The End!

This is the last post of my trip to Antarctica.  It was a once in a lifetime opportunity (until next year, j/k Mikaela) that I am very grateful I was able to do.  I really appreciate everyone's support and interest in my trip!

Now who is the "most interesting man"!

Cock Pit

Here are the rest of the pictures from the C-17 plane.

Makes you want to be a pilot with all the views they get.

This was a huge crack in the ice shelf, you can also see the big piece of ice to the left.  This crack looked like it went for miles.  Remember this picture was from 35,000 ft and it still looks big.

 Checkout the moon, I had not seen the moon in two weeks.

 Another moon shot.

They say mountains the size of the Appalachian's are covered by ice in Antarctica.

 I really like the different blues in the sky

 Some cools shots with the sun reflection off the ice

Checkout all the slabs of ice around this melted part.  Easier if you click on the picture and zoom in.

Gondola Ride

We took a gondola ride in Christchurch to be able to see some sights, but it was a cloudy day, so we could not see that much.  But it was still fun and part of the experience.

 Lyttelton Harbor

 We saw some local animals

Pacific ocean in the back

Annie's

 Here is a picture of the restaurant I talked about called "Annies".  It was part of the Christchurch Arts Center, that had taken over this castle like structure.

 It only had like 15 tables.

 This shows you more of the whole area.

I do like fudge.  I got some Maple-Walnut fudge, yum!

New Zealand Mountains

These are pictures of mountains on the west coast of New Zealand from the plane on my way back.  New Zealand is definitely a place I would like to go back too, from what I have heard and seen in pictures it is a gorgeous country.

 Coast of New Zealand.

I woke up when we were about to land in Australia and saw this plane out my window.  It kinda of took me by surprise how close it was.

Home

Rocky Mountains

I made it home!  Even with all the new places and sites I saw on this trip, I was very excited to see the Rocky Mountains and be back in the USA.  I did not get a picture of the coast in LA but was happy to see it. 

Mikaela and the girls picked me up at the airport and it was so great to see them.  I am going to take Tuesday off and then back to work on Wednesday.

It was weird to leave New Zealand at 4:30 am on Monday and land in LA at 7:00 am on Monday.  But really I was travelling for about 20 hours.

I think I have 2 more posts I want to do, I hope to get them done on Tuesday.

Pegasus Airport

Here is the Pegasus Airport at 2 am in Antarctica.  It was a pretty site.  Those are the C-130 planes.

- Again I did not reduce the size of the pictures.  Click on them to seem them in full resolution.

This is the passenger terminal.  So really I did not have to stand outside for 2 hours but the place smelled like 100% diesel fuel.

This was our C-17 plane flying in from NZ.  We were like 100 yards from the runway.  It was cool to see it fly by us and land.

This is all the cargo they had to load before we took off, it included our bags we had given them 3 days before.

This is the clothing the people from New Zealand wear.

There were 104 seats on the plane.  Here are the 103 (I was taking the picture) people waiting to board.

 Getting settled in on the flight.

This the best way to sleep on the plane.  You are basically sitting straight up and it is hard to keep our heads up when sleeping.  For a part of the flight I did move to the floor to sleep.  There are no real rules on the plane.

Behind the times...

Checkout these TVs...I think it costs more to run them than buying new style TVs.  These are used by the cafeteria to show flight schedules and other activities going on at McMurdo.

This hand-washing station is right outside the cafeteria as well.  Because the medical resources are limited and everyone is always working and sleeping in tight environments the rule is to wash your hands as much as possible, especially when going to eat.  Grainger could make a fortune down there upgrading everything!

Nighttime and good food are back...

It was pretty funny when we were coming out of dinner last night and someone said look "it is night time".  It was nice to see, did help with the good night sleep and just felt good.  I cannot imagine what it felt like for the people that stay 3-6 months down in Antarctica when they come back.

Everything I have eaten so far has just been great, it could be the restaurants or just missing it.  Mikaela will understand this but I really enjoy potato soup.  So whenever I ask what is the "soup of the day" I am always hoping the say potato soup.  And it happened last night at "Annie's Wine Bar", I asked and they said it.  This was a great place for dinner and would fully recommend it if anyone was ever in ChristChurch, I will post some pictures later to show the setting.

