Antarctica Blog

Today has been nice. The surf is good (though I haven’t been out yet) and the livin’ is easy. We are really enjoying the van. You can park and camp almost anywhere here. It is super comfortable to sleep in compared to our old Subaru. Even comfortable compared to the beds at McMurdo. We find ourselves sleeping in past 9 every morning. We finally got a stove yesterday for 15NZ$ from a swapit sellit paper so now we are more or less independent. Hopefully we will be able to cut back on expenses now that we can make our own food. We bought a small Thyme plant that we hung from the rear view mirror. We named it Jimi after James Cook for a couple of reasons; 1) because he will be exploring NZ with us and 2) because we plan to Cook bits of him along the way. We named the van Abel after the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman. We hope he will be Abel to take us all the way to Auckland without any major difficulties.
It has been difficult to get out of vortex of CHC. We keep planning on it but something always comes up. The last flight to come out of McMurdo was delayed for a few days. We have been waiting for a friend who said he was going to take us sailing off the Banks Peninsula. Yesterday we had another round with AAA. I discovered that my membership had expired in December. I went to get a NZAA membership but they wanted $75US for a 6-month visitor membership. Instead I renewed on-line for $44 and then got my reciprocal card from the NZAA afterwards. It took most of the day though.
Today we bought tickets for a three-day outdoor music festival that happens this weekend so we will for certain be out of town by then. I couldn’t find a toll-free dial-up so today we mailed our laptop home. We haven’t been using it enough to warrant keeping it plus it will give us peace of mind knowing that we don’t have any real valuables in the van while we travel. Hopefully I will still be able to post photos from cafés. We also secured our return to the states. We arrive in Boston on Saturday the 24th of April. We arrive the same day we leave strangely enough. Since we are returning after the 15th we are filing an extension for our taxes today too.

The flight went very smoothly and I even slept a little on the plane. We were really packedin and we were seated next to the last group out of Terra Nova Bay (the Italian base) but it was so noisy that conversation was out of the question.
The temperature here in NZ is mild. It has been both raining and sunny since we arrived. Not as warm as I had expected but really the perfect temperature. Our first day here we managed to get a lot done. We renewed our visas, opened a bank account, did some important shopping and best of all we found our van. It is an 86 Toyota Lite Ace. It is going to be the perfect vehicle to take us around NZ for the next two months. Now that we have gotten our transport situation taken care of we have begun to plan our trip. We still have a few things to pick up before we head out on the road. A friend of ours is having a party for Ice People on Sunday and we are planning our departure from CHC for the day after. AAA has reciprocity with NZAA but we have been delayed getting verification of our account status and now it is the weekend so we might now make it out on Monday. We have a mobile phone now. We mailed ourselves one from Italy that works here with a SIM card. The number is 0211814798. The country code is 64. I am not sure how to dial it from the US so you would have to experiment. We are currently looking for an Internet Service Provider that we can dial-up from the cell phone and connect on the computer with. The number needs to be a 0800 or 0508 number to avoid paying for minutes on the phone. It has proven to be a challenge.
Luci says Hi.

Our bags have been packed and dragged and were spending the next 24+ hours living in Puragatoy out of our carry-on Luggage. We dragged our bags upo the hill in the Galley Truck which was convienent. I decided not to pack a change of work clothes to be optimistic about getting out of here. I did manage to get my last free hair cut which was nice. I went to talk to the Computer techs but her help line was ringing off the hook so I left. I’ll figure it out on my own. We failed our room inspection. They came to inspect while we were away. We weren’t through packing and there was still some stuff laying around. It was kind of preturbing because it was a friend of mind who was doing the inspecting. I will most likely be playing fooseball against him tonight when I will be sure to get my revenge.
So the ball is rolling now. No moss here. It might be a while before we get to post again. We are hoping to be online sometime next week but we have a lot on our plate for the next few days. We mailed ourselves our cellphone from Italy. With the infrared ports on both computer and phone we should be able to connect from anywhere as soon as we get a SIM card and an ISP. I haven’t decided whether to change the name of the blog to reflect the next phase or just keep it the same We’ll let you know as soon as we get it sorted out.

