At 11am
11/01/15 we departed Chch in a Hercules C130 for our 7 ½ hour flight to Scott
Base. As we entered the plane we were given a paper bag of sandwiches,
chippies, museli bars and cookies for the flight. As we got closer to our
destination we could see amazing patterns of sea ice out the window!
We landed
at Willys field and it was the most amazing feeling walking out the plane with
all of my extreme cold weather (ECW) gear on and being blasted by the
brightness of the landscape and also the strangely warmer temperature than I
was expecting (or maybe I was just too excited to feel the cold!). We were
dropped off to Scott Base where we had a safety briefing/late dinner and well
deserved beer at the bar – The Tatty Flag. Everyone is incredibly friendly, I
even met students with mutual friends, which is actually quite freaky.. I went
to bed at about 1-2 am but it felt like lunchtime since the sun was still up
and I was way too excited to be here! We were told due to how dry the area is,
we will build up static really fast.. so there are pieces of metal attached to
the walls that we touch to discharge.. It builds up so fast you have to touch
metal beams or whatever multiple times while walking down the corridors, so
strange!
The next
morning (12/01/15) we undertook Antarctic Field Training (AFT) where we trooped
out to the pressure ridges just in front of Scott Base. These are massive
blocks of sea ice that have broken up and then pushed/buckled against the land
(where Scott Base is located). While we were out there a haaglan managed to get
stuck in a melt pool (the drama is real!) so our trainer/guide guy left
Christina and I by ourselves, so we decided to begin a self-guided sea lion
safari! While we were watching them they slept (majority of them), played in
the melt pools and did weird callings to each other kind of like a grunt.. The
babies are the cutest things ever and they smile when they are sleeping – very
happy creatures I think. This is how I have probably looked ever since we
arrived!
Due to
expected bad weather we were told at 4pm that we would be flying out to Marco
Zucchelli at 6pm, which is the Italian Base in Terra Nova Bay. From there we
would transfer onto the Korean Icebreaker Research Vessel – the Araon on the 15th
most likely… But who knows as our plans have already changed so much!
We flew
in a Twin Otter to Browing Pass where a helicopter met us and took us over the
ridge to the base.
We
arrived late (about 11pm) and the first thing Christina and I were offered was
coffee.. and you can’t refuse to drink their coffee.. We have been here just
over 12 hours now and I have already had about 4 short blacks.. For someone who
doesn’t drink a lot of coffee, this is not good..
In my
first 48 hours of being in Antarctica my top 3 experiences (in no particular
order):
1.
Seeing
penguins.. even though they were ages away.. the zoom on my camera worked wonders!
And also seals. I like seals
2.
My first
step on Antarctic ice
3.
Flying
from Scott Base to Marco Zucchelli – amazing views and my first helicopter
ride!
Two
things I miss so far:
1.
Understanding
what people are talking about.. everyone speaks Italian.. (hardly understood
our safety briefing..)
2.
Night
time
I am so
very fortunate to have the opportunity to be in Antarctica and be able to
conduct research for my Masters thesis! While on board the Araon ship we will
be collecting jumbo piston cores that I will use to ultimately reconstruct
Holocene sea ice distribution and water column stratification using diatoms and
stable isotopes.
The food
is amazing here. I like chocolate pasteries for breakfast!
Bye for
now!
***SOrry for the lack of photos... check out facebook instead.. will add them as I can!
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