Friday, February 2, 2007

Free At Last, Free At Last

Thank God Almighty I'm free at last. It's been a surprisingly hectic last few days, but I'm here in Christchurch again. I said peace-out to the Pole Thursday afternoon:




The weather was a little iffy, so we were nervous about not making it out, but in the end it was good enough to fly. We had an interesting experience on the flight out. I mentioned awhile back that the altitude at Pole is at around 10,000 feet. Right after we took off, there was a loud whining sound in the plane (the military flights are always an assault on the ears). Anyway, my co-worker Keith realized that they were pressurizing the cabin, so he took out his GPS, which has an altimeter on it. Here's the video . Since we started out so high, even though the plane is ascending, the altimeter shows that we're going down as the cabin pressurizes. You could immediately notice the difference. Oxygen at last!!

Landing back in McMurdo was such an amazing experience after the Pole. The weather was a balmy 32 F, and the mountains and open ocean and icebergs after a month of nothing but white expanse was a site for sore eyes. It was a little overwhelming, actually. The oxygen combined with a galley full of hundreds of people combined to make me feel a little out of it--dizzy and confused at the hubub around me. Man, I'd been isolated for far too long. We had some wine in the wine bar (McMurdo is a spa compared to the Pole), which cleared my head a little bit, and then I went to bed.

The next day I woke up early and headed out to Hut Point where I'd seen all the penguins on my way in. It was pretty dramatically different--all open ocean where before there had been sea ice. The icebreakers had done their job, and the resupply vessel was safely offloading its cargo in the port. So alas, no penguins, but I did get another pleasant surprise--Minke whales. You couldn't see all that much, but occassionally a group would surface and blow a spray of water up into the air.

In the afternoon, we climbed Observation Hill, this sharp volcanic hill that has an amazing panorama of McMurdo sound--the ice, the mountains, Mt. Erebus (the southernmost active volcano in the world), etc. etc. Here's a photo of me at the top:



Our C-17 flight left around 9, which meant we got into Christchurch after it was dark. Seeing darkness for the first time in a month was quite an experience, though it was quicklly overwhelmed by smell. I had heard this, but I didn't really think about it: There are no smells in Antarctica. There are no plants, no pollen, nothing alive. When we landed, it was a little bit wet, and the first thing I noticed were all the smells around me. Finally there was life around me again.

Yesterday and today have been consumed by the complete pursuit of pleasure--drinking coffee outside and reading the paper, dozing along a river bank in the sun while feeling the grass beneath my bare toes, drinking tons and tons of beer while watching the Bears embarass Chicago, etc. etc. I'm renting a car tomorrow, and Justin arrives after that. We'll be road-tripping it and hiking for a week, then I head to Melbourne for a week and Sydney for a week after that. It's Michelangelo-On-Vacation until the end of the month...

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

I'm Out...

Well, the day has finally come. I'm off to McMurdo today and then Christchurch tomorrow. I'm longing for some humidity, a breath of fully oxygenated air, and the chance to heal (I've had a cut on my finger that's been open for 30 days now. Sweet.) A few more photos to take before I head out. Hopefully the penguins will be back in McMurdo upon my return...

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

How to Relax at the South Pole



















My Last Few Days

Well, I'm officially exhausted. After another 24 hour shift, some serious whiskey drinking, and another switch from night shift to day shift (hopefully the last), I think I'm officially on the verge of losing my mind. Thank God I'm leaving the South Pole the day after tomorrow. As of now, I'm scheduled to be in Christchurch three days from now, but there's a chance I may stay in McMurdo for the weekend to work on my Economist article. Which would be cool, since then I'd get to watch the Super Bowl from Antarctica (and which, apparently, guarentees that the Bears will win.) Anyway, I couldn't be more ready to leave. I'll post some funny last minute photos tomorrow....