Diving

Here's a photo I took today.  Can you guess where I am, what it is a photo of, or how I took it?  Leave a comment if you want to guess.  The winner will receive a personal e-mail from me!  :-)

Brett
2010-11-18 11:36pm (NZDT)

The Light at the End of the Tunnel at 11pm

Can you imagine waking up in the middle of the night and seeing pure light streaming in through the hallway?  I've acclimated to this 24/7 daylight much quicker than last year; in fact, it seemed quite natural right away this time!  I remember a year ago, though, when I first saw the sun at "midnight."  It was surreal and foreign, and it took a week just to get used to the sun never going down.

I also enjoy seeing the sun, at all.  It is supremely uplifting for my spirit!  The clouds rarely reveal the sun in New Hampshire, sadly.  I don't take any moment for granted here.  Stunningly bright and beautiful it is!

I took these photos last night at roughly 11pm.

I'm standing at the end of the corridor my room is on.
My room is the second room from the end on the right.

My room is through the door on the right, closest to the camera.

The view out the window.

Brett Anderson
2010-11-17 9:22am (NZDT)

Arrival on Ice

I made it!  It was mostly smooth flying today, a wee bit bumpy on the way down to McMurdo on the C-17.  I was hoping to get a photo of the view as I was actually stepping out of the plane, but alas, the force of the mob behind me was too great and I couldn't stop to take a photo.  So, after I stepped onto the ice, here's what I saw:

And here's a photo of me:

I'm off to bed--work starts bright and early tomorrow!  Lot's to do!

Brett
2010-11-15 9:54pm (NZDT)

EARTHQUAKES!!!

I have now felt my very first earthquake!  And, I can now add an earthquake to the list of things I've slept through!

Exactly 24 hours ago, at 1:34am Sunday morning local time, a 4.7-magnitude earthquake shook Christchurch.  My hotel building (one of the tallest buildings in Christchurch) swayed quite a bit, according to a couple I met who were staying a floor above me.  They said it was very scary.  Swaying is a natural response of the building, intentionally designed into the architecture, and the building was and remains structurally sound.  However, I felt nothing!  I slept right through it!  The couple was shocked that I was shocked that there was an earthquake in the night!

And then this evening, a 4.7-magnitude earthquake set on!  I was at dinner, and I felt it!  It was so cool!  I was really bummed that I slept through the one last night, especially since I didn't get to feel the building sway, but I can now say that I have experienced an earthquake!

Now, earthquakes are a serious thing, and Christchurch and areas in this region are still working to rebuild the damage from the September 4, 2010 earthquake here.  It was a 7.1-magnitude earthquake--just slightly stronger than the one that devastated Haiti and killed hundreds of thousands of people 10 months ago.  Fortunately for New Zealand, no deaths occurred as a result of the quake, and most buildings survived, but some buildings and homes have had to be condemned.

Brett
2010-11-15 1:47am (NZDT)

More From New Zealand

Hi people,

My flight is scheduled to depart from Christchurch at 4pm EST on Sunday, (10am NZDT on Monday).  Just FYI.

Today, as in Christchurch's Sunday, I got up, visited a Salvation Army church service, had lunch with some new Kiwi friends of mine from the Salvation Army, got outfitted with my "Extreme Cold Weather" gear (but is it good enough for Minnesota cold weather???), took the bus back to Cathedral Square, went to the ChristChurch Cathedral Choral Evensong service, had an excellent English-Indian dinner, and took some more photos of the night!  Below are some of my cool photos!

ChristChurch Cathedral
Photo taken during the rehearsal before the service.

Ducklings!

Christchurch at night!

Now, I have one disclaimer: I compress my photo files before I upload them to this site, and in addition, this blog website compresses them even more, so if you want to see the original photo, you'll have to ask me when I visit you!  :-)

Cheers!
Brett
2010-11-15 12:02am (NZDT)

In New Zealand!

I must be very brief, for internet is very expensive here in New Zealand!  I have arrived safely and happily in New Zealand!  I have been having a fantastic time in this beautiful city of Christchurch.  Here is one photo of the Cathedral in the central square.  More to come!

Brett
2010-11-14 8:20am (NZDT)

More on temperature...

...because that's all I have time to write about right now!  At McMurdo, Antarctica, it's been getting up into the 20's and 30's (Fahrenheit) during the day, with lows in the teens in the "other" part of the day (ie: when the sun is lower in the sky).  So it's been warming up quickly at McMurdo!  I leave on Wednesday and should arrive at McMurdo sometime Sunday evening (USA times)--roughly a week from right now!