Well, nothing spectacular to report in our last dispatch from the Antarctica. This is a picture of ?Bag Drag?. We all check in for our flight the day before and drag our bags up the hill where it is processed. This week has not been particularly busy but it has been tiring. For Valentines day I got Luci a little tiny Sony Vaio laptop. This time of year everyone is selling their stuff so they don?t have to take it back with them. And, since I am me, I got a great price on it. But, as any of you who have ever had to re-load windows knows, it has been stressful to get it up and running. I was hoping to take advantage of the Computer Techs here but time is running out?
Today was the last day of work for us. I think I can speak for the both of us when I say it was unemotional. It is sad to think such a great time is coming to a close but it is always nice to finish up a season and move on to other things. I am sure we will feel differently if our flight doesn?t get out. We are scheduled to fly out sometime on Wednesday afternoon but we are told to keep a uniform in our carry-on in case the flight doesn?t go so that we can come into work the next day.
Tomorrow on our bag-drag day, we already have a full roster. We have to go to the post office and put in a change of address; the store and gear issue to sign a form saying we have no outstanding rentals; and get a free haircut while they last among other things. Oh, by the way, those of you who have been using my .gov e-mail, it will no longer work after Tuesday but feel free to e-mail me at my other address or post comments.
It is hard to believe that very soon we will be in the peak of temperate summer after 5 months in the Antarctic. We are trying not to get too excited about it so we can focus on packing up. We have been making plans though. Hopefully we?ll be sailing on a friend?s 30 ft. boat this time next week and, if things go well, we have a nice little van to get us around NZ for the next 2 months as well.

We have started counting days. 10 days till we leave. We are really looking forward to our vacation. I have a bunch of leads on vans in Christchurch. We should have one pretty soon after we arrive. I recently discovered that the World Rally Race NZ takes place while we will be in the country; another activity to put on our growing list.

The super bowl came and went without incident. Now the offload is in full swing and everyone is keeping very busy. The ship arrived a couple of days ago and it has been around the clock ever since. They are scheduled to finish offloading sometime tomorrow morning and begin loading a year?s worth of waste and retro back on.

The sun has started getting very low in the sky and the shadows are getting long. Notice the purple in the seaice in the lead photo; it is not a flaw in the photo, it really looks that way at midnight. The days of temps above freezing are now over. The weather has been starting to change and do weird things. The other day I walked out of my dorm on the way to work and saw the strangest thing. There was a sundog (a circular rainbow around the sun) and a rainbow at the same time. The point where it crossed was as bright as the sun. It almost looked like there were two suns in the sky. Up until today it has been very still; so still that the smoke from Mount Erebus drifts leisurely off to the horizon. Today on the other hand was very windy. I hope this is not a sign of bad weather to come. We are all keeping our fingers crossed for good weather. Bad weather means flight delays.

We had some bad news yesterday. My grandfather Wagner died. He had been struggling with cancer for many years. I have many great memories of Grandpap and he has always had a great influence on my life. He will be missed.

We have reached our peak population of 1200 here at McMurdo for the season. There are swarms of NavCHAPs (navy cargo handlers) around. They have nothing to do until the big cargo vessel arrives and have been causing all kinds of trouble in their spare time. During the ship off-load, all the bars close and the store stops selling liquor which is supposed to reduce accidents. This will do very little to curb peoples drinking habits as opportunistic individuals have stocked up on beer and liquor and open ?private bars? during off-load and make a killing.
The cargo vessel arrival has been delayed a day. My personal thoughts are that it was postponed so as not to interfere with the most watched TV extravaganza in America; The Super Bowl. Word has it that all 300 Coasties are being given that day off to come into town and watch the game. Apparently, the Navy and the Coast Guard get into fights. If you throw alcohol, football and the Air National Guard into the melee there?s bound to be trouble. For some reason, they have decided to open the bars especially to accommodate this potentially volatile recipe for chaos. To an outsider this might seem nonsensical and even farcical but, it is entirely congruent with USAP policy supporting brutishness and alcohol induced misbehavior. For example, a friend and co-worker of ours was violently attacked last week by a known trouble-maker for no apparent reason. Our friend, who, I might add, is not predisposed to causing a fight, felt that he should report the thumping he received for the good of the community. When he did, he was told that he was going to be sent home. He left yesterday (with a completed contract and an offer to come back next year I might add) but the guy who attacked him is still here and is staying the winter. 0 tolerance is the policy towards fighting (but some tolerance is more 0 than others it seems).
In addition to the NavCHAPs and Coasties there have been numerous cruise ships in the area whose passengers have made town population seem a little bulkier though they rarely use our facilities. There was one out in the channel yesterday when I woke up; a converted ice-breaker with a steady line of zodiacs coming from it ferrying tourists to the shore. We have had to dodge them in the galley truck on our way out to the runway.
The tanker has come and gone. Fuel off-load operations finished up today. The tanker was here last week for about three days filling up our tank farm. It also filled the hold of one of the ice breakers which subsequently fueled the Marble Point Helo Facility in the other side of the sound which is the base of Helo Ops in the Dry Valleys. The tanker was then filled with waste fuel and sent back to Australia, I think.
I finally made it to Snow School. A bit late considering how much time I spend on the sea-ice. The two days of Snow School came right before my day off so I had three days out of the galley in a row. I can?t say I learned all that much new but it was nice to get out and build igloos and play around with the HF radio (I made a call to South Pole about 800 miles away).
We are still planning on buying a van in NZ and touring around for a couple of months. I have recently become obsessed with the idea of Traction Kites. A Traction Kite is one that, with sufficient winds, can pull you along on and number of vehicles. I have been shopping around for a good kite to bring down next year to use with short skis. Ice shelf is the ideal environment for this sport. With their rich history of sailing and adventure sports, NZ is the perfect place to get a kite and learn how to use it. As it turns out, Christchurch is one of the best places to Kite surf which is essentially wind surfing only with a big kite rather than a sail. This is high on my itinerary! I think finding a yoga retreat is high on Luci?s and Kite surfing is at the very bottom.

