2008 - tuesday 1 january

HAPPY 2008.

Wow I can't believe it's January already.

Station two crew saw the new year in with style - with a high five at midnight then straight to bed! Although my good friend Heath helped me keep up my tradition of a swim at midnight, by accompanying me to a swim in a snowdrift pile.

Start working on those new year's resolutions and goals you made, and remember; "give everything in life and walk away with the world"

ICE STOCK & CHILLI - sunday 30 december

Happy almost New Year's eve. As you may have guessed we seem to celebrate holidays before they actually happen. Thanks Giving was early, Christmas dinner was on the 24th, New Years on the 30th. But alas, it's still a blast.

It's tradition. Every year Antarctica turns on the snow, the residents cook up some chilli, and skewer birds dance to the live outdoor music. Now that's a sentence I didn’t think I’d ever say.

Ice stock is a big outdoor festival held for New Years. A stage is erected and bands play continuously throughout the day. Every department is given a milvan to decorate and cook chilli in. We named ours BACKDRAFTER.

It was chilli heaven. A type to suit even the fussiest of chilli eaters. Vegetarian, venison, mince, chunky to finely chopped. You name it, we had it, and to wash down the chilli, the carpentry guys provided coffee in their SAWBUCKS milvan.

The sounds were incredible. There are some super talented musicians out here. The snow joined in for the festivities and it dumped down on us the entire time. It was awesome. It really added to the whole occasion "authentic antarctica".

What an unforgettable new years. Friends together dressed warmly from tip to toe, bearing smiles and bouncing up and down to the music, as snowflakes drop into their mug of hot chilli.

Perfect.

GOLD, SILVER & BRONZE - thursday 27 december

I watched intently as the official hit the reset button on his stopwatch. My mind travelled back to my days of training, I was outside come rain or shine, will it pay off? I looked around at my competition; I can do this, I thought as I took my socks off. I could feel the butterflies in my stomach.

"Kiwi, are you ready?" I heard, bringing me back to reality. This is it, do or die time.

"go"

I could feel the intense coldness of the snow penetrate through my bare feet. As I rounded the last corner of the building I could hear screams of encouragement as I made my way back inside to the finish line. 11 seconds. "Yeah kiwi"

Welcome to station 2 Olympics.

After completion of the barefoot run around station 2 we moved onto the other events.

DIZZY DARTS - being spun around 3 times then trying to hit the dartboard

TABLE BOULDERING - Starting on top of the table and successfully working your way around and underneath it.

HOLDING YOUR BREATH - well, it's self-explanatory

PAPER BAG LIMBO - Stand on one leg, bend down and pick up the bag with your mouth. It gets shorter and shorter (harder than it sounds)

KIWI COPYING - Who can do the best kiwi impersonation

Needless to say we had a lot of fun! I represented New Zealand well, obtaining a few medals.

SEALS - Christmas eve

I forgot to mention - but this was really cool! Keri and I walked down to Hut point today and discovered 3 seals swimming up through a hole in the ice. Now that makes up for being away for Christmas!

WHITE CHRISTMAS - tuesday 25 december

Merry Christmas!

Yes it's true Santa does visit the south pole! I awoke to view a lovely box of brightly coloured Christmas presents.

The day was a joyous one, starting with a tummy satisfying brunch at the galley. Work was fun. We have such a fantastic crew. The day was relaxed and full of laughter.

It was nice to be able to talk to my family too and feel apart of everything back home.

Ho Ho Ho

(the photo above is outside my friend's room. Incredible. They did really well making a christmas tree which even has presents!) (my friends and I at Christmas dinner)

ONE MORE SLEEP - monday 24 december

Happy Christmas Eve!

Returned to work yesterday on light duties. It's great to be back.

Tonight we have our Christmas dinner, talking to the head chef; duck and beef wellington are on the menu. He said they tried to get a meat order from NZ and the suppliers responded that McMurdo's "one" order would completely drain their entire stock! I guess when you're feeding 1300 mouths that's a lot of tucker!

Nasa released one of its long duration weather balloons yesterday. The balloon itself is 3 football fields in length. They cost millions to make/prepare and they set three off during the summer. These balloons are picked up by the prevailing winds and carried around Antarctica's entirety. I was fortunate enough to be able to have a tour of their facilities. A lot of work has gone into this project, along with a few pennies! I was shown by the experts a tiny glass solar panel, which he stated costs $10,000.
I saw the balloon high in the sky over McTown yesterday - it looked like a planet passing by.

