Suze awoke feeling not at all well. Jon and I fared somewhat better, although the first night in this rarefied air (Dome C is at a pressure altitude of 3600m) is always tough. Breakfast looked rather spartan, and I was soon to discover the shocking truth that the station is almost out of food. Not only that, but famed chef Jean-Louis is yet to arrive. I fear Suze might start to think that our stories of magnificent Dome C feasts are mere fabrications.

I sorted out an email account, phone card, two-way radio (with spare battery) and other necessities of life - which at Dome C include a skidoo.

By mid-morning Jon and I were out at the AASTINO, UNSW's own little green and gold laboratory which houses all of our instruments. Everything looked pretty good. There was rather more snow build-up this year than last. It would be interesting to know how much of the snow came from the bad weather of the past few days. Nevertheless, it is reasonably clear around the AASTINO, and there is still daylight between the skids of the sled on which it sits. It's actually rather remarkable that, two years after it was placed on the sled, the AASTINO itself is still completely free of snow.

Stepping inside we found the batteries fully charged (wonderful thing, solar power!) and that the internal temperature was a not-too-cold -12.2 C. Outside it's around -30 C, so the heat of the sun on the building is producing a significant - and useful - temperature rise. Unfortunately there's been a leak of jet fuel (which we use to power our Stirling engines). So, not only does the AASTINO stink, but the blue antistatic mat on the floor has taken exception to this drenching and has bubbled rather badly. The leak appears to have come from the transfer pump which we use to bring additional fuel inside from a pair of external tanks. However, on the positive side there are no significant glycol leaks, glycol being even more disgusting than jet fuel to clean up.

The AASTINO is designed to run, unattended and in splendid isolation after the Station closes for winter, for a full 12 months. This year it ran only until May, when the remaining Stirling engine suddenly stopped. Exactly why is a mystery, as the flame that keeps it running was still burning brightly at the time. Back at UNSW we watched helplessly (via the Iridium communication link) as the batteries slowly went flat until, a couple of days later, the AASTINO rang us up no more. Then, in September, as the sun rose once again, the AASTINO should have powered up again and rung us on the Iridium phone. Tantalisingly, it did exactly that - but only twice before once again going silent. So we have at least two problems to diagnose and, hopefully, fix.

I plugged a heat gun into Station power and thawed out a fan heater, which I then set up to begin warming the AASTINO. Jon checked out the computers. Almost everything seems to be fine. The main "Supervisor" computer has crashed and not restarted - which is a bit weird - but everything else seems to be working.

Lunch confirmed our worst fears about the food situation. We're now faced with a dilemma - what do we need flown in from Terra Nova Bay more urgently: our remaining equipment items such as Suze's experiment and the oscilloscope, or fresh food?

Jon coaxed the computer into life, fired up the acoustic radar (which is one of our key instruments) and we set out tracking down the Iridium communication problem. Actually, this wasn't too hard, even though our brains have not yet adapted to the altitude. Taking up almost all of the display on the Iridium phone were just two words: "Invalid Account". Oops, looks like someone forgot to pay their phone bills. However, since that "someone" is the National Science Foundation, it appears we've just had a bit of a communications problem. Replacing the SIM card with a new one restored the system to perfect health, and Jon was able to log on immediately to UNSW.

One mystery solved, and it's not even dinner time.

However there's another mystery that we might never solve - the US flag has vanished. In view of our webcam we have positioned four flag poles with the national flags of the main contributors to the AASTINO program - Australia, France, Italy, and the US. Sometime between our last webcam image and our arrival, the Stars and Stripes has off and left.

Investigations are continuing.
- John