And a very Merry Christmas to you! or, Happy Peace to All People Day!
Christmas in McMurdo has involved many happy times. It kicked off with a happenin' town holiday party Sunday night after work in the vehicle maintenence facility, a big metal box transformed with tinsel, plywood cutouts, Santa in his sleigh, a trash-material Ruldolf, and various other decorations into a celebratory hall. The party kicked off with carols from the Holiday Party, including traditional Deck the Halls, The First Noel, and The 12 McMurdo Days of Christmas. A few choice lines: On the nth day of Christmas a penguin gave to me, ... 7 hours resting, 6 days a-working, 5 skua eggs, 4 free meals, 3 , a pair of bunny boots, and a flight on a C-130! Then of course we wished them a Merry Christmas, but we wouldn't go until we saw some fuzzy penguins. :) Scotty, my heater-maintenance friend, made my eggnog a little happier and dancing wrapped up the night.
The next morning we climbed to Castle Rock under beautiful blue skies, and I remembered not to be grumpy on such a glorious day. While curling up before a fire with a good book also sounded lovely, the fire is banned and the book just involved more sitting around. I spent the rest of the afternoon working on my Christmas gifts for folks here (3-d, cut-paper snowflakes) before going to dinner. The tofu with apples, allspice, and rosemary was topped only by the chocolate lava (think flourless chocolate torte-like goodness in a cupcake paper).
After dinner Kevin, Rob, Yoann (my French recovery colleague), and I enjoyed the hilarity and thoughtfulness of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. The Tom Stoppard play was brilliantly acted, and all of us were delighted with the bits of physics dropped in it. Paper boat in a bathtub, watch the rise and fall as he starts to get out and sees it himself. ... I would highly recommend this even if you don't like movies. And it was good enough that even Yoann, who has serious work ahead of him for basic English comprehension, enjoyed it.
We ended the night with the lessons and carols service. I sang again with the choir, which continued to exceed my expectations. The readings rang too much with "thou shalts" for my taste, particularly given the decrees daily passed down from on high without regard for reasonableness here. But I was in it for the music, which satisfied.
Christmas morning I slept, and slept... and slept! It was lovely. Then the choir had one last gig: singing over the radio to the field stations and South Pole. SP and Siple Dome checked in, and South Pole even sang, impromptu, carols back to us. What a way to spread the joy. :) At dinner I distributed my snowflakes and hugs, then I chatted with Anne as her partner Peggy worked at the Coffee House.
Tomorrow it's back to the regular. I'll go out to LDB with Yoann and get out the recovery tool kit and other bits, ski with Anne at lunch, and bring the linux desktop back to Mactown for continued work. I'm looking forward to Thursday, when the 2 soccer teams I picked up with play in the finals. Even if we don't win, it'll be great to run around with teammates. ...Speaking of which, plans are still in the works for some outdoors ulti. !!
Friday and Sat I have snow school, where they teach us how to survive and build igloos... or at least piles of snow to crawl into! And supposedly there's time to build a snow bar into the snow wall. :) Sunday and Monday we have another 2-day weekend for New Years, and I have high hopes for more joy and revelry.
Which will make a nice contrast to mourning my Grandpa's passing. It was too soon and I miss him dearly. At least tech will help out again: I'll be calling my Aunt's cell to attend the funeral.
And so I wish you a season of peace: not the absence of noise and bustle, but the stillness within it.
25 December 2007
18 December 2007
launch attempt #2
We successfully completed all our tests early today and are now just waiting on the winds to die down before heading to the launch pad. At that point it'll be ~2hrs before launch, still with the possibility of being canceled. More then...
Well, the winds are good and we've just gone out to the launch pad (1.30p NZT). Expect 2 more hours for ballooning stuff: laying it out, filling it up, etc. and then weather will tell.
Things are looking up... especially now that I've had a nap!
Also, for those interested, everyone else's Thurs flight out is now delayed until Fri at 4a (NZT), so they'll have a little more time for packing, if weather allows and needs be.
In the meantime.....
And it's away at ~4.30p NZT! I hope you got to see some of it!
It was a pretty much perfect launch. The balloon inflated, they released it and it made a deep note as it caught the wind, then the payload just lifted off the pin and everything floated gently into the blue sky.
Now we wait for it to reach float altitude (2-5hrs) before turning on the instrument and starting our science tuning.
Well, the winds are good and we've just gone out to the launch pad (1.30p NZT). Expect 2 more hours for ballooning stuff: laying it out, filling it up, etc. and then weather will tell.
Things are looking up... especially now that I've had a nap!
Also, for those interested, everyone else's Thurs flight out is now delayed until Fri at 4a (NZT), so they'll have a little more time for packing, if weather allows and needs be.
In the meantime.....
And it's away at ~4.30p NZT! I hope you got to see some of it!
It was a pretty much perfect launch. The balloon inflated, they released it and it made a deep note as it caught the wind, then the payload just lifted off the pin and everything floated gently into the blue sky.
Now we wait for it to reach float altitude (2-5hrs) before turning on the instrument and starting our science tuning.
16 December 2007
and then...
...as we finished up our instrument check-out, the low-level atmospheric (just above ground level) winds picked up from the south, beginning to blowing hard off the continent, canceling our launch opportunity for today.
I am sad for my fellow compatriots who will likely not get to leave on Thurs now. At least we get to sleep soon!
Next launch opportunity in a day or two.
Over&out.
I am sad for my fellow compatriots who will likely not get to leave on Thurs now. At least we get to sleep soon!
Next launch opportunity in a day or two.
Over&out.
Launch?!
Well, today I had a nice Sunday of freshies for brunch and a pressure ridge tour. Then we CREAM folk met for dinner and then headed out to Willy Field on Ivan at 9p. We have begun our pre-launch sequence under the midnight sun and hope to fly at 7a Mon (NZ time).
You can watch it happen! (or not, depending on how the winds go -- so far so good!) In ballooning, this is about as much notice as you get.... wake up one morning and off you go. Also, the local weather conditions as observed and reported by Ross, our local weatherman.
As to why we've waited until now to launch, as you see in the following plots, the stratospheric winds have only just set up over the pole, giving us reliable circular orbits.
