A long few days

Well the past few days have been quite long. After our first 12 hour shift ended on Monday morning the whole area went into a condition 2 weather status. The best way to describe this is poor visibility from blowing snow and cold temperatures. With the wind blowing as strong as it was it was hard to stand up straight let alone trying to walk. I got ready to go back to work for my shift at the airfield at 5:30 to find out that due to the weather I wasn't going anywhere. I was told to go to our shop at 6:00 pm for work. After taking care of a few things my team was told to go home till 1:00 am and come back after mid-rats to work. Well at 1:00 I went back to work and got in the last little bit of training and was told to go home around 4:30 am. Trying to stay on a schedule was hard yesterday, my body was telling me to go to bed but I had to fight it off. I was able to stay up till 11:00 pm an took a short nap before mid-rats which helped and fought of going to sleep till almost 7:00 am today. With today being a day off this has not been fun. Tying to find things to do to stay awake with the weather was not fun. The weather has finally cleared but because of all the blowing snow getting around is a little tricky, hopefully once the graders get back out the roads will be easier to walk on and I can look around station a little better on my next day off. As I write this I am trying to stay awake to keep on schedule, hopefully I can keep my self occupied till around 6:00 am for breakfast then go to bed.

A short video I took while walking to work in a Condition 2 storm. You can hear the wind real well.

Now that the storm has passed walking to the coffee shop I was in awe of the views that I can see down here. On my Sunday shift I was able to Mt. Erebus from the airfield and I hope tomorrows shift will give me the same views so I can take some pictures. Living here I realized just how quick the weather can change On Sunday I went to work and it was nice and sunny out, 6 hours later the sun was gone and clouds were coming in. There were 2 incoming flights scheduled and 3 outbound flights scheduled. Only one flight was able to come in, it was a Airbus A-319 bringing in 25 Australians to get sent out to their station. The plan was for them to get onto a LC-130 shortly after their arrival to head to their research station. That did not happen cause of the weather. I was surprised that the plane even landed when it did, let alone it made it out of here. That was just how quick the weather changed, in all about 45 minutes from the time the Airbus landed to the time it took off the pilot took a chance. I got the opportunity to run one of the loaders to assist with the unload of the Airbus. Wow driving a Cat 950G up to the belly of a very expensive piece of equipment was a nerve racking experience. I was glad when I put the loader into reverse to drive way from it knowing that I didn't damage the plane or hurt anyone. I would never have thought with all the time spent on loaders at South Suburban that I would be nervous like that but knowing that I did it successfully helps me when I get the opportunity to unload/load a C-17 or LC-130.

A C-17

The Airbus A-319

The LC-130

A Few Links

Here are a few links to maybe see a little more what goes on here.

This is to a photo library.

http://photolibrary.usap.gov/

A webcam of McMurdo

http://www.usap.gov/videoclipsandmaps/mcmwebcam.cfm

The main United States Antarctic webpage

http://www.usap.gov/usapgov/

My photos on Google+

https://plus.google.com/photos/115756360114717182837/albums/5667203198492314817?hl=en

You should just be able to copy and paste the links into your web browser to see them. Till next time.

A few photos

Well since I have some down time right now because of a storm down here, I figured I would get some pictures up. We went to the Botanical Gardens in Christchurch on our second day. I was glad I went. I got to see some trees that I never had seen before alond with some pretty flowers in Spring bloom. Hope this finds everyone well. I think I fixed the comment section so everyone can comment easier.

Tim

The following pictures are of the earthquake damage from the earthquake that hit back in February. We heard stories of aftershocks while we there from before we got in, but didn't feel anything while we were there. A majority of downtown Christchurch was fenced off from all the damage. It was an odd feeling walking around and seeing the damage. After going to New Orleans post Katrina I can see that there is a lot of work left to be done for Christchurch to come back. I hope to be able to come back some day and see the progress of the rebuidling. After the earthquake and all the after shocks all the church steeples were taken off and set on the gound to keep them from falling over. You can see a few in the photos.

I am still here!

So sorry for the delay in posts. It is hard to believe just how busy one can be at the bottom of the earth. I have been here at McMurdo Station 1 week now and all settled in. I am learning where things are a little more each day and getting into a routine of things. We have been working 9 hour days for the past week which does help to get used to life. I really shouldn't say working as it was more training than anything else. There have been times that I was able to work and help out with newly received cargo, helping other coworkers out on learning the equipment that we use down here, doing a little snow shoveling but there has been a lot of standing around trying to figure out what I could do or should do to help out.

Life here I would say is like living pretty much anywhere else in a small town of 1100. Everyone has their own responsibities and in the end we are all dependent on each other to succeed here. The food has been good, there have been a few items that have been a little less than desirable but other wise its good food to eat. There are 2 bars here with cheap beer so when you get a chance to drink and relax one can. I went last night to Scott Base which is run by New Zealand for American night which is the only night we can go over to their bar and drink. Scott Base is much smaller than McMurdo so we are restricted to when we go over.

I found out that I will be starting on night shift first at the airfield starting on Sunday night. I am looking forward to being out at the airfield working and getting to see the aircraft come and go along with working around them. The team I am on seems like a good group of individuals to work with. It is a small world down here when my supervisor graduated from the same high school I did, just 2 years earlier. I seemed to have gotten lucky with the living situation here. I have 3 roommates and we all seem to get along very well. 2 of my roommates flew in with me so I have gotten to know them very well.

The weather this week has been crazy. Sunday it was cold and windy but the sun was out, Monday was calm but cold, Tuesday and Wednesday it was very windy and cold. Some new snow fell on Tuesday and for a while we were placed under condition 2 weather which means poor visibility, cold temps and high winds. It was fun working out in it, today on the other hand is so nice I am wearing shorts walking around out side.

I hope that this finds everyone well and I hope to hear from you all soon.

Tim

First night out with my new friends after traveling from Denver.

9:42 pm Looking out on to the Ross Sea Ice

My corner of the dorm room.

A nice view from the cargo yard.

A view of the Ice Runway from McMurdo. Thats where I landed, when I leave I will go to a different runway 14 miles away.

Hello from Antarctica

Well I made it hear. I am going to keep this short today since I really am tired from all my travels. We got here today around 2:45 on a C-17 Globemaster. it was a fun flight, we got to see lots of Antarctica flying in. I have made lots of new friends on the trip down and some of the experienced veterans have been quite helpful. I hope to put pictures up tomorrow, but till than I hope that this finds everyone well.

Tim

Wow, Antarctica?

Well I figured since I am going to a place that most people don't ever get to see other than in movies, on tv or in pictures I would make up a blog about my travels, work and experience being in Antarctica. So here it is, hope you enjoy it.

Every one who I have told about this adventure has been extremely supportive but also ask the same question. Why Antarctica? Well after my dad went on his little cross country bicycle ride this past spring and seeing were I was at in life I needed a change and a adventure and figured that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity so why not.

I will be working in the ATO department as a Air Transportation Specialist Apprentice i.e. cargo. Everything that comes into Antarctica either comes in on C-17 Globemasters or one cargo ship in January along with one tanker ship around the same time as well. So I will be unloading and loading the C-17's along with assisting with the off-load and re-load of the cargo ship. To get supplies to the smaller field camps C-130 Skibirds and Twin Otter planes are used along with helicopters. So I will be assisting in loading and unloading cargo from these as well and delivering and receiving cargo from around McMurdo. I figured with having some equipment experience from my work and having a CDL drivers license this job would be an easy fit for me.

I leave for McMurdo on October 17 and should be back in March.