HOME SWEET HOME - 27 February 2008

It was a mix full of emotions. One I couldn't wait to get home to see Hubby, family, friends and the four legged ones in my life, and two, it seemed really sad to be leaving this phenomenal environment behind.

I made some incredible friends that I'm really going to miss. Being in such a unique environment we became so close, the term seems so cliché now, but I know we'll be friends for the rest of our lives. We've shared something special together.

We boarded the c-17 at 11.30am in a condition 2 storm, the winds were howling and the air was chilly, it took all concentration to stay upright. Antarctica really wanted to give us a send off!

We touched down at Christchurch airport a little after 5pm. A man from the Air National Guard came over the PA "welcome to New Zealand - be careful, there are a lot of colours out there"

I remember feeling the intense heat once I stepped onto the tarmac, quickly followed by just an abundance of smells and colours bouncing out from everywhere. We were informed it was 25.c outside, when we left Antarctica it was around -23.c. Here I was wearing thermal underwear, wind pants, woolly hat, and a fleece top.

Spending the night in Christchurch; Indian was on the menu for dinner. Now I’m renown for being a slow eater, but that butter chicken was in my belly in under 7 minutes. The sun dipped slowly below the horizon and the night drew in. We stood in awe, gazing towards the black sky. It was such a surreal experience, the dark looked so foreign. The pub-crawl was inevitable and we enjoyed some final laughs together over some great tasting kiwi beers.

I heard from a friend on my way to the airport that my good friends Megan and Sean cried when I left the pub that night. It's sad to think that these guys live on the other side of the world.

It's fantastic to be home, and be in the arms of my husband and the "kids". Logan sprinted down the path, jumped straight on top of me and licked my face for about 5 minutes! He hasn't left my side since.

I have fulfilled a dream. Visiting Antarctica was such a phenomenal, inspiring, spiritual, and once in a lifetime experience, one I’ll never ever forget.

I can only end this with the poem as is inscribed on Antarctic explorer, Robert Falcon Scott's cross...
To Strive, To Seek, To find, and not to yield.

WEATHER WEATHER WEATHER - wednesday 20 february

A storm came in on Tuesday, cancelling a c-17 flight north. They have been delayed again today, and are now crossing their fingers to get out on Thursday. Unfortunately that pushes other people back by a day or two also. At the moment it still looks like I’ll be out on Saturday, but if the plane doesn't come in tomorrow then that won't happen. I feel for the delayed folk, they had to hand in their luggage on Monday to get packed into the pallets for the flight out. So all they have is the clothes on their backs and that's it! I guess that explains the half naked people I saw in the laundry this morning.

(the photo is from a c-17 flight I was at the other day - the pilot checking his plane!)

THE MAZE - sunday 17 february

The course was set, the facemask blacked out, and the lights turned off. Training time!

Our lieutenants set up a training "maze" and the drill was set "things have turned bad, the fire is out of control, find your way out of the building.

Antarctica may be the coldest continent, but it sure was hot crawling around the engine bay, working your way through tight caps, loose wires, tunnels and roof frames!

(spot my nickname - kiwi - on the back of my helmet)

NOT YOUR TYPICAL TROPICAL CRUISE - friday 15 february

This one's especially for you Jennie. (for those that don't know my super cool mother-in-law; she is an absolutely amazing woman, full of compassion and forever thinking of others before herself. Jennie is a big fan of cruising, so I knew she'd be right into this one. I had to work today but I told my Leitenant about Jennie and he let us drive the fire truck down to the water for some photos.)

Today we had the pleasure of off ice company.

The Polish cruise ship, Marina Svetaeva, stopped by for a cup of tea on her way from New Zealand to Australia. The sea ice hasn't completely broken up this year, making it impossible to get to the pier without the icebreaker. So she rested in the bay whilst her 100 eager passengers were flown in by helicopter to explore what McMurdo and Scott base had to offer.

I had the great fortune of talking to some of the passengers, including a kiwi from Gore. They had visited the dry valleys, port chambers, watched orca's playing in the ships wake. Sounds like a lifetime dream, and with a $30,000 dollar price ticket, I bet for many it was.

visit www.auroraexpeditions.com.au for more information about this Antarctica cruise. The first photo is off their website.

THE END IS NEAR- wednesday 13 february

Last station 2 shift today. Willy field runway will be closed this coming Sunday.

I'm flying out on Saturday the 23rd - the last flight north. Apparently it's tradition to do a "fly by" over mcmurdo and tilt the wings both ways to wave goodbye. Unfortunately my ticket on the c-17 doesn't come with a window seat, so as much as I am excited about the prospect, it's probably going to feel like some sort of crazy roller coaster ride. I always wondered why the c-17 in-flight lunch came in a brown paper bag. Now I know why.