Everyone is getting excited about the end of the season. It seems to be flying by. The channel finally blew out. Now there is open water in front of town for the first time since 2001. A large iceberg has been blocking the regular breakup and flow of the ice shelf. Hut Point is an exciting place these days. The penguins are still hanging around. Going out to watch them is like going to the circus. Since the ice cleared out and the water opened up it has cleared the way for whales to come in and feed. Yesterday we could clearly see the spouts of Orcas and with binoculars you could see their tall fins as they came up for air. Now we have seen all the wildlife the area has to offer. Hopefully in the next couple weeks they come close enough that I can get a couple of good pictures.
This week there has been a flurry of marine activity. There are currently two icebreakers cruising the waters around Ross Island; Polar Star and Polar Sea. They are breaking a channel to the Marble Point helicopter refueling station. The Nathaniel B. Palmer came into port yesterday. It was once used as a Coast Guard breaker but was decommissioned and is now used as a research vessel for the USAP. It is taking on fuel, supplies and new passengers. There are a couple of old Russian vessels that are now used as Antarctic Cruise ships that arrive in the Ross Island vicinity every year. Last week some of these passengers were ferried into town and spent the day touring our facilities. Word is that next week they will actually be docking at the pier.
Far off on the horizon you we can see the tanker Gianella waiting to come into port after the Palmer leaves. They were planning to stay out in the sound and act as a floating gas station for the breakers until the re-supply vessel American Tern arrives at the beginning of February. Today, in the weekly ?Antarctic Sun?, they reported that the arrival of the tanker has been anticipated due to favorable weather conditions. So, it looks like vessel operations will be over much sooner than anticipated. Many people have been told they will be leaving early if vessel schedules remain as they are.
We are still scheduled to leave on the 17th though, which means we have less than a month left. My schedule depends upon the Air National Guard and the LC-130s and not the ships. Sally (our supervisor) is insistent on Luci and I leaving on the same flight. So as long as the Hercs are here, I am here; as long as I am here, Luci is here. We have begun to make plans for our vacation. Before we came down we were planning on a grand tour of SE Asia. But, I think we have settled on spending a couple of months in NZ. We plan to buy a van and see the entire county. Apparently there are several dealerships in Christchurch that will do a buy-back deal. The only thing is that there are a lot of people that do the same thing and it might be difficult to get our hands on a good vehicle. If I get a vehicle in NZ it means that I will have at least one on three continents (yes, Jesse the Subaru is still mine until I receive full payment); a step closer to having land in all three. Luci and I are very excited to see more of the country of our dreams. An island nation with mountains, beaches, and forests all in relative proximity; what could be better.
I am not sure what I am going to do with the Antarctica Blog when we are no longer here. I don?t know whether to put it on ice until next season or keep it up. Any suggestions?