Dec 10:
Dec 15:
You can watch it happen! (or not, depending on how the winds go -- so far so good!) In ballooning, this is about as much notice as you get.... wake up one morning and off you go. Also, the local weather conditions as observed and reported by Ross, our local weatherman.
As to why we've waited until now to launch, as you see in the following plots, the stratospheric winds have only just set up over the pole, giving us reliable circular orbits.
Dec 10:
Dec 15:
14 December 2007
Wallops Hilarity and, A Leave-Taking
It was a balmy summer's day in McMurdo when Bryan, Nick, and I ventured forth to LDB, so they could see our beautiful payload and the rest of business at my workplace. Imagine our surprise when we found this tableau laid before us....
That's Erebus in the background. When the boss is away.... Fortunately, we also saw it being staged (I took the pic) and all I can really add is, my, what a beautiful sense of humor.
On a slightly more sad note, Nick, Bryan, BLee, Rusty, and the rest of Stacy Kim's awesome banthic research group (ocean bottom studies) left today.* It has been awesome laughing and making music with Nick and BLee, talking physics with Bryan, and dive-tending for Stacy and Rusty. I hope at least a few of the friendships I form here will last. I mean, who wouldn't want a friend to crash with in California or Canada? :)
*The background I should've written a while ago; apologies!
Bryan is an undergrad major at MIT, signed onto this group because he's built a bunch of robots and programmed their tethered underwater camera-carrying vehicle (ROV).
Dive-tending is basically just helping them put their gloves on and then pulling their tanks and weights when they're done. I hung out in the hut with BLee while they were down. If they don't come up in their allotted time, we sound the alarm. Their dive went safely, if less productively than earlier in the season because visibility has been reduced by almost 2 orders of magnitude (to only a few to 10 ft) due to the algal bloom precipitated by the increased sunshine through the thinning sea ice. It was cool to see it once; I think I'd get a little bored doing it more than a few times.
Nick is an undergrad at Monterey Bay, CA and was here doing his senior research project on the pile of poo the navy left in the sound before McMurdo got its waste treatment facility. He used the ROV to map the extent of the pile as well as helping Stacy with her research by diving. He's done a bunch of other things, including being a park ranger in Yellowstone.
BLee lived on a nuclear submarine as a mech for 18mos and was the ALVIN pilot for many years (small manned, early extremely-deep sub). He lives near the Bay of Fundy in Canada now and coaches soccer, passionately. :)
More on the adventures which've kept me from blogging soon...
Over&out.
That's Erebus in the background. When the boss is away.... Fortunately, we also saw it being staged (I took the pic) and all I can really add is, my, what a beautiful sense of humor.
On a slightly more sad note, Nick, Bryan, BLee, Rusty, and the rest of Stacy Kim's awesome banthic research group (ocean bottom studies) left today.* It has been awesome laughing and making music with Nick and BLee, talking physics with Bryan, and dive-tending for Stacy and Rusty. I hope at least a few of the friendships I form here will last. I mean, who wouldn't want a friend to crash with in California or Canada? :)
*The background I should've written a while ago; apologies!
Bryan is an undergrad major at MIT, signed onto this group because he's built a bunch of robots and programmed their tethered underwater camera-carrying vehicle (ROV).
Dive-tending is basically just helping them put their gloves on and then pulling their tanks and weights when they're done. I hung out in the hut with BLee while they were down. If they don't come up in their allotted time, we sound the alarm. Their dive went safely, if less productively than earlier in the season because visibility has been reduced by almost 2 orders of magnitude (to only a few to 10 ft) due to the algal bloom precipitated by the increased sunshine through the thinning sea ice. It was cool to see it once; I think I'd get a little bored doing it more than a few times.
Nick is an undergrad at Monterey Bay, CA and was here doing his senior research project on the pile of poo the navy left in the sound before McMurdo got its waste treatment facility. He used the ROV to map the extent of the pile as well as helping Stacy with her research by diving. He's done a bunch of other things, including being a park ranger in Yellowstone.
BLee lived on a nuclear submarine as a mech for 18mos and was the ALVIN pilot for many years (small manned, early extremely-deep sub). He lives near the Bay of Fundy in Canada now and coaches soccer, passionately. :)
More on the adventures which've kept me from blogging soon...
Over&out.
03 December 2007
antarctica and the moon
Probably the most significant question looming for me after watching the antarctic premiere of Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World Thanksgiving Sunday, was, why do so many people say that coming to Antarctica is like going to the moon? Is it even a true statement? Few humans (30-some) have ever even been to the moon. I doubt that many of the people making such statements have listened to first-hand accounts of or done substantial research into the lunar experience. Even our big red parkas aren't as cumbersome as a space suit, and there's an atmosphere we can breathe. So why this assertion?
The woman drawing the blinds on my sunshine in the galley during my after-yoga dinner reading said, We're having a movie in here in a few minutes. I looked at her. You could close them when it's about to start. I nodded. Shortly thereafter, a British accent came on said something about space travel and it being another premiere, this time southern hemisphere, and I sat back down with my cereal as the movie started, blinds fully extended. Perhaps, I thought, I'll find some answers to my question in this tale of the Apollo moon missions.
The documentary did a good job putting the space mission in the context of its time, showing clips of Kennedy, both speaking and in coffin, race marches and other protests, and bombing (napalm?) in Vietnam. As Herzog started making movies in the 60s, perhaps he did at least watch the first steps on the moon on TV in July of '69. One of the astronauts spoke of how he felt guilty for missing "his war", while his fellow pilots fought and died. Hopefully he found some refuge in one comrade's response that this was the one good thing Americans could be proud of at that time. As In the Shadow of the Moon progressed, it conveyed a fair picture of the astronauts' personalities, preparing us to hear their reactions to their travels, while pretty good movie music made the old preparation and launch footage dramatic. (Come to think of it, it was the kind of music you could write a figure skating routine to. :)
I took a short nap and woke to their reactions. Mike Collins, the Apollo 11 command module pilot impressed me the most with his humanity and dry humor. He said he was not scared; the time to be scared was when something actually broke, but worried constantly. While he was disappointed to go but not stand on the moon, he enjoyed the sensation of being the only person on the dark side of the moon, while 2 + billions waited on the other side. Unlike what most people said, he was not the loneliest person in the world then, with Houston talking in his ear most of the time.
