McMurdo 2010

Saturday, 17 Oct 2010

We arrived in McMurdo on Thursday the 15th to a glorious day +8 F. The day started with a 5:15 am ride to the airport, changing into our extreme cold weather gear (ECW) for the flight and then milling around waiting to load. We were loaded aboard the C-17 about 8:00, taxied down to the other end of the compound were the Air Force crew picked up a pallet of explosives and then took off for McMurdo. It is a 5 hr flight to McMurdo with most of the passengers, including me, in jumpseats. Actually the jumpseats are not as uncomfortable as everyone says, I have been on many flights in coach seating that are worse. I think the saving grace of the jumpseats is that you can stretch out your legs as far as you need to, as long as you do not have chains or tie-down straps in the way. In a C-17 it is a 5 hr flight from Christchurch NZ to McMurdo. The flight landed on time, dropped off the pallet of explosives then dropped us off to the vehicles waiting to take us up to the base. The airfield at this time of year is rather amazing – it is out on the sea ice just below the station – the ice is about 8 ft thick and they groom it to make a runway.

We got our billets after the briefing and I am sharing a 5 person room with 4 other women. The bad thing is it is fairly tight and there is not a lot of storage, the good thing is that all the women are fabulous – funny, self sufficient, considerate and adventurous.


21 Oct 2010

So I am sitting here in the coffee shop trying to finish this to post – it has been a long sort of slow week, we have been busy coordinating a bunch of stuff and it seems to be coming together, but takes awhile. I cannot seem to get enough sleep, it does not seem to matter if it is 5 hrs or 10 hrs I just seem tired. Hopefully it gets better as I acclimate.