Getting back down...

So... I am trying to get myself back down to the ICE. After spending the last 2 years here back in the states, finishing school, spending time with loved ones, and working has been the way I have spent my time. I am not opposed to staying here, but at the same time, I want to get back out of my comfort zone, enjoy the wonderful beauty outside of my current world. I currently have applied for several jobs down on the ICE, all of which would keep me in or around McMurdo, and I am currently waiting to hear back from them. I am so not good with having to wait... but there is a purpose for it even if I don't know why. A couple of the jobs that I have applied for would take me off station, to a field camp, this would be a very new cool adventure as well. The other thing I would love to do, is winter, but first things first lets try to get down there. As for now, it is a waiting game... a game in which I have never been fond of, but... A lesson that I am constantly learning as for now, I am left to watch what the winter is like down at MCM on a webcam: http://www.usap.gov/videoClipsAndMaps/mcmwebcam.cfm

South Island to North Island

Oh My Gosh!!! The last 3 and 1/2 weeks have FLOWN by. I have done and seen so much, but there is also SOOOO MUCH more to see here. I have been to several places and seen about half of the the NZ country side. I spent 2 1/2 weeks on the South Island and from the 15th of March to now I have been on the North Island.

The South Island was amazing. I spent time in Dunedin, Akaroa, Christchuch, Nelson, and in the Abel Tasman National Park. The Last time I posted I had been to all but Nelson and Abel Tasman National Park. Nelson was merely the place I stayed before and after my trip on the Abel Tasman. I took a 3 day/2 night kayak trip on the Abel Tasman. Along with 25km of kayaking in 3 days we also spent time swimming in the blue green water and the golden sandy beaches but we got out and did short tramps to some incredible lookouts. The company I went with supplied the camping gear (although, I would have like my own in hindsight), the kayaks, the camping fees, the waterproof gear and everything else that is needed. I was suprised at the fact that I wasnt sore like I expected to be. It was such a beautiful trip, the weather was incredible and the sites were undescrible (pictures will follow when I get to a place I can put them on here). After this trip I got back on a bus and went back to Christchurch, and flew up to Auckland.

After I arrived in Auckland I had arranged for a trip to the furthest north place in NZ, Cape Reinga and the Bay of Islands. This was a very beautiful place. After arriving to Paihia (Bay of Islands) I then spend the entire next day traveling up to Cape Reinga and traveling down 90 mile beach and sandboarding down huge sand dunes. I then returned to Paihia and then went for a horse back ride through the bush, this was kind of boring, since it was just a trail ride, but it was really nice to see the country side in a different way. It was really cool to be on a horse for the first time in a long time, I miss it, and I cant wait to get home and ride Missy. After riding I relaxed by the beach for the rest of the afternoon. The next day I woke up and had to check out of the hostel I was staying at, but even after checking out you can still use the facilities and they also store your bags for you. Well I went down to the back and laid out for a while. I got on my bus to head back to Auckland around 1:30 and we got back to Auckland around 5pm.

I am packed and ready to travel back to the states. I will be in LA for 22 hours before I fly to Virginia to pick Rocky up. I will be out there for 1 week and then I will be back in CA on the 29th. I will be driving from LA to Fresno when I get back. I am really looking forward to getting back to Fresno, I am looking forward to getting back to everyday life and seeing friends and family.

Hey From New Zealand

I got into Christchurch on 2/25. I cant even begin to describe to you what I was seeing and smelling, but it was amazing. In Antarctica, all you see are the colors of the buildings (which are all pretty much the same colors), the brown dirt, white snow, Red and Orange vehicles, and the blue sky (sometimes). Well These colors aren't in any way the brilliant colors that I saw when I got off the plane. Colors that we take for granted every day of our lives, but after not seeing them for so long it is incredible to get to see them again. Next, the smells... Everything green, everything growing has an amazing smell that you don't smell on a daily basis until you are not exposed to them for a while. When the door opened on the plane you start to smell these smells, but they become stronger as you walk between the airport and the CDC as you walk past grass and flowers and bushes. Hearing the wind blow through the leaves, listening to the river flow past you, seeing a water fountain on the building side, these are all things that you see, hear, and smell. The best way I can express the way I felt with all of this was that I was experiencing all of it for the first time, I felt like I was 5 years old, getting excited about everything that I came in contact with. You slowly begin to not notice the smells as much, but the sights and the sounds are still new and exciting. I petted a dog and all I wanted to do was keep rubbing its sweet little head, it didn't matter if it was one of my dogs or not, it was a dog... Little kids are the same way, you don't see little kids and so when you see them or hear them, you want to play with them, well I haven't done that yet, I will wait do to that until I get home,

