“Wow.” I got in to bed at 2:30 in the morning yesterday. I was in a hotel. I was off the ice. It’d been 5 months since I’d been around a tree, flower, darkness, kids – the list goes on and on. Only three full weekends off in 5 months – which doesn’t really count […]
Five months on the Ice Read More »
21 April 2024 I get tired of the strain. There are things inside me that I cannot easily put to words. I don’t think words are my first language. Paragraphs have never been easy. As if trying to place a face – you flip through all the faces in your brain, looking for a match,
Half a year on the ice Read More »
And just like that I am back. What am I doing here? It’s still August! But within minutes, I can feel myself adapting to life in a different place – a place that’s more familiar than home these last few years.. To get here at this time, I had to leave home, I had to
After almost two weeks in NZ, feeling rested and refreshed with some wonderful adventures with the Noonsun crew (in wheeled vehicles), I got in touch with some Antarctic people to see if they still needed help with the winter Search and Rescue (SAR) team. They had offered me a contract extension while I was on
Winter Search and Rescue Read More »
The season in McMurdo is complete, but I don’t know how to put it eloquently into words. There was too much stress, strong emotions, too many questions, and times where I just had to put the blinders on and keep going. There were high highs that made me love the place, and low lows that
16 October 2022 I have arrived in McMurdo Station, Antarctica! We flew in yesterday on an Australian Airbus A319. While I missed the novelty and fun of flying in a C-17 US military cargo plane, having a window seat on the Airbus was awesome. The weather cleared up just before we got to the continent
Arrival on the Ice Read More »
Up at 0500, pickup at 0630, 0700 change into ECW (extreme cold weather) gear, then weigh in luggage, get another briefing then carry-on security and person weigh in, bus to the plane, stand around a bit, get another briefing, load the plane, (a NZ Air Force 757), wait finally take-off and head south! I was
After just shy of 50 hours in transit from home, I arrived at my Christchurch hotel. Despite my best intentions of having a series of calm days prior to my departure, 15 minutes before leaving home, I found myself doing some last minute wiring adjustments to the system I finished building at midnight the night
I came home from French Polynesia to work a Greenland antenna rigging contract with two good friends I hadn’t seen in years. It was to be a dream team, working in a new place, crossing the Arctic Circle for the first time and a chance to get some tower work (aka spacewalks) in. The pictures
DE-ORBIT My contract is complete. I am now somewhere high above South America, heading north. We said goodbye to the crew remaining behind – most of them having contracts that go until mid March. After 80 days with them, I will miss them dearly. One of the best parts of this cruise was the people.
De-orbit and Re-entry from Antarctica Read More »