Tonight at 11.15pm, I’m going to a carol service at the resident chapel. I have to work tomorrow but not until 11am.

I'M BROKEN - sunday 16 december to current

I pulled my back out. Apparently I sprained a ligament in my back and my pelvis was out of line causing more pressure.

So I’ve been flat out, not literally, but horizontally. I've been at one with the floor.

I'm starting to feel better now; I’ve been given a brace from my physio to wear when I move around. I get to go back to work tomorrow (light duties) which I’m super happy about. Needless to say I am beyond bored!

Anyways, less negativity and more positively. It snowed yesterday. Real snow. Just like the flakes on Christmas cards. Great timing. I stood outside in total awe. I felt like I was on a movie set and someone was standing above me on a ladder dropping super light fluffy snowflakes, it was incredible.

POLAR PLUNGE - monday 10 december

It speaks for itself.

I bared all and jumped into the freezing ocean of Antarctica!

The water temperature was negative 2.c. A little chilly. But a whole lot of fun.

I didn't shower for days - I realised just how much I missed that salt water feeling on your body, like when you come in from a surf or a swim. That refreshed feeling. Bliss.

(Don’t worry the photos have been censored!)

SUSPICIOUS SMELL- saturday 8 december

Bang bang bang "fire department" I heard from outside my dorm room door. I opened it up to see a fellow firefighter, standing in his turnout gear smirking. "Hey lizzie, we've had a fire call here to the smell of electrical/gas burning. Have you noticed anything?" I stepped out into the hallway and could instantly smell the offender. I helped the boys search. They were knocking on everyone's door trying to narrow it down. I popped into the bathroom and on my return found a lot of laughing firemen. "smell this lizzie" I heard as Mike shoved a work boot to my nose. We've found the electrical/gas smell. It turned out that my neighbour Dave, who is a firefighter on my shift, left his work boots in the back of one of the vehicles (surrounded by fumes) heading out to the runway yesterday. His roomies had complained so he left them in the hallway for a little bit before bringing them back inside. The mixed smell of fumes and smelly feet was enough for one person to call it in to 911!

During the afternoon I couldn't resist another session on the skis.

Heath, Eddie, Scott, Randy and I skied the Armitage trail today. This is a route that runs from McMurdo to Scott base along the sea ice. It's due to close in the next week due to the thinning ice, so to ski it now with the recent snowfall is a better time than any.

We reached Scott base in good time, skiing the 7km route in just under an hour. After a short break, Eddie and Scott carried on to castle rock, Heath jumped in a shuttle back to McMurdo, and Randy and I skied the armitage back to base.

SKIING CASTLE ROCK - friday 7 december

Another beautiful day on the white continent.

It has been snowing quite consistently here over the last week. Everything has the beautiful shade of white. Today it's time to make the most out of this recent, but uncommon snow fall.

Heath, my lieutenant Eddie and I, donned cross-country skis and hit the castle rock circuit. This is a 17km loop track, passing some stunning scenery.

It was fantastic to be back on skis. Whilst trudging along the mind slips into thoughts of past explorers, slogging it out on unfamiliar terrain.

Along the route there are a couple of rather steep down hills. Maybe the equivalent gradient of a blue run at a ski resort, but being on cross-country skis instead of downhill skis - now that's a whole different story! Needless to say; we fell, we laughed and we fell again.

With tired legs, but smiles on our faces, we rolled into Mcmurdo in time for dinner.

SKIDOO & SEALS – Tuesday 4 december

Today was such a fantastic day. Probably my best day on the ice.

Five of us were given the task of providing an alternative route for scientists on a seal research camp. The sea ice is thinning every day now, and these guys needed an alternative route back to McMurdo over the permanent ice shelf.

We eagerly loaded the Skidoos (snow mobiles) with the equipment needed, and started the hour-long journey. It was such a buzz to be riding a skidoo, cruising at 30 miles/hour, through such an amazing landscape.

The weather was an incredibly warm, blue-sky day. A perfect day.

We arrived at our destination and began work. We prodded the route with flagpoles whilst looking for signs of cracks. If one were discovered, we’d dig it out, drill it and take measurements. Some cracks once uncovered from snow produced, to our amazement, crevasse size depths of 30 to 40 feet. These required bridges to be secured in place. It was amazing, while we were tying of the brigde ropes to snow stakes we could hear seals goaning through the ice from the ocean.