Other astronauts realized the fragility and insignificance of the world: he doesn't complain about weather or traffic anymore, or were moved spirituality, the belief in the existence of a benevolent god, or even to Jesus: "my walk on the moon lasted 3 days; my walk with Jesus lasts a lifetime." They described how lucky we are to have this beautiful jewel hanging in the blackness of space to call home, how you can see pollution from space now as you could not then, and how small the earth is from the moon: you can cover it with your thumb. Perspective.
But in direct answer to my question regarding antarctic and lunar similarities, the film was rather silent. Instead, the best resonance seems to be in the human effort required to reach into the unknown and the human reaction to being alone in a vast and rather inhospitable place. (Vast... such a small, seemingly simple word for such an enormous concept!)
It took solid, smart leaders like Amundsen and Shakleton to meld and motivate their technically skilled companions to survive on this continent and make the pole. Kennedy captured the heart of the nation and challenged Americans to make the moon in a decade, a huge expedition which killed the first 3 Apollo 1 astronauts in testing because they didn't consider carefully enough the combination of poor wiring and a pressurized, pure Oxygen cabin atmosphere. (spark = poof, fire) Scott and his polar party paid the ultimate price for their poor decisions, dying of starvation, exhaustion, and exposure ~10 mi from their furthest-out food depot.
Today, we have gone from the drive and spirit inspired by Kennedy's challenge to make the moon in a decade, to enough monetary crises that we won't have space flight capability for at least 4 years, starting in 2010, while transitioning from the shuttles to Orion. Bush's mars proclamation seems a cheap imitation.
At least we're still working on the idea, despite failures. And perhaps, we'll again find a hopeful reflection of humanity like Collins did: during their journey around the world after returning from the moon, he said he was amazed to hear people everywhere saying "we did it" not "the Americans did it", though the challenge began as a political competition. 'The world was united, at least for a little while'.
The woman drawing the blinds on my sunshine in the galley during my after-yoga dinner reading said, We're having a movie in here in a few minutes. I looked at her. You could close them when it's about to start. I nodded. Shortly thereafter, a British accent came on said something about space travel and it being another premiere, this time southern hemisphere, and I sat back down with my cereal as the movie started, blinds fully extended. Perhaps, I thought, I'll find some answers to my question in this tale of the Apollo moon missions.
The documentary did a good job putting the space mission in the context of its time, showing clips of Kennedy, both speaking and in coffin, race marches and other protests, and bombing (napalm?) in Vietnam. As Herzog started making movies in the 60s, perhaps he did at least watch the first steps on the moon on TV in July of '69. One of the astronauts spoke of how he felt guilty for missing "his war", while his fellow pilots fought and died. Hopefully he found some refuge in one comrade's response that this was the one good thing Americans could be proud of at that time. As In the Shadow of the Moon progressed, it conveyed a fair picture of the astronauts' personalities, preparing us to hear their reactions to their travels, while pretty good movie music made the old preparation and launch footage dramatic. (Come to think of it, it was the kind of music you could write a figure skating routine to. :)
I took a short nap and woke to their reactions. Mike Collins, the Apollo 11 command module pilot impressed me the most with his humanity and dry humor. He said he was not scared; the time to be scared was when something actually broke, but worried constantly. While he was disappointed to go but not stand on the moon, he enjoyed the sensation of being the only person on the dark side of the moon, while 2 + billions waited on the other side. Unlike what most people said, he was not the loneliest person in the world then, with Houston talking in his ear most of the time.
Other astronauts realized the fragility and insignificance of the world: he doesn't complain about weather or traffic anymore, or were moved spirituality, the belief in the existence of a benevolent god, or even to Jesus: "my walk on the moon lasted 3 days; my walk with Jesus lasts a lifetime." They described how lucky we are to have this beautiful jewel hanging in the blackness of space to call home, how you can see pollution from space now as you could not then, and how small the earth is from the moon: you can cover it with your thumb. Perspective.
But in direct answer to my question regarding antarctic and lunar similarities, the film was rather silent. Instead, the best resonance seems to be in the human effort required to reach into the unknown and the human reaction to being alone in a vast and rather inhospitable place. (Vast... such a small, seemingly simple word for such an enormous concept!)
It took solid, smart leaders like Amundsen and Shakleton to meld and motivate their technically skilled companions to survive on this continent and make the pole. Kennedy captured the heart of the nation and challenged Americans to make the moon in a decade, a huge expedition which killed the first 3 Apollo 1 astronauts in testing because they didn't consider carefully enough the combination of poor wiring and a pressurized, pure Oxygen cabin atmosphere. (spark = poof, fire) Scott and his polar party paid the ultimate price for their poor decisions, dying of starvation, exhaustion, and exposure ~10 mi from their furthest-out food depot.
Today, we have gone from the drive and spirit inspired by Kennedy's challenge to make the moon in a decade, to enough monetary crises that we won't have space flight capability for at least 4 years, starting in 2010, while transitioning from the shuttles to Orion. Bush's mars proclamation seems a cheap imitation.
At least we're still working on the idea, despite failures. And perhaps, we'll again find a hopeful reflection of humanity like Collins did: during their journey around the world after returning from the moon, he said he was amazed to hear people everywhere saying "we did it" not "the Americans did it", though the challenge began as a political competition. 'The world was united, at least for a little while'.
02 December 2007
weather, or not
Weather changes rapidly here.
We walked into breakfast and walked out to the shuttle. On the way in, the weather was fine, calm and clear. On the way out, it had begun snowing smaller, dryer flakes.
Whether or not we hang test and launch depends on the weather being fine, so no hang test yet today. Of course, that may change again soon enough, but for the moment, I must admit to a sense of relief, not so much that we're delayed, but that I won't be asked to leave after only being here 2 weeks. There's still so much to do and experience!
We walked into breakfast and walked out to the shuttle. On the way in, the weather was fine, calm and clear. On the way out, it had begun snowing smaller, dryer flakes.
