Well, here I am sitting in Christchurch again. I thought about calling this post "The First Shall Be Last" when I realized that I arrived in New Zealand on the first day of 2007 and then again today, the last day of 2007. But this surreal deja vu feeling I've been having all day won out.
Every step along the way of this trip so far has been similar but subtly different than last year. I feel like I'm in a dream or somehow reliving the past. I'm staying in the same bed and breakfast with the same friendly owners (and the same dog sleeping on the porch). My room is one door down from my room last year. I'm walking around Christchurch seeing the same shops and restaurants, knowing my way without needing a map. I spent the morning at the clothing distribution center again getting all the same cold weather gear from all the same Kiwi workers. It's almost like the last year hasn't passed. Of course, I'll be lucky if I still have this deja vu feeling when I'm staring at hundreds of penguins again in McMurdo, but I'm not holding my breath.
After reading some of my old blog posts from the end of my trip last year, I'm remembering just how miserable I was and just how much I wasn't expecting to be coming back down here. That's part of the reason this all feels so weird. But slowly, the excitement is creeping back in. I think when I get hit with that first blast of Antarctic air it'll be back (at least for awhile, before every last ounce of energy gets sucked out of me completely at Pole and I'm left with nothing but a vacant stare...)
We're scheduled to leave Christchurch for McMurdo on January 2nd. Tonight, though, is New Year's Eve. Some of you may remember my tortured post last year on New Year's and the international dateline, but there's no need to worry about anything like that this year. Ryan and I will be out on the town having a good time (if we can stay awake, that is...) Happy New Year's everyone!!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
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...
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
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....
Friday, January 26, 2007
Moving Poles
I thought I'd write in today with your friendly geography lesson for the week. We had a discussion today about moving poles, and that reminded me that I had been meaning to post on that for awhile now...
I took this photo in the cockpit of the C-130 on our flight from McMurdo to the Pole. If you look closely over the co-pilot's knee, you'll see the plane's electronic compass. And if you look really closely, you'll notice it says that we're flying North, not South. "What the?!", you might be asking yourself. "I thought you were going to the South Pole." Well, it turns out that the magnetic South Pole (the one on a compass) and the geographical South Pole (the point around which the Earth spins) are not in the same spot. The magnetic South Pole is quite a ways from here, and it's moving further away each year (the magnetic poles are moving pretty quickly and will eventually change place. Don't know when that's supposed to happen...) During our flight, we had already passed the magnetic South Pole, so technically, we were flying north again. At the magnetic South Pole, any direction you go in is north.
Funny geopolitical fact: After the U.S. established this base at the geographical pole, the Russians got pissed and wanted a piece of the action too. So they built Vostok station at what was then the magnetic pole. Unfortunately for them, it's not there anymore. Gotta love the Cold War.
You'll notice something else interesting in this photo at the geographic pole. I have no idea what Justin's trying to do with the Pole marker, but if you look back into the distance, you'll see a series of othe poles (and ice sculptures). Those poles are there because every year the location of the pole changes. While it feels like the ground underneath my feet is pretty stable, I'm actually sitting on top of a huge moving ice sheet. Ever year, the ice sheet flows a little bit downhill towards the ocean. The rock underneath it stays in the same place, so the actual geographic pole stays in the same place, but the place on the surface that's over the pole changes. Every New Year's, there's a ceremony here where they install a new pole. But I guess, technically, a few minutes later the Pole is no longer where that pole is... I think in a few years the Pole is going to intersect the station. Who knows--maybe the ceremonial marker will be sitting on top of someone's desk.
I took this photo in the cockpit of the C-130 on our flight from McMurdo to the Pole. If you look closely over the co-pilot's knee, you'll see the plane's electronic compass. And if you look really closely, you'll notice it says that we're flying North, not South. "What the?!", you might be asking yourself. "I thought you were going to the South Pole." Well, it turns out that the magnetic South Pole (the one on a compass) and the geographical South Pole (the point around which the Earth spins) are not in the same spot. The magnetic South Pole is quite a ways from here, and it's moving further away each year (the magnetic poles are moving pretty quickly and will eventually change place. Don't know when that's supposed to happen...) During our flight, we had already passed the magnetic South Pole, so technically, we were flying north again. At the magnetic South Pole, any direction you go in is north.
Funny geopolitical fact: After the U.S. established this base at the geographical pole, the Russians got pissed and wanted a piece of the action too. So they built Vostok station at what was then the magnetic pole. Unfortunately for them, it's not there anymore. Gotta love the Cold War.
You'll notice something else interesting in this photo at the geographic pole. I have no idea what Justin's trying to do with the Pole marker, but if you look back into the distance, you'll see a series of othe poles (and ice sculptures). Those poles are there because every year the location of the pole changes. While it feels like the ground underneath my feet is pretty stable, I'm actually sitting on top of a huge moving ice sheet. Ever year, the ice sheet flows a little bit downhill towards the ocean. The rock underneath it stays in the same place, so the actual geographic pole stays in the same place, but the place on the surface that's over the pole changes. Every New Year's, there's a ceremony here where they install a new pole. But I guess, technically, a few minutes later the Pole is no longer where that pole is... I think in a few years the Pole is going to intersect the station. Who knows--maybe the ceremonial marker will be sitting on top of someone's desk.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
A Few More Photos
I've been messing around with stitching together panoramas for my computer, so here are a couple. Two different views of the station (the nice place where I work but don't get to sleep...), here and here . A better photo of me at the Pole . A photo of the new 10 meter South Pole Telescope that's being built down here. And another photo of me that I just like, for some reason.
[Note: The satellite is about to go down, so if some of these links don't work, check back later. I'll get the photos there eventually...]
[Note: The satellite is about to go down, so if some of these links don't work, check back later. I'll get the photos there eventually...]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
