Feb 23

Leaving the Hokatika area traveling south to Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers.

Both Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers looked alike to me.

Heading to Milford Sound

The boat we took for the cruise

Look closely, there are seals.

The waterfall we got super close to.

This is the mountain you drove through

This is the tunnel that went through the mountain to get into and out of Milford Sound.

Ok, backtrack. I forgot to add in a few places... so after Punakaiki, I went to Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers. Both glaciers have receded. The ice is really unstable and although they have tours that take you up on the ice accidents still occur. 2 tourists were trapped in when some ice fell on top of them. Minor injuries but they crossed the 'do not cross' roped off section. Americans...

After the glaciers, I stopped in Queenstown and Te Anau then moved on to Milford Sound, which was totally fantastic! It's in fjordland in the southwest portion of the island. It's quite a sight to see the tall mountains and all the water. I took a boat ride out to the middle of Milford and even saw some seals. The ferry captain even drove us so close to a waterfall that you could feel the mist.

After Milford Sound, I had to travel through Te Anau again and missed out on the Te Anau glowworms. It was all booked up until tomorrow and I didn't want to wait around. That's a really nice town too. Seems like most these nice towns have lakes nearby.

I'm currently in Dunedin. Caved in and am spending the night in a hotel. There was a rainstorm last night so I didn't sleep so well. Of course, I am a bit ahead of schedule and there's a Harley Davidson store in town so I'm sticking around just for a shirt to pick up in the morning.

I'm on my way heading north - back to Cheech with a few more stops along the way.

Feb 22

The Jade Experience in Hokatika. Gordon cutting out jade into the shape of a hook.












After 5 hrs of cutting (Gordon), sanding and buffing (done by me) my necklace is complete. The dark spots are iron in the jade. It's a Maori symbol (Maori being the local native New Zealanders).












Punakaiki park - otherwise known as pancake rocks. The layers are about an inch thick.











Walking around Punakaiki















More of Punakaiki - the water is eroding the rocks.












Hey, that's me with a pancake rock!











Kawarau river in Queenstown.














The first bungy bridge ever. Nov 1998 - made famous by AJ Hackett on the Kawarau River in Queenstown


















Te Anau lake... this was a nice little town.










Feb 22

Well, it's been a day of driving. Believe it or not, there's a shortage of rental vehicles. It's the touristy season plus all the Ice folks are returning. I stayed an extra day in Cheech in order to wait for a vehicle to be returned.

I've been just driving around NZ and sleeping in the car. The deal I made with myself was either bus the South island and stay in hotels or rent a car and pull over in camping parks and sleep in it. Haha... yeah, well I chose the car.

Last night, I went to Hokitika and made my own jade necklace. It's in the shape of a hook which represents good health, prosperity and safe travels over land and water. It's really cool. You can see it shine in the sun. It took about 5 hrs to make from cutting it out to the buffing. Crazy thing, my co-worker Will used to work at that place. The guy is a jade carver/ hostel owner. No wonder why Will told me you could carve your own jade! I didn't realize they were the same place. Then I went on to Punakaiki – about 1 ½ hrs north. They are called pancake rocks since the limestone is to thin like a pancake...well, realistically not that thin but that's really what they are called.

Bought my first tank of gas and paid in shock. I forgot they go by the liter here, not gallon like in the States. So for a ¼ tank I paid $30 NZ. Wow. Then I came back south and went to Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers. Incredible! Seems like there's a drought here. The water is all dried up in the creek and river beds. There were signs that said in 1935 the glacier was here and in 1789 the glacier was here... it's backed up quite a bit. It rained all morning and afternoon so I didn't take too many pics. I kept driving… all the way to Queenstown. It’s soo crowded here! Makes me want to leave town in a jiff! It'd be a nice town to live in but as far as taking it easy, having a quiet relaxing vacation - that is not the place to go. But I promised a friend I'd take tons of pics of Q-town since she's planning on moving there. There's a nice park and a lake close by so that was a nice retreat to hangout at.

Anyway, it gets dark around 9pm so I'm calling it a day and gonna spend the night here, eat dinner. I had plans of going to a Maori concert and Hangi feast. Weird because I called from Cheech and they said to call the day of since I wasn't sure when I was arriving. It starts at 7pm and goes to 930...so I was going to cave in and spend 2 nights in a hostel since in the morning I was going to get on a bus charter to Milford sound. But calling the Maori place a few hrs ago, I came to find out that place has been closed for 2 years. I've no idea who I spoke to before. So that being said, I cancelled my hostel and am going to skip the charter and am going to drive there myself. I'm pretty sure there are boats there to take me out on the water. If not, that's ok...something to do on my return trip here if I come back.

