I am beginning my last week in McMurdo. My official departure date is February 11th, but there are some scheduling issues with flights and I may get bumped up a few days. At this time of year, we get ships here to bring us supplies and fuel for the next year. There is a Swedish icebreaker that came to break a channel through the remaining sea ice to McMurdo (see satellite photo above), but it has also been escorting the other ships through some ice much farther north of here. The fuel vessel has come and unloaded about 7 million gallons of fuel already, a research vessel has been here for a few days, and we're still waiting for the delayed cargo vessel. There are US Navy and Kiwi Army folks here to help unload the vessel on a 24 hour operation and some regular Raytheon crews will then work to organize the cargo around town and get the year's solid waste, etc. back on the vessel. Because there are an additional 70-100 people that need to get out of town before February 23rd, when the summer season ends, the station managers are calling for folks to be ready to leave if they are not involved in these operations. Its a busy time with people coming back into town from field camps, people coming through town as they leave the Pole, and people leaving about every 2 or 3 days. I did not make it to Pole-- a combination of an over-population at Pole this year and a lack of urgent work for me to do down there. Oh well.
Lately I have been sick, as there was a flu outbreak and I was at a party in a stuffy room one night before most of us got it. It seemed as if everyone was really healthy for awhile, but when new flights of researchers come in, we can see the illnesses spread. Now I am still fighting a nagging cough and taking it relatively easy with my energy.
I did go on an overnight camping trip. The recreation department hosted some overnight trips to the camping spot where outdoor snow school is held (aka Happy Camper). I did not go to Happy Camper because my job did not require me to go out into the field camps. So, about 10 of us (including 2 field educated trip leaders) took some Pisten-Bullys (see vehicle photo) out and made our own camping adventure. My friends and I were thinking of just spending the night in the main gathering tent to facilitate some late night games and light drinking, but then Kelly found a "quincy"-- a snow cave that was left over from a recent Happy Camper group that made it. She dug out the entrance and it was large enough to sleep 3 of us comfortably. The quincy was beautiful inside, more fun than the permanent tent, and much warmer than sleeping in a regular camping tent like some others did. At night and in the morning we all gathered to heat up water and chat in the main tent, and we were all pretty worn out from setting up camp do much but stare at the tarped walls. The weather changed alot and you can see it in the group of photos below. One of the photos is of a block wall made by a camper, probably weeks ago, now curled by the wind. At snow school, people learn to take hand saws to snow and make wind barriers. The snow is easy to cut and light to pick up, I tried some myself. Also, note outhouse. I don't know how deep it is dug, but we are out on the permanent ice shelf, so whatever is there, is pretty well contained.
Also, McMurdo hosts an alternative art gathering and people either bring items or reuse unwanted items around station to create work. Here are a few samples. The photo of the bike is done by two snowmobile mechanics that took an old broken snowmobile and turned it into a "chopper" -- with the front ski and the back track. the chopper runs well and was the highlight of the show. I do not know who made the painting, but it was titled "goodbye christine" which was a reference to one of my roommates that got fired and sent home just before the art show (it seemed to be a questionable firing with a little bit of drama and controversy involved, it makes the painting pretty hilarious). Overall a pretty interesting show, and interesting for something else to do on a Saturday night. 
Photo of IceStock... New Years Day outdoor concert featuring about a dozen of the town musicians and groups. It was a cold, snowy, and windy day and lots of people showed up. There was also a chili cookoff and lots of coffee and Baileys for the crowds.
I'm soon off to New Zealand for several weeks and then a trip home to California. Please write me if you have any advice on New Zealand, I'm looking for hiking and beaches.
