Fleecy tales.

It's been fabulous...



Our flight from the ice was delayed 24 hours due to bad weather. Saturday was a perfect clear day and after a lot of my tears we were off the ice. Back in the C-17 as if we had only arrived yesterday....

Christchurch smelt lovely and tropical with the humidity and we enjoyed Hell's pizza, fresh coke, and Salad Nicoise - it is strange but good to be back.

I'm going to enjoy having a bubble bath, not having to put loads of cloths on just to go outside, not having to account for my where abouts, rolling on the grass, bare feet and buying exspensive shoes, cooking and lots of salt water and sailing...I'm also going to shop until I'm sick.


Wellington here I come...
....and I have decided that I can conquer the world as long as I have an unlimited supply of lattes.

Aroha.

Fin.

An awfully big adventure...in one day!

We got up at 5.00am on Tuesday morning for a trip out to Cape Evans but had to turn back due to bad visibility and weather. But on Wednesday it was fabulous with a clear sky and no wind at all and we were all very happy and did not mind getting up early again - worth it - as the images show....

What a great trip to finish up my six months with. It was really amazing as we drove across the sea ice to Cape Evans for Roberta to take mould samples from the hut and for Mike to get good film footage. Emily and I surveyed the snow build up around and inside the hut. Blake made really good sandwiches wrapped in tin foil and placed them inside the heater so that by the time we arrived they were toasted and warm.

Scott's hut in the early dawn.

West side of the hut with Barn Glacier in the distance.

Just inside the door of the hut with light from the open door, surprisingly there was no snow inside the hut.

The Barn Glacier with Mt Erebus behind - Huge, Amazing!

The sun....looook - "it Burns"...

This was really special as we saw the actual sun for the first time in such an amazing place. ...

What a day - tired little bunnies when we got home...but very happy.

Presure ridges walk.

Did you stand there.....

Today I enjoyed a cold walk out onto the ridges in front of the base. The ice is thick enough to walk on and the green flags mark the safe route. It was fantastic as the few images from the 100 I took illustrate. My cheek turned white which is the first sign of frost nip so we raced back inside as we were getting really cold even though it was a beautiful day. We also watched the first flight land from the ice as it was such a clear amazing day - you could see for ever.

Freshies...

The arrival of the first flight since February means fresh fruit. I had a banana, and crunchy, crisp apple and an orange and it was the best orange I have ever had...

It was also amazing to watch the flight bank left on the horizon and land at the Pegasus air Field. I actually felt quiet emotional as that will be us on Friday.

Picture Gallery.

It's just pointless...

...trying to go to the gym as we are far too busy enjoying ourselves, over eating and celebrating. We enjoyed a Winter Crew meal on Friday night. The food was amazing with scollop's, turkey, salmon and chocolate cake and desert wines. A really great evening complete with Christmas crackers ?. This morning we had a Champagne breakfast, more celebrating since our numbers will increase to 41 tomorrow with the first of the flights, a great way to spend Sunday since the weather is again bad and we are confined, not that any of us need to go out.

We visited McMurdo yesterday for last minute shopping and everyone will get a T-shirt or a T-shirt and quiet possibly if they are very lucky a T-shirt....

I asked Fiona if the top I was holding was a nice colour or had I been here too long. She advised me that I had been here too long and move away from the nasty pink top...
It was dangerous as I armed myself with a basket and anounced I had my credit card.

Meanwhile back at base to amuse ourselves....


Clive with the help of base members made a movie for the McMurdo Film Festival called "When Spuds go Bad".
It had to include an action figure or soft toy, a fork and the line - "It is but a scratch" we all had fun partaking and it turned out really funny and won all the prizes.

The last two weeks...

...can't believe it really. We have had some bad weather and last weekend was condition one, so we had to stay on base. This also meant the fire exits were all blocked with snow and had to be cleared. It took me an hour to clear just one entrance and find the porch and subsequent steps. The snow was covering the door handle. Needless to say I did not need to go to the gym that afternoon.

The week has mostly been sorting out the area we have been working in and preparing for the new conservators who arrive on Monday. I managed to visit Arrival Heights with Nathan since he needed help, well someone to be present in case he fell off the antenna he was fixing. I was hoping to see the sun since it was due to break the horizon but unfortunately it was a little cloudy.

This was the view while we were up at the Heights - about 2.00pm


This was the view at lunch time from the back door...