So far, I've driven just a bit over 1000km. I wish I knew how much that was. And I wish I knew how many liters are in a gallon. Other than that, NZ is a really nice place to see. Tons of tourists though.

February 19

Going through Arthur's Pass West to the coast.

Somewhere on Arthur's Pass

In Christchurch - hycinths an imported 'weed' in the botanical garden.

I've been on the road for the past few days so here's a backlog...

February 19

I arrived in Cheech! We were slotted to leave on Feb 17 - Saturday but there was a storm in McMurdo and by the time the storm departed, the weather was too cold at Pole. So onto the 18th. Due to the cold weather, the station manager decided to close the station for summer. So all the summer people - the extra 20 were also going to leave.

Cheech or CHC is what we call Christchurch... We got in last night around 11pm. By the time we returned all our ECW gear, got our rooming assignments, and caught the shuttle to our location it was past midnight. I saw dark for the first time in 4 months. It was really strange and my seatmate, Webster and I both commented on how strange it was – the real dark versus a faux dark with blankets covering the windows. I got to my hostel in Riccarton - the suburbs of Christchurch. It was an alright place – in Asian town but about a 45 minute walk through the botanical garden to hangout with my Ice friends in downtown Christchurch. Needless to say, I didn't see very many of them. The 1 room apartment is so huge in comparison to my 5X3' Polie cubicle. I had a kitchenette, bathroom, living area and two beds in a separate room. I had to sleep with the light on to simulate Pole. Course, I was so excited to be back in the real world that I didn't sleep much. Too much space with only me!

I sure did walk a lot today. It was awesome just walking around town in jeans and a t-shirt and not having to bundle up before going outside. I smelled all the flowers in the air and luckily, my nose didn't rebel. I was prepared to get some antihistamines and other allergy drugs to combat the air but it was ok. At lunch, whew! I had salmon fritters at a restaurant called the Honey Pot. Good place to eat. Last time I was in Christchurch on my way to the Ice, I stayed in the hostel next door. Anyway, I could hardly eat the whole thing the portion was so huge! But it sure was good.

I also saw a few other firsts today. During lunch, I was engrossed in a fly. Hadn't seen critters in 4 months, as later on I saw a gnat and a spider. Seeing colors other than white and a bit of blue sky is really appreciative. The birds, trees and massive people were nice to see yet I kind of wanted to crawl back into my ice hole...sensory overload!

Anyway, back to civilization. I'm starting my road trip of the south island in the morning. We were delayed a day due to the weather at Pole/ McMurdo so I'm a day short in my travels. I'm going to try and squeeze everything in there but I might have to cut something out. 7 days doesn't seem like enough time to tour the whole southern island. Then I'll have 3 days to tour the north island. I was thinking, I might have to return...yes, that would be breaking my rule of not working for the same company more than once but the amount of travel is surreal! But then again, a totally different continent sounds good too! Hmmm, I was seriously thinking of settling down in Austin come May finding a permanent job but I'm torn... start thinking of my career or travel. The big debate that's come up so many times within the past seasons. There are a few more things I want to do before I settle down so there aren't any regrets in the adventure field. I'll probably keep postponing the settling.

I ended up leaving Christchurch on the 21st. My bright idea of getting a better rental deal in person didn't work out. All the rental places were totally booked and I had to wait for a car to be returned. I'd even heard stories that there were so many tourists in New Zealand that they slept in their cars (whew! I wouldn't be the only one!) because the hotels were all booked.

To Porky - a tribute

We had a little pet pig named Porky. Unfortunately, one day he disappeared only to re-appear a few days ago... in our oven.

For the superbowl, my boss made a treat for everyone. It kinda grossed some people out. Others thought it was really cool.




James and Porky













Porky will be missed.





He really didn't want to go in the oven. We had to tie him down to quit moving.








Gutted and tied, he was still trying to crawl out of the oven. He made a tasty treat and was gobbled up quickly by all the drunken superbowl watchers. RIP, Porky...



PS - I was joking... he wasn't our pet pig. We found him abandoned in the dome frozen, gutted and stuffed in a plastic bag ready to be warmed up and eaten. Poor poor Porky.

departure date

Well, I now have a departure date - February 17. I'm kinda looking forward to the travel after the Ice as with the warmer weather. I hear Christchurch is around 50F. That would be a great change since the weather is currently at -44.2C/ -47.6F with the wiindchill it's -59.1C/ -74.5F. Just a little chilly now.