SHACKLETON'S HUT- friday 8 february

This hut is one Shackleton and his crew spent a winter in during one of his expeditions.

The heritage trust has been working hard to preserve both shackleton and Scott’s hut, and it's amazing to see that many artefacts have lasted till this day 96 years on.

I stumbled across the supply box of dog biscuits. I tried to imagine dogs in this harsh environment; the cold snow and the bone chilling wind, yet I can only picture Logan my retriever laying upside down on our couch waiting for a belly rub.

AMERICAN TERN - wednesday february 6

This morning I volunteered to line handle for the incoming cargo ship. It was absolutely incredible watching this mother ship crushing through the ice as she drew her way in.

The American Tern set sail from Littleton in New Zealand 20 days prior, battling with 40-50 foot waves and thick brash ice. But they braved the conditions and made it safely in one piece, delivering us our lettuce, ski poles and engine motors.

EMPEROR PENGUIN - tuesday 5 february

I went out to Pegasus runway today to do a hard stand for a c-17 flight. I was driving Red 2, a 19 tonne beau that with foot to the metal I could run faster than. The 7-mile drive out there took around an hour and a half. We had to load a medivac onto the c-17 also, he was suffering from appendicitis.

As the hours drew by the weather rapidly deteriorated, making the return drive back a little difficult. To make matters worse the window wipers were broken. Every so often I had to jump out and wipe the windscreen down with a cloth enabling me to see. On top of that the engine would die every time I stopped to an idle. I was on my own, in the middle of a white out snow storm, throwing up my options...Do I stop driving to wipe the window, and run the risk of it not starting again? or just carry on and drive blind?, it's just snow either side of me for 2000 miles "what am I going to hit" the words hadn’t left my mind when all of a sudden, in the 5cm circle of visibility I spot something black. As I get closer I realise it's a penguin, and not just any penguin, but an emperor penguin. "Now this is worth getting stuck here for,” I thought. I grabbed my camera and jumped straight out of the rig.

Out of all the things I wanted to experience here, topping the list was seeing an emperor penguin. People have been here for 5-8 seasons and never seen one. I was in absolute awe, clicking away on the camera. He stood no more than 10 feet away from me. I found myself talking to him as I do to my retriever Logan "hey little guy, hey buddy, whatcha up to?" I just wanted to go and rub his tummy.

After posing for some photos and realising I wasn't a fish, he turned and waddled away into the surrounding white cloud.

What a breathtaking experience. There I was on my own in awe of this lone emperor. I wonder what he was thinking?

SUPERBOWL - monday 4 february

Today I got to experience my first ever super bowl. The all American past time.

New York Giants vs. New England Patriots. The game was streamed live from America through the air force television network.

I got a running commentary from my patient friend Dave, "so wait, why can they do that again?" I would ask. "Did he just score a try?" "there are no tries in football" hmmmm.

The under-dogs (the giants) won 17-14. We had a little betting game for the score after each quarter. (the red photo) The score didn't change between the second and fourth quarter so my other friend Dave won some money twice, cashing in on $75 mulahs.

Although much to the disgrace of my American buddies that I fell asleep half way through the game! - I had a blast, and I would recommend the super bowl to anyone.

A SLEEPING BAG & THE ELEMENTS - 1 February 2008

This white land mass is often referred to as the "harshest of continents" the white desert. The coldest, driest and windiest of continents. Only cold-adapted plants and animals survive this environment. So on that note I decided I had to spend a night outside. No tent, No shelter. Just a sleeping bag, and a good attitude.

Be at one with Antarctica I thought.

My good friends Dave and Heath didn't need much convincing to join me.

Fortunately a friend in the field camp supply lent us some sleeping bags and mats.

Observation Hill had to be the destination. Standing at 750ft tall, Ob hill is the site of Scott's cross, a memorial to him and his expedition team. The large wooden cross is inscribed with names of the fatal party and a short quote from the Alfred Tennyson poem "Ulysses", which reads "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

It started to snow as we zipped up our bags. I lay in awe, staring up at the cross, wondering what it must have been like in 1912, traversing this landscape I see before me. I'm brought back to reality by the feeling of chilly snowflakes hitting my face. I pull the sleeping bag draw cord in tight, and settled in for the night.

I slept soundly for an hour then awoke feeling intensely cold. I looked over at Dave and saw his black sleeping bag covered tip to toe in snow. I drifted off again. At 5am I woke this time feeling super warm, rather confused and still half asleep I opened my eyes and noticed the sun shining out through the clouds, it's rays rapidly increasing the warmth in my bag.

I soundly slept again until I was woken at 8am by the voices of some rather surprised hikers.

It was such a moving and memorable experience, and by the sounds of it we were the first to have slept up there.