Whether or not we hang test and launch depends on the weather being fine, so no hang test yet today. Of course, that may change again soon enough, but for the moment, I must admit to a sense of relief, not so much that we're delayed, but that I won't be asked to leave after only being here 2 weeks. There's still so much to do and experience!
01 December 2007
Big News!
We are coming into the final stretch of our preparations for launching the balloon carrying our instrument to 132,000 ft. We will hang test (practice launch procedure) tomorrow, and then come back again at 2.30a to start the launch procedures Tues.
If our systems all work during the hang test and the weather and anticyclone (circumpolar winds) allows us to launch Tues, it'll be another CREAM CSBF record: the earliest launch ever, by 4 days. (The first record was for CREAM I having the longest flight at 42 days.) You can check out the pathfinder balloon's track; it was launched today.
Exciting hard work.
Luckily, there was much fun had previously, including kite skate-skiing yesterday!
If our systems all work during the hang test and the weather and anticyclone (circumpolar winds) allows us to launch Tues, it'll be another CREAM CSBF record: the earliest launch ever, by 4 days. (The first record was for CREAM I having the longest flight at 42 days.) You can check out the pathfinder balloon's track; it was launched today.
Exciting hard work.
Luckily, there was much fun had previously, including kite skate-skiing yesterday!
30 November 2007
22 November 2007
Thanksgiving day, Nov 2007
Summary: Tonight is the wind’s, and tomorrow I get a day off!
Tonight is the wind’s
We (Michel, Jin-A, and I) had signed up for this evening’s trip to Cape Evans, so Jin-A and I returned to McMurdo on the early shuttle to pack and prepare (our ECW gear, eat dinner, etc); Michel remained at LDB for the results of his CherCam muon run. Our LDB weatherman Ross also happened to be on this trip, and we met at dinner to discuss our sadness: the weather forecast threatened high winds and snow, both falling and blowing. It has been beautiful all day, and we were almost all disappointed. Michel returned from LDB with news that the data collection board for half the CherCam is not working. He will not be able to play again until it’s fixed. Luckily, he has a spare board, we have the tools, and he should be able to get in touch with his colleagues in France for any last minute assistance.
I couldn’t stand the idea of another night in my corner of room, doing more such mundane things as laundry (last night), so I asked Jin-A and Young Soo if they wanted to go for a walk. We settled on the hut that’s just outside our dorms’ back doors, braced by a ridge topped with two crosses: people died here. As we walked under gray skies around the iced-in harbor, I watched with interest as the snow began to trace the play of the wind over the land.
With pauses for pictures, we approached the hut. The wind began to cut through our clothes, stealing heat if not penetrating, so we sheltered on the lee side of the weathered wooden building. Its square, single-storied bulk is being slowly buried by snow, though the wind does its best to work some sides free. The cross on the point beyond was tantalizingly close.
We looked at each other, and I worked my face free of my muffler. If we just go up and come straight back, we should be ok. Young Soo nodded and we set out into the wind. Heading up the ridge, we hoped for a trail on the leeward side. The view down from the crest showed a whipped edge of snow curling over a steep drop to the Ice a little ways below. The wind nudged us. I crouched closer to the earth, trying to make my feet as heavy as magnetic space boots, as I pushed through to touch the gray wooden cross at the top of the hill. Making our way back down, the wind tried to help us defy gravity.
Returned exhilarated to our little shelter behind the hut, we found the trail home a whirl of white, blowing snow, with the poles and building a couple of ultimate fields away barely visible. Seeing McMurdo station required turning into wind and stinging snow, so I didn’t try it. We stuck together and kept our noses pointed towards the poles back the way we came, slogging on. With less loose snow beyond the buildings and the wind dropping off as we drew deeper into the crook of the harbor, we were able to look back at Hut Point. The cross above the hut flitted in and out of misty whiteness as snow flung itself at the hut walls, still seeking entry after almost one hundred years.
As we walked around the harbor back up the hill to McMurdo, we scooped snow out of our pockets. The wind picked up straight into our faces near the crest of the hill to town proper. I laughed, ran forward and jumped. I think, on the 3rd try, I might have gotten a little extra hang time. The clouds which just half an hour ago blanketed almost the whole sky, have retreated from the wind’s fierce assault, leaving only a small section (~30%) of blue covered by lurking gray. There, the sun turns their edges purple and their tops a brilliant soft gold.
A cup of hot chocolate has warmed my hands to match my heart.
Day off:
Tomorrow is exciting: we get a day off! Not, as one might suppose, because it’s a holiday back in the states, but rather, because the batteries got lost. Apparently you need something more special than scooping up a couple of truck batteries to store and regulate the solar power going to the instrument. Those special batteries left their home in Wallops Island, Va with the rest of the gear. Somewhere between here and there, they got rejected, forgotten, and disappeared to sulk in some quite corner of the world.
Unfortunately, we didn’t hear their tale of woe until we unpacked everything on the Ice last week and found them missing. The NSF/CSBF (balloon support) people here have been working hard to locate and console our batteries, to bring them to the Ice, but it’s looking more likely that the Wallops folks will have to implement their “the batteries hate us and we’re leaving them for another” plan. They’re taking the day off to give the previous relationship one last chance. So we’re taking the day off too. Except for poor Michel, and Young Soo who’ll be supporting his CherCam board replacement operation. On the other hand, they won’t have to worry about anyone getting in their way or barring them access to the instrument because some other test is running!
My first order of business tomorrow morning: sleep In. Wuh-hoo! No more 6am for me, no sir! (at least, tomorrow. :) Second order: drinking a nice cup of tea with real milk. There’s only powdered creamer out at the balloon site. Then I hope the weather will let me wander around, perhaps back out to Hut Point, up Observation Hill, and maybe even out to Scott Base, the Kiwi station ~1.5 miles from here. Unfortunately, I left my skis back at LDB (Long Duration Balloon site), not anticipating needing them before my lunch ski tomorrow. But I’m sure I can make do; maybe even walk out, ski around and then back to town. (McMurdo to LDB and back is the longest trip “allowed” here, at ~8mi.)
