Penguins

Dave and I on our nightly ride, Delta Scharen, the fuel delivery vehicle. We have been on nights for a month, fueling the C-17, and the buildings our at the airfield. Night shift just us two, really pretty sunrise colors.

One of the molting emperors on the road to the airfield. They are all standing alone, fasting and molting.

Penguin with station in the background. This one was out at the airfield.

Mt. Erebus in the fog, and not blowing out it's usual volcanic smoke.

A quick month, very peaceful with just the two of us. The tanker ship gets in Saturday morning and then we'll be on 12 hour shifts pumping until all 6.5 million gallons are offloaded. Our South Pole Traverse friends just got back yesterday. Seen whale breaths. Saw adelie penguins from far away and hope they come back again soon. Really heartbreaking news from home with Grandpa being sick. Looking forward to seeing him, and all my family. Love you guys. Ildi

Airplanes & Time Flying By

This is the C-17, (US Air Force) which flies in from Christchurch with passengers & cargo every other day. It's the reason we are on nights. The weather is way too hot for it to land in the daytime so it lands between 2-4 in the morning and Dave and I refuel it. It's gorgeous on the inside too. It took almost 15,000 gallons this morning which was an hour and a half.

This is an LC-130 (US New York Air National Guard). They have skis and fly to and from the South Pole and field camps. They fly throughout the day; I was on a morning LC-130 refueling shift for two weeks.

A field camp in the Dry Valleys that Dave got to fly to with a helicopter on his return to Station.

Flying home from Marble Point.

We had rough weather my last week at Marble Point, so much so that this group of scientists and the helicopter crew got stuck there with us overnight. The chief scientist asked me if I had seen any algae around in my hikes and if I could take them there to gather some samples. Ildi doing science, yessss! He had a rough Russian accent which made it even more glorious.

The annual McMurdo Alternative Arts Gallery fashion show, where you get to make your own outfit. It was a lot of crocheting, glue gunning, feathers, fiber optic cable and even sewing.

Pre-Christmas dinner toast in our room. Christmas dinner with Julie & Adam, awesome!

Julie and I emcee'd the Women's Soiree, which is an all woman talent show put on for the community to raise money for charity. We raised almost $3,000 during this event for a charity in Christchurch that does in home mentoring. It was a lot of fun!
Time flew by since Thanksgiving, and we just had our last two day weekend for the season at New Years...which was a chili cookoff and lots of live bands playing at Icestock. Dave and I are on nights until the tanker leaves (February 8th-ish). I love how quiet it is and the colors in the sky are incredible. I'm still anxiously awaiting my first penguin sighting. I followed penguin tracks next to the fuel line for miles the other day but no luck. Love you all.