Antarctica, Never a Dull Moment!: Marching on (In the Cold)

Friday, Aug 13th, 2010

Arrived in an overcast, windy and drizzly Auckland New Zealand. Customs was a breeze. It wasn’t that they didn’t check us over, the dogs sniffed through for drugs, and then a few were pulled for random searches, but for the most part, they relied on the x-ray scans and metal detector scans. I didn’t have anything to declare over and above the $700 worth of personal valuables, $10,000 cash limit and two bottles of alcohol over 1.2L. Everything I had was under these limits and nothing was for resale. We had a 3 hour layover there and boarded a JetStar flight for Christchurch. That flight was only an hour and a half.

Arrived in Christchurch at around 3PM, raining. Collected our baggage and loaded up on a supped shuttle (one of the shuttle companies contracted by Raytheon to haul us back and forth from the terminal, to hotel, to CDC, back to Hotel and back to terminal. Dropped me off at the Christchurch Novotel. Not too bad for $157 NZ a night. Wasn’t too happy when I discovered no bath tub. The whole bathroom is the floor of the shower with a curtain dividing it to keep the water from splattering all over. No raised part to keep the water in a general area. Nice concept, but I wanted a bath to soak the slime off. They also must be using the “on demand” hot water heaters as the hot water would pulse to hot, then cool off, the back to hot in about a 30 second cycle. Went out and had some really good Tai food for dinner. Cost $32 NZ for two Singha beers, a bowl of hot/sour vegetable soup and glass noodle seafood salad. After eating went back to the hotel and tried to sleep. Was beat with lack of sleep over the last 30 hours so fell asleep really quick at 11PM. But woke up promptly at 3:35 AM and couldn’t get back to sleep. 3:45 AM here in Christchurch is 9:45 AM there in Denver. So I was jet-laggin. Still am today. Figure it will be a week.

Aug 14th, 2010 CDC and Training

Next day we had a change of time to hit the CDC for flue shots, ECW issue (Extreme cold weather gear) and training on how to drive, fork lift operation, and driving on the runway with vehicles and the rules and procedures for that. Ended up with all my gear, and doing the classes. Headed back to the hotel to eat, do a bit of last minute gear shopping, and then go sample the local NZ brews. Picked up two more sock liners, Marino wool, two more marino wool heavy (cold weather) socks, and golden green (Had to, I liked the color) goose down vest, passport holder, fleece glove inserts, and some lighter wool socks. Found out the 1st Winflight flight hadn’t flown due to mechanical failure so we will get another day here in Christchurch.

In the CDC Terminal waiting to board the C-17

Aug 15th, 2010

Raining again today. Weather here is just like it used to be in Northern CA. Foggy, rain, breezy, damp, cold. We heard the other flight was held back because of weather. Another day in Christchurch. Other flight took off. We will fly tomorrow probably. Went shopping for some hard candy, fruit and anything else I may have forgotten. Had Chinese food today at a restaurant the seemed to have Chinese locals eating at. Figured it must be good. It was mediocre, what was so attractive about it to the locals is the quantity. For $27 NZ I got enough to easily feed four people to the point they would be stuffed.

Ate Tai again figuring it would be the last for 7 months. Same place but a seafood curry this time. Was REALLY good. Got back to the room later that night to find a letter at the door saying to report to the CDC for flight the next morning at 10AM. Here we go, off to the great white south!!

August 17th, 2010: Touchdown!!!

Well, I’m here. We arrived last night after a 5 hour trip on an air force reserve, C-17 cargo plane. It was actually the smoothest flight, including take-off and landing that I had had all the way down here. Flight took 5 hours (at an average of 350 knots, at 27,000’) and was uneventful. I got some pictures of the plane as we loaded, on board (me finally in some), in the cockpit, and an overhead picture through a viewport high on the bulkhead wall, over the cargo/seating area.

C-17 on the runway waiting for us to board. Roach-coach to the right where we got our Lunch/Dinner sandwitches.

Cockpit of the C-17 somewhere over the south (WAY South) Pacific.

