southbound?

mac town storm
hut contents
greetings from the lovely mc murdo library!

i am still here, but do to fly in the morning, they got a 'herc' - LC 130 in today and i'm still due to fly in on a Bassler, at this point i'm willing to give up the Bassler dream, as long as we get out of here soon! i took all of my belongings with the exception of 1 bag to be 'palletized' (packed for transport at a later date) last week and have only my ECW and the clothes i'm wearing now, not so bad really, others have been without their things for almost a month!

there are simply too many people here, over 1000 now, i think the female pop is 28%. i definitely don't think i'd enjoy a summer season here, although there's lots to do like awesome hikes, skiing, parties with live bands, sports, ect, it's just too much.

i have quite enjoyed the opportunity i've had to be a 'hut guide'- i am able to acquire the keys to the explorers huts and take folks in, essentially to insure they do not touch anything. it's an amazing experience, it truly feels like the huts were abandoned in such haste, kettles on, clothes hanging, all still beautifully intact over 100 years later! if you are interested there's a great website to enjoy: www.antarctic-heritage.org

the BBC is here now working on their new series. they have amazing footage and they are scheduled to come down to pole at some point in the season, keep your eyes open for the series, it looks spectacular!

we all keep passing the crud back and forth here, it's been a sickly sort of month, i'm getting over having it for the 2nd time, there's no escaping it, the quarters are too close. all the anti-bacterial foam and hand washing is no deterrent for this strain of yuck!!!

i got bumped to an earlier flight so that i can open the post office at pole, the woman who was slated to do it has to open the science carp shop and i am going in to get all the winter-over's mail out, last year there was 3 tons of mail from these 13 month inhabitants!! i am looking forward to the challenge!! i am an official APO mail clerk, it's quite dreamy, i even have a laminated card, big time. last weekend there was a rockin' party in the carp (carpenter) shop- 4 bands, free beer and a mini golf course!! sadly, i had to go to a crane rigging training at 7:30am sunday morning, probably for the best. i've enjoyed all the training opportunities here, it's kept me busy. i wonder (if we make it to pole) what sort of halloween shenanigans we will get into, thankfully it's saturday night, as we usually have sundays off! all in all i have enjoyed my mac-time, but have tingly fingers and toes at the idea of going to pole... oh wait, that's the Diamox (high altitude medication i started today) ha ha ha... i hope the next time i write is from the bottom of the world!! wishing you all a happy halloween wherever you may be haunting!

take care, karengrace*

10/29

we're not going anywhere tonight... the wind is so very intense today... crossing our fingers for tomorrow!!

Mactown

me on top of the tire pile
the 'pickle' moving crates out of a can or convex van
view from my room
sunset over the sea ice
greetings from mc murdo base on ross island in antarctica!

i got in last weds. 10/7 from christchurch and have been here doing loads of training. i just finished a 3 day course on heavy equipment training and have countless safety and logistical trainings to attend daily. in our non training moments we have been receiving food and supplies for the pole, essentially we track down the items and open crates and make sure that the contents are correct. it's quite important to do that here, because it takes lots of fuel to get things down to pole and it's silly to ship something we don't need! i've been battling the crud for the last few days, it's almost a right of passage here, i am feeling better all the time! i am due to fly out in a Bassler on the 30th. a Bassler is a small 16 pax (passenger) plane that is not pressurized, so we get oxygen masks for the flight i'm quite excited about it!! it has been difficult for me to update this because there are so many people here trying to use a tiny bandwidth, it should be easier at pole, but we just lost one of our satellites and that means that we will have even less time available to make phone calls and get online, perhaps only 4 or so hours a day... i hope it works out to be hours i am not at work or sleeping!!!

i hope you all are well and enjoying a beautifull autumn! take care, karengrace*

landed

autumn in denver
springtime blossoms and me
cathedral square
the peacock fountain at the gardens
the spring fern at the botanical gardens
greetings from christchurch, nz!

we just got in an hour ago, it has been quite a long journey, but i have no complaints! we left from denver at 5pm on friday and it is now sunday at 3pm. the most exciting part of the trip was the amazing flight from la to sydney... we flew over on an almost brand new A-380!!!!!!! such a dream come true, for those of you who don't know, it is currently the largest passenger plane in the world, with a double-decker capacity of 450!!! it was a real treat, i have always enjoyed all sorts of air travel, and this was such a lovely surprise, as i've been following the saga of this particular aircraft. along the way one of the passengers got quite ill and thankfully there was a doctor on board who aided the woman, but, upon arrival into australia we had to remain on the plane until the 'quarantine police' boarded and deemed it safe for us to deplane, meanwhile we had a very short transfer time for our christchurch flight. it's raining here, which makes me want to relax in my room, but i think i should probably go out into the world so i can get on the correct schedule here! i am reporting at 9 am to receive all my cold weather gear for the ice, and then will have the remainder of the day to play! we are due to depart for mcmurdo tuesday morning, but may not make it then because all the ice flights are several days backed up due to weather and mechanical difficulties- so we are all secretly hoping for at least 1 extra day here in cheech!! i will be in mcmurdo until the 28th of oct. at the earliest and the 4th of nov at the latest... i will be there receiving training on the forks and other equipment, and it's too cold to fly to pole untill the end of the month anyway!!! i am very excited about this, for many reasons... i've never really spent any time at that station and i also have lots of friends working there this season that i would probably be unable to visit with otherwise!! the only problem is that i don't know where i'll be spending halloween.... and i don't know where to ask dad to send my costumes!!! this is currently my largest dilemma ... poor me!!! well, i'm off to play in the rain and find some yummy sushi for dinnner!!! thank you to everyone who helped me to make this voyage possible, especially my mom, dad and karl!!! hope you all are doing well wherever you are!!! take care, more soon!! karengrace*

***a special big love shout out to sabrina!!! sending you all my love from down under!!********