The End of Week Two

Well we have made it to the end of week two. This week has been good. I have started my normal routine for work and josh is getting back into the swing of things. Not much new going on here this week. The weather has been very windy. One day we were bouncing from condition two to condition three. Occasionally for brief moments it would be a condition one. For those who don't know what the conditions mean here is a brief explanation.

Condition three is perfectly fine, you can go about your buisiness as usual.

Condition two is, go about your business as usual but no going out of town, no working out on the runways.

Condition one is everyone stay in the building and if you are outside, get in.

Condition 3 (lets go for a hike!)

Still Condition 3

Condition 2: in town travel only

Condition 1! enough said

My work department held a housing party and it was fashioned as "the roaring 20's." There were costumes to fit the theme. Below are some pictures for you to enjoy.

(Bob and Talie)

Pictures From Week One

So we have been here one week and we have already seen a lunar eclipse and the southern lights. Here are a few pictures of what we have seen.

The town trolley in Christchurch.

This was gear issue day, we had to try on all of our extreme cold weather clothes to see if they fit. All of our gear came in two of these orange bags, they are bigger than they look

A ride in the C-17, we were stuck on the side. Made it interesting when landing and taking off. The pallets you see in the picture, were also in front of us. Occasionally you would see them rock back and forth. There was only about 50 people on our flight, the rest of the plane was filled with cargo.

Ahhh, the brisk cold climate of Antarctica. This is one of the first pictures as I was getting off the plane. A little windy as you can see my fur on my hood is all blowing one direction. Not to bad temperature wise, but the wind was frigid.

Our C-17

This is a picture of the group that came off the plane, myself included in the front, and Ivan the Terra bus. He is bigger than he looks, but not very warm. The bus ride from the Pegasus to McMurdo (mactown) was about a half hour long. Nice sights along the way.

This is a picture Josh took on Sunday, the day after we arrived. The moon is right above Scott's memorial cross on Observation Hill (ob hill)

A look at the lights for the runway and mountains at Pegasus airfield.

This was Tuesday, we signed up for a recreation trip out on the ice shelf to see the lunar eclipse. It was kind of cloudy that night so the pictures of the moon didn't come out clear. Just as we were about to head back the southern lights came out. They were amazing. This is just a glimpse of what we saw. The lights were twirling around right above our heads.

(Mike Whittington)

My adventure thus far

Hello-
This has been an adventure, yes I have heard all about this place for the past two years but being here and going through all the process is an adventure in itself. So far much of my precieved notions were correct, there are things that are better, and things that are not. My first experience with the cold was when stopping off the plane. Josh tried to convice me to not wear a hat, scarf, or zip up my coat. Fortunatly I did't listen. The wind here really gets going and anything not coverd is fair game. I later found out that Josh just wanted a good picture. Once our lecture about the station was done, we headed up this hill tward the Heavy Shop (where Josh works), to get a pick up so we didn't have to haul our bags to the dorm. By the time I reached the top I found myself saying, yes belive it or not, I'm Hot. I was wearing way to many layers of clothes. The onlything to the flip side of that was, my face. I had to touch it to see if it was still there. Like I said earlier, the wind is rough.
Our dorm is better than expected, larger anyway. It is a small walk from everything else in town but not bad. As said earlier in the blog, we hope to move into a building a little closer.
Dinner last night was well, not as good as everyone brags about. I was expecting gourmet meals, much to my surprise the spagehtti was not. However, brunch this morning was delicious. I guess they were having an off night. Thats all for now. Will post pictures soon.
Melissa

I'm Back

A year has past and the temptations of the (nearly) forgotten frozen continent have lured me back. This year with great excitment Melissa came with. It has been a great journey so far. We left August 17th for Denver Colorado, we were there for three nights before we departed for Los Angelos to New Zealand. Once in Christchurch, we went through all of our training and gear issue. Weather was on our side and we were delayed in Christchurch for an extra day, oh darn.
Our flight left Christchurch on August 25th at 7am. The ride was smooth without issues. We arrived on McMurdo base at about 12:30, the sun was just setting. Once here we had lunch and a brief overview of the happenings, then issued room keys and we were off to do our thing.
Our dorm this year is called Hotel California, a small walk, but nice and quiet. We hope to move closer to the "hub" if you will come October or mainbody for those who know the ice lingo. Today is Sunday August 26th and we are all settled into our room with a day off to do as we desire.