Nov 19 – 21: Seattle to Christchurch
Before leaving Seattle, I checked and double-checked to ensure that I had all of my gear. I checked in at the airport quite early since I’m carrying expensive scientific equipment and have some special paperwork to fill out with customs and border patrol.
I met up with Ellen, Dylen, and Ilyse in San Francisco and we prepped for the long 12 hour flight to Auckland, NZ. The flight was comfortably boring and we passed the time by sleeping and watching movies. Since we passed the international date line in the air, we took off on November 19th and it was November 21st when we arrived!
After we landed, we picked up our bags, met up with Forest and Elliot who were on different flights, and went through customs in New Zealand, including biosecurity. New Zealand has some strict biosecurity requirements and they ensure that all outdoor gear is clean so as to not introduce pests and diseases. After cleaning our shoes and checking Ellen’s tent (packed for camping in New Zealand when we get back!), we proceeded to recheck our bags for the domestic flight to Christchurch.
We arrived in Christchurch where it was a hot 81º F, settled into our hotel, and grabbed some much-needed food. After a long day of sitting down, everyone was itching to get outside and stretch our legs. Ilyse, Dylen, and I explored downtown, Hagley Park, and my old stomping grounds, the University of Canterbury campus!
Nov 22: Exploring Lyttleton Harbour
On day two, we had a short training in the morning to prepare for deployment. It was a beautiful day so Ilyse, Dylen, and I took the bus to Lyttleton Harbour and checked out the farmers market. We grabbed some lovely wood fired pizza, walked around Lyttleton, and soaked in the lovely NZ warmth. We explored Christchurch and grabbed dinner as a team before heading to bed.
Nov 23: Grabbing our Gear
We woke up early on Day 3 to catch the shuttle to the Clothing Distribution Center (CDC) at the International Antarctic Centre to pick up our Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) gear. The CDC gives each participant a standard issue kit based on their role on the continent. My team met up with the 20-odd other people who are scheduled to deploy and we all received some briefings before grabbing our ECW.
We tried on and exchanged gear for the correct sizes in preparation for our scheduled ice flight tomorrow. My kit consists of a pair of boots, bibs, fleece pants, a fleece jacket, goggles, a balaclava, a hat, a neck gaiter, liner gloves, two pairs of leather gloves, a pair of leather mitts, and the infamous Big Red jacket – a bit constrictive but super warm! I tried on everything to make sure my layers fit underneath my issued gear and to make sure I was looking stylish. We also set up our prox cards for workstation access in McMurdo.
After a tiring morning of trying on clothing, we headed next door to the museum where we got free admission as United States Antarctic Program (USAP) participants. They had some fun exhibits, including a Antarctic storm simulation, rescued penguins, and a 4D Antarctic movie experience. It was fun but we’ll get the real experience soon!
After some quick coding prep, we repacked our bags for tomorrow’s deployment and went to bed early for our 4:30 am wake-up call.
Nov 24: Delay day
We woke up to a piece of paper being pushed under our door saying that our flight has been delayed by 24 hours. This did not come as a surprise to us, as we saw that the weather was bad in McMurdo. We have to switch hotels since the one we were staying at was fully booked the day after.
Later, we received another flight delay message – our flight has been postponed again due to weather. We’ll also be switching hotels again tomorrow – it’ll be our third hotel since arriving in Christchurch. Some of the team headed to the Canterbury Art Museum then went to a theater to watch Wicked 2. Fortunately, these delays won’t hurt our plans too much and we appreciate a couple of extra days in Christchurch. However, we’re all crossing our fingers that we’ll take off and land on the continent during the slim weather window on Wednesday! We have a long to-do list of trainings, construction, instrument testing, and preparation for life on the ice when we arrive in McMurdo.
Nov 25: Akaroa!
We woke up knowing that we wouldn’t fly out today due to yesterday’s delay so Dylen, Elliot, Forest, and I went searching for a rental car to take a trip out of the city. Christchurch is great but can be a bit suffocating if you’ve seen enough malls and museums.
