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.