The last few days have been showery or punctuated by flurries of snow, making the surrounding tracks difficult to navigate around. Today dawned brighter, although the mood at breakfast was subdued, as 5 members of the crew were away on an overnight EVA in the Everest Rover, which arrived at the Hab yesterday. It seemed so quiet without Vuong!

The new crew members for Phase 3 will not be arriving until Sunday, which will make tonight's dinner our final one for Phase 2. We will have karaoke tonight, and last night we watched the DVD 'The Dish' about the role the Parkes Radio Telescope in Australia played in the TV coverage of the Apollo 11 moon landings. There is a library of DVDs and CDs here, so we have a reasonable choice of movies and music.

This morning I headed out to Box Canyon with Jonathan and Nancy for EVA 48. They scaled some outcrops to test how easy it would be to do the same thing with a robot instead of a human. The conclusion was that robots would probably have a hard time climbing up so high, especially with the crumbly soil and rocks. I filmed them sampling, and got them to talk about what they were doing and why for the camera. Both scientists wore the MarsSkin suits, which was much easier to climb in than the bulky analog pressure suits.

The highlight of lunch was the vanilla pudding with shaved chocolate which was TO DIE FOR and sent Melissa and I into a spin - Fathi and Stan shared the honours for that. Plus mugs of hot chocolate. The cooks have been looking after us magnificently all week - chiefly Vuong, Fathi, Jonathan, and Guy. It takes a long time to cook and clean up after a crew of 13, which allows less time for more specialised duties and responsibilities.

A source of amusement is the ubiquitous 'Ass in Space' sauce which we found here when we arrived - hot as hell! It has been nicknamed 'Gangster sauce' and several of the crew (no names revealed to protect the innocent) have livened up mealtimes with its use.

After lunch, Chad oversaw training in the Everest Rover. Some learned to drive it, while others just familiarised themselves with the features, such as ... a shower and DVD player! Very cool.

Guy and Amaury went on a human factors EVA this afternoon. They have been busy with their research all week, with Guy setting up web-cams in the lab and our working/living area, Amaury administering psychological and cognitive tests and both observing EVAs from a human factors perspective. I am starting to wonder what they are going to find...