — putting some theoretical flesh around my experience and intuition.
I wasn't convinced the role I would return to would provide the constant challenge I need so I researched the postgraduate management education scene from my desk in Antarctica. The MBA from Melbourne Business School stood out as a world-class postgraduate degree and I made some enquiries. I quickly found out I would need to sit an exam to gain entry! And not just any exam — it was the same exam that is run for all world-class MBA programs, from Harvard to Oxford.
A sample test showed me that despite my ability to ‘do numbers’ I was nowhere near the level required for entry into Melbourne. I asked a friend in Melbourne to buy the textbook and scan the chapters for me. I grabbed Doc and our fantastic engineer Peter and ‘seconded’ them to deliver maths coaching.
Wednesday 28th September
I'm tired again and can't work it out. Maybe I'm eating too much sugar. As soon as I woke up I couldn't wait to get back to bed tonight.
I went out with Sharon and did the sea-ice observations. It's so nice just to say, bugger it, I'm going out for a while. It was cold out on the sea ice and we laughed as we packed our survival pack. Nothing spontaneous here. Five layers of clothing and a backpack, just to go for a walk!
The sea ice is still getting thicker, which surprised me, as we're having long days now. I guess it's because it's still very, very cold here. Apparently it will start thinning out very soon. It's fascinating to see the seasons changing so quickly. Well … relatively quickly.
There are only eight people on station at the moment. My most ‘challenging’ people are off on traverses and in huts and I can't believe how quiet it is here today. No doubt when they all come back I'll have another round of hell to deal with. But for now Kirsten has prepared an awesome Spanish dinner. It's a special treat to have a formal dinner midweek. Bring it on!
Three-quarter time syndrome
The final weeks continued to amaze me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there was all the planning and preparation and ‘mechanical’ things that had to be attended to. This was expected and we took it all in our stride. It was hard work with long hours but we managed it. Secondly, and what stopped me in my tracks, was that we all dropped our guard and many of our social niceties disappeared altogether.
Thursday 29th September
Had a run-in with Phil today. He rang up all cranky because he'd heard a team was heading out to O'Gormans Rocks tomorrow and they hadn't booked the Hagglunds and the quad bikes. He insisted they couldn't go out. I told him he had no right to decide who can and can't take out the Haggs and quads.
He admitted it was a reaction to them not booking the quads, but I wonder where our teamwork and grace has gone. I'm sure it was an oversight and six months ago there would have been a conversation and then it would have been over and done with.
I figure that as there's only five weeks left they are saying, ‘Well I've put up with it for so long and I don't want to put up with it any longer’.
I feel this myself. These last few weeks will require me to dig deep and find the patience and tolerance to continue to be a strong leader. I'm almost over it all and would be really happy to spend the rest of my time here doing maths (!). But if I close up now, so close to the finish line, we might have problems at the changeover. Plus I don't want the last memory of our time here to be all about conflict.
Geelong FC wrote today to say that I (once on the cheer squad in my teens) had my photo printed in their annual report! Dad will be stoked. Probably his proudest moment of me so far!
Saturday 1st October
Well, it's turning to shit. JR and Phil had a run-in this morning, which brought to a head all the bullshit a few people have been carrying on with over the last two days. By 11 am today I'd received complaints about:
- someone who rebooted the servers by turning them off and on again at the wall (a big no-no apparently)
- another person who borrowed steel from the diesos without asking
- someone who cleared the snow from the beach when he wasn't asked to do it
- another person who put wet mugs on a newly cleaned kitchen bench.
I just look at this list and want to cry. We've done so well this year and it's really unravelling quickly. I don't want us to leave the ship in Hobart hating each other.
Rang Richard in Hobart to chat about the changing mood of the station. Told me it happens EVERY YEAR! The psychologists call it three-quarter time payback. Reassuring to know it's common, but a heads-up would have been bloody helpful. Still, at least I know what I'm dealing with now … Onwards.
Monday 3rd October
STAND-UP FIGHT!
Well, sort of. It's the first time our conversation has ever degenerated into shouting. And it was at the dinner table of all places.
