New Zealand 2012!

Dora & I in downtown Napier, enjoying the sun and passion fruit & blood orange gelato.
The gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers near Napier was incredible! Couldn't believe how close we were allowed to get, and the trip out there in an old tractor & trailer was great.
Aquatic Centre with Tia. Hanna loved it too, it was a day out with aunt Ildi & Uncle Dave.
Cape Kidnappers.
The tractor ride out, and Hanna's suspicious looks :):)
Uncle Dave, always the favorite!
Gelato after the Aquatic Centre.



Why are you in the boot aunt Ildi?


At the finish line of Tibor's bike race.


Baby gannet.



Three happy hikers: Phil, Tonya & I on the amazing Banks Peninsula 4 day backpacking trip. So much variety in scenery and wildlife. Amazing trip!
Uncle Dave and the girls.


The garden and bath house at one of our huts on the Banks Peninsula hike. Our favorite.
Looks like a rata or flowering eucalyptus, on the Banks Peninsula hike.
Too many gorgeous cliffs and clear blue seas, lovely grasses and sea birds...aaah.
Lots of sheep on the hike too, at the cabins we stayed as most of them were owned by farmers.
Little blue penguin being taken for a swim, she's blind and being rehabilitated at the wildlife center where we went kayaking on the Banks trip, day two of the hike.
The perfect lamb at the wildlife refuge.

Such a beautiful hike and we had perfect weather. Just an hour or so of misty rain.
One of the cows on the hike; we crossed lots of ranches.
Blue heron in Akaroa.
Project ReStart in Christchurch is shipping containers converted to stores and cafes in downtown on Cashel Street where all the stores were ruined by the earthquake. It's hip, fun and packed on the weekends. Dimitri's Souvlaki is there, which is why we went several times.
Fern trees and lush spots on the Banks Peninsula hike. Lots of beech trees too. Very pretty!
Star-gazing hut where Dave and I slept the first night of the hike. About the size of a dog house with only a large mattress inside. It was awesome!
Being taught proper croquet by an expert in Akaroa.
A wonderful group of people to share a house with in Akaroa for the week, we had a blast!
The first morning of our hike with Tonya. So luxurious, we ate steak like kings drank wine, slept on the softest mattresses, played cards and then saw the most incredible things ever.
View from the porch at the rental house in Akaroa. Spent most of our time on that porch.
A hike with the girls in Hanmer Springs. It was wonderful to spend the weekend there with Connie and Emily, waiting for our men to get out of Antarctica, meanwhile talking long forest walks, sitting in the hot springs and eating the yummiest foods.
The lighthouse near our rental home in Akaroa.
We had an incredible month in New Zealand this spring, a well deserved one and one which flew by rather quickly. I left Antarctica a few days early to celebrate my friend Emily's 30th birthday and to have a girls' weekend in Hanmer Springs. It was wonderful. When the boys and the rest of the crew joined us we went to Akaroa to the house we rented together for the week where we talked, ate so well and stared at the beautiful view. We then hiked the Banks Peninsula 4 day backpacking private hike which is near Akaroa, and took in the prettiest coastlines and bays, fur seals, penguins, terns, owls, super lush fern gullies, waterfalls, flowering trees, ranches with sheep and cows and gorgeous grasslands. It is definitely one of our favorites, and one we've been wanting to hike for a long time but hadn't gotten around to doing. We had a day in Christchurch to see the gardens before we went up to Wellington to see my family for 11 wonderful days. We spent time in Wellington but also had a lovely trip up to sunny Napier on the coast where we rented a house together. We took a trip to see the gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers, which was incredible, checked out downtown, took the girls out to the aquatic centre, went to the springs to soak, ate lots of ice cream and enjoyed catching up and reading. It was a blast, thank you guys so much for everything! We love you!!

Rest of Our Antarctic Season

Ivan the Terrabus; we took it to the airfield for our flight out.

