R & R

Rest and relaxation . . . rest and recreation . . . I'm not sure exactly what R and R stands for, but for me, it was relaxation and recreation which was very restful. Raytheon started - or continued - a program allowing people who winterover to take as much as a week in New Zealand. Actually, they flew us to and from Christchurch. We could go wherever we pleased. One fellow spent all his time and a lot of money flying to his home in the States for 4 days. As far as I know, most stayed in New Zealand, many not even leaving Christchurch. I stayed in town for about half my time. As is my habit, I made several trips to the Botanic Gardens, particularly the rose garden. There are almost no smells in Antarctica, so grass and flowers, even freshly turned dirt, is a welcome fragrance. I went to the garden, then to lunch at Dux de Lux, the award winning brew pub, from the garden to The Bog Irish pub, to the park for a few holes of golf, to The Bard on Avon English pub, shopping for winter necessities, to The Tap House, purveyors of Monteith's beers and stone grilled dinners. The venison was excellent as were all the different drafts, especially after months of bottled and canned beer. And all the months of bottles and cans to come.

The whole time I was there, an international busker fest was in progress. There were street performers at several set venues and impromptu performances all over. There were performances specifically for children near the entrance to the Gardens and adult stand up comedy routines in the evenings at the Art Centre. Performers came primarily from New Zealand and the USA, but there were also acts from Israel, Britain and all over eastern Europe.

Jugglers, acrobats, acrobatic jugglers, water balloon battlers, a strong lady, magicians . . . apparently a lot of the acts regularly perform in venues like Las Vegas. We got to watch them as we wandered about town, all for the price of a small donation . . . which each and every act spent the last 10 minutes of their performance reminding the audience about. As one obviously American act put it, "Obama wants change but we prefer bills."

After a couple days, I took a shuttle about 50 miles south to Akaroa, a small resort town set on a harbor on the Banks Peninsula. It was originally settled by French colonists in 1840. Unfortunately for them, by the time they made the trip and arrived, New Zealand was a British territory. None the less, they settled and created a town. It predates Christchurch.

The town isn't very large. My motel was at the center of town and a leisurely 10 minute walk in either direction took me to the edge of town. The above view across the beach inlet shows the more commercial end of town. There were bakeries and bars and boutique bread and breakfasts, shops selling a lot of expensive things we all could live without. There was also a general store and it really was - general. Hardware, food, alcohol, souvenirs, sporting goods, all crammed into a space not much bigger than some of the larger 7-11's back home. I think it dated back to the days before Akaroa became a resort. All in all, I would have to say it was an upscale resort; way more boutique shops than t-shirt shops - I'm not sure there were any of the latter. Still, meals weren't particularly expensive. A take-away (take out) fish and chips shop provided a butcher-paper-wrapped bundle of fresh caught blue cod and fries, about a pound of each, for $10 New Zealand. That's about $7 and change American. It was two lunches for me.

This looks like the original French colonial architecture, but it was built a few years ago. There are many holiday homes in Akaroa, one supposedly the second most expensive in New Zealand at $7 million. There is also a home owned by an Oregon senator. Interesting.

Besides having fresh pastries and flat white coffee at the bakery in the morning, cold beers on the beach or on my balcony in the afternoon and fresh fish, cod, flounder and monk fish for dinner in the evenings, I managed to squeeze in a couple of walks in the hills and an afternoon ride on a sailboat to see dolphins and penguins and seals.

This is Daly's Pier, the original pier for the town. The small building is the bell tower of a former school. It was right out front from my room, the place I boarded the sailboat, a great place to hang out and a wonderful photo subject. After a few days I was totally relaxed.

Then I had to leave.

I got back to Christchurch on a Thursday, caught up with some other R&R folk on Friday and flew back to the Ice on Saturday.

That was two weeks ago. Since then there have been hundreds and hundreds of people in and out of McMurdo. About 100 were here to unload the cargo ship. That ended last Saturday and those folks left. Most people that were in field camps have left. People who aren't wintering at South Pole are passing through. As of this morning there were still over 800 souls on station. About 120 left today. The over next two days many more go. Thursday and next Saturday will see all but a few more leaving. There are still some winterovers coming as well.

The last flight is scheduled for March 5. I think all the winterovers will be glad to see people go so we can settle in and get on with our season.

I'll write more when things have settled down. . . .

Around town . . .