I love my new camera, and you will too, once you see some of my new photos!  :-)

Brett

Cold, Here I Come!

It's up to -1 degrees Fahrenheit right now at McMurdo Station!  Much preferable to the balmy 69F here in Hanover, today!

Also, it's official: my plane takes off on November 10!

Brett

A New Year, A New Adventure

Hello friends,

Though strange to think of 2010 as a New Year, it is a new year for me to set foot on the great continent of Antarctica.  It's been over 10 months, now, since I was last on the ice.  I'm very much looking forward to my return, but it holds less mystery and suspense over my life than it did the first time.  It's old hat, you know.  Antarctica isn't really that far away...

I am all set to return to McMurdo Station, Antarctica!  I have finished all of my paperwork and am awaiting my flight details to get me to Christchurch, New Zealand.  Today, in preparation for my return to Antarctica, I purchased a Nikon D90 DSLR camera, fully accessorized with lenses, light filters, memory chips, etc...  I'm very excited to get my camera soon and start getting used to it before I get down to the ice!

It is my goal to update this blog more often and with more (and better!!!) photos than last year.  So starting soon (early November-ish) please check back often for updates!

Brett

Skiing in Antarctica

This evening I checked out skis from the Gear Issue office in McMurdo.  They have all sorts of skiing equipment, winter gear, costumes, board games, etc...  Along with the skis, I got poles and boots.  I looked for a boot that'd fit my feet but I could not find any!  My friend, Colin, finally looked in the last nook and found one that'd fit me.  It was an old, almost-decrepit pair, the kind with the three prongs and the metal clamp that holds onto the boot.  The sole was worn out, the insole was crusted and torn, and they were a bit dirty, but they were cross country ski boots!  Classy!

So, at 8pm local time Colin and I checked out of McMurdo base by personally visiting the Firehouse and picking up a radio in case of emergency.  We told them our estimated time of return was 11pm.  We had a ways to hike before we could ski on snow.  Up the hill we went, up towards where the trailhead for our path lay.  Once we got to the trailhead, we still had to hike through dirt and ice.  The service road was in poor condition, and the recent warm weather had been melting the snow in the day, which resulted in almost the entire road being covered in some kind of ice.  Another ways and we dared try ski.  And ski we did, but not easily.  There was no fresh powder, just intermittent packed snow.

Castle Rock can be seen in the distance.

Our destination was to visit the base of Castle Rock, a big rock formation about 4 miles from McMurdo that just out above the snow-covered surroundings like, well, a castle.  We ended up not quite making it and had to turn around before we got there.  About 10:30pm we turned around and notified the Firehouse that we'd be back by 11:30pm.  Most of the return would be downhill, which actually proved slightly dangerous due to the partially ice-covered nature of the trail.  It's quite easy to get going so fast that you cannot stop, and then we all know what comes next!  ;-)

Anyways, to make a long-story even shorter (or longer, since I am typing more, hence making the story longer) we ended up having to call the Firehouse over the radio a second time to notify them of our newest estimated time of return to be midnight.  We made it back just before midnight and returned the radio.

More so than usual, this next photo does not do justice to the actual beauty and majesty you'd have seen if you'd have been there with me.  Even though this photo was taken shortly before midnight, the sun was lighting up the mountains on the other side of the McMurdo Sound, some 30-40 miles away.  The cloud cover, obscuring the tops of some of the mountains, was letting select rays of light dance upon the snow and ice capped peaks.  This photo is of Mount Discovery, which is straight southwest of McMurdo Station.  And, if I may suggest, take a moment of silence along with this photo, for on this ski trip I was impressed by how silent the world is.  What a rare treat in this busy and machine saturated world.

Lastly, here's a view of McMurdo itself, looking down from just up the hill a ways.  If you look closely, you may be able to see my dorm and the galley I eat breakfast and dinner in and the Coffee House cafe.  If you look even closer, you might be able to make out the newly-hung Christmas decorations adorning lampposts and buildings.  Needless to say, Christmas is less than a week away for McMurdo and the rest of the world.

After our journey, I showered and trekked back over to the galley at 12:30 for "MidRats", or Midnight Rations, the lunch meal for those who work night shifts.  It's open from midnight to 1am, but only 12:30-1am for the general public.  I ate a full meal to satisfy my dietary desires and match my caloric output of the previous few hours.  Then off to bed to enjoy a good nights rest.  What an adventure!

Brett
2009-12-19 0239 McMurdo, Antarctica