I made it!

For most of the day I was wondering when I would wake up from the dream. It has been long anticipated, and I wasn’t convinced that I had actually really made it! But alas, I woke up again this morning in the bunk room of Scott Base alongside my two supervisors.

Even after one day, I’m losing track of all the things to share! We arrived at the Antarctica passenger terminal early in the morning, checked in our baggage and had the first briefing. We then put on some of our ice gear and jumped in a bus to take us to board the C17 military plane operated by the US Air Force. The flight was 5 hours long, and my supervisor Ocean and I were at the very front of the plane! We had a great view from out the front left door before it closed in Christchurch and then again when it first opened in Antarctica. The landing was surprisingly smooth given they were expecting a bit of slip-and-sliding after the big snowstorms last week.

We disembarked very efficiently and were greeted by some people outside who ushered us about 100m away from the plane and straight into the minivan that took us to Scott Base. Of the 123 passengers on the plane, there were only 9 of us that weren’t going to McMurdo (the US station). The first moment stepping off the plane was truly surreal, an immediate rush of freezing cold air (about -23 degrees at the time), which started to freeze in my nostrils straight away. I wish I had taken another extra minute to look at the vast landscape.

On arrival to the base, we entered the locker room to take off all our many layers of warm gear, and fortunately the interior is heated at 18 degrees so comfortable t-shirt attire. We were brought into the main meeting room for a welcome briefing and then taken on a tour of the base and facilities. The first time around, it was very much a maze that I was sure I would get lost in many times, but by the end of the day it was already starting to make sense.

One thing about being in this very dry environment is that you build up static electricity very quickly and are prone to shocks about every 5 steps. There are metal poles that you can touch as you walk to try to discharge yourself but more often you just end up giving yourself plenty of electric shocks!

Dinner is buffet-style, and I had a vege casserole with a range of cooked salads, and a berry cheesecake for dessert.