After lunch we began the process of flagging the route back to the research field camp. I drove the skidoo whilst T stood on the trailer, and threw out a flag at each required measurement. The trailing skidoo would stop, drill a hole into the ice, then secure the flag in place.

Once the job was done we drove over to the field camp. The camp consists of 10 scientists, which sleep, eat, work and play out here for up to 6 weeks. The camp is a sweet little set up. They sleep in scott tents and a james way, have a lab, kitchen, a hangout area and a long drop with a close up view of Mt errebus.

The research being done here is around mother-pup relations.

We had the great fortune of being invited to walk out to the seal colony. After a short walk we found ourselves surrounded by 50 seals, basking in the warmth of the sun. Many pups were feeding or cuddling up to their mothers. It was an absolute unforgettable experience being that close to these mammals, and in their own environment, not caught up in some marine centre playing tricks for the entertainment of humans. It was a moving experience to say the least.

Returning to the field camp we chatted and sipped a hot drink, said our goodbyes, then rode the skidoos back to McMurdo Station in time for dinner.

CYCLE RACE - sunday 2 december

Tour De Antarctica.

Today I participated in a cycle race around mcmurdo. Well they call it cyclecross actually. You run, then bike, do push ups, then bike again.

I came 3rd out of the women.

I was stoked to recieve my prize - a $20 gift voucher at kathmandu.

That was my first time on a bike down here. Biking in Antarctica - who'd ever guess.

There is a marathon that takes place here on the 20th of January. My goal is to bike it. My friends Dave and Heath are running it so I volunteered to be their support, carrying food and water.

So that only leaves two continents left to bike on now, South America and Africa.
Brilliant. I'll add them to my life goal list.

WILLY FIELD – Saturday 2 december

Today’s the day. Our ice runway is no longer. The weather is getting warmer and the ice is thining. The new runway is called Willy’s field and is located on the permanent ice shelf, around 10 km south east from Scott base.

The buildings are on skis and require a large cat to move them. As you can imagine, it’s a slow process.

5 of us our stationed out at willy’s today. We headed to work at 6am then took the half hour drive out there. The c-130’s were in the transition and required the fire coverage. After the last plane touched down it became a matter of waiting for the buildings to arrive. The sun was out, so out came the football. We turned the tunes up in the vehicle, and enjoyed a balmy summers day amongst friends.

DIVING – Wednesday 28 november

Today I headed out to watch my friend Addie dive. We met during our sea ice training and became friends. It was a laugh because Addie was super stoked about me being a firefighter, and of course I was extremely excited to hear about her diving in Antarctica.

We arranged that I’d go and watch her dive today.

Diving is a similar setup to fishing. A hole in a hut.

The water temperature is -1.8c, the divers have to gear up appropriately to prevent hyperthermia. They wear drysuits with multiple layers underneath.

Addie was to solo dive for 12 minutes to collect creatures and seabed samples for a science project. You could only see her briefly as she dipped into the sea water, then a fading glimmer of her flashlight until she disappeared all together.
Another diver Rob, stayed on the surface and called out her time length and other information, and constantly checked air, pressure, and the like. Communication between the two was via a radio from within her mask, you could hear Addie breath and talk underwater.

Addie returned to the surface and had to wait 15 feet below the surface of the hole to rid her body of all the extra nitrogen. They call this feeling “nark.” Addie described it to me as a similar feeling to when you’re really drunk.

I asked Addie if she ever gets scared while solo diving. To me it sounds like my worst nightmare. You’re in negative degree water, it’s pitch black. A ceiling of ice lays 175 cm thick above you, with only one exit point. Antarctic creatures surround you, including leopard seals that eat people. And above all the regulators have a tendency to freeze here, as the water is so cold.

“Nah, I really don’t get scared at all. Actually I was staying at my mum and dad’s before I came down here and ended up being in a forest in the dark. Now that scared the living daylights out of me.” Rob the other diver responded. “Well yeah, that makes sense, I mean the bogie monster lives in the forest”

FISHING – Monday 26 november

Happy Birthday Keri! It’s my roomies 33rd birthday today. This morning we have been invited to go out fishing with one of the scientists here. For those that know, yes I am scared of fish. But you can’t give up an opportunity like this in Antarctica. So an enthusiastic Keri, Hally and I trundled down to the ice. The fishing down here takes place inside huts. They drill out a 1metre diameter hole until they reach the seawater.

