R&R at McMurdo Station

Greetings Friends!

So as some of you may know by now (and some of you may not) I have been offered a job wintering over at the south pole. I have accepted this job, and although it will be hard to be away from my family for another 9 months I am looking forward to the opportunity and the chance to spend more time at the south pole. The job I will move into is the "senior materials person" for the kitchen. I will be in charge of getting the food order for the week brought inside from the dome and keeping track of what food is available, where it is, etc. If it has to do with food than I will know about it. It pays significantly more than the job I am working at now (a dining attendant), so staying on over the winter is a good chance to build my savings back up, as I will not be spending much money for the next 9 months. SO because I am now a winter over, I get a week of vacation time and I chose to spend a few days of that time back in McMurdo Station to get a bit of a change of scenery.

I have only been here for a day but I have done a lot already! I ran into a friend I had some classes with in college so it was fun to chat and catch up with someone I did not expect to see. I climbed up observation hill (but sadly forgot my camera in my room so I have no pictures from that, so I must do it again), caught up with some friends I made on my way through McMurdo back in October, and also made a trip over to Scott's Hut. (more on this later) It is strange to be back here, but I am enjoying the much warmer temperatures (I have been going outside in just jeans and a fleece and have been plenty warm), and there is dirt everywhere! Right now, McMurdo feels like what I imagine a mining town would be like. There is lots of dirt, heavy machinery all over, and people working all the time. I have also liked seeing some birds and hearing running water outside! I am also hoping I will see some seals before I head back to pole on Thursday. The ice breaker the ODEN is also docked here at the moment, and I hope to get a tour! (but I am not sure that is allowed).

So today I went over to Scott's Hut and was able to go inside. This hut has been here now for over 100 years, and everything inside has stayed relatively well preserved since it stays pretty frozen. I mean, there are still seal carcasses and blubber from 100 years ago. Lots of canned food, and boxes that were once full of thinks like meat and biscuits. Its quite an experience to walk into a hut where so many men lived for such a long time during their Antarctic journeys. For Scott, during his first trip to the ice when the hut was built in 1902 his ship Discovery was trapped in the ice, and because the hut was so crowded it was used mainly for science and storage, and most men slept on the boat. Scott was not the only one who used the hut, but other explorers like Shackleton also used it later on. It was certainly not a warm place to live, and was a pretty poor design for something in this climate. Its made out of an Australian wood, and all of the heat just rose right up to the ceiling, that when you go inside you can see where they tried to lower the ceiling to keep the heat in.

I was hoping to add more photos but they don't seem to want to upload for me, so i will try again later!