WEATHER REPORT 31 January 2008 – 1st February 2008
Wind – variable 5 knots becoming easterly 10-18 knots
Temperature – max -13.c wind chill -24.c
Forecast – chance of light snow

THE ROCK & THE GURU - tuesday 29 january

Monday we were hit with a big snowstorm but today the sun was shinning brightly. I rustled up the boys and we hiked out to Castle rock. A superb day.

On the walk back the boys were giving me the usual banter when I quickly responded, "hey I have a photo of you boys holding hands" (cleverly snapped 2 hours prior) arrrh the silence was instantaneous. Heavenly.
But I can't resist boys - here's one for the daily mockery of my kiwi accent. So to the delight and laughter of blog readers - here's some Dave, Heath, Dave 'MANLOVE' (payback is a beautiful thing)

Another highlight today was that I was given a really cool tee to say thanks for my volunteering. It has a newspaper cutting print on the back which was the actual advertisement used by shackleton to gather crew for his expedition. Super superb.

During the evening I went to see my friend Talle speak at her travelogue run in the galley. She's a really keen solo tramper. Talle's spent a lot of time tramping hardcore backcountry tracks in New Zealand, visiting places that even many guru trampers and hunters are scared of. She often tramps in areas that don't have marked trails. She just packs her bag, talks to DOC, hires an emergency locator beacon, grabs her topo then heads into the bush. I remember sitting down with Talle near the start of the season and she showed me some absolutely amazing photos of her adventures throughout New Zealand's wildlands. She's been to some spectacular places.

Talle shared an incredible story with us last night. You know one where you raise your eyebrows, enlarge your eyes, and are left with your mouth wide open.

One day she whilst hiking in Kahurangi National Park, the weather suddenly turned and she became stuck in a severe storm. She came upon a section where two rivers crossed. As an experienced tramper she knew this is how many trampers die in the bush; from crossing flooded rivers. She had been in a torrential downpour for many hours. She couldn't get a fire started, as the fuel was soaked through. Unable to change clothes since her other clothes were damp (she was on day 9 of a hike) she reached for her sleeping bag to which she heartbreakingly discovered was wet through. To keep herself warm she built a step out of large stones and for 45 minutes at a time stepped up and down. Up, down, Up, down. She'd rest until she began feeling cold again then stood up and repeated the process. Around nightfall the river level had lowered enough for a safe crossing. She continued hiking all through the night, (remember this is unmarked/untrailed territory), until she reached the hut 8 hours later.

Now would be a good time to tell you that Talle is 63 years old.

HEADSTANDS & BOATS - sunday 27 january

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DARLING HUSBAND

This afternoon I drove a delta group out to a plane wreck site called Pegasus.

The aircraft crashed on 8 October 1970. About 30 minutes before the aircraft was due to touch down on the sea ice runway, the weather deteriorated rapidly. Visibility was down to zero and snow was blowing, but Pegasus was committed to land even in ‘white-out conditions.' There was no alternative airstrip and fuel was low. The plane attempted to land five times, but had to abort each time because of the excessive snowdrift caused by gusting winds. On the sixth attempt Pegasus finally landed, but veered off the runway and hit a snow bank, which sheared off the starboard undercarriage and wing.

Amazingly, all 68 passengers and 12 crew survived, escaping with only minor injuries, although the atrocious weather conditions meant it took about four hours for rescue vehicles to transport the crash survivors 5.5km back to McMurdo.

It is an incredible sight. Fortunately I’ve seen it a few times with work, but I volunteered to take some "townies" out to see it, as they often don't get the chance to see such things. I kept myself entertained though by doing handstands.

That evening I had the chance to tour the NBP vessel which had just embarked on a voyage from sunny Christchurch to the chilly waters of Antarctica. The journey took 24 days, with waves reaching 50 feet! It is full of scientists completing research projects onboard. The National Science Foundation leases this boat for the small sum of $30,000USD per day. Yes you read correctly. Per day. That's $20.83 a minute. 34 cents per second. That's a dinner for two at a fancy restaurant just in one scientist's toilet break.

WILD LIFE SAFARI - tuesday 22 january

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD. THIS ONE'S FOR YOU.

It was 11.15pm. (21 january) My roommate Keri and I spontaneously decided to take a hike and it turned out to be an immensely PERFECT decision.

Little did we know but we were headed out on a wildlife safari.

We hiked the observation hill loop trail, there had been sightings of whales, and so I had the camera at the ready.
The ice is breaking more by the day, and providing a reasonable amount of open water. It was incredible. So still and quiet. We had only just sat down when we heard the therapeutic silence breaking sound of "phhhhhhhhhhsssssssssss" A minke whale gracefully surfaced. My reflexes are now well tuned for hitting that camera shutter button in a split second.