It's been a while, I know, but it's been busy around here. My last post was before Christmas. As celebrations go in Antarctica, Christmas wasn't much around here. There was a well attended station party with dresses and a few suits but very quiet and low key. Holidays are celebrated on Saturdays - usually. We celebrated Christmas on Friday the 25th and Saturday, worked Sunday and on through Friday the 1st, then celebrated the 2nd and 3rd. Go figure. Anyway, maybe everyone was saving up for the second weekend. New Years had some celebrants in the bars, but no big party. Icestock was on the 2nd. It was your basic outdoor concert with crafts for sale. Some custom made t-shirts and hats that were shipped in and a lot of locally assembled jewelery. The food, chili and brats, were free, but there were tip jars for the cooks. As you can see, the weather cooperated with warm, 30-something temperatures, calm winds and clear skies. There are medical clinics set up at a lot of festivals but how many ever offer free H1N1 vaccinations? There was dancing in the streets and hula hoopsters. Apparently some folk had deprived childhoods and never learned how. But then, what do you expect from a beaker? (Science folk, to any that didn't know that already.) I could hear most of the bands and musicians from my room. As I said, it was warm enough to have the window open. This is the view from the end of the hall. Practically front row seating. Since then, a lot of people have been coming through town. Most are heading back from field camps where they were doing research. It's been getting warmer - sometimes - and the sea ice is beginning to melt. The penguins and seals are showing up quite a bit. The seals aren't much fun. As I mentioned before, they are known as sea slugs around these parts. The little adelie penguins are another story. There are dozens around, although not usually right in town. They can be seen pretty regularly around the holes off of Hut Point. One day on our way home from work we spotted a few down by the pump house on the edge of town. Photo op. About six of us had our photos taken like this. You'd have thought we'd never seen penguins before. The adelies were a lot closer than this when we first got there, but they took off toward Hut Point. Ye Olde Swimming Hole ? I've been told there are four emperor penguins about 10 miles out on the road to the airfield. About the same time the adelies and other critters showed up, we saw the Swedish icebreaker, the Oden, breaking a channel in to McTown. It's been here busting out a large turning basin just off shore and clearing a path to the ice pier. Our 'pier' is a large chunk of ice that is tied to the shore and connected by a removable bridge. Anyway, the Oden will be around for a while. It continues to break up the ice, which is allowing it to melt and clear out quicker. It will also escort the ships in to the pier. First the fuel tanker will come in and offload something like 6,000,000 gallons or more of fuel. That's for McTown and the South Pole and all the field camps. The schedule is for the tanker to leave Feb. 1 and the Arctic Tern, the container supply ship, to dock the following day. For 10 to 14 days, operations will run 24 hours a day. Supplies will be unloaded and then an awful lot of trash and any material being returned will be loaded. It goes back to California and Washington. I don't know why Washington. Maybe some trash can't be dropped off in California. People are already beginning to leave and many, many more will be going out after the ships leave. With few exceptions, everyone but the winter over crew will be gone by Feb. 20. I'll try to remember to write before then. And thanks to all of you that understood the problem with receiving large emails down here. . . gets very frustrating trying to get email downloaded when the pipe is plugged.

What's a pirate's favorite movie? Any one rated "ARRGH!"

ARRGH! Not because I'm feeling particularly buccaneerish . . . I've been battling the McTown Crud, Part III . . . recently H1N1 shots were made available. Everyone should get one, they said. . . even if you aren't feeling well, they said . . . it won't make you sicker, they said . . . they lied, I said . . . ARRGH! . . . after several days of sleep, sweat and chills, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. So I'll 'blog'.

Luckily I took some sightseeing trips the last two weekends. Two weeks ago, I rode 5 or 6 miles towards Cape Evans in a Delta. It took about an hour, one way.

Deltas are the workhorse around here. With the wide balloon tires, they can travel the lightly groomed snow roads on the ice shelf and sea ice. Different configurations allow them to carry passengers or cargo. They just aren't very fast . . . which is a good thing, since they also don't have much for suspensions. . .

The ice caves are located in the side of the ice tongue that sticks into the sea from the glacier down from Mt. Erebus. Waves and glacial movement create openings in the sides, caves. Crystals form on the walls and ceiling.

We couldn't go very far once inside. There are small openings into other areas, but it's best to stay out and just look in. Glaciers sometimes wag their tongues.

