Peter Copland Works in Meteorological Electronics (continued)

Another Darwin first was my introduction to AWSs. There were four in the Northern Territory; three on islands and one at Port Keats, which may have been on an island as far as accessibility goes. The method of doing normal maintenance, six monthly, was to pack every possible part for a complete AWS, plus spares for any known faults, replacement batteries and tools in the green transit bags. This lot could usually just fit in the Hi Ace van to go to the ship. All this, too, coincided with the arrival of one of the lighthouse maintenance Cape ships. Then two of us would hitch a ride as passengers/workers for up to two weeks, depending on the ships itinerary. Fortunately, most of our AWS sites were close to the shipping lights, but it was usually a hassle getting our work completed by the time the LARC returned to pick us up to return to the ship.

Maintenance at Port Keats was by road in the dry season and by air in the wet. The road trip would be in a fully loaded Toyota 4x4 ute, part of the load being 200 litres of extra petrol. The first 200 kilometres, to the Daly River crossing, would take about three hours. The next 200 kilometres would take at least eight hours; there was possibly 30 kilometres of graded road, the rest bush track. Some dry swamps would have six tracks branching off in a 45 degree arc at the start but would all join up again five kilometres later; a bit of a worry 'til one got used to it as there were no maps of the area. This country was completely impassible during the wet, and not too good in the dry. I have had bulldust over the bonnet of the Toyota.

The AWS was about 15 kilometres past Port Keats township, at a place called Injun Beach. Here we would set up a camp next to the AWS building after clearing away bush which had grown up since the last visit, often 12 months before. The hut was substantial but, with no ventilation, was too hot and dark to camp in. One could not sleep on the ground either; there were ten million hermit crabs to walk past when the tide changed which would then try to walk up the tin walls of the shed. This didn't contribute much to a good night's sleep. A Port Keats maintenance visit would usually take the whole week.

Bureau of Meteorology