We peered over the side of the hole with our rods. The ocean looked so dark. The fish we’re catching today are called Bernacchii. They are little fish that hang out on the rock bed at the bottom of the ocean. Around 70 foot deep.

Fortunately I didn’t catch any, but Kevin the scientist caught 2. The group did get to hear me scream though. Once Kevin pulled the line, I excitedly peered into the hole, but as soon as I saw it I freaked, running straight to the other side of the hut.

What an awesome experience.

During the afternoon Keri and I went up to the greenhouse to check it out. WOW. The smell and the colour when you open the door. Phew, what a knock-out. Green stuff. WOW. Antarctica has a tendency to smell the same everyday, since there being no flauna. We lay in the greenhouse hammock and enjoy being one with the tomatoes, cucumbers, sprouts, and herbs.

CUTTING UP A CAR - sunday 25 november

Workday. Today we cut up the car that caught on fire out on the sea ice.

We turned it into a convertible.

TURKEY TROT - 5 KM RUN - Saturday 24 november

Thanks giving day, it’s a tradition to run 5km down to the ice runway and back. It was fun. I won a t-shirt.

I helped out the galley staff today. It’s thanks giving dinner tonight so they’re pretty busy.

Dinner was tasteful. The deal with thanks giving is similar to Christmas; you get together with family and friends and eat far too much.

I ate pumpkin pie for desert.

CASTLE ROCK - Friday 23 november

The kiwis conquer castle rock.

Chippy, Lonnie (an American who now lives in NZ) and I hiked out to castle rock. It was a beautiful day. Calm and clear. Sitting on the rock you get such an amazing view of the landscape. We could see open water in the distance. The ice is starting to weaken.

After a bit of R and R and some photography, we returned to McMurdo for a hot cuppa.

THANKS GIVING DAY – Thursday 22 november

Today’s the day to celebrate the pilgrims discovering America. Thanks giving day. It was nice to be involved in the festivities and be an honorary American for the day.

LA AIRPORT – Wednesday 21 november

Out at Station two today. We had a busy runway. People were calling it a “real airport” over the portable radios. At one point we had 10 planes on the apron.

6 x C-130
1 x C-17
2 x Twin otter
1 x Bassler

During the afternoon we took a Nodwell out for training. We ran a simulated aircraft fire drill. We ran the line off the truck and started the fire package. Good fun.

CAPE EVANS AGAIN - Tuesday 20 november

Last minute I got called up to see if I’d mind driving another delta trip out to Scott’s hut. A driver had pulled out and the trip was likely to get cancelled. I know how much people absolutely love this trip, and for some it’s their one and only time out of McMurdo. I’ve been told that people line up by the recreation board an hour before the trip list gets put up on the board, just so they can secure themselves a seat.

“Yeah for sure” I replied.

Unfortunately I turned up at 6pm though to find the trip had now been cancelled due to the weather. What a shame. I returned to my room to watch a movie in my cave.

GUITAR 101 - Monday 19 november

Just the usual jazz today. Another day at station one. I’m riding Tanker today. That’s always fun.

We attacked a 50 gallon drum today with new halmatro rescue cutting gear, and moved around 100 containers of foam to a building on site.

Tonight I had my first guitar lesson with a friend Ed. He’s a guitar guru. Ed’s goal is to become a composer. Once off the ice he’ll be applying to music schools. The lesson he is giving me is of benefit to us both. As a prerequisite Ed needs to have lesson plans and hours of teaching under his belt. Ed’s a firefighter here on the opposite shift to me.

SCOTT LIKES TARANAKI BUTTER - Sunday 18 november

Another trip driving a crew out to Cape Evans today. The delta is fully loaded with smiling faces; one of them is my good friend Dave. It’s his birthday today. All the passengers sang happy birthday to him and I gave him a card I’d made. “Happy Birthday buddy”

We didn’t see as much wildlife today as Friday. Maybe Sunday is their day of rest too.

I took some video inside Scott’s hut today, along with more photos. Wondering around I discovered a storage area that I hadn’t seen before. Large boxes were pilled up against the side of the hut. I took a closer look. I got a surprise as I held my flashlight up into the dark. These were butter boxes….from Taranaki!
Let the record state, Scott liked his butter from New Plymouth.

Click went the shutter. This is a must see for my Taranaki bred family back home.

YEAH TO THE IRD FOLK - Saturday 17 november

Yippee. I got mail. Actually I got FAN mail. Even better.

I received a lovely card signed by Jennie’s colleagues, saying how much they love reading my blog. That made my day. Thanks for reading and I’m super stoked you’re enjoying it.

