The waiting game sucks, let's play hungry hungry hippos...

It's been a while since I've blogged. Maybe it's because nothing really seemed to compare to the Antarctic adventure. Maybe it's because life has been very hectic since I've been back in the real world. Maybe it's a little bit of both.

Since returning to the real world in early February I've:
a) interviewed for my first real job
b) been offered my first real job
c) negotiated and accepted my first real job (As of July 1st I will be a new Assistant Professor in Biology at Georgia Southern University)
d) found a really cute house to rent in Statesboro, Georgia.
e) published the major paper from my postdoc work in Ottawa (hooray!)
f) conferenced at UBC and had a great time hanging out with old friends
g) scrambled to finish labwork at OttawaU

And now... I wait... amongst boxes while my work visa is approved and makes it way up to me.

So to commemorate this big move I've added a new weather bar at the bottom of the blog. I'm enjoying the extremes... even preparing for the temperature extremes I'll be faced with in Georgia!


Go Eagles!
(might as well start practicing now!)

Back in the real world

After 2+ days of travel I am back in the continent of North America, hanging out in LA airport waiting to board the first of my last two flights home. Six flights in total... and so far I've clocked 24 hours in the air (not counting layover time).

We were warned that we would find the adjustment to life back in the real world a bit strange, but I didn't think a month would really make that much of a difference. But it was weird. Here are some of the things I realised I took for granted in my regular life:

1. Greenery & colour (the botanical gardens in Christchurch were a mind blowing experience after a month of shades of brown and white)

2. The smell of humid air (down on the ice all you smell is cold air, which has no smell, fuel and sweaty people.

3. The presence of children and pets. This was probably the weirdest of them all. Didn't even notice that they weren't down in McMurdo... but definitely was aware of them in the real world.

4. The almost immediate re-hydration of my poor cracked hands.

5. There are birds other than penguins and skuas ;)

Adelies in action

Tomorrow we are scheduled to fly out to New Zealand. Tonight we lugged our bags up the hill to the post office where we checked in and were weighed with our carry-on and wearing our full ECW gear. It was hot and sweaty work... and the event is rightfully named "the bag drag". I will live out of my carry-on for hopefully only one night this time!

I will probably get time tomorrow morning to post a blog on the last few adventures I want to share with everyone before we are shuttled out to the airfield to await the landing of the C-17. They basically just offload and load and go. No messing around. Apparently the wait can be hours out there so we have plans to play cricket on the sea ice to pass the time. How fantastic is that?

In the meantime I'll leave you with this video of the Cape Evans Adelies in full action. I can't take credit for it, and unfortunately my classmate who did take it didn't give themselves credit when they posted it to the common drive.

Enjoy! They will melt your hearts.



j

Cape Evans Part II: Scott's Hut

Part of our field trip to Cape Evans was a tour through Scott's hut. There is a heritage group that is now working to restore and weather proof the structure, but basically all the contents are as they were left by the survivors of Scott's expedition party for future trips, but they didn't ever come back. It is really eerie walking through the hut as you feel like those blokes are going to come tromping back in from the field at any moment. The kitchen is still full of jars of bottled veal and other sorts of meat, cans of cocoa and chocolate. What was really neat was to see the area set aside for the scientists. Bottles of acids and solutions left on the shelves and all sorts of old scientific equipment. On this last trip of Scott's he brought with him many scientists (biologists, meteorologists, geologists etc) to research the Antarctic Environment while he made the trek to the pole. It's pretty neat to think that we've basically followed in the footsteps of these early researchers.

(Scott's Hut, Cape Evans, Outside being restored and weatherproofed by Heritage Team)

(outside of hut near entrance)

(barrels and rope... and an orb???)

(sign in entrance)

(kitchen still stocked with supplies)

(Dining table that ran the length of the hut. Bunks for most of the crew & hands ran along either side of the table).

(old lamp on table)

(box of lamp-oil stamped with the specifics for Scott's expedition)

(Crew bunks and all the pony tackle, including hand made snowshoes for the ponies. The stables for the ponies are adjoining the main hut but were under restoration so we couldn't see them)

(bits and bobs)

(Scott's bunk, with newspaper on table. The newspaper had a story about cricket on it)

(Evans and Wilson's bunks. Along with Scott's bunk, these were all in the back of the hut away from the sleeping area of the rest of the crew)

The Science Lab, circa early 1900s

Contrasted with our Science lab in the Crary building, circa early 2000s

j

So many blogs, so little time

I realise I have been blog-negligent over the last week. I am still alive, although barely, but still loving every minute of my time in Antarctica. Today was the last day of the course and it was spent attending (and presenting) in a mini science symposium where all the groups presented their research accomplishments. The long days leading up to this were packed full of lab work and fish sampling that had me at the lab until 1 or 3 am most days (and up again and on the go by 8 am the following day). Needless to say we are all sleep deprived, but glowing with the praise of our instructors and with the news that we were probably the best course they've ever had (in 20 years!).

