Off the Ice!

Well we made it to New Zealand finally! I was getting worried last night because the flight down here was given a two-hour weather delay, but everything proceeded normally after that. We never did figure out where the supposed weather problems were at, since it was blue skies in McMurdo and the online weather report for Christchurch was the same.

This morning, we had to be at the post office building in McMurdo at 2:30 AM for transport. After an hour-long ride in the back of a large vehicle called a Delta, we made it out to the Pegasus Ice Runway. For some reason, they like to get you out to the runway super early so the plane wasn't even there yet. We got to the runway at about 3:45 AM and the plane finally got there at 4:15. It was fun to watch a huge plane like the C-17 land on an ice runway though.

C-17 touching down at Pegasus

Finishing up the loading of the plane with cargo while the crowd waits to board

They proceeded to unload all of the passengers, unload all of the cargo that is staying in Antarctica, and load up cargo headed north with us, all while we were standing around waiting.

Waiting for 2 hours to board

Finally, they let us board at about 5:30 AM. There were 120 passengers on our flight, which is very full when you consider all of the pallets of cargo that were loaded on as well. I was in one of the normal airline seats in the center of the plane for this trip instead of sitting along the wall like last time. We lucked out because the only empty seat on the whole plane was in our row so we were able to pile our bags onto that seat, giving us more leg room.

Looking forward from my seat

It's interesting flying on a military jet. We didn't have any sort of security screening this time around (when we left Christchurch to go down to the ice, we went through a metal detector and they x-rayed our carry-on). They tell you to put on your seat belt and they go over the safety procedures, but no one comes around to check that you are properly belted or that you have your tray table upright or anything like that. They don't care when you use your electronic devices, so you can rock out on your iPod from take-off to landing. There's only one bathroom for everyone to share, no one delivers a soda to your seat, and you can essentially see the innards of the plane from your seat. The normal airline style seat that I was in is loaded onto the plane just like the rest of the cargo, mounted on some type of rolling platform that shifts around when the plane moves. It is pretty minor, but occasionally it can give you a little jolt when the sliding platform suddenly runs out of room to move. It is also fun to see who else is on your flight. The majority of the passengers were with the U.S. Antarctic Program, but there were also people with New Zealand, France, and Australia's programs. I was particularly interested by some of the emergency exits, as you can see in the picture.

A blurry picture of one of the emergency exits. Apparently, all you need is an axe and a blank spot in the wall! I don't think you could get away with that on a civilian jet... They do have more traditional emergency exits in the front and rear of the plane

We finally took off at about 6 AM. I slept for most of the flight. We landed at about 11 AM in Christchurch.

Even though we were technically considered to have been in New Zealand the whole time as far as our visa status goes (you don't need a passport to go to the continent of Antarctica), we still had to go through customs and New Zealand's biosecurity when we got back. Another flight arrived from Singapore at about the same time so the lines for both of them were long.

After we finished up, we headed over to the Clothing Distribution Center to change out of the Extreme Cold Weather gear we were required to wear for the flight and to return all of the gear that we had borrowed before we left. I feel like I'm traveling light now that I got rid of all of that stuff!

Since then, we've checked in to our hotel (I'm staying within walking distance of the airport), had lunch at the International Antarctic Centre (I guess we can't get enough of Antarctica!), and now I think we're going to go for a swim! It's nice to have plants outside and birds chirping! It looks like Byron is going to take off tonight to head up to Auckland. He's staying in New Zealand for a sabbatical so this will probably be the last time I see him.

While we were on the flight up here, one of the travel agents booked me for my flights. I leave tomorrow for home but won't get there until Tuesday evening.