Out at station two today. Today we are doing driver training on a machine called a Nodwell. This is a track vehicle, it’s steering is two levers instead of a steering wheel. You pull down on the left lever to turn left and right for right. Now I thought driving on the right hand side of the road was confusing! She’s a lot of fun to drive though. The boys decided to check out her full potential. Up and over she went, forwards and backwards over snow mounds as big as 3 metres.

Boys and their toys.

Today I was an honorary boy. I had a blast.

FRIENDLY PENGUIN - friday 16 november

10am this morning I started getting the delta ready for our trip out to Scott’s hut. At 11.45 I meet the group and explained the day’s plan. By midday we were on the road.

Cape Evans here we come.

It was great to finally be behind the wheel and taking a group out. We had 21 pax onboard.

The weather was amazingly warm, almost t-shirt weather. On the trip out we stopped many times for wildlife encounters. Seals were popping up everywhere, making the most of the sunny day.

We arrived at the hut in good time. We spotted an Adelie penguin in the distance. A group of us were lying on the ice taking photos, when this inquisitive creature waddled right up to us. He must have been no more than a metre and a half away. He stood there looking very pleased with himself, I could just picture him thinking, "Cool, I can hang out with you guys” on that note he lay down and closed his eyes. I guess he figured he’d do as his new friends were. Actually my lieutenant was snoring so fair enough!

I enjoyed the rest of the trip, still buzzing about our close encounter. On the way home we saw a seal right on the edge of the road, and one popping his head out of a breathing hole. Brilliant.

PUTTING THE WET STUFF ON THE HOT STUFF - thursday 15 november

Today I saved 6 babies, retrieved 19 cats out of trees, put out 7 structure fires, and helped a little old lady across the street.

Then I woke up.

7.50am. Time to go to work. I'm riding engine one today.

Yesterday was another story though. Yesterday we had a REAL fire. Oooooooohhh yyyyyyyeeeeeeaaaaahhhhhhha!

Around 4.30pm we received an "all call" page. This means that all firefighters, on and off duty received a 911 page to turn up to the firehouse. A matt track vehicle out on the ice road to Cape Evans was fully engulfed in fire. Excitement.

It turned out to be that the gas line had ruptured and ignited. Everyone got out safely and our guys turned up to extinguish. It was located about an hours travel from McMurdo.

Today though has been the usual routine of training and the likes. After lunch we headed out to the helo pad for a building inspection. We got to watch a couple of helicopters taking off. I stuck my thumb up, hoping to hitch a ride.
It was unsuccessful.

SEA ICE SCHOOL - wednesday 14 november

For the rest of the day I had Sea Ice School. This is where you learn about save travel on ice. We learnt how to measure cracks, the types of cracks, making anchors, and signs to look for. It was a fantastic day and mostly out in the field. It was really great to get an understanding on how the environment works down here. The different types of cracks are caused by, tidal movement, pressure build up, movement in the ice, human impact, and where the sea ice meets the ice shelf. For save travel, If the sea ice is thinner than 76cm, then the crack must be narrower than one-third track length (that's the part of the track/wheel which has contact with the ice during travel). All interesting stuff. Out came the drill and the measuring tape, as we made numerous holes in Antarctica.

PENGUIN ON THE RUNWAY - wednesday 14 november

YEEHAR.

3.40am a call comes over the radio "station two this is ice tower" "we have a penguin on the runway which needs removal"

I have never lept out of bed so fast in my life. Penguins. Yeehar. The only trouble was, half way to the ground I realised I was sleeping on the top bunk. Fortunately Chris jumped out exactly the same time and provided a cushy landing. Sorry Chris!

With camera in tow we got clearance from the National Science Foundation and tower to step onto the runway. There sat an adelie penguin minding his own business.

Moving him was a little tricky. Under NSF guidelines you are not allowed to get within 10 metres of wildlife, touch or annoy it in any way. This dude was here to stay. We decided he "doesn't do ice" and wanted a free trip north.

We spent an hour on the runway, walking next to it with our hands in the air trying to divert him off the runway. Eventually he followed orders. I took a great shot of what looks like the adelie heading off into the sunset!

Super wicked.

HANGING OUT ON A C-130 - tuesday 13 november

Back out at station 2 again today. This afternoon we drove out to one of the ski 130’s and did a familiarisation. It was neat to get back inside. We even pulled a line (hose) interior.