South Pole

For those of you who haven't already heard, I am currently stationed at the South Pole. I arrived here on Dec 15th around 1330.
So far it is amazing here. It has been a dream of mine to get here and I am finally here. The food is better, the people are nicer and station is newer.
I am living in what is known as a Jamesway. It is a large canvas walled tent in which I claim a 6x6 room. It is pretty cold in here, at bed level it is 53 degrees and 38 at the floor. It sounds terrible, but I am actually sleeping better here than I have in the past 6 years.
The weather is pretty moderate, it is around -15 with a windchill around -40. The air is dry, but that is only because it is so cold. The air here, I learned yesterday, is 80% saturated.
I received a package from Holy Family yesterday. I was very happy to have some snacks to get be through the days. We now have a snack box at Fire Station 3 because of this package, so thank you to everyone involved in that. I have not yet received the hoodie,but I will take some pictures once that arrives.

Cape Evans and Ice cave

Last night I was privileged with the opportunity to visit both cape Evans and the ice cave. Cape Evans is where the Scott lived before his final push for the pole in which he passed. There are not words to describe this building. I was truly speechless.
After we headed to the ice cave. This is the first season since 2003 in which there has been an accessible ice cave in this area. The color inside was inspiring and beautiful. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Pictures

New Zealand and my flight to Antarctica

The last Sunset/Sunrise for the season

Inside of one of Scott's huts at Hut Point

Wendell Seals

Scott's Hut from the end of the point and McMurdo in the foreground





My Living quarters for the next 4 months

WOW

Wow is what living in Antarctica brings to mind. I have been here for almost 3 weeks and I am loving every moment. There has, however, been a few instances that have made me rethink this adventure that I am partaking. I am unable to say too much information as of right now, but we have unfortunately had to loose multiple members already this year. On the other hand, every day I am amazed by the unspoiled beauty of this alien environment. One such moment was yesterday as we drove back from Pegasus airfield, I was starring at the mountains that were beyond the Ross ice shelf. I sat in the back of SCAT 1 unaware of the things that were happening around me and was only focused on the beauty. Times such as this happen daily. When I feel I've finally come to ease with my surroundings, I find something new and again I'm over whelmed.

It is however difficult to be away from home. Never before have I consistently thought about the people I love. I am realizing how important these people are and how they truly complete my being. Time to myself to just think is a rarity while I'm home, but here I am fortunate enough to be able to have time to myself to think about what truly matters to me.

It's a harsh continent

You know you're heading to a harsh continent when you leave your house on Sept 27th and you don't make it to Antarctica until Oct 9th. I spent a day and a half in Denver CO going through orientation, two very long boring days. On the 29th we left Denver, flew to LA where we quickly switched planes and get onto a Quantas flight to Auckland New Zealand. Once in Auckland, we went through customs and walked to the domestic terminal. Here I had my first taste of Kiwi style beer and it was surprisingly tasty. Soon after we jumped on a small plane to Christchurch NZ. I was origanly suppose to be there for about two days, but because it is a harsh continent we were held up for over a week waiting for weather to allow ou military C-17 to be able to land in Antarctica. On our first attempt to make it down here, we boomeranged 4:30 hours into the flight, mind you it's a 5 hour flight to make it down here. So that day I had the pleasure of sitting in a military plane for over 9 hours. Luckily two days later we were able to make it down here. The first moments out of the plane, I was in complete disbelief that I had made it down to Antarctica. Actually the first few days down here were like this. Eventually I came to grasp the situation and began to make the most out of this great adventure. The following pictures were taken while I was stuck in NZ. I'll post pictures from down here within a few days. If anyone has anything they would like to see, or questions let me know.