After work Sat, we’ll have our Thanksgiving dinner. I can only hope it’s as good as the lunch we had at LDB today: turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes almost as good as Mom’s, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. I had enough fun skiing before lunch, with fabulous views of Mt Erebus smoking above its cloud cap on the way out and the Royal Society Mtns emerging from theirs on the way back, that I didn’t mind too much that the fresh fruit was almost all gone. The honeydew melon left was ripe and sweetly refreshing.
For now, good night and Happy Thanksgiving!
Tonight is the wind’s
We (Michel, Jin-A, and I) had signed up for this evening’s trip to Cape Evans, so Jin-A and I returned to McMurdo on the early shuttle to pack and prepare (our ECW gear, eat dinner, etc); Michel remained at LDB for the results of his CherCam muon run. Our LDB weatherman Ross also happened to be on this trip, and we met at dinner to discuss our sadness: the weather forecast threatened high winds and snow, both falling and blowing. It has been beautiful all day, and we were almost all disappointed. Michel returned from LDB with news that the data collection board for half the CherCam is not working. He will not be able to play again until it’s fixed. Luckily, he has a spare board, we have the tools, and he should be able to get in touch with his colleagues in France for any last minute assistance.
I couldn’t stand the idea of another night in my corner of room, doing more such mundane things as laundry (last night), so I asked Jin-A and Young Soo if they wanted to go for a walk. We settled on the hut that’s just outside our dorms’ back doors, braced by a ridge topped with two crosses: people died here. As we walked under gray skies around the iced-in harbor, I watched with interest as the snow began to trace the play of the wind over the land.
With pauses for pictures, we approached the hut. The wind began to cut through our clothes, stealing heat if not penetrating, so we sheltered on the lee side of the weathered wooden building. Its square, single-storied bulk is being slowly buried by snow, though the wind does its best to work some sides free. The cross on the point beyond was tantalizingly close.
We looked at each other, and I worked my face free of my muffler. If we just go up and come straight back, we should be ok. Young Soo nodded and we set out into the wind. Heading up the ridge, we hoped for a trail on the leeward side. The view down from the crest showed a whipped edge of snow curling over a steep drop to the Ice a little ways below. The wind nudged us. I crouched closer to the earth, trying to make my feet as heavy as magnetic space boots, as I pushed through to touch the gray wooden cross at the top of the hill. Making our way back down, the wind tried to help us defy gravity.
Returned exhilarated to our little shelter behind the hut, we found the trail home a whirl of white, blowing snow, with the poles and building a couple of ultimate fields away barely visible. Seeing McMurdo station required turning into wind and stinging snow, so I didn’t try it. We stuck together and kept our noses pointed towards the poles back the way we came, slogging on. With less loose snow beyond the buildings and the wind dropping off as we drew deeper into the crook of the harbor, we were able to look back at Hut Point. The cross above the hut flitted in and out of misty whiteness as snow flung itself at the hut walls, still seeking entry after almost one hundred years.
As we walked around the harbor back up the hill to McMurdo, we scooped snow out of our pockets. The wind picked up straight into our faces near the crest of the hill to town proper. I laughed, ran forward and jumped. I think, on the 3rd try, I might have gotten a little extra hang time. The clouds which just half an hour ago blanketed almost the whole sky, have retreated from the wind’s fierce assault, leaving only a small section (~30%) of blue covered by lurking gray. There, the sun turns their edges purple and their tops a brilliant soft gold.
A cup of hot chocolate has warmed my hands to match my heart.
Day off:
Tomorrow is exciting: we get a day off! Not, as one might suppose, because it’s a holiday back in the states, but rather, because the batteries got lost. Apparently you need something more special than scooping up a couple of truck batteries to store and regulate the solar power going to the instrument. Those special batteries left their home in Wallops Island, Va with the rest of the gear. Somewhere between here and there, they got rejected, forgotten, and disappeared to sulk in some quite corner of the world.
Unfortunately, we didn’t hear their tale of woe until we unpacked everything on the Ice last week and found them missing. The NSF/CSBF (balloon support) people here have been working hard to locate and console our batteries, to bring them to the Ice, but it’s looking more likely that the Wallops folks will have to implement their “the batteries hate us and we’re leaving them for another” plan. They’re taking the day off to give the previous relationship one last chance. So we’re taking the day off too. Except for poor Michel, and Young Soo who’ll be supporting his CherCam board replacement operation. On the other hand, they won’t have to worry about anyone getting in their way or barring them access to the instrument because some other test is running!
My first order of business tomorrow morning: sleep In. Wuh-hoo! No more 6am for me, no sir! (at least, tomorrow. :) Second order: drinking a nice cup of tea with real milk. There’s only powdered creamer out at the balloon site. Then I hope the weather will let me wander around, perhaps back out to Hut Point, up Observation Hill, and maybe even out to Scott Base, the Kiwi station ~1.5 miles from here. Unfortunately, I left my skis back at LDB (Long Duration Balloon site), not anticipating needing them before my lunch ski tomorrow. But I’m sure I can make do; maybe even walk out, ski around and then back to town. (McMurdo to LDB and back is the longest trip “allowed” here, at ~8mi.)
After work Sat, we’ll have our Thanksgiving dinner. I can only hope it’s as good as the lunch we had at LDB today: turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes almost as good as Mom’s, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. I had enough fun skiing before lunch, with fabulous views of Mt Erebus smoking above its cloud cap on the way out and the Royal Society Mtns emerging from theirs on the way back, that I didn’t mind too much that the fresh fruit was almost all gone. The honeydew melon left was ripe and sweetly refreshing.
For now, good night and Happy Thanksgiving!
19 November 2007
More firsts...
Sunday:
Monday:
- Fresh fruit for breakfast!! Amy says Jin-A and I look the happiest she's seen us all trip.
After all, we finally get my freshies, and I'm about to play ulti and go on a huge adventure! - Ultimate frisbee in Antarctica. 4 on 4 in the (tiny!) gym, and I suggested we play make it, take it. We have a nice fast game. Pepe from Brown is solid, Rob is good, and most importantly, everyone is fun to play with.
