almost home again

this is my last night in new zealand. and might be my last trip here, at least for free through antarctic program. i might be done with the ice, for a while anyway.

flying back to the states tomorrow. looking forward to seeing friends and family again.

en-zed

back in new zealand. hiked the routeburn track earlier this week. great views, and also enchanted mossy beech forest(early one foggy morning).

then spent some time at friends' place on the west coast. they have a 1 year old. very cute and fun to be around a wee one. was unusually hot and sunny. so much so that they were worried about running out of water (they use rain catchment system and normally there's far more rain than what they need).

now back in chch. soon will travel around northern end of the island with a friend. haven't been to that part of nz yet. don't know exactly what we'll do or where we'll go. lots of day hiking. maybe no sea kayaking after all so i can give my shoulder a break and let it get all better.

one last trip

not a bad way to end the season.
filming pond algae in hidden valley.

almost done. again.

wow, i'm leaving the ice two weeks from today (weather permitting). hard to believe all this time has past.

crater

got to go up to the crater today. so cool. the plume obscured the lava lake much of the time, but every once in a while i could see the red glow. and although this has been a mellow season with no bombs being shot out (so far), it did make some impressive noises while i was up there. kinda sorta like the sound when a big wave comes and drags the rocks along the beach as it rolls back in to the ocean. kinda. but not exactly.

caving

so many caves on this mountain created by the thermal vents. can usually find entrance by the huge ice towers. inside some of these are the most amazing ice crystals. almost unreal or otherworldly. like if someone in movie biz requested a winterwonderland ice cave set and described what i got to see today, folks back in hollywood would just laugh, not believing anything really existed.

volcano

first, spent two days at fang camp acclimating (about 8000' elevation)

and now, i'm here on the actual volcano. wow. staying at the hut about 1000' from the top. i will be here for a week helping out with camp chores. but i should get to go on a very fun trips too. i think we're about 11,400' elevation here. altitude makes me tired. but i'm also so excited to be posting this from an active volcano.

more rigging

at lake joyce again (taking out the camp this time).
this was a bigger helo--a 212 vs the A-star. rotorwash much stronger, and i was standing on ice instead of gravel. almost blew me over. (but didn't)

fang camp

yesterday flew to mt erebus (the southern-most active volcano) to set up an acclimitization camp at 8000 ft. well, strictly speaking we weren't on mt erebus, but on the fang glacier between erebus and fang ridge. the day was amazing! we could not have asked for better weather. warm, sunny, NO wind. plus the helo pilot gave us a treat and flew right over the crater and around and tipped so we could see down. so cool. and during the approach to the mountain, because there was no wind, we could see smoke rising not just from crater but also from the various fumaroles along the ridge. big ice towers with smoke coming out of them. we also flew over the old crashed helicopter.

we were sucking wind coming from sea level then immediately working. setting up scott tents, hammering, shoveling, schlepping. and did a macgiver fix-it job on the hf radio. they made radio contact with mac-ops just as we heard the rotor of the approaching helo. they scrambled to get the radio inside and tent closed up tight while i scrambled to secure all our bags to keep them being blown away in rotorwash. shoved everything in duffels and laid my body across as many as i could.

then we flew home in time for dinner. i slept well that night.

penguins

flagged the route out to cape royds. got to see ice cave in erebus glacier tongue, the barne glacier, emperor penguins on the sea ice, adelie penguins at their rookery, shakleton's historic hut.
open water...as in not frozen. could hear the waves lapping against the ice shore. made me homesick a little. plus bonus of seeing emerors swimming and porposing and then jumping out of the water onto the ice.

they are very curious animals and since no land predators, they have little fear. will come right up to you if they haven't already seen people and bored of us yet. "what are these strange red and orange creatures?"
it was very exciting to experience. i did a little head-tilt penguin dance with the one closest to me.