Countdown to Antarctica

I said I wouldn't be updating my blog again until I got to Antarctica, but enough has happened since then to warrant a quick post. First, a couple of updates. Mark has joined me here in Christchurch and we met up Saturday evening after he got in. Last week's flight to McMurdo did not happen as planned and the group that was supposed to fly down on Friday was delayed until today, which is the day we were supposed to fly down. That meant we were also bumped a day and are now scheduled to fly down tomorrow. Mark and I briefly spoke to some of the people who arrange the travel here and they said there were problems all the way back in September with getting people to the ice that has continued to have a rippled effect until now. (One of the first groups was apparently delayed getting to the ice for nearly two weeks.) The good news is that all of our equipment (all 11 crates and palettes) has shown up here in Christchurch and was scheduled to fly down to the ice with today's flight. As far as I know, all the equipment made it and should be ready for us when we arrive tomorrow.
Since we were delayed, we were able to do some training yesterday (Sunday) morning. Most of it involved watching videos about how to operate the vehicles, how to deal with waste (they have a very strict program regarding recycling and approximately 65% of all waste is recycled), what not to flush down the toilets and some general information about what to expect when we get there. Once that was done, we had to get our laptops, iPads and any device we needed to be on the network down there (with the exception of phones) checked to ensure they had anti-virus software and that the operating systems were up-to-date. That is the only way they will allow devices to get on the network in McMurdo. After that, it was off to medical to have our temperatures taken (to make sure we weren't ill) and to get flu shots. Luckily I had my flu shot before I left and didn't have to get stabbed again. Then it was off to the clothing distribution center to get all of our cold weather gear. They had pre-selected everything for us and had everything in bags waiting for us. We had to find the bags with our names, try everything on, swap out what didn't fit (my work gloves were too small and fleece coat too big), and then repack it in preparation for the trip. After that, we had the afternoon and today free to do what we wanted before having to show up for our flight on Tuesday. We have a hotel departure time of 5:45 am tomorrow morning (it's 10:30 pm now) so it's now bedtime for me. I know my posts have been nothing but lots of descriptions to this point so I wanted to close by posting a few pictures below. Unless we are not able to make it down to the ice tomorrow, this will be my last post until I get to Antarctica.

 The International Antarctic Centre at the Christchurch airport
 
 The hangar that supports that aircraft that fly between Christchurch and Antarctica
 
The passenger terminal where everyone leaving for, and arriving from, McMurdo and South Pole Station pass through

The clothing distribution center where we get our cold weather gear

The badge on my parka

 
 

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