we lose some, we win some

today we had a medevac, the first in seven years. a woman was very ill and her bowel got twisted, so it was decided that her and her husband fly out.

they ordered a c-17 from honolulu and flew in our crew separately to fly down from christchurch to mcmurdo. they had to fly down in night vision goggles. i was outside when the plane was landing and it was odd to see the plane running on minimal lights. hell, it was odd to see a plane in the sky. after it landed they had to wait for the crew to cover their eyes to turn on the light trees because they have to maintain their light sensitivity in order to best utilize the goggles. after that they unloaded cargo and then those departing could board. within an hour they were refueled and took off back towards christchurch.

tomorrow is our 4th of july carnival. normally all of the proceeds go to charity, but we have decided to donate the money to the couple. they are both kiwis and since christchurch has been devastated he wont be able to work, and it is expected that she will be hospitalized for a while.

it was very sad to see two well liked and vibrant community members leave. the positive side was that we got 300 lbs of mail and 6000 lbs of freshies. tonight they put out bananas in the middle of dinner which was SO FRICKEN EXCITING I THOUGHT I WOULD PEE!

I was sniffing my banana while working video counter and one of the store girls, took a picture of us.

i really didnt think it was going to be a big deal for me to have freshies again, especially since i work in the greenhouse fairly often and we get salad about every 10 days. but when the rumors were going around that we might get a medevac and might get freshies i started thinking about fruit all of the time.

today was sad, but it was also very good indeed.

Getting to Antarctica Videos

i have arrived

after one other delay we were finally cleared to fly to McMurdo on Saturday (Friday for North Americans).

i got on at 2 am on Saturday so I could meet the shuttle to the CDC in the lobby at 3 am. at the CDC we had to put on our ECW gear and weigh our luggage before heading to the USAP customs area. they weighed our bags as well as ourselves. the we went to the antarctic visitors centre for breakfast before heading back to the CDC to watch a video on what to expect flight wise and upon landing.

we then went through a metal detector which went off on all but 4 people (because of our gear) and then boarded the plane. we had to wait about 40 minutes before taking off because the flight computers werent working. of course i dozed off and woke up thinking we were already in the air because the engines were so loud. C-17s are cargo planes, so there isnt any insulation, and the seats are actually loaded in like a pallet of cargo would be. i sat sidways which was very odd during take off and landing.

both the take off and landing were smooth, and the whole flight was pretty smooth. oh yeah, and loud. like the kind of loud that makes you go deaf if you take out your ear plugs.

the benefit of flying the plane is the amount of space you have to walk around. the wierd part was not having any windows other than the exit peepholes, so you werent certain of your orientation.

about 30 minutes before we landed i got up to look out the window and i was able to sea the sea ice and its cracks. it was AMAZING.

our flight landing with mount erebus in the background

we landed at pegasus airfield in a windy -42 F and boarded ivan the terra bus, which is a large ice land rover thingamajig that travels at about 30 mph. after our mile ride we finally got into mcmurdo and went directly to the galley for a briefing. this gave them ample time to unload our luggage at the post office.

after getting our keys and linens we went to pick up our luggae and were privvy to the most spectacular sight ever...nacreous clouds. evil little buggars, but beautiful none-the-less. i could have stayed out all night staring at them if the wind chill wasnt at a brisk -62F.


i really cant believe i am here at the bottom of the world. there arent words that can describe how i feel, and i can only say that i am thankful and excited for what is to come!

post script: i must admit that i have borrowed these photos from some fellow antarcticans because i can not use my computer to upload anything as of yet. i have to have it approved by IT before i can do anything. so thank you wally and cathy!