I'm back on the Ice again after another uneventful flight south.
Ambient temperatures are sitting in the general region of -18C / 0F this time of the year.

The last plane flight out before the start of winter is in a couple of days from now, along with the first sunset in 4 months.

The other day I had an interview appear on CNN, here it is here...

It’s that time of the year now.
After far too brief a time off (it always seems that way), it’s time to head south again for me very soon.


Passengers getting ready to fly south at the Christchurch International Antarctic Center.

Christine just got down there a few days ago to assist with the arrival and unload of the annual supply ship. (She is in the crowd in the above photo somewhere).

The vast bulk of the annual supples are brought in on the ship, and all the trash from the last year is shipped out. We have very strict environmental protocols, so basically anything that is brought down is shipped out again.

This is a time-lapse clip I did back in 2006 of the ship being offloaded over a few days in the 24 hour sunlight...

 
I’m due down there in a couple of weeks, not long before the last plane leaves at the end of the summer season. From then our only contact with the outside world for the next 7 months will be electronic. No plane flights in or out.

It will be my 9^th winter-over, and Christine’s 8^th.

I’ll be spending pretty much every spare moment editing together the "Year on Ice" feature film.

It should be an interesting process working back and forth with the guys at Plan 9 to develop the soundtrack as we go. Check out their website here: http://www.plan9music.co.nz/

We are looking at getting the film ready for release early next year.

We are both off the Ice now, adjusting back to the world of unusual things like liquid water, flowers, green growing things, small furry animals, crowds, children, fresh food, advertising, rampant consumerism, and of course viruses.
The day after I got back I caught the flu, one of the worst cases I have ever had. Your immune system tends to get depressed on the Ice over the winter with no new viruses to fight. I was pretty much bed ridden for a week, but starting to come right again now.
Here's a couple of airplane snaps from the trip north...

Unloading the southbound cargo from the C-17 before the flight north

Flight Crew preparing for the northbound flight

Inside the C-17 on the flight north. Most the cargo is southbound at this time of the year, so there is space for people to stretch out when heading north.

Last view of the Antarctic mainland before heading out over the pack ice then open ocean.

The sun is above the horizon 24 hours a day now, and won't set for another 4 months.
For some reason I find it is actually easier to adjust to 24 hour darkness than it is to 24 hour sunshine.
There is something just plain weird about stepping outside in the middle of the night and having to put on sunglasses.

I am finally due to be getting out of here November 10th for some much needed time off in the real world, Christine will be following a few days later.

In the mean time, last weekend we joined in a trip up the coast to Cape Evans in some Delta trucks to have a look at the newly formed ice caves in the Erebus Ice Tongue Glacier...


Delta dragging a sled of emergency survival equipment across the frozen sea ice.
Later this summer this will be open sea water here.


Christine and I down inside an ice cave


Climbing back out into the light


Outside the cave looking back towards the sun and the Delta parked on the sea ice


Alas the Deltas don't like soft snow and get stuck very easily. This one had to be dug out about 6 times on the way back to town.


McMurdo Station as seen from a recent helicopter trip to Black Island.
Mount Erebus is smoking in the distance in the background.

The first plane after winter has arrived.
It brought with it new people, mail, fresh fruit and vegetables, and of course most importantly my darling wife.

It tends to be a time of sensory overload for the winter staff, seeing unfamiliar faces, and some old faces back again.
The new people look really strange with their tanned skin. After getting used to seeing nothing but pale winter staff for so long, the new people look orange to us, as though someone has turned the saturation up too high on the TV.
Eating a fresh banana is like mana from heaven. Your body is craving the fresh fruit after going without for so long. Of course, not being used to it, it makes for lots of grumbly tummies afterward too.

The other bad thing about this time of year is typically new cold and flu viruses will be introduced by the new folk.
Living in close quarters with so many people typically means they spread very fast too.
Over the winter all the cold and flu viruses had burned out, so our immune systems have not had much to work on. Any new viruses tend to hit us quite hard.
Hopefully the new policy this year of requiring everyone to have a flu shot will relieve most of that this time around.

The sun is up for 8 hours a day now. It's still taking a while to get used to seeing the sun in the sky again.

Yesterday I finally got to see the sun again for the first time in just over 4 months.
It rose last week, but because of Mount Erebus being in the way to the north, you can't see it unless you get out of town just yet.
It is up for a few hours a day now.
In another 3 weeks it will be above the horizon 12 hours a day, 4 weeks later and it will be above the horizon 24 hours a day, not setting again until late February.
This is what it looked like at just after 1.00pm in the afternoon...

The votes for the Winter International Film Festival of Antarctica were tallied, and this is the result...

Best Film: Tied for first Place
Rothera (UK) FNG
Neumayer (Germany) Neumayer Nemesis

Best Acting:
Casey (Australia) -Don't leave Home 

Best Cinematography:
Rothera (UK) FNG

Best Screenplay:
Casey (Australia) -Don't leave Home

Best Use of Required Elements:
Casey (Australia) -Don't leave Home

See the links in the previous posts for where you can watch the films.

Here's another couple of photos of the Antarctic Nacreous Clouds from today at Black Island...



They are most impressive to see in real life. It looks like the whole northern sky is on fire.
Regular photos really do not do them justice.
I took a whole lot of High Dynamic Range shots, but they will have to wait until I get back to McMurdo to be processed.