I just got this picture a few minutes ago as the Polar Star broke its way into the town pier. A bunch of people lined the road to watch. A group of about 70 penguins came around the point and also stopped to watch. We have been monitoring the ships movements all week as it slowly approached town. I went out to help the fuelies roll up the hose that once went out to the ice runway. We were some of the last people to be out in that area before it was closed to access for the season. I got some great views of the breaker out in front of town.
It has been like spring ski season here; warm and mushy. I was told that the Hercs have the ability to attach rocket engines with about a 10 second burn to help counteract the friction from the skis on slushy ice. I got to go out and have a look at the planes up close the other day to see the inside and to see where the rockets attach. On Saturday we had our annual Ice Stock. Like all celebrations here, new years is celebrated the Saturday after. It was sunny and beautiful and about 45 or 50 F. There were bands and a chili contest. All the music was powered by solar energy. The actual new year?s eve was OK. The Kiwis have a party in their heavy machinery shop at Scott Base every year and we went to that. It was our first time to be the first time zone to see the new year. We were off the day after and sort of longed around the room. Around noon we realized we could call Luci?s parents and wish them a happy new year as it was about to happen. I tried calling my brother Isaac later at 18:00 when it would have been midnight on the east coast but couldn?t get a line out.
The job fair is tomorrow. Luci and I have been actively exploring our job options for next year already but we plan to make an appearance there just the same. We have a tentative re-deployment date of the 17th of February. I know that month is going to fly by.

The big runway move happened the day after Christmas as planned. Our dining car is made up of three double-wide trailers modified for the ice. They are all on skis and are double insulated with walk-in refrigerator doors. They are connected by an insulated interface. To move them, we just take out the interfaces, disconnect water and electrical systems, hitch them to a bulldozer and away we go.
Our new home out at Willy Field is on the thick permanent Ross Ice Shelf. It is a snow runway so only ski equipped aircraft can land there. We now have a new perspective on Mt Erebus and the surrounding islands but inside the dining facility nothing has changed. The drive out is more than twice as long and much crazier. The transition from land to snow is incredibly variable. It has been relatively warm lately and the snow has been getting mushier than it was even a few weeks ago. I managed to get the truck stuck on the first day out there. Well, it wasn?t entirely my fault. I had help from my counterpart, Debbie. We picked up a skier who was hitchhiking back to town from skiing out to the runway just before crossing the transition. Debbie was sitting in the middle and when the road started to get bumpy she tensed up and pushed down to the floor with her feet to steady herself, I guess. Only she wasn?t pushing on the floor, she was pushing on the accelerator! W went roaring into the worst part of the transition in our modified V8 4.5l Ford and stopped dead in a hole. We had to get pulled out by a Challenger and discovered that we threw out the alignment. The truck went into the shop, I took the rap like a gentleman, and we got to drive a Mattracks vehicle for a couple of days. A Mattracks is a regular truck fitted with tracks instead of wheels, like the Mt. Washington Summit Coach. Drives like hell.
Christmas was great fun. One of the DAs has a friend who is a costume designer and sent the whole kitchen crew Santa suits that we wore for the Christmas eve dinner. We had Christmas day off and opened our presents at brunch. When we arrived at brunch we found out that a Herc had arrived, like Santa?s Sleigh, loaded with package mail. Our name was on the list and we had a surprise box of presents from my parents on Christmas morning.
All the signs of the season being half over are evident. The runway has moved, the holidays are over, the beakers are starting to wind up their projects, and, most exciting of all, you can see the Coast Guard Icebreaker on the horizon. It has started to cut the channel for the arrival of ?Vessel? which is scheduled to happen at the beginning of February.

Jon, the pilot, made it back to NZ thanks to the generosity of a fellow adventurer. A British pilot who was planning on flying over the pole had shipped a fuel cache to the NZ Scott Base. For one reason or another, she was forced to cancel her flight and sold the fuel to Jon. He flew out a few days ago and arrived safely in NZ and has since made it back to Australia.
As the wildlife on the runway becomes more abundant and the land to ice transition becomes softer and full of holes, the days of the Ice Runway become numbered. The big move to Williams Field is scheduled for the 26th. On that day, all the buildings are towed across the ice to a runway built on the more stable ice shelf. There it will stay for the rest of the season.
Christmas is coming up. We have our big Christmas celebration on the 24th. Since most kitchen workers will be working on the two days that everyone else gets off, we get two days off at some other time. I took mine off yesterday and went to Fuels to volunteer. I went out to the runway and got to help fuel the Hercs and used a snow machine to check the fuel line from town to the tanks at the runway fuel pits. It was nice to get a different perspective on runway operations.
The Emperor has become a bit of a fixture on the Ice Road. He is still hanging around and has been getting kind of grumpy. He flaps and squawks when we drive by. What I heard second-hand from a scientist is that they go through a 3 week molting cycle in which they can?t swim and therefore can?t eat either.
Luci was selected to go to Happy Camper School last week. It is a training program primarily for people working in the field but they try to get Galley Folk into it as a way to get out of the kitchen and see some more of the area.
We finally made it to Scott?s hut which is walking distance from town. We have been many times but we never had the key to get in. Due to the cold weather and dry climate the hut and its contents are preserved almost exactly how they were left by Scott?s south pole expedition.