After

What a wild ride.  Towards the end of the season, work would switch from being unbearably slow to refreshingly hectic.  There was the supply vessel arrival, which brings about 90% or so of the supplies that McMurdo Station will use for the next 12 months.  I worked in the store for that time, opening boxes, counting and recording the clothes, towels, food, whatever inside, and putting it back into boxes. And then moving the boxes.  And collapsing boxes.  Etc. etc. etc…. boxes.  Luckily I still had a normal 7:30-5:30 shift, unlike much of the station which was on 12-hr shifts until it was done.  Then there were a couple of days spent stocking the store and trying not to die of boredom (I didn’t because I had NPR podcasts on my iPod) and a day where Jules stole me from the store and took me out of town to practice driving a bulldozer.  Excuse me, operating a bulldozer.  Then I had a day to pack, a weather delay day, then I flew!   And, at the end, it felt like only a few weeks had passed since I was flying out of the Boise airport, waving goodbye to my mom and Sully.  It sure was strange.  I really liked it, but it was more strange than anything else. 

After arriving in Christchurch (where the smells of life and the darkness and the humidity and the green things knocked me on my ass after so many months of sensory deprivation), Josh and I spent a day or two at Karen’s house, planning roadtrips.  We had a huge itinerary of a South Island loop planned, but we looked at the driving times and our allotted 10 days, and Josh and I both decided we’d rather do less sightseeing and driving, and do more “doing.” If that makes sense.  So we bagged the big trip for some smaller 2-3 day trips out of Christchurch.  We drove down to Dunedin, stayed for one night in the driving rain at a weird holiday park where the cement buildings were painted with Disney characters, and decided to come back to a sunnier area.  We then drove north to Kaikoura (meaning “meal of crayfish” in Maori) and stayed there for two nights.  One of our days there, actually Josh’s bday (HAPPY BDAY JOSH!!!!)  was spent hiking up the trail to Mount Fyffe, but stopping short of the summit to stay in a backcountry hut.  It was beautiful; the hut is in a tiny grassy meadow on the slopes of the seaward Kaikoura range, and from the meadow you can see the Kaikoura peninsula with its aquamarine coastline.  The hike was steep! A full mile in elevation gain, though the trail itself wasn't very long in length.  We were straining and sweating on the way up, and our legs were jelly on the way down.  On the way back into town, sweaty and dehydrated, we pulled out at the Kowhai (pronounded “Ko-fye”) River, stripped down and bathed as best we could in the late-summer trickle.  A swimming hole would have been nice, but we took what we could get.

After driving south back to Cheech we went back to our old standby, the South Brighton Motorcamp, which is situated between the New Brighton beach and the estuary of the Avon River as it meets the sea.  It’s a couple of blocks to the beach where we are, and yesterday we rented surfboards and wetsuits and had a go at the waves.  Today we’re headed there again at 11am, which is just before high tide (I’m told that halfway between high tide and halfway between low tide are the best times to go).  So we’ll hang out on the beach today, then surf tomorrow morning before lunch, when we’ll have to return the boards and wetties.  It’s supposed to be stormy anyway, but we’re gonna try.  Friday will be spent packing, doing laundry (if possible) and returning the rental car.  Hopefully we’ll then stay at Karen’s and she’ll take us to the airport on Saturday morning, where we’ll fly from Auckland back home.  We’ll leave Auckland at 3:40 pm on Saturday and get to Boise at 3:10pm on Saturday.  I love crossing time zones!

See y’all soon!

Lael

Fuel Tanker Offload

Today being the second day of tanker offload, and having gotten up at 4:30 this morning, and having worked for 13 hours today and 13 yesterday, and this being a Sunday (my regular day off)...I am tired.

My job for tanker offload has been "tank dipper," the person that uses a dip tape to measure how much fuel is coming into the fuel tank.  Every 1/2 hour I climb to the top of the tank, open the dip port, dip and call in my reading to Control, in the Fuels Barn.  The view from on top of the tanks is amazing; I can see the channel in McMurdo Sound where the icebreaker cut through to allow the fuel tanker to dock at the ice pier.  Sometimes you can see whales, and yesterday when we were connectin ghte hoses to hte boat, a seal swam up next to the pier where we were standing.  He puffed out his nostrils at us, realized that we stunk like fuel, and swam away.

Josh and I got to board the tanker yesterday morning and take fuel samples from the bulk tanks on board, which was exciting.  Tanker has been a great time for me; not only do I get to work with the Fuels department (which is the department I'd hope to apply for when/if I come back), but I am doing an important job, where I am utilized and needed and relied upon.  Fuels runs a tight ship and they have a very complex system of valves, hoses, tanks and pumps that require constant attention, and even the normally less-than-thrilling amount of intellectual stimulation that provides is vey satisfying.  My body has proved itself suited to manual labor; I can deal with being cold, I make sure to keep snacks and water nearby, I don't strain my muscles or get too sore--- but my brain feels like it's locked in a prison during the workday.  My saving grace for the 2nd half of the season has been free NPR podcasts, which keep me from going totally brain dead, but that's nothing quite as nice as working with a group of people to solve a problem or execute an operation.  I hope I can find a job like that in Boise.