Another funny thing about Australia and New Zealand are the toilets.  They usually give you two options when flushing - a half flush or a full flush, your choice.

Off the ice...

I made it off the ice, yeah!!  It was a long trip.  We left McMurdo at 1 am , arrived at the Pegasus airport at 2 am, waited outside for 2 hours in single digit cold weather, then took off about 4:30 am, then arrived in New Zealand at about 9:30 am.  Then our hotel room was not available until 2 pm, so just walked around for awhile.  Overall everything went pretty smooth.  My flight home is Monday and will arrive in CO around 3 pm - can't wait for the parade :)

I got some amazing pictures from the flight, they let us go up in the cockpit of the C-17.  McMurdo was in West Antarctica and when we fly home we go over East Antarctica.  East Antarctica has more of the typical Antarctica pictures.  I will not be able to post them all because the hotel charges $30 per every 100 Mb.  When I get some were like the LA airport or home I will post them all.  I am not going to reduce the size of these posted below so you can click on them and see the true picture.  The sights were so amazing, I could not believe what I was seeing and felt again this is true Antarctica.

I have some other pictures I will post as well.  When I have posted everything I will post a final post to let everyone know and free up your days again.

More of these pictures to come...

- notice the altitude in the 2nd picture on the instrument panel

The machine...

They call these "Delta's".   They are just huge and uncomfortable, but can drive in any condition.  They use them often to transport people around.

Bag Drag

My second flight was cancelled again.  Now we are maybe suppose to leave around 1 am on Saturday.  The schedule is really dynamic so I just have to keep checking the web site down here to find out the changes.

Bag Drag is the name of the process for departing McMurdo.  It is where you pack everything up and haul it up to a building for them to weigh you and your bags.  Your checked bags cannot exceed 150lbs.  Then they weigh you and your carry on bag (no limit there). 

Once you check your bags you don't get them until you get to New Zealand (even if the flights are cancelled).  I Bag Dragged on Wednesday evening, it is now Friday.  So I have been living out of my carry on bag.  Which I did learn some lessons from other people about keeping extra clothes and supplies, but it does not feel like enough.

Ski trip

Here the photos (lots of them) from our ski trip on the Castle Rock Loop.  It is about 9 miles, you ski about 6 of them and hike the other 3.  I had not Nordic skied in awhile but it came back pretty quick.  It was just great to say I skied in Antarctica!  In the middle of the loop is a large rock, they call the Castle Rock.

We had a prefect day, there were some clouds but as you will see in the pictures they made for some great formations.  There was no one else out on the trail which was great!

This was also a great trip because it made me feel like I was in Antarctica.  It was just white snow, ice and glaciers all around.  As you saw from previous posts, around McMurdo is pretty brown.

That is Mt. Erebus in the background

The trail is marked by flags.  You always need to stay near the flags.  These trails are checked weekly for safety.  Going off trail here can be really dangerous, the snow covers most crevasses.  So you would never see them, then fall in.  Black flags mark known crevasses.

The green little hut is a warming hut they have through out the loop.  Then call them "Apples".

This is me skiing up the trail

This is the Kiwi ski hill.  They installed a tow-rope powered by a generator.  If you are not Kiwi, it is by invite only (rare for Americans).  It would of been cool to downhill here.

The whole ski/hike we did was on the ice shelf or glacier.  This is a crack in the ice shelf.  From the picture you can see how long the crack is.

I was trying capture the size of the crack and you can see it goes pretty deap.

At the Kiwi ski hill is where we transitioned to hiking.

Not sure you can tell but the hike was very steep up to Castle Rock.  Then we skied from Castle Rock home.

A cool picture of the trail and different blues in the sky

This picture does not show well on the blog but is post card worthy in its full format.

We then climbed the Castle Rock.  You can see the rope that is in place that shows the trail.  It was a pretty steep climb and lots of loose rock/gravel.

Top of Castle Rock with Mt. Erebus in the background.

This is a great picture.  You can see that on one side of the ridge is snow and the other side is black, this is caused by the wind.

Castle Rock

I love this picture.  Just one flag and nothing but ice, snow, clouds and blue sky.

The end!