I slept better last night than I have in over a week, so I do not feel quite as overwhelmed and disoriented today. This means I am ready to share a little more about the trip down to McMurdo (MCM)! The first leg of the journey had me up at 3:30am yesterday! Using one of the greatest kitchen gadgets that has not really caught on in the U.S., the electric tea kettle, I made a French press pot of coffee before frantically packing up all the gear that had sprawled itself all over my B&B room. The shuttle arrived at 4:00am to pickup Heidi, Christine, Mike, Collin, and I to drive us back to the CDC. It was so wonderful to drive down the quiet, early morning streets of Christchurch. The city is in full bloom and so lushly green with lovely gardens all over the place. Ahhh, summer!
Christchurch Botanic Gardens
Once at the CDC, I got all my bags organized (again) and donned my ECW gear to wear on the flight. I had one orange duffel as a carry-on stuffed with a change of clothes, toys to entertain myself on the flight and some snacks. Additionally, I had two heavy bags of checked luggage. The ECW gear added an extra 15 pounds to me with the Big Red jacket, bunny boots, ski pants, wool hat and gloves, and long johns. After checking in my luggage, I had time to run over to a nearby restaurant for a quick meal. The restaurant was full of other people heading to MCM on my flight. There were men and women from the Air Force, building painters, machinists, and other support staff, as well as a whole bunch of scientists.
Christine, Heidi, me, Collin, Mike
Mike, Heidi, Christine
The plane I took to Antarctica was a bit fancier than I anticipated. I expected mesh seats and a bucket for a toilet, but that is on the C-130 cargo planes. Instead, I was on a C-17. The seats were still not very comfortable, but they were not mesh benches and we had a bathroom! The C-17 is a cargo plane, so the humans on the flight were still mixed in with pallets of equipment and luggage and there were very few windows, but it was roomy enough to stand up and walk around. I found that the earplugs I had to wear to cancel out the noise of the plane actually helped me get a few naps in! The Air Force crew from McChord AFB near Seattle, WA was patient and accommodating and allowed many of the passengers up into the cockpit to watch the world fly by. (See my video from yesterday for more on the flight.)
U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane
Mike, Christine and I
After 5 hours in the air, we arrived at MCM on Ross Island in the Ross Sea, which is connected to the Antarctic continent by the Ross Ice Shelf. It was had to tell with the C-17 touched down because there were no windows to look though. I had to guess when we were landed and I was wrong a couple of times. We actually circled over the runway for a while to burn off excess fuel. I talked to one of the crew and she told me the reason we had to burn off fuel is that the ice that makes up the runway is getting softer and cannot accommodate really heavy planes right now. In fact, in just a couple weeks the runway is moving out to another site where the ice remains thick and strong throughout the summer, but is about a 45-minute ride in a huge TerraBus to MCM. So, I made it to Antarctica- a place I have dreamt of visiting for so very long. I cannot wait to share more of my impressions with all of you. The lab I am working in is getting setup as I type, so expect a little more science to infuse these entries pretty soon.
A dream come true!
My home for a while...