Ildi with Pedro the Emperor Penguin. He chose to molt at our fuel pumps at the halfway point to the airfield so whenever we had a fuel transfer (twice a week, we got to see him up close).
The penguin liked being by our fuel pump for some reason, even though it was loud.
The research ship Nathaniel B. Palmer in port.
We got a very in dept tour of the fuel tanker after we finished unloading it.
Our fuel tanker and the fuel hose from it across the mush pier (only one guy fell in the crack).
6'' collapsible fuel hose from the ship to our metal pipelines is how we unload it, several fuel lines at a time, millions of gallons, 24 hours a day for several days.
Seems the end of the season went by quickly and was full of work. Unloading the fuel tanker was fun for us because Dave and I were on the night shift with our good friends. After that week of 12 hour shifts came the hose pickup (the 14 miles of fuel hose out to Pegasus airfield). That again was 12 hour shifts and really cold temperatures, but we did it in record time. Then more ships to fuel and fuel to transfer between million gallon bulk tanks. Pedro the Emperor penguin was a highlight because he chose to molt by our pump so we got to see lots of him. And I did see some whales in the bay. It was a physically demanding season, but a fun one that I would call my McMurdo favorite. Really good people and lots of fun events. At the last minute my boss said that they had room for people to leave a couple days early so my friend Emily and I jumped on the opportunity to have a girls weekend in Hanmer Springs, since our boyfriends were wanting to stay until the end. Pics of that soon...love you!

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.

Fuel Cache & Leaving for Marble Point

The baby seal I fell in love with and took way too many pictures of. Adorable!

Mom & Baby.

Seals, iceberg and Mt. Erebus in the distance. Bay of Sails, Marble Point.

Posing on our ladies Bay of Sails Sunday afternoon hike. What a treat!

Sunday day off hike with the ladies. Perfect weather for it and views!

Landing at Marble Point, where I'll be until after Thanksgiving. Crunch and Gavin in the photo.

Flying to Marble Point in an A-Star Helicopter w/Scottie the Pilot, Peggy & Julie Katch.

Dave and I on our Fuel Cache trip on the continent, past Mt. Discovery, Road End.

KBA DC-3 (Basler) plane that we flew to Road End.

Yep, this is what fuel cache testing is all about, digging until you find it. Lots of digging. Dave is in the orange jacket. This hole ended up being over 8 feet deep.

Five Fuelies and four volunteers flew on a DC-3 (Basler) to Road End/Nunatak to dig out, reposition and test a fuel cache. It was my first fuel cache; Dave was to this one last year.

Dave and I on the plane. Great views of Mt. Discovery. Exciting to get to work w/Dave so much this season...I've really enjoyed it! Going to definitely miss him this month, as I'll be at Marble for two weeks while he's at McMurdo and then we'll switch. We will get to overlap here for Thanksgiving and that is a weekend I'm very much looking forward to. Maybe an 8 hour hike like last year...hopefully lots of baking again.

Windy October at McMurdo

Dave on snowmobile, fuel hose deployment project on one of many stormy days (this past Saturday).

Me, believe it or not, smiling at the camera. This has been my typical outside outfit this season because it's been so windy. I'm in front of the Pisten Bully tracked vehicle I've been operating for our hose reel project. So far, I've been on the project for 3 weeks now, and I get one more before leaving to Marble Point field camp in the Dry Valleys for a couple weeks. Dave got put on last week, and will remain on the project until it is finished. We are currently a bit past halfway done.

Getting fuel hose deployed to Pegasus Airfield (14 miles of hose). We're lucky and have a great crew and we laugh a ton at the worst jokes ever.

Dave climbing out of the ocean observation tube. It's plastic & metal, beautiful views!!!

Dave and I under the sea ice in the observation tube. We saw so many creatures and a Weddell seal kept swimming by and checking us out. Tons of small fish, pink angel fish, jellyfish & huge rectangular ice crystals. The tube is in a different spot (water intake pipe) than last season, so no red starfish, but many more fish.

View of the underside of the frozen sea ice and ice crystals from the observation tube.

Dave climbing down the tube. Awesome way to spend Halloween! As usual, time here flies by. Maybe it's because the days are long and the one day off. It's amazing to me that it's November already. Dave's been working out, I'm making hat #7 already and I'll be bartending at the coffee house a couple times a month after work to do something different. I'm really excited about my upcoming trip to Marble Point refueling facility coming up this Saturday. I'll be there for 2 weeks, and will be joined by Dave for Thanksgiving, and he'll be here for 2 weeks after that. We love you and miss you heaps.