We sat in absolute awe for over an hour. We saw numerous whales, seals and skewers. We watched as a seal waddled along the ice towards the sea edge, he then dipped only his head ever so cautiously into the sea, no doubt a little edgy about the being someone’s dinner. He looked left, looked right then quickly slipped into the water" Keri and I held our breath hoping not to witness a national geographic moment!

Returning from the whales we found a small inlet, where we saw small fish splashing near the surface. We moved in for a closer look. The silence broke, and the valley echoed Keri's scream. A seal popped up out of the ocean less than 5 feet away from us. I don't know what surprised me more; the seal or the fact that I wasn't the first one to jump or scream!

We left the seal and continued on "wouldn't it be funny to see a penguin next" I thought to myself, and before the words left my mind I spotted a black and white figure on the horizon. Low and behold it was a lone adelie penguin. "Wouldn’t it be funny to see a sack filled with a million dollars next" I quickly thought.

We returned to our room a little after 3am. It was well worth the sleep deprivation.

This afternoon whilst out at the Pegasus runway I had my first sighting of an Emporer Penguin. It was incredible. There were two of them, situated at the end of the runway. They're so much bigger than the Adelies, I stood in awe. We had to use the binoculars to get a better look, but i just felt so fortunate as to see one. People who are on their 7th or 8th season down here have told me they've yet to see one.

BIKE MARATHON - sunday 20 january

"Biking a marathon in Antarctica"

Today's the day and the weather played its part. Blue sky, no wind, and a big bright and warm sun.

I geared up in thermals, grabbed a banana and hit the road - well so to speak!. I must say it's an incredibly unique feeling riding on ice, I guess it felt like I was walking a tight rope, one false move or unbalance and you're kissing the ground. I actually experienced that yesterday on my trial bike ride. The tyre caught a groove in the snow and sure enough my bike and I took a slide. A very long slide. I remember looking at my watch half way through wondering if I was ever going to stop. Fortunately that was the only crash I’d have over the two days.

I can seriously say Antarctica has to be the best continent for cycling. It was such a moving experience, one I’ll not forget in a hurry. I biked my 26.5 mile marathon in around 2 and a half hours. (my friend dave lent me his gps) I stayed on the bike and rode next to some of my friends who were running. I ended up biking a distance of 72km, and raised $800 for the SPCA. Thanks so much everyone for your support. It was greatly appreciated.

RUGBY - Sunday 13 january 2008

McMurdo vs Scott Base. The day is here.

The sun shone. The snow was groomed. The posts were erected.

The crowd eagerly gathered on the sideline, and watched as players tucked in their thermals, pulled on their beanies and neck warmers. Months of training boiled down to this day. 80 minutes of the coldest, most southern game of rugby.

I listened intently as the American national anthem was sung through a megaphone, promptly followed by the ice breaking kiwi haka.

The whistle blew and the game begun.

The snow covered players from head to toe making it interesting to pick out which team held the ball.

The final score was 12-0 to the kiwis.

I dressed up for the game. The left side of my body was kiwi, and the right side of my body was American. I held both an American and kiwi flag.

A BUNCH OF HAPPY WORKERS

My fantastic crew of fire preventers.

I took this photo - encase you were looking for me for over 5 minutes!

ODEN ICEBREAKER – friday 11 january

There is a sweedish icebreaker ship called "the oden" currently breaking its way into McMurdo. It is hired each year to bash a channel through the ice for the various ships we get into town. I might add at a cost much greater than the small change in your pocket. (A little over 12 mill!) I volunteered to be a line handler too, so that'll be another new experience.

30 PENGUINS & A SNOW STORM - thursday 10 january

It's a chilly day today and the penguins agree. At midnight 30 Adelie penguins waddled into McMurdo to hunker down for the night. Being at work, we started convincing our Captain that it was a good idea to go and see them, "crowd control maybe?" 10 minutes later five of us piled into the ambo and headed through the snow drifts down to the pier.

I wanted to give them my duvet.

DODGEBALL - wednesday 9 january

Dodgeball finals tonight. Unfortunately because of my back I couldn't play in our team. But they sure did everyone proud.
3 tough hours, 3 tough games all ended in victory. Well done "dave's team". The dodgeball champions.

MEDIVAC - tuesday 8 january

I spent 9 hours on the ice today. Six of our crew had driven out to Pegasus runway to hardstand for a c-17 flight arriving from Christchurch. Whilst in transition, a snow mobile accident occurred out at Minnow Bluff. The c-17 was asked to standby encase he needed to be flown to NZ. We watched as the helicopter flew overhead on route to evacuate the patient. 3 hours later we were transferring him by stretcher from the helicopter onto the plane. He had a head laceration and broken ankle.

Kiakaha and get well soon.