- Castle Rock! 8 miles, almost all on cross-country skis. We walked the first dirt and ice 1.5ish mi, and I skied the rest. Spectacular. Good company: Brett and Nick, two fish guys, Rob, Jin-A, Michele who was a wonderful help for us newbies, and myself. A wonderful get-outta-town trip. Traying joy down the bottom bit of hill. Happily, we both got a shuttle from the Kiwi station (otherwise another 1.5 mi hike on the road over the ridge to McMurdo) and had dinner waiting for us in the galley after our 7hr exploration. Possibly my best galley meal yet.
Monday:
- My first solo yoga teaching. Sat after work Rec'd scheduled me for Wed so I'd have more time between getting off Ivan at 6.15p and getting to class at 7 instead of 6.30p. I went to open yoga today to stretch after yesterday's pretty intense workout and found two newer-bies wanting to do yoga. So they got to be my guinea pigs for a mostly flow session of sun salutations, warriors I & II, triangle pose, half cow-faced pose, and pigeon pose (for my bum & hips :) bookended by breathing and shivasana. Afterwards, the gal said she felt like she'd just released all the pent-up tension of the last 3 years (since she'd done any yoga) and had a big smile. The guy, an airplane mechanic, also seemed pretty happy, so I guess I did it. ... Wuh-hooo! But my teacher-friends are right, teaching doesn't help you do your own practice. I think I did enough for me for tonight though, and the act cheered my spirits. And then... (aaannd theeennn... ;)
- my first snow in McMurdo! It's pretty rare here; the whole continent is desert or nearly so. But even rarer is that it's not particularly cold, making for the perfect snow-wander.
17 November 2007
6 days later.
Well, there have been lots of exciting happenings of late!
But first, your local weather report... :)
Today is our windiest day yet, with winds from the SE blowing hard enough to push us around a bit in the slick, blown snow.
Onto the events!
I got notice of package mail yesterday afternoon, so to pick it up, I had to stay in town this morning, which meant a glorious little sleep-in (until 7a). My packages turned out to be the toiletries and clothes box I sent myself, which I was worried wouldn't come for another week, with all the rest of the mail so backed up -- it'd been about a month since they'd gotten package mail. And.... I got my new sunnies! They are pretty sweet; it's exciting to be able to see in them without having to wear my contacts. With the extreme dryness down here, that's been a bit hard.
I then proceeded to housing which was mostly only helpful in directing me to the laundry room, where the lady gave me a nice fat pillow and an extra blanket. Feeling on a roll, I stopped in the Rec office, where they seemed quite enthusiastic to hear I was willing to teach even a few yoga classes. The number and timing will depend on the balloon schedule, which is as random as the weather once we complete our hang test, and probably one of the many reasons we're known as balloonatics down here. :) What surprises me is that despite there clearly being a desire for them down here: the first class Amy and I went to was so packed our mats were ~2 in apart and we had to stagger just to raise our arms, the several certified teachers are not interested in leading any classes. So I thought, what the hell, and, I'm actually pretty excited about sharing yoga with people.
With all that done by 9.30a, I took a moment to chat with Rob, whom I keep randomly running into. He reiterated the invitation to join him and some friends on the Castle Rock loop this weekend (=Sunday) after ultimate frisbee. They're planning to employ skis to go up and a couple snowboards to go down. And I am nervous about my abilities, but, if worse comes to worst, I can always just take off the skis and walk. Also, there is only one downhill, which is what killed me when Jess, Jeff, and I tried it last year. I think I will go for it.... and see if Anne, who skied from the Ice shelf to the Pole with AWE in '93, has any advice for me before I go! (Sorry I can't find a better link than that at the moment. Anne's not Ann Bancroft.)
My ride didn't leave until 10.30a, so I had time to pay a visit to the Crary Lab computer techs who set up the wireless on my laptop for the lab and are in the process of fixing my big data external hard drive. Whew! On the way out to LDB, Phil then regaled me with ballooning adventures, including the glint that caught the copilots eye when they circled the BLAST payload last year....
A parachute cushions the payload's descent after it gets cut loose from the balloon, and a charge then detaches the 'chute from the payload when it touches down. Except the BLAST one didn't, so the wind played drag-the-payload into a crevasse field, which is just too dangerous to enter, even for science. So they circled and circled the main section of instrument, trying to see if the data drive was still on it or in the faint trail of debris heading back in the direction it came from. Eventually, they determined it wasn't and the copilot mentioned the glint. After more circling, photo-taking and -enhancing, they figured the ~foot x 4 in x 4 in white box on the white snow was, in fact, their data. So the CSBF (balloon) guys made a huge plan involving landing some 30 mi away, skiing in and then out again, passed it by NSF, and then BLAST got lucky one more time. The pilot was able to land just 3 mi away, and they retrieved the box. Of course, the hard drives were damaged (this continent seems to like eating computers :), but they were smart enough to have professionals extract the info. Science = success!
Hopefully we won't have such adventures!
To work...
But first, your local weather report... :)
Today is our windiest day yet, with winds from the SE blowing hard enough to push us around a bit in the slick, blown snow.
Onto the events!
I got notice of package mail yesterday afternoon, so to pick it up, I had to stay in town this morning, which meant a glorious little sleep-in (until 7a). My packages turned out to be the toiletries and clothes box I sent myself, which I was worried wouldn't come for another week, with all the rest of the mail so backed up -- it'd been about a month since they'd gotten package mail. And.... I got my new sunnies! They are pretty sweet; it's exciting to be able to see in them without having to wear my contacts. With the extreme dryness down here, that's been a bit hard.
I then proceeded to housing which was mostly only helpful in directing me to the laundry room, where the lady gave me a nice fat pillow and an extra blanket. Feeling on a roll, I stopped in the Rec office, where they seemed quite enthusiastic to hear I was willing to teach even a few yoga classes. The number and timing will depend on the balloon schedule, which is as random as the weather once we complete our hang test, and probably one of the many reasons we're known as balloonatics down here. :) What surprises me is that despite there clearly being a desire for them down here: the first class Amy and I went to was so packed our mats were ~2 in apart and we had to stagger just to raise our arms, the several certified teachers are not interested in leading any classes. So I thought, what the hell, and, I'm actually pretty excited about sharing yoga with people.