On Tuesday I booked the rest of my trip home with a week lay over in Auckland and then flying into Fresno, which I will just miss that flight, for the same day (that way I wasn't charged any money, otherwise it would have been $90). After I got my ticket booked I met up with a few people that I knew that were headed south... They were going to Dunedin, a town on the beach, 5 hours south of Christchurch. I stayed at a campground on the outskirts of town, near the beach, I had a few things that I wanted to do in Dunedin, well actually on the peninsula, there is a Royal Albatross rookery (the only one that is located on a mainland), and see the yellow eye penguin (the rarest penguins around). These two birds are both amazing and when I get a chance I will post some pictures. I hired (rented) a car in order to get out there, well actually the car I hired needed to get back to Christchurch by today so I didn't have to pay for a rental, just the fuel for it. I drove back to the city today and I will be here or around doing different things and traveling different places until 3/15 when I fly up to Auckland.

End Of The Season

Well this will be my last post from Antarctica, as I leave tomorrow. This has definately been an oppertunity and experience of a life time. I have grown and learned a lot about myself since I have been here. I have had chances to do things that most people that come down here will never have. I have had the opertunity to work with many different departments on station and most of them several times. WIth all of these chances and more I have grown in my working environment and also on a personal level. I have had to learn to work with people that I may not see eye to eye with, this has been interesting to do, but I am definately working on it. Lately my schedule has been switched around and I have been working 12 hour shifts, these arent day shifts though, I have been working 12 hour night shifts. This was difficult, but still do able. It was amazing to see the different lifestyle of the night workers verses the day workers. The environment at night is much more relaxed and intimate. There are so many fewer night workers (aka: midrats or daysleepers) that everyone knows everyone.

After several delays the American Tern, the cargo vessel, and the Gianella, the fuel tanker, pulled in. We had several different ships come up into McMurdo Station, or our vacinity. The Krasin; a Russian Ice Breaker, the Klebnikv; sister ship to the Krasin a former Icebreaker now a cruise ship, The Nathanial B Palmier (aka: Natty B) is a research vessel associated with the NSF and the United States Antarctic Program, The American Tern; the Cargo ship with our next years supply of food, supplies, and equpiment, The Gianella; our Fuel tanker with 4 different fuels onboard, 3 delivered to our station and the 4th to refuel the Krasin, and Last but not least we had the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter, The Polar Star down here for a few weeks. These ships all pulled into port, there were at least 2 other ships (cruise ships) that were unable to pull into port but flew their private helicopters and their passengers into station to see life in McMurdo.

For now I must say goodbye, I have to finish packing and cleaning. My flight leaves tomorrow at 1pm New Zealand time, for those of you wondering that is 4pm Pacific. I should be in Christchurch around 6pm, just in time for dinner. I look forward to posting more about everything going on down here and with my travels sooner than later. I also look forward to including some different pictures for you all to see.

Back to MAC town (McMurdo)

Well I am back in McMurdo now. I have been here for a week now. The South Pole was absolutely amazing. The vast platou, where all you can see is white for miles and miles, is definately a site to see. I can not tell you how beautiful it was there. I got to stay an extra day, because the weather back in McMurdo was bad, they couldnt fly to come pick us up. While I was there I had the opportunity to explore some of the underground tunnels that surround the station, I got to decorate Christmas cookies, and help make the Christmas pies. This was an awesome time. I took a few pictures while I was there, some of me at the Geographical and Ceremonial South Poles. These are 2 different poles. The Geographical South Pole moves slighly everyday. They move the pole once a year, January 1st, this year the Geographic pole is within 50 feet of the ceremonial pole.

While there I walked around the world, this was cool to do. Someone asked me if I was standing at the South Pole what was due North of me. Well the answer to that question... EVERYTHING if I were to walk straight up, I would get to go anywhere in the World. The South Pole is located at 90 degrees South Latitude.