My boss, James - the executive chef, left today. The winter sous chef is here but won't start work until Monday.

The population is currently at 180 but steadily decreasing.

more departures/ arrivals

Well, I just had some more friends leave. I'm going to be seeing all my new friends leaving from now on until the end of February. I'm on the very last flight out of Pole. I'll be here until the weather gets too cold then have about 3 hours notice to be ready to go (since it takes 3 hours for the plane to get here from McMurdo). The station projection for the last flight is the end of February but it usually gets too cold by the 20th or so. The hydraulics on the C130 planes will freeze if it gets below -50C.

The weather is already getting cold. The current temperature is -28C/ -18F but with windchill it's -41C/ -41F.

Departing

Well, it's already the end of the season for some folks. We had about 20 folks leave on Wednesday. We're getting a few of the winter-overs in so the population is around the same - 245... just new faces.

SPIFF

Saturday was the showing of SPIFF. This is the South Pole Independent Film Festival. Anyone could have joined to make a home movie about anything. There were 2 showings - 1 for day shift and 1 for swings... with a total of 14 movies. Some were really interesting and good - quite a few talented people here on station.

I watched the 0130 showing... which technically was Sunday morning. As for snacks, I made sushi. A friend of mine sent me the makings which was an awesome care package. It turned out really well and was devoured within minutes. As with me, I guess people like sushi here wasabi and all.

So that was the end of my first week on swing shift. Not bad. It's a slower pace but I get to see and talk to more people. I guess I've been going almost all season without knowing a lot of people on station (only the 70 or so on midrats) and now I'm meeting the rest as they come through the dinner line.

Mt Erebus

Mt Erebus is the southern most active volcano. It's located on Ross Island in the Ross Sea near Antarctica and about 1.3 million years old. You can see it while at McMurdo Station. The elevation is 12,444 feet/ 3,794 m with a 90 foot in diameter lava lake in the summit crater. This makes Mt Erebus a rare volcano and only two others in the world are like it. The other 2 are in Erta Ale, Ethiopia and Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mt Erebus has been active since 1972 and in the last part of the 2005, blew up to 6 times per day spewing out hot rocks that volcanologists call 'bombs'. Most of these eruptions are small. The lava is also rare since most volcanoes have basalt lava. This is phonolite lava which is more explosive than basalt and contains the minerals feldspar and nepheline. Phonolite also contains rare gases - carbon dioxide, water, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, lead, arsenic and mercury - which all have have been found here in the ice cores at South Pole.

A volcanologist from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology stated that the last time Mt Erebus blew continuously was in 1984, and tossed out bombs measuring 10 meters in width and as far 1 1/2 miles away. 2005 was the 3rd most active period.

Although there are researchers and scientists studying Mt Erebus, it is a difficult task since 8 months out of the year people cannot camp at the mountain side due to the extreme cold and wind. And what equipment that is left, is destroyed by the elements.

Mt Erebus seen from McMurdo

Crater of lava

Phonolite

bomb - this one is approximately a foot long

Smaller bombs collected by the Andrill team at McMurdo. The bigger ones are about hand/ palm size.

swings

Monday was the first day in my new shift. I've moved to swing shifts 1-11pm. Today was my 2nd day. It's a bit different with a bunch more people and I'm cooking now instead of baking. I'm really looking forward to this change of pace. The course I'll be assigned is the vegeterian entree. I've not much experience in that field so it should be fun playing with the menu and trying out various protein substitutes that some I've never heard of before.

Yesterday was my first day on swings so I basically assisted and helped with the veggie dish - seafood portofino. That entree went faster than the meat entree. Anyway, today I made an eggplant dish with a jalapeno pinto bean-tomato sauce. I think I liked the sauce better as a soup skipping out on the fried eggplant altogether.

And I'll be working with a new set of co-workers. Will is the dinner sous chef and Stephanie, who also had high altitude sickness the same time I did. It's interesting working with different people because we're all from different parts of the US and have different specialties. Will has been in the cooking industry for 30+ years and his specialty is Italian. Stephanie is from Minnesota and lived in Chicago for a bit so she brings in I guess you would call them hearty classics - cooking is just a hobby for her although she's worked in a few restaurants.