Light filters through different layers. I guess this is ice blue. Only about 4-5 of us were allowed in at a time. Once I came out, it turned out some of the locals had shown up.

The policy is, if the wildlife reacts to us in any way, we are to back off. What were we to do when two Adelie penguins decided to join us - run away? We actually watched them come from a couple hundred yards away, making a bee line directly towards us.

I have no idea what was up with this guy. Once he saw the penguins, he pulled off his cold weather gear to reveal the tux. He had the hat in his knapsack. Apparently it was some sort of photo op; there was another person there shooting a lot. The penguins actually started to move away from him. I would have too.

By this time, I was kneeling, taking photos from just a few yards away. These two acted if they were trying to figure out what we were. They were about 18" tall, 24" at the most.

As they kept approaching, I decided to flop onto my stomach for an eye-to-eye shot. This one stopped jsut several feet away and kept watching me. Wish I knew what was going through it's head. Maybe it was wondering what was going through the head of the big red critter lying on it's stomach . . .

Eventually they satisfied their curiousity or whatever and wandered off. We later saw a flock of about 15 off in the distance. These two were probably with that group.

Last weekend's trip was just a short ride over to Scott Base, the New Zealand station. From right out front we could wander onto the ice to check out the pressure ridges. The photos along the side are from that trip.

It's been a while . . .

It's been a while since I've posted anything, I know. The dial-up connection in my room is very slow . . . there are over 1,000 people on station (74% male - not good, except for the women) and the public computers are very crowded . . . I was sick with the McTown crud for a while and I've been very busy since . . . the dog ate my camera . . . okay, the last one was a lie. But if you look to the left, you can see the type of photos my camera is taking. I tried restoring it, changing settings, connecting to the computer - probably not a good idea, it could have made my screen the same way, maybe - and finally contacted Kodak. They directed me to try all the stuff I'd already tried. So I sent them that photo. That's when they decided that maybe the camera had some problems. I'm not sure I'll send it in or not, have to find the receipt, no easy feat from down here, and by the time they get done and return it, well, I'll be headed off the Ice. I have another camera, non-Kodak, on the way but until then I'm at the mercy of other folks. The Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) was earlier this week. It's a drill to test the station's ability to handle an emergency with numerous victims that could overwhelm the station fire/rescue and regular medical personnel. People volunteer to assist in many capacities, stretcher bearers, security and medical recorders/observers among other things, and go through training. I really have been very busy with work, so I only volunteered for the walking blood bank, a list of blood donors should the need arise. However, for the MCI I also volunteered to be a victim.

The scenario was that two vehicle drivers were texting resulting in an accident. That isn't very realistic down here since there isn't cell phone service. No matter, there was an accident. About 20 of us were in the white vehicle, an airporter used to shuttle people to and from the air field. The other vehicle is a Delta with a passenger box mounted. It does the same job, but the box can be taken off and cargo hauled instead. Also, with those big, fat tires, it can go 'off road' out into the snow that hasn't been plowed or groomed. So, the Delta ran into the airporter resulting in injuries to all aboard.

As you can see, my arms and hands were badly burned. I'm not sure where the fire was, some folks had burns on their heads. Nor am I sure where the wood came from, there were several people with large chunks sticking out of their bodies. An Air Force or Air National Guard chaplain had a large chunk embedded in his chest as well as a lower leg bone sticking out of his boot. Naturally, there were shards of glass sticking out of people - one woman had a piece in her neck, she was ruled dead before she left the scene - and numerous broken bones and concussions, contusions, abrasions, and all that other medical stuff.

We were encouraged to ham it up and not necessarily be cooperative. Me? Uncooperative? Hey, the bus wrecked, I got burned, so I bailed out to find some snow to cool my arms. Eventually a fireman put me with a group of other victims, but then he left. So I did, too, wandering up the road in the direction of town and the hospital. The incident commander finally stopped me. He was the last responder between me and town. By then I was gettin' a little chilly so I decided to be more cooperative and catch a ride to town. Another fellow had been instructed to be totally uncooperative. It took three volunteer security/stretcher bearers to get him into the van and keep him there until we made it to the firehouse where the emergency medical center was set up.