With all that done by 9.30a, I took a moment to chat with Rob, whom I keep randomly running into. He reiterated the invitation to join him and some friends on the Castle Rock loop this weekend (=Sunday) after ultimate frisbee. They're planning to employ skis to go up and a couple snowboards to go down. And I am nervous about my abilities, but, if worse comes to worst, I can always just take off the skis and walk. Also, there is only one downhill, which is what killed me when Jess, Jeff, and I tried it last year. I think I will go for it.... and see if Anne, who skied from the Ice shelf to the Pole with AWE in '93, has any advice for me before I go! (Sorry I can't find a better link than that at the moment. Anne's not Ann Bancroft.)
My ride didn't leave until 10.30a, so I had time to pay a visit to the Crary Lab computer techs who set up the wireless on my laptop for the lab and are in the process of fixing my big data external hard drive. Whew! On the way out to LDB, Phil then regaled me with ballooning adventures, including the glint that caught the copilots eye when they circled the BLAST payload last year....
A parachute cushions the payload's descent after it gets cut loose from the balloon, and a charge then detaches the 'chute from the payload when it touches down. Except the BLAST one didn't, so the wind played drag-the-payload into a crevasse field, which is just too dangerous to enter, even for science. So they circled and circled the main section of instrument, trying to see if the data drive was still on it or in the faint trail of debris heading back in the direction it came from. Eventually, they determined it wasn't and the copilot mentioned the glint. After more circling, photo-taking and -enhancing, they figured the ~foot x 4 in x 4 in white box on the white snow was, in fact, their data. So the CSBF (balloon) guys made a huge plan involving landing some 30 mi away, skiing in and then out again, passed it by NSF, and then BLAST got lucky one more time. The pilot was able to land just 3 mi away, and they retrieved the box. Of course, the hard drives were damaged (this continent seems to like eating computers :), but they were smart enough to have professionals extract the info. Science = success!
Hopefully we won't have such adventures!
To work...
14 November 2007
today's theme: White
Antarctica is a Vast place. The sky is open like the plains of Montana, where you can see hundreds of miles to Mt Ranier floating in the distance; the land seems to stretch on forever before bucking up into mountains, which, even from this distance, attempt to make the Rockies look gentle. And into all this vastness, on a clear day the sun pours down, glinting off snow, ice, and glacier, and the eye is attracted to the few dark, exposed rock spots. Just a few miles away from McMurdo, C-17 airplanes which sat ferociously bulky on the runway in Christchurch look like toys on the Ice runway. A single person standing outside cannot fail but to appreciate their own insignificance in comparison to all this.
The clouds began rolling in yesterday, erasing the brilliant blue with a dull grey-white and leaving the world almost dim enough to do with sunglasses on short jaunts out.
A few of the Transantarctic Mountains still poked their peaks through the blanket beginning to blur out their sisters and brothers; the camera has trouble with the flat whiteness of the scene. Today the clouds have completely consumed the distant peaks, and many of the closer ones as well: Terra Nova, Mt Terror, and Mount Erebus, in the volcanic island chain just a few miles away in the sea ice, come and go. And the person standing outside begins to be amazed that one can feel claustrophobic in such a huge place. The sky closes in, and the landscape washes to nothing but shades of white.
This evening, after yoga and a dinner of cereal, Amy and I noticed a bit of sun pushing through the clouds on the horizon. The snow glowed a warm gold and the sea ice shone like a polished flat sheet. We watched until the cold began to bite too deeply. I have retreated to the Crary Science Library which has a wall of wide windows overlooking the frozen sea where I can just make out sunbeams continuing to highlight bits of the landscape.
The clouds began rolling in yesterday, erasing the brilliant blue with a dull grey-white and leaving the world almost dim enough to do with sunglasses on short jaunts out.
A few of the Transantarctic Mountains still poked their peaks through the blanket beginning to blur out their sisters and brothers; the camera has trouble with the flat whiteness of the scene. Today the clouds have completely consumed the distant peaks, and many of the closer ones as well: Terra Nova, Mt Terror, and Mount Erebus, in the volcanic island chain just a few miles away in the sea ice, come and go. And the person standing outside begins to be amazed that one can feel claustrophobic in such a huge place. The sky closes in, and the landscape washes to nothing but shades of white....
This evening, after yoga and a dinner of cereal, Amy and I noticed a bit of sun pushing through the clouds on the horizon. The snow glowed a warm gold and the sea ice shone like a polished flat sheet. We watched until the cold began to bite too deeply. I have retreated to the Crary Science Library which has a wall of wide windows overlooking the frozen sea where I can just make out sunbeams continuing to highlight bits of the landscape.
11 November 2007
the obligatory Weather post.
Weather today is relatively warm, although not above freezing. You can check out the current weather forecast here (make sure you flip through the pages at the top!) or detailed current scientific observations here. Spit is still freezing after impact. As to that temperature, this was an interesting and amusing link; Janice VanCleave had some interesting observations; and one more from an extreme weather book. Perhaps my grandpa would know... it gets a bit cold in North Dakota too!
I do think I'll wear my new Icebreaker long underwear tomorrow though!
I do think I'll wear my new Icebreaker long underwear tomorrow though!
ice, Ice, baby!
I am now on the southernmost continent in the world.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica)
McMurdo is on the Ross Ice Shelf, and you can see why we flew from Christchurch, New Zealand. Scott base is the Kiwi station. (keep clicking on the map!)
...Welcome to my information Overload!...
The flight yesterday was a short 5.5hrs: 3p - 8.30p, local time (New Zealand time), and included ear plugs, reading, and much picture-taking out of the tiny port windows. I also had the opportunity to go up to the cockpit, where the co-pilot pointed out the antarctic mountains rising up on the horizon. When even the pilot pulled out a lovely SLR for a few pics himself, I felt better about all my photo-snapping. There were only ~30 of us on the flight, seated along the walls of the C-17. In the middle sat a helicopter in red and white from NZ, bookended by heaps of cargo (in pallets).