Over the year our conversations have covered everything. We've discussed anything from highly controversial and personal topics, such as abortion laws, capital punishment and gay marriage, to Paris Hilton, Shane Warne and whether The Wombles was better than Fraggle Rock. (The Wombles of course.)
It's a strange existence. Usually you wouldn't discuss any of these topics with your workmates. But we can't discuss the latest movies, or who we think should have been voted off Survivor last night … so our dinner-table conversations are varied, broad and often unusual.
Yet we have always managed to discuss these topics amicably, showing great respect for differing opinions. It's been fascinating to hear from people with views vastly different from mine and I'm thrilled we've been able to do that. No one has yelled, no one has walked out, no one has been hurt or upset … until today.
And the topic today was ‘Which Australian state has the worst roads?’!!
One person was so vehement the spittle was flying and the cutlery banged on the table. People weren't agreeing with him so he spoke louder and louder until he was yelling! If it wasn't a symptom of three-quarter time payback and the fact we are all now getting tired, it would be hilarious! The worst roads in Australia? Who cares enough to shout at someone else about it … Anywhere??
I sat on the sidelines and just watched. And it made me realise I don't have a position on many political issues. I have spent my life being a peacemaker and diplomat, so I don't actually take sides and can't articulate what I ‘stand for’. Now I'm more determined than ever to get into Melbourne Business School.
In the meantime I'm going to have to do something to break this mood.
Thursday 6th October
Finally we had some good news. Well, not good news exactly, but a good outcome. The traverse team out on the ice took two Hagglunds and one of them broke a torsion spring in the suspension and is undrivable. So they were stuck out on the ice a good two days’ travel from station. The weather's not great, but passable at –21 °C and no wind.
They tried to weld it back together but had no luck, so they wanted to bring all eight people back in the yellow Hagglunds.
I don't want them travelling in the back of the Hagg on the sea ice so I arranged a rescue team to meet them and bring them back. These vehicles have a hatch in the roof of the front cabin so if it falls through the ice the passengers can climb out. Riding in the second cabin, without a hatch in the roof, is not on. Someone could get killed.
All station is involved and we are back to working well together! The adversity is pulling us together and my inbox is empty of new grizzles.
Friday 7th October
Finally got to bed at 7 am, rescue complete. The guys rang in to say they were two hours from the rendezvous. I woke up Ian to get the waypoints, then Sharon and JR got the spare Hagg warmed up. They left at 1.30 am and arrived at Schnezy 1 at 3 am. They met the stuck crew and evened out the load between the two vehicles. Thirty minutes later the headlights on the lead Hagg packed in! Andrew took over the driving and they played followthe- leader home. Matt and I made pancakes and hot coffee and he was great company, except for the smell of burnt pancakes. He's not such a great cook, but he's a terrific expeditioner!
I couldn't have planned a better team-building exercise if I'd tried! It was just the gee-up we needed.
Saturday 8th October
The events of the week have made me realise that we really need a set of clear, achievable goals to get the most out of people in the next few weeks. I made a conscious decision to start talking about our return today at lunch and subtly promote the work that still needs to be done. Hopefully we will be able to focus on that instead of each other.
International Darts Competition!!!
We played darts against Casey Station, the US base at South Pole and New Zealand's Scott Base. We communicated using our HF radio sets — oh joy! South Pole could hear Davis and Scott but not Casey. We at Davis could hear Casey but not Scott. We fiddled with the frequencies but that didn't help, so we used intermediaries and the South Pole kept the overall scoreboard.
I'm not implying there was any unscrupulous activity going on but I did laugh when I heard a collective shout of ‘bullseye’ and looked over to see the dart still in Howie's hand! Ian's next throw was very close to double 20, so we yelled out ‘Double 20!’ They came back with a Triple 19.
And so it went on. Thankfully the Americans were just as playful as we were. I don't know how you can physically fit six darts into a single bullseye but hey, if Americans can fly to the moon, anything is possible!
What I learned
- Watch out for three-quarter time. Most of the work is done, you're close to the milestone but there is a final flurry of activity required. At these times we all just want to get to the end and a natural response is to just push the work through and forget everything else. But it's precisely these times that require the greatest teamwork. Keep your leadership hat on, stay on the balcony and motivate the team to be true to their agreed values and behaviours.