Day 6- October 16 '11 Part 1

Day 6 – Oct 16’11

ICE day! Shuttles picked us up at 445a for CDC. The manifest had me going down in an Airbus and not the C17. I was a little disappointed, but a few people said that the C17 had no windows so if it was a nice day, you wouldn’t be able to see Antarctica from the air.

Everyone was putting on their ECW gear, double checking checked vs carryon and taking all their belongings next door to the US Air Force terminal to check in. Luggage carts were few and far between, so you just had to wait your turn if you didn’t want to schlep all your bags piece by piece.

I am exhausted physically and mentally.  I was more overwhelmed and sadder. I needed my husband with me and I was continuously asking myself,  ‘‘What the hell am I doing? What have I gotten myself into?” But I was excited too. I was going to ANTARCTICA!

Again so hot hurrying, running around, making sure you got it all right all while wearing ECW gear. Luckily we were allowed to take off what we wanted to after check in, while awaiting the preflight briefing. Some of us had gotten breakfast vouchers to take to the Antarctica Headquarters next to CDC. Even though I paid for a voucher, the only thing I could stomach was a little juice and coffee. I was feeling miserable actually.

Back at the terminal, we had our briefing, and then lined up for security screening.  After being screened, we crammed onto a bus to take us the airfield. At the airfield, before we got off the bus, we were instructed that when we got on the jet, we were to go to back of the plane and fill all seats available. They claim this was for trim purposes when taking off, but I surmise it was to prevent bloodshed over the 1^st class seats.

Off the bus we picked up a sack lunch and a bottle of water, climbed the stairs and headed to the back of the jet. They said that once the seatbelt sign went off, we could make our way to the front to the first class seats and fill them. God has been lining everything out for me. First the Airbus jet, not the C17, then an aisle seat close to the 1^st class threshold. The seatbelt sign went off and I sat in the last seat available.

I was sitting next to a Dr. Alexis Ipsen from Washington DC. She and her husband come down every year. I forgot what her study was, but she was very informative and helpful and interesting.

The flight was only 4 hours long. The pilot’s had an open cockpit and invited anybody to come up and take in the view from up there and take pix if we wanted. They were very cool.

When we got to the continent of Antarctica, I was in complete awe of the beauty I saw. I thanked God for a clear, sunny day and a flight on a transport with windows. Soon we were being asked to get into our ECW because we were descending. Even the stewardesses had cute little jumpsuit ECW to put on.

Day 5- October 15 '11

Day 5- Oct 15’11

iron cutout on boulder outside CDC

845a shuttle ride to CDC (Christchurch Distribution Center) where the first half of the group would be receiving our issued cold weather gear. ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) sizing forms were filled out during recruitment. 2 orange bags with our names were waiting for us to dive in and start trying stuff on and exchanging what didn’t fit. I was allowed to bring some of my own, but kept some of theirs just in case.

The whole process was so hot and uncomfortable. Trying on layers and layers of extra warm clothes in a large open room with 20 other girls was so far the least fun thing.  Along with deciding what to keep and turn back in, was also the decisions of what to check, what to carryon and how to stay within the weight limit of 150#.  I was worried most of the day that what I was carrying on was not enough to keep my checked stuff under the 150#. It ended up working out fine and I worried needlessly.

Being part of the first group early in the day definitely had the advantage of time to explore Christchurch a little.  Our core group was making plans for lunch and a walk to the botanical gardens.  Knowing that I would probably want to take my time and take lots of pictures, I told the group I  would meet up with them there. They also wanted to do lunch at a Japanese joint and that didn’t appeal to me, so I headed out on my own in search of palatable food for lunch and a leisurely walk to the gardens.

Firefighter Jake from Hawaii

I spotted a pizza/Italian place called Spagos and as I was about to cross the street, I heard someone shout my name. It was fireman Jake from Hawaii. I enjoyed a nice lunch of chicken/bacon carbonera while he ate venison pizza and he introduced me to Isaac’s Cider- a delicious carbonated beverage.

Jake had bought a new Canon T3 camera and had a few lenses but not the knowledge to use them. I was happy to help him with some pointers as we walked along to the botanical gardens. He seemed content to go my pace of slow and quickly picked up photo composition.  He had some jokes about the size of the lens I was carrying ( my new 28mm-300mm hefty) asking it if it was a telescope or if I could see the Hubbell Telescope itself.

Springtime in New Zealand is gorgeous. It was a 70 degree day. A little too hot for me but a little too cold for Jake. We moseyed along. He didn’t seem to mind the frequent stops to take pix of ducks and flowers. Our group eventually met up with us but was walking at a faster pace than I cared to walk and still take my time to take pix. So they went on ahead. Jake and I came upon Mikey K reading on a bench. We sat and relaxed a bit with him and watched the male ducks mercilessly chase and harass the female ducks.

On our way back, we went past the barricades blocking off downtown Christchurch. Downtown Christchurch was the epicenter of a horrendous earthquake in February of this year. From what we could see, it looked like a warzone, shell-shocked and crumbling. Surreally, it could have been a movie set for a post apocalyptic drama. February was the time when the Antarctica summer contractors are coming off the Ice back into Christchurch. Many Raytheon and NANA employees were affected. Both the girls I work with in Air Services were in Christchurch when the earthquake hit. Christen and her boyfriend Kevin had just left the hotel to go exploring. They had on them their cameras, passports, wallets and other essentials.  Moments later, their hotel sank into the ground along with the rest of their belongings and clothes. New Zealand has recently emailed some people letting them know that officials are slowly opening certain sites, allowing recovery of personal effects of  guests and that they hoped to have their belongings by the end of November.

Broken windows, cracked and crumbling walls, split foundations…. The devastation is still quite evident.