Everyone sitting in the cargo bay. Cargo behind us against the back ramp.

We took off from the CDC, Air base in Christchurch at about 1PM after a couple of orientation classes on what to do while on the plane, how to load and how to exit in the dark after suiting up into required extreme cold weather gear. They didn’t want anyone getting too close to the engines and getting sucked through as they weren’t going to shut them off. They would leave shortly after we all got off and then left the area on the transports.
We arrived around 6:45PM, loaded these huge tired buses called “Ivan”. It was about -45 to -50 degrees Fahrenheit out when we arrived. With all the gear we had on you sure didn’t feel it. We were required to wear a the goose down parka, knit hat or individual hood, have a neck warmer, insulated coveralls over your clothes, most people also wore the fleece jacket or shirt (I did), heavy wool socks, the cold weather boots (Mickey Mouse, FDX or some extreme cold weather Cabela’s), insulated gloves. Could have added another layer for more warmth but didn’t need it. As it was, I got so hot on the half hour ride from the airfield, across the sea ice to McMurdo, that my t-shirt was soaked with sweat. It was as if I had taken a shower with it on. The fleece jacket sleeves were soaked too. The transport was warm, and with all that gear on, you felt as if you were in a sauna.

The food here is pretty good. Today for lunch we had garlic shrimp (prawns) over fettuccini, a chicken and lentil soup, homemade garlic/onion bread (the big loaves and you cut yourself) and a beef stew. Of course we can eat as much as we want, and anything on the juice/milk bar. It’s rumored that people try to make up the lack of pay ($$) but eating the rest of what they are entitled to. From how round some of the people are here, I believe it.
Tonight we had an Indian chicken curry, saffron rice, some type of lentil and sausage soup, more fresh French bread rolls, dome type of chickpea Indian pie (really good) and various steamed veggies. Going to be really hard to eat moderately here Hehe.

August 18, 2010

It was cold today, and windy. Wind chill hit -57 degrees F. Visibility dropped to about a mile, maybe a little more. Found I can wear Levi’s in this type of cold for about half an hour, maybe a little longer as long as I keep walking. I would hate to be out in this weather trying to work for hours. Had a balaclava on today inside the hood of the parka and my nose, forehead and lips would start to freeze if I got any wind on them at all after about 15 minutes. Boots I got at Gander Mountain, rated down to -25 have worked like a champ. Only problems I am having with them is my ankles aren’t used to wearing high supports and the tops of the boots are chafing to the point of blisters. Will have to go to either looser socks (been wearing heavy wool) or change to tennis shoes for a few days. Long as I’m not out in the weather I should be ok just walking the hundred yards or so up and back down the hill to building 159 (Comms Shop).

Traveled to the supply building where you can get anything for admin, some materials (gloves, cord, gas cans, etc.) for some admin supplies. Needed a note pad and a “Green Brain”! Hehehe. It’s what they call the little green notebook we used to get back in the service for general note taking. Labeled “Memoranda” across the front, FSN: 7530-00-222-0078. There’s those out there that will recognize these things. I thought it amusing they call them “Green Brains” here. Mike, It was cold in Korea at times, but it’s as cold here ALL the time. How the hell did we make it with that crappy gear they gave us in the Marines? Dinner was steak, thick chicken noodle soup and veggies. Food is good!

Also hit what they call the “Skua” building today. Skua are a type of Sea Gull here in Antarctica. Bigger, and a bit meaner, but still a scavenger. They have named bins and this building the “Skua” areas. Think free salvation army centers. Stuff people don’t want to take off the ice they donate and the rest of the people go pick through it to scrounge anything useful. You can actually find some pretty decent clothes in these places, including books, dishes, anything really.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the first day of the season we see the sun come above the horizon. Remember, we won’t see much for than just a sliver, but still, it finally comes above the horizon, Aug 19 this year for the first time for the start of summer here.

All for now, will post pictures when I finally get the card reader working. The older Sony card readers won’t work with anything but Windows XP and earlier. I have Windows 7 on my machine and am trying to get the card reader driver installed on my work computer. Maybe tomorrow!!!