Once inside, we went through triage. A tag listed my vital signs and labeled me as a category green - red was critical and black was dead - but for some reason I was put in the wrong area, laying on a stretcher on the floor. When the mistake was discovered, I was strapped down, and then four folks picked up the stretcher, hoisted it high to get through crowded areas and set it down on a frame about 4' off the floor. I could have walked, I'd roamed far enough, and the stretcher frame was across my shoulder blades. Anyway, in the photo above, you can see two volunteers checking me over. They said they administered pain killers and put me on oxygen, but I didn't feel any different and they expected me to answer questions. How do you do that with an oxygen mask on?

The totally uncooperative fellow was on a stretcher to my left, still carrying on, ranting and raving, trying to get away. I was like a lot of other folk, including my volunteers, having a hard time not laughing. Shortly there after, the drill was declared over. I'm not sure if it was a success; the responders all had a de-briefing session the next day. The victims? We were free to go get the makeup off, another not-so-easy feat. The special affects were fastened to us with putty. Putty gets pretty hard in cold weather and it really sticks to the hair on your arms.

This is a pre-disaster shot of all the victims. The three women in black in the center were the ones that made up all of us. The chaplain with the stake in his chest and bone sticking out is just to my left. The fellow all the way to the right with the white-rimmed shades was one of the uncooperative victims, although not the one I mentioned previously. So, the obligatory MCI is now out of the way. At Pole I was an observer the first year, a responder the second and now I've been a victim. Been there, done that, all over the continent. Hopefully my camera will make it in the next couple weeks. If not, I'll just have to go through the computer system common files to find some more photos other people have taken. That's where I got all of these. Well, except for that one up there on the left. Until next time - see ya, and I'll talk to you whenever.

Around the area

First and foremost, before some Polie or Palmerite nails me on it, my first photo from my last post was not from Cape Evans, it was from Hut Point . . . I don't want to provide bad information in case any of you are in the neighborhood, looking for landmarks . . . For a few weeks now, I've been trying to find a way to include larger photos. If this method doesn't satisfy, please direct me to another blog site, system, whatever and I MIGHT give it a try. . . I'm spending w - a - y too much time without getting results. Sending letters is out. My access to the Internet and connection speed isn't a whole lot better than on Kwaj. Our connection here has been compared to a connection for one household back in the States - except there are already over 800 folks in this household with more to come. Maybe it's the starkness of the landscape, maybe it's just the amount of time people have on their hands, but if you keep your eyes open, you notice some interesting creations around the area. Most of our utilities, certainly all the water and sewage, are carried in pipes above ground on racks called utilidors. These are routed under numerous road crossings, but the walkways are routed over the utilidors on footbridges. This particular one has been called the troll bridge. Recently the carpenters replaced the stairs on either side, but none of the horizontal sections in between.

I'm not sure how many times I crossed before I spotted the troll. It's under the section Andy was on in the first photo. One of the carpenters said he didn't notice it until working on the stairs, but it wasn't there when he was here a few years ago.

It's a nice piece of work. I think the name plate across the back reads "Martin", in reference to whom I'm not sure. There are several Martins, past and present, but no known trolls. I could barely get a photo with the framing in the way. They didn't get the critter in there without taking something apart. Some creative welder had some time on their hands. . .

It's required that all parked pickup trucks and vans have at least one wheel chocked, an orange diagonal 'chock' stuck under one of the rear wheels. In summer when the snow is gone, at least for the most part from the roads in and around town, some folks ride bicycles. I think it's a great idea. Anyway, apparently someone took wheel chocking to heart. Notice the small orange triangles attached with cords to the bikes.

This sign is above the New Zealand station, Scott Base, on the road between Scott Base and McTown. McTown is actually on territory claimed by New Zealand. While the Antarctic Treaties have never formerly recognized countries' Antarctic claims, the US apparently doesn't NOT recognize New Zealands claim either, if that makes any sense. Anyway, the birds are supposed to be Keas, native to New Zealand and real pests to hikers and backpackers. I'm not sure what the black thing is - cat or furry opposum. Notice the population of "26 B.O.B." - bodies on board. There's another odd way of referring to people here. During Winfly, if driving out onto the sea ice or ice shelf, we had to check in with the Fire House. Our standard information was, "Fire house, this is truck 135, two souls on board, driver is . . ., etc. etc." I wonder, does that mean a ghost could be one of the occupants? Or maybe Martin? See ya later and keep them cards and emails coming. . .

P.S. . . I think this is going to be the format from here on out. If you want any of those photos on the left, get 'em now, they won't be there next time . . .