Firstly, I've made it to the Ice- writing this from the Hatherton Lab
at Scott Base. However, I misplaced one of my bags (cos I'm an idiot!)
which has my download cable for my camera in it, so no photos on the
blog this evening. Don't worry- the bag has been located, but it's not
getting bought over from Mactown (the American base - McMurdo Station
- gotta use the lingo!) till tomorrow morning.
So yeah, got up bright and early and made our way to the Antarctic
passenger terminal. Then it was a case of hurry up and wait, as we got
processed, then had to wait for a while, then got shown a safety DVD
about the flight and the ice, and got on a bus, and waited some more,
then got on the plane, and waited a little more, before finally taking
off.. 5 hour flight in a noisy military plane was interesting.. I'm
glad I had my noise cancelling headphones! There were about 85 people
on the flight- about a dozen Italians on their way to Terra Nova Bay
Station, ~70 Americans going to Mactown and the South Pole station,
and then Glen and I, the only Kiwis! So we were all up the front of
the plane, and then there was a heap of cargo in the back.
It was a 5 hour flight down, and a ridiculously soft landing at
Pegasus Ice Runway. Usually they run a sea-ice runway closer to
Mactown, but apparently due to budget cuts, they're not using it this
year. We then caught Ivan the Terror Bus into Mactown, and jumped in a
taxi (seriously) to take us to Scott Base, before seeing someone in a
SB vehicle who agreed to bring us over.. It's been a gorgeous day down
there- about -15°C, with clear blue skies and hardly any wind,
although it's picking up now and blowing some snow around... But Mt
Discovery, and the Royal Society Range were sitting proud and clear
across McMurdo Sound.
So we arrived just in time for afternoon tea, which was great, haha..
We then had a bit of a basic briefing about the base, before Glen gave
me the full tour. We have a safety briefing tomorrow morning, and then
I'm supposed to be going for my Antarctic Field Training on Friday and
Saturday. This has been complicated, however, by the fact that it
would just be me on the course because there weren't any other kiwis
on the flight! (Glen only has to do a refresher). I could do it by
myself, one on one with the trainer, or I can wait till Monday and do
it with the guys that come in on Friday. The option I take will depend
on our program in the next week or so- you're not allowed to go in the
field until you've done the training.
Anyway, it's still pretty hard to believe I'm actually here!
Especially when the weather's been good, and I've been walking round
Scott Base in my GC polo shirt which I wore it on the plane (only some
of the readers will understand that part) and jeans.. It's the little
things that are making it more acceptable- looking at the view that
the webcam has helped a lot to orientate myself! I think that after
looking at maps and photos, and reading books about the place for so
many years, in some ways it's familiar, and it's just piecing together
all the bits. But at the same time I don't think that you can really
judge what it's going to be like, especially how fricken awesome it
is! And I know that my photos won't do it justice, because the only
way you can do justice to a place like this is by experiencing it..
Right, enough of this, I've gotta go put some string on my mukluks
(the extreme cold weather boots)..
Great to see Obama won- this year's all about change!! ;-)
Oh, and I've had my first beer at Scott Base- a Speights- they didn't
have Double Brown...
Update on the weather outside- it's -16.6°C with 25 knot winds, so
thats like -40°C with the windchill.. Good thing I'm inside where it's
t-shirt weather!
Oh, and to the person who commented that I looked "truly ridiculous"
in my extreme cold weather gear (you know who you are), I would say
that I'd rather be alive and silly looking than frozen and dead. Or as
Shackleton wrote to his wife when he turned back less than 100 miles
from the pole- "Better to be a live donkey than a dead lion!" Hahaha..
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