Leaving NZ
Since we bought our own tickets we were able to come to NZ to play a little before deployment. When we finally got our deployment date it turns out that we really didn’t have that much time. Luci only had one day extra and I had three but we tried to make the best of it. The flight from Denver to LA to Auckland went surprisingly well. A lot of people suffer from the long trans-pacific flight but it has never really bothered me for some reason. When we got to our gate in Auckland to fly down to Christchurch they soon announced that the flight had been canceled due to “technical requirements” which, Luci believes, means that they didn’t have enough people on the flight. The next flight to Christchurch left about 45 minutes later. After we had all boarded and the plane left the gate we had a mechanical problem and returned to the gate and disembarked. After another two hours we got on the third attempt of a flight and finally made it Christchurch. This didn’t give us much time to do anything so we just went to a pub across the street from our hotel to find friends coming off the Ice after wintering.
The next day we got a car and drove all around the banks peninsula; to Akaroa and Lyttelton. On Monday, our day was kind of split in half because at one o’clock Luci had to get her cold weather gear in Christchurch. We met up with friends that were to be on her flight and spent the afternoon with them. Since I still had the car and was free the next day I went up to Mt Hutt ski area for the day after dropping Luci off at the airport for her flight down to McMurdo. I had an amazing day. The weather was perfect albeit a bit windy. They have received record snowfall here in Canterbury this winter so Mt Hutt is staying open later than usual this season. I was expecting spring-like conditions but I found was four to six inches of fresh powder on the mountain. It turned out to be much more like full-winter snowboarding that spring. I met a Kiwi snowboarder from the nearby town of Methven. He used to work down at McMurdo back when the kitchen was staffed by a NZ company. He showed me all around the mountain and then around the town. He offered to let me stay at his place but then I got a call from Luci.
Her flight had turned around (boomeranged) about three hours into the flight
and she was back in Christchurch. Since they were going to try again early
Wednesday and brother Jesse was scheduled to arrive from Denver a couple
hours later, it made more sense to stay back in Christchurch that night. We
ate at a Korean barbecue in town. At a Korean barbecue they bring a
charcoal brazier and raw meat and vegetables to your table and you cook it
yourself. Fun. At four the next morning we got notice that Luci’s flight
had been postponed until 10:00 about the same time Jesse’s flight was
scheduled to arrive. I dropped Luci off and went to pick up Jesse. Her
flight was successful and she arrived safely at McMurdo in the afternoon.
Jesse and I roomed together and went out to meet friends. We met up with a
couple of my crew that I will be working with out in the field at WAIS
Divide.
On Thursday we had our clothing issue and I returned the car. I took Jesse
and a friend to the Korean barbecue. Early in the morning on Friday we got a
24hr delay notice. No one is quite sure what the delay was for. Some say
mechanical problems, others say it was weather related. But, Luci had
written and told me that the weather at McMurdo was as fine as it was in
Christchurch. My personal theory is that it was out of superstition;
Friday was also the 13th. But who’s complaining? Friday is always a big
night in Christchurch.
In the morning there was no notice and everyone reported to the terminal at
six. Many of us had a strong feeling that we would boomerang. The flight
crew seemed pretty eager to get us loaded onto the C-17 and get on our way.
In fact, halfway through the silly video they show us every time we fly
(“.you will remember the next 48hrs for the rest of your life.”) we got a
call from the flight crew asking us to board immediately. The 70-so of us
got loaded quickly and were read to take off. But not before they loaded a
few hundred extra pound of fuel which made me nervous because it meant they
were preparing for a holding pattern over McMurdo. The C-17 “Globemaster”
has enough range to fly the five hours to McMurdo, circle over the base for
a while, and turn around if the ground conditions are not optimal. This is
a worst case scenario and one that we did not want to find ourselves in.
We lifted off at about ten (roughly the same time brother Joel was scheduled
to arrive in Christchurch) and we got lucky. We landed at the Ice Runway
exactly five hours after our departure. I was surprised that this year no
one boarded the plane to tell us not to turn around and take pictures of the
aircraft “or your bonus would be affected”. I even managed to stay awake in
the arrival brief in the Chalet and by 4 o’clock we were free to go. Being
a Saturday night, there was a big theme party but Luci and I passed it up
for a quite evening with friends. Today is Sunday and, as is my habit, I am
in the coffeehouse tapping away. A lot of new faces but it feels like I
never left.
Luke
Leave a Reply