So, we headed out to Akaroa on Banks Peninsula to explore and hike around. Elliot, Forest, and I hiked through the gulleys and up to a beautiful and windy viewpoint while Dylen swam in the harbour. We all reunited for a 5-star fancy dinner in town – hopefully our last before we leave tomorrow morning!
Nov 26: Beach day
After a cheeky 4:30am wake-up call, the participants gathered with their gear in front of our hotel only to hear that our flight was delayed another 24 hours due to weather. Some of us were wired already so we headed to Taylor’s Mistake with the last few hours of the rental car to see the sunrise on the beach. It was beautiful, albeit windy, and the water wasn’t too cold!
We spent the rest of the day relaxing in the 80º F weather in the botanic gardens and elsewhere in Christchurch. Our flight tomorrow is a 7 am departure, with a 2:30 am wake-up time… Fingers crossed we make it today or tomorrow before the two-day Thanksgiving delay with no flights.
Nov 27: Boomerang…
We woke up at 0230 hours for a 0700 departure (0300 shuttle pickup from the hotel, check-in at the CDC at 0400, and lots of waiting in between). There were about 30 of us on the flight, mostly researchers who will be going to the South Pole, and the rest trade workers (contractors, electricians, firefighters, technicians, etc.) and military people.
We were all required to wear our ECW on the plane, despite it being 80º F in Christchurch, so when we land we are prepared. We’re allowed a standard weight limit of 85 lb of checked baggage though some of us have more since we’re carrying science equipment. We also get one carry-on, which must fit into a small box since space is extremely limited on the plane. Everyone also gets a boomerang bag – a checked bag that doesn’t get palletized so that it can be returned to the owner if we boomerang. More about that later…
We put on our ECW, weighed and submitted our checked luggage, and waited for a briefing in the lobby of the USAP Passenger Terminal. The Kiwi military personnel were keeping us informed of our flight status, which kept getting delayed. After 3 hours of delay, we finally got the OK! We boarded a bus and headed to the tarmac where the Italian Air Force was prepping the Kiwi C-130J for takeoff. We each grabbed a bagged lunch and squeezed past the cargo in the back of the plane to find our seats for the next seven hours: small, jump seats knee-to-knee with neighbors across from and adjacent to us.
It’s incredibly uncomfortable sitting in a tiny enclosed space for seven hours, even more uncomfortable wearing gear in a hot plane meant to keep you warm in the coldest weather on the planet, and even even more uncomfortable when you realize that, after about 3.5 hours of flying, the plane is turning back around.
This is called “boomeranging” and it’s what we packed the “boomerang bag” for. When weather unexpectedly turns, the plane must turn around and head back to Christchurch since it can’t land in bad weather. They’ll keep our checked bags palletized but hand back our boomerang bags in Christchurch so we have non-ECW to change into. If we don’t make it to the continent within 3 days, we get our checked bags back. However, tomorrow is the last day that we can fly out until Monday (12/1) since McMurdo will have 11/29 off for Thanksgiving and 11/30 off since it’s a Sunday. This rare 2-day holiday combined with weather delays makes difficult to get to the continent in a timely manner…
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of the National Science Foundation, the United States Antarctic Program, or the University of Washington. This blog is for entertainment purposes only.
Great pictures and details of your trip, Claire ❤️
Thank you, Claire. Nana & I enjoyed reading the adventures.
Poppy
Thank you for letting us all in on your incredible trip! Thrilled for you!!
Ditto what your Tante Lisa said! Fun to see vicariously!
Wow what an exciting experience!! This is so cool living through you!!! The pictures are amazing!! Can’t wait to see more and hear more!! Keep making memories!!!!
Woah that plane is so intense!!! Loved all of the NZ pictures and although you had all those delays I’m glad you got some extra time there! And im such an ignorant American, who knew it was so hot in NZ!
I love seeing all the pictures