After tanker finishes (later tonight), we get two days off--one to make up for our missed Sunday and one as comp time for our 13-hr workdays.

After that I have about a week and a half of regular GA work (some of which may be working on the supply vessel offload) and then I redeploy on the 12th of February.  I am SOOOO excited.  So excited to be home and unemployed.

Teenage WAISland

Hello from the Western Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) divide!

 

I arrived here, finally, after 5 days of weather delays in McMurdo.  It was pretty weird having such a sense of limbo, and getting up super early in the morning at McMurdo, to take an airfield taxi 17 miles out onto the runway on the Ross Ice Shelf, only to spend the entire day in the airport galley on weather delay.  Rinse and repeat for 5 days.  Luckily I had a good book.

 

Anyway, I’ve arrived!  Actually I arrived a week ago on Friday, but haven’t posted until now.  I’m on a field camp rotation at the WAIS field camp, 800 miles from McMurdo in West Antarctica.  We’re right below South Africa, I’m told.  I’m the camp GA, which means I shovel, melt water, schlep gear around, fuck around with cargo straps for 15 minutes at a time then angrily stomp to the carp shed for some WD-40, help with galley stuff, etc.  I also drive a snomobile a lot, which never loses its charm.  I can see why rednecks in Idaho like to do it, though I will never agree with it.  It seems too lazy to do for recreation.  Occasionally I shuttle visitors to and fro the Arch, which is the building housing the massive ice core drill that has just come up with a core from 15,700 years ago.  Part of our morning meetings is the lead ice-handler briefing the camp on our little version of “This Day in History”, except it’s “the ice we brought up this morning is from the time when humans were crossing Beringia from Asia to North America.”  Pretty stunning.

 

A little more about WAIS, from my friend Erika who is a GA for the Carpenter’s shop in McMurdo and who came out here for the camp put-in.  This is from her blog, www.erikainantarctica.blogspot.com. She does a nice job of summing it up:

 

WAIS Divide (West Antarctic Ice Sheet) is about 800 miles from McMurdo, about 6000 feet in elevation, and is the location for the drilling of a 10,000 foot ice core. We are here to support the scientists for this specific project along with other scientific research that is being done in and around this area. The idea for this specific ice core project began in 2000 with testing beginning in Greenland in 2005, which Eric was a part of. The actual drilling here began in 2007 and will continue for the next few of years. In studying the ice, the scientists want to learn about past climate conditions dating back 100,000 years ago and see how it has changed.

 

At night I sleep in an Arctic Oven, which is a massive, really warm tent that I have all to myself.  I have a flattened triwall cardboard box for padding on the ground which is super comfy.  (Why yes, it does make me sound like a hobo, thank you very much.) My tent is of the many tents in “Tent City”, about ¼ mile from “town”.  Maybe less than ¼ mile but it sure feels that far when I stumble from my tent, bleary-eyed and yawning, and have to trudge through snow and wind with only green flags to mark my way back to camp since I can’t really see the buildings.  Camp life is incredibly awesome though.  It’s what you would think of when you think of Antarctica: the camp is made up of big semipermanent tents, we ride snomobiles to work, wear huge boots, skate ski all the time, etc. etc.  There are only 40 something of us here, so we all share housework, camp maintenance, snow melting, and all that stuff that you’d think of when you thought of a camp. 

 

Well, I’ve gotta get myself off to bed.  Going to bed is quite an affair, as I have to change my clothes, brush teeth, bundle up, trudge out to tent city, shovel out the tent, arrange my clothes and stuff, and arrange my sleeping bag and mat, which takes longer than you’d think when you have to wrap yourself so tightly that only your nose shows…

Off to WAIS!

Hello there, friends and family.  This will be my last post for awhile, unless I figure out a way to remotely upload posts to my blogger.  I'm flying out tomorrow morning to WAIS (Western Antarctic Ice Sheet) Divide, the biggest field camp where they drill thousands-of-years-old ice cores.  Our only internet capabilities will be text-only email, so I can't get on the internet, or even email pictures or anything.  Our internet is only available for a few hours a day, when the satellite is visible to our camp! (crazy, eh?)  I had some hesitancy about going out there because I'll be gone for 2-4 weeks and let's face it, I'm gonna miss Josh.  I feel a little guilty that his job doesn't let him travel as much as mine does, so I'm going to try and have enough fun for the both of us.

I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year, and get crackin' on those resolutions!

--Lael