I have many blogs floating around in my head and hopefully I'll get some time over our next few days here (between lab clean-up and last minute exploring) to get them posted.

For tonight, I'll leave you with this beautiful horizon I saw on the way home around midnight. There has been a noticeable change in the light, especially at night, during my stay on Ross Island. Midnight "sunsets" are just beautiful and full of colour. The pictures do not come close to doing justice to the view, but it's an attempt. It is a Fata Morgana ( a term I've only learned tonight): a bizarre temperature inversion that causes mirages or mirror images and duplicates of the mountain ranges and islands along the horizon looking south.

(Look just to the left of the person's head to see a ghost island of the dark land island on the far right. Also, see the flattening of 'Black Island' on the far left, above the green building)

(Double or even triple images of Black Island)

I also love the contrast between the spectacular, wild and rugged view on the horizon and the industrial, muddy McMurdo. Keeps it all real.

Field Trip to Cape Evans, Part I

Here's a picture story with a few words to show you all how fantastic our field trip to Cape Evans was on Friday. Cape Evans is about 10 miles from McMurdo station (10 minutes by helicopter). We spent the full day there, exploring and touring the inside of Scott's hut. I have a bunch of photos of the inside of Scott's hut, but I will save them for their own post. We were told by our instructor the night before we left that the going price for an Antarctic cruise that includes a stop in Cape Evans & tour of Scott's hut starts at $38 000!!!! I'm one lucky girl....


Arrival at Cape Evans by helicopter. Scott's Hut is the building in the centre. I have more photos of the inside but I think I'll post them on another day. The Barne Glacier runs along the top of the photo.

Dafne & Scott exploring the cape.

A lone emperor (I think this penguin may have beat the record for most photos taken in one day!)

Obligatory "penguin and me" shot. Notice I am observing the Antarctic Treaty: if the animal reacts you are too close. I'm pretending to ignore him and he's pretending to ignore me.

Emperor and Mt. Erebus

Zoom lens...broke the bank account before I left. Close up of emperor penguin... priceless.

Lunch overlooking the edge of the sea ice. There were minke whales cruising around out there but no sign of the orcas yet.

Another shot of Mt. Erebus

"Hey guys, there are seals and icebergs out here" (Sound travels FAR on the ice)

Seals love sunbathing just as much as the cats do!

WARNING: The following pictures will contain extreme cuteness and will cause obsessions with Adelie penguins. The pictures are in a series. I saw the little guys coming down the hill by the skua pond, so I sat down on a rock and let them do their thing... guess they weren't too bothered by me because they walked within arms reach! Now I'm wondering what a group of penguins are called??? Any suggestions?

Here they come!

Single file please

Penguins have the cutest shadows

Off they go! These guys totally reminded me of the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland "I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date"

This was my view as we chilled out on the beach waiting for our helicopter to arrive.

Six short hours later it's time to go home in our snazzy helicopter from the Scott Base (they had to bring in the Kiwis to help ferry us all to and fro that day!). The orange bags in the foreground are our ECW bags with all the gear we aren't wearing. The bags lined up by the helicopter are the survival bags (contain tent, sleeping bags, food, gas stove etc for two people). They are left with us in case we have to overnight due to bad weather.

Thankfully, our day was a beautiful one and definitely one I'll never forget. Do you think I could train the cats to waddle like Adelies? :)

j

Gone Fishing

Blogging in a different location today. I was invited to contribute to the official course blog: http://summerinantarctica.usc.edu/

Here are a couple of photos that didn't make the final cut:
(The temperature this day was above zero... so the down jacket and gloves were tossed aside. Makes for easier fishing!)

The gull hovering in the background behind George is a Skua. They are more brazen than the seagulls at home. This one was trying every means to get at our bait fish. They are protected by the Antarctic Treaty so technically you can't do anything that will interfere with them (the rule is if the animal reacts to your presence, you are too close). There may have been an accidental tossing of net in the general vicinity of the bird just after he snatched the bag with the bait ;)

Rumours of whale spottings out at hut point today. Must go check them out between doing the science and David Attenborough's talk this evening! It's a hard life!

j