New Zealand, First Flight and McMurdo

After around 35 hours of traveling i finally made it to New Zealand. We arrived at night to the Windsor B&B. The next morning at breakfast we were served up a lot of gossip. Due to bad weather at McMurdo flights were not landing. Some people had been in Christchurch for a week waiting to fly out or in some cases boomeranging (flying out but having the plane turn around and return to Christchurch). In one case the plane circled around McMurdo and then flew back to Christchurch. The thought of staying a while in Christchurch sounded good to me. It would give Eric (our shooter) and I some much needed time to do some shooting and planning and maybe i would actually get to see a bit of Christchurch. The thought of flying out and having to return to Christchurch.... not so pleasant.

That afternoon we headed back to the airport to the US Antarctic program's CDC (Clothing Distribution Center). At the CDC we were given our gear to try on for size and check for damage.


"Big Red" and other Parkas in the clothing storage facility.



I was issued the hot white boots called "Bunny Boots"




While we were there we were given the word that we would actually fly out the next day. What??? I just got here! They must be mistaken! Then the panic sunk in. I am flying on some crazy military plane to Antarctica tomorrow afternoon. What am i doing? Everyone around me was so excited. Some people had been waiting years for this moment. I tried to block out my fears and harness everyone's positive energy and excitement.

The next day everyone showed up to the CDC to pack their bags (75 pounds including issued gear, 1 carry on and 1 boomerang bag). After packing our bags we moved through baggage check which is located next to the CDC. There our passports were checked, bags were weighed and scanned and dogs sniffed around us. By 2 PM we were bused out to the plane and boarding. At 3 PM they were fixing an engine problem which was delaying our take off. Always reassuring. At 4 PM we were taking off.

The plane was a U.S Air force C-17 with a crew based out of Washington State. Their mission, "Operation Deep Freeze". No joke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Deep_Freeze)

After a 5 hour flight we landed on Pegasus Airfield. It was incredible. The sun was setting behind the air field as we all ran in a gust of wind to the vehicles waiting to take up to McMurdo. My sunglasses fogged up so i couldn't see a thing but i kept clicking away with my camera. At that moment i just could not believe where i was. It was so surreal, the vast stretches of white and the tiny shapes in the distance that made up McMurdo.

More to come on life at McMurdo next time.