Tonight was Will's day off so it was just Steph and I. Her experiment tonight was fried pickles. Yes, that doesn't sound too appetizing and I've only tried them once before because I lost a bet. I think it's a southern thing - at least that was loosely tonight's theme. It's kinda popular in Texas, since it's on the menu at the fast food chain Sonic. Surprisingly, people loved it. I think it was because everyone here loves fried food. I do have to say though, it was better than Sonic.

tunnels

OK, it's kinda gross but I toured the water and sewer tunnels this morning. The pipes are about 4 inches in diameter but stuffed with insulation that makes the pipes appear a foot in diameter.

The tunnel is 40 feet below the surface and remains a constant -56F. It's kinda neat - it goes all the way from the elevated station out to summercamp. There were even snow crytals hanging from the ceiling. This is from both condensation from people's breath working in the tunnels and from the pipes. It took a few years and a couple of different contractors to dig the tunnels. The walls are packed snow - it felt like ice. There are escape ladders throughout just in case you got trapped but instead of the ladders leaning they are straight up and down or leaning backwards due to the ice shelf moving.

An interesting fact is that we are drinking really old water. It's from the age of Jesus - hey, so we're drinking Jesus water! It's 100% pure - so pure that it is filtered (for germs just in case) and chlorine and minerals are added to it because the water systems (pipes, drinking fountains, sinks, etc) cannot work with it being so pure. The fountains actually break! Amazing, eh?

There were some interesting trophies in there. I guess a few people got bored some years ago and decided to store some 'artifacts'. There was a pig and a sturgeon.






A contstant -56F.














pipe with insulation



















Water pipe on top. Sewer pipe on bottom.


































The Russian sturgeon





















The pig shrine

Hanging snow crystals

And me... my nose got really cold and my eyelashes froze.

book

I just finished reading an inspiring book. It's called Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman. It's a true story about her life and her life travels. She even has a website link:

www.ritagoldengelman.com

At 48 years old, she realized she was missing out on a life of adventure so she just went. She travelled Mexico, New Zealand, Israel, Bali and more - all over a span of 15 years.

temperature

It almost reached zero the other day. I was watching the screen all night. It went from -20F all the way to -0.8F... just barely zero. By the time I got back to my tent to get my gear and take a pic of the screen it went down to -1.1F and kept getting colder.

You can see in just 5 minutes, it went from -1.1F with a windchill of -11.9F and wind at 4.4 knots to -14.4F windchill and wind of 6.1 knots.
































Today it's currently -20F with a windchill of -35F.

Geographical South moved

The land mass of Antarctica is about 2 miles below the ice sheet we currently live on. Therefore, when the wind blows one way and the earth moves the opposite direction, the sheet slowly slides over the land mass resulting in the change of geographical South Pole. It moves annually about 30 feet.

BK (in blue), the summer site manager and NSF director, Jerry measure and drill holes to post the sign and flags.

BK drilling more holes

Moving the South Pole sign - Roger Bennett, network engineer, and Jim Walsh, communications technician.

Jesse Duffin, satellite tech, moving the US flag. He's the oldest veteran on station serving 21 years in the Navy and 2 tours in Vietnam.

Geographic Pole now closer to the ceremonial pole.

New brass marker for 2007. Each year there is a competition between the winter=overs on the design. This is the winner's design... Clayton Cornia, RPSC Electrician 2006

2007 Pole Marker Artist’s Description:

This season will mark the 50th Anniversary of the United States conducting scientific research at the South Pole and the International Geophysical Year (IGY). I wanted to submit a design reflecting these momentous facts and also recognize the special people who have made the research possible. The words 50 years of science and IGY surround an etched continent signifying the peaceful and cooperative purpose of this station along with other research outposts within the Antarctic Treaty area. The research done on this continent has helped humanity achieve a better understanding of our planet and universe. Thousands of people have come from all over the globe to help support this effort over the last 50 years. Many of them give up a year or more of their lives to support the research done in this remote and inhospitable location. I wanted to recognize all of these individuals and their contributions and give a special thanks to the 64 people who have chosen to be here this winter. The dimples on each side of the design, 16 on each side, represent the 64 winter-overs contributing to the 50th winter of science and support at the Pole, 2006. These dimples will catch the light as the sun rotates around the sky and will hopefully create some nice reflections in the brass. The South Pole is the only place where every direction is north and is represented by the points around the circle. The continent design is etched into the center circle so snow will accumulate there and provide a contrast for pictures. I am honored that my fellow winter-overs have chosen my design to represent the Geographic South Pole marker for the year 2007, and I look forward to seeing the design take shape.