Living Under the World: Living in Limbo

Still stuck in McMurdo, but hopefully about to leave tomorrow.

Charles after not sleeping very well due to snoring neighbors in the gym

The last few days have been incredible, getting used to the 24hrs of daylight (Still weirds me out when you step out of the pub at mid night and have to put your sunglasses on), getting to know my fellow expeditionners (we did spend the first 3 nights sleeping on cots in a gymnasium together) and realizing that I'm LIVING in ANTARCTICA. :)

Midnight at McMurdo

Every day (except for this morning) we have been woken up at 6 or 6.30, packed and ready to go in case our flight was able to take off. Every morning we have been told the conditions were too bad to fly, and to go back to bed and wait for an update later in the day.

We have been living in limbo, in a gymnasium and out of our carry-ons for the first 4 days, before finally getting a room and our suitcases last night. It really puts into perspective how challenging it might be to get a flight out of Casey should something go wrong once on station or in the real world. Everything is so incredibly weather dependent.

McMurdo as seen from the ice

I'll start by giving you an idea of the setting, McMurdo is a HUGE station, currently housing over 1,000 expeditionners. A good number of us are stuck here in transit to either Casey (us Aussies), or to the South Pole and therefore cluttering up all the free space around the station. Mc Murdo is also placed in an absolutely stunning setting.

Some of the beautiful landscape

Coffee shop, nice and cozy hangout spot from which
I am currently blogging :)

Mt Erebus in the background

It's really not altogether that cold until the wind blows

The McMurdo Sound lies just in front of the station, surrounded by beautiful mountain ranges. A short hike away you get a view of Mt Erebus, the most southerly active volcano in the world, which is seen smouldering away in the distance. And behind the station lies a glacier, which I unfortunately have not gotten the pleasure to go explore yet.

The people on the station are incredibly friendly, though it is an interesting mix of extremely nerdy scientists, military, and young adventurous people working normal jobs (shuttle driving, cleaning staff, etc...).

There are activities organised every single night since we've been here, including open mic nights, blues dancing (Yes, Steph! I got to blues dance in Antarctica!!!), cinema nights, a masquerade ball, and of course science lectures.

Installing the safety pony bottle and shot line

Second day in McMurdo, I got the opportunity to go out with the American dive group and observe their diving methods, which was incredibly interesting as things are run very very differently here to how we will be doing things at Casey.

About to drop into the freezing water

They have some luxuries like a heated dive hut that sits above the ice-hole, but also dive in half-masks instead of our full-face masks. As much as we stress about having surface supplied air and umbilicals (hoses that not only deliver our air, but also allow us to have communications with the surface crew and be tethered to the surface), they simply SCUBA dive in buddy pairs, taking off from the hole and not communicating with the surface until they return 30-40 min later. It was really neat to see how different the methods are, but also to meet the dive crew here and make a few more acquaintances in the industry.

LDB NASA Facilities!

Telescope preparation

Our team also got the great privilege to go visit the NASA facility at LDB (Long Duration Balloon Flights) yesterday, something that very few people get the chance to see. Seeing the hub for some much fascinating research was quite thrilling, and most comparable to visiting the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) in Cern.

Anita-3 being built

Actually walking through the warehouses where the Anita-3 is being put together in front of us, and talking to the high-energy particle physicists involved was pretty darn cool. Not to mention the site is pretty much at the foot of Mt Erebus and afforded us some more stunning photos of the smoking volcano.

Mt Erebus smoking in the distance

Some avid photographer bumblebees

Today is hopefully our last day in this big city, and it has been absolutely wonderful to get to experience life here. Spending this many days means I think we really got a good idea of how it is to live at McMurdo, but also allowed us to adapt to the strange day/day cycle and get to know each-other on a much closer basis.

A few people have gotten sick since arriving (myself teetering on the edge of a cold I believe), but everyone else has been incredibly supportive and caring. It really feels like everyone is looking out for everyone else, and seeing the dance party we had going on last night, I think we are in for a fantastic season down at Casey, with a group of wonderful human beings.