The South Pole

Yes you read that right. I made it to the South Pole! This is definitely an experience of a life time. I flew down here on Saturday and I will be here thru Wednesday. We flew down here on LC-130s, a Skied Hercules, there are only 10 of these in the world and the US owns all of them, 7 of which are down in Antarctica currently. There are only 250 people that live at the South Pole station. I am here for 4 days, just long enough to get to see the environment and experience the altitude here. Currently it is 9,780 ft above sea level. The strange thing about the South Pole is that the elevation changes constantly, dependant about the barometric pressure, it can be found out to 12,000ft above sea level. This doesn’t mean that the actual land raises and lowers, this means that with the environment the elevation here changes. This is what everyone would imagine Antarctica to be, it is flat and all you see for miles upon miles is snow. On clear days you can see 60+ miles out. There is no wildlife here, just flat white surface. Right now the temperature here is -12F with a wind-chill factor making it -33F. This may sound cold to you, but it is very dry here and when the sun is out, and the wind is calm, it can be very warm, even to where you don’t really need the BIG jackets. I am here to work as a DA for a few days, and I am very fortunate to have the ability to live in the new station, that is still under construction. One of the things I got to do since I have been here is play crochet using the geographical South Pole and the Ceremonial South Pole as our markers. It was definitely something that I can say was a once in a life time experience.

The Dry Valley’s

I was given the opportunity to go out to the Dry Valley’s to assist a science group with some research that they were doing. This was suppose to be a day trip but turned out to be a trip that was first canceled due to weather, and then the next day we flew out to the Valley’s but because of bad weather I was not able to meet up with the science group I was suppose to meet up with. I did get to go to another location and see some incredible things along the way. The Dry Valley’s are known for their lakes and the glacier formations. There is so much to learn about this area. I got to see the saltiest lake on the continent, the longest and biggest river on the continent, along with so much else. On the third day we flew again and made it out to the group I was meeting up with. As we got there, we noticed a snow storm was coming in and so instead of getting to do a 5 mile hike we just set the helicopter down and went straight to the site where the grad student downloaded data from his sensors. It is incredible to get to learn everything that is going on in the science field.

Cape Royd’s

My second day back as a GA I was asked to go out with a science group and help clear a lake that is under 5 feet of snow. We all worked hard and hauled snow blocks off of the lake. The scientists are hoping that the lake will melt this season and there will be algae bloom to study. At the site of this lake are two very cool sites to see. Cape Royd’s the site of this lake is home to the Adele Penguin Rookery. There are thousands of Adele nesting out there. This was such an incredible site to see. The other site at this location is a hut that E. H. Shackleton built, The Nimrod Hut, and stayed in during his travels to the South Pole. There is a lot of history in this hut. An old original copy of the London News, boxes that are labeled British Antarctic Expedition 1907, the first coal burning stove on the continent, and the elk fur sleeping bags are just a few things that show this history of the building. The day we were out there was the last day that it was open to visitors for the next three years. The New Zealanders (aka Kiwis) are working on it as a part of the Antarctic Heritage Trust. They are dating and conserving all of the items in the Hut for future visitors. Shackleton was the first to have an automobile on the continent, and there are also traces of that in the hut, along with much much more.

Back to the GA Labor Pool

I have been back to working with my GA coworkers now for about a month and I have been staying busy and catching up on the grunt work that I missed while I was working in Fuels. They were all rotating though the galley and working as Dining Attendants (DAs), and also working as janitors. A part of our job is to step in when a department is short handed or there are people that are injured. So we were helping relieve some of those with repetitive motion injuries. I also was tasked out to the VMF, the heavy equipment garage, here they asked us to clean a room from top to bottom in preparation for a Safety audit that was going to take place. Another job that I have been sent to do as a GA is working in the Waste Barn. This includes helping sort though the garbage that is created by everyone at McMurdo and the South Pole station. We recycle 60% of everything that is used on station. This is incredible, considering that Seattle recycles the most in the USA and they recycle 55% of their garbage. Garbage is separated into 18 different categories, some of which include cardboard, mixed paper, light metal, plastics; broken down into 3 different groups, and burnables. These are then shipped off the continent when the vessel arrives in February.

Fuels Department

I was asked to work for a few weeks in the Fuels department. This was a temporary job that lasted for about a month. I was given the opportunity to have this job full time, but decided to stay with what I already had, as it presented me with many more options for working with many more people and learning more about Antarctica. While in the Fuels department I tested the fuel that is used to fuel the aircrafts. I also was a key player in the fuel transfers to the runways. This took many hands and also a person standing by valves in case of any problems. This was an interesting job that allowed me to learn a lot about one of the most precious commodities that we have down here. Everything that we use in Antarctica requires fuel in one way or another.