Thorsten met me as we debarked from Ivan the Terrabus; he'd seen the plane come in as he returned from Scott's hut. After my debriefings we met for hot chocolate (tasty & only $1!) and then got some cereal from the galley (tea, coffee, and cereal are available after hours) before I headed up to the mail room to get my gear and catch some z's. He and the Swedes (I ran into them too), flew out to the pole this morning to make more holes in the Ice for IceCube. As I probably won't make it to the pole and they leave at the end of the season (late Feb), I probably won't see them again. But it sure was nice to have experience folks around!
The first part of today has been spent waiting for our cargo to arrive. Almost all of it has been waiting for us in McMurdo, but the heavy lifting equipment for delivery was co-opted by the arrival of another flight this morning. So we've been arranging furniture, hooking up to the internet, and chatting. Jin-A and I've met a couple of the GA's now (General Assistants), one working with the sheet metal guys and one in plumbing. Apparently all the insulators quit this year because they can make more in the states, so that's what those guys are up to that the moment. Rob, the sheet metal guy, is a Yaley and asked some great questions about our project. Happily, he also mentioned ultimate -- games Sunday at noon in the gym (basketball/indoor style). Oh, yeah. :)
The plus to working out at Willy field is that it's small and personal, with better food (although I haven't actually eaten in the main dining hall at McMurdo yet and if the cargo takes long enough, I might not tonight either!). The drawback at the moment is that while the main airstrip is still out on the sea ice, we only have one regularly scheduled bus-ride a day: out at 7.30a, back at 5.30p. I am still not a morning person... but hopefully the continuous sunlight will help with that!
The other plus is the beauty of the place. McMurdo proper is a bunch of metal buildings painted in varying shades of yellow and brown and dull green on a snow-and-dirt hillside. Willy field has a full snow cover, 6 buildings, counting the canvas galley, and beautiful 360 degree views on clear, sunny days like today. The Ross Islands proper, including the smoking Mt Erebus, arc towards the shore, followed by Castle Rock, Observatory hill (a clear extinct volcano crater), the very distant Transantarctic Mountains (my favorite so far), White and Black Islands (snowy and not), and more I need to learn!
Incidentally, this makes 5 continents I've visited. Your treat for reading this whole darn thing: can you guess which?
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica)McMurdo is on the Ross Ice Shelf, and you can see why we flew from Christchurch, New Zealand. Scott base is the Kiwi station. (keep clicking on the map!)
...Welcome to my information Overload!...
The flight yesterday was a short 5.5hrs: 3p - 8.30p, local time (New Zealand time), and included ear plugs, reading, and much picture-taking out of the tiny port windows. I also had the opportunity to go up to the cockpit, where the co-pilot pointed out the antarctic mountains rising up on the horizon. When even the pilot pulled out a lovely SLR for a few pics himself, I felt better about all my photo-snapping. There were only ~30 of us on the flight, seated along the walls of the C-17. In the middle sat a helicopter in red and white from NZ, bookended by heaps of cargo (in pallets).
Thorsten met me as we debarked from Ivan the Terrabus; he'd seen the plane come in as he returned from Scott's hut. After my debriefings we met for hot chocolate (tasty & only $1!) and then got some cereal from the galley (tea, coffee, and cereal are available after hours) before I headed up to the mail room to get my gear and catch some z's. He and the Swedes (I ran into them too), flew out to the pole this morning to make more holes in the Ice for IceCube. As I probably won't make it to the pole and they leave at the end of the season (late Feb), I probably won't see them again. But it sure was nice to have experience folks around!
The first part of today has been spent waiting for our cargo to arrive. Almost all of it has been waiting for us in McMurdo, but the heavy lifting equipment for delivery was co-opted by the arrival of another flight this morning. So we've been arranging furniture, hooking up to the internet, and chatting. Jin-A and I've met a couple of the GA's now (General Assistants), one working with the sheet metal guys and one in plumbing. Apparently all the insulators quit this year because they can make more in the states, so that's what those guys are up to that the moment. Rob, the sheet metal guy, is a Yaley and asked some great questions about our project. Happily, he also mentioned ultimate -- games Sunday at noon in the gym (basketball/indoor style). Oh, yeah. :)
The plus to working out at Willy field is that it's small and personal, with better food (although I haven't actually eaten in the main dining hall at McMurdo yet and if the cargo takes long enough, I might not tonight either!). The drawback at the moment is that while the main airstrip is still out on the sea ice, we only have one regularly scheduled bus-ride a day: out at 7.30a, back at 5.30p. I am still not a morning person... but hopefully the continuous sunlight will help with that!
The other plus is the beauty of the place. McMurdo proper is a bunch of metal buildings painted in varying shades of yellow and brown and dull green on a snow-and-dirt hillside. Willy field has a full snow cover, 6 buildings, counting the canvas galley, and beautiful 360 degree views on clear, sunny days like today. The Ross Islands proper, including the smoking Mt Erebus, arc towards the shore, followed by Castle Rock, Observatory hill (a clear extinct volcano crater), the very distant Transantarctic Mountains (my favorite so far), White and Black Islands (snowy and not), and more I need to learn!
Incidentally, this makes 5 continents I've visited. Your treat for reading this whole darn thing: can you guess which?
10 November 2007
sleepy day
The guys left this morning and I enjoyed a solid sleep in as the rains came down.
By 3p, we learned they'd finished circling McMurdo, landed, and we'd be going out on a 3p flight Sunday. I am delighted it won't be a 6a flight with a 3a check-in!
Jin-A and I wandered around Christchurch as the clouds broke and had our last tasty dinner of fresh fish from Dux de Lux. Hopefully I will be able to find a way to transfer my pics from the camera to computer for your viewing before too long.
On to packing, and the next post should be from the Ice!
By 3p, we learned they'd finished circling McMurdo, landed, and we'd be going out on a 3p flight Sunday. I am delighted it won't be a 6a flight with a 3a check-in!
Jin-A and I wandered around Christchurch as the clouds broke and had our last tasty dinner of fresh fish from Dux de Lux. Hopefully I will be able to find a way to transfer my pics from the camera to computer for your viewing before too long.
On to packing, and the next post should be from the Ice!
09 November 2007
a Beginning
Things I've done so far:
30 Oct: packed up my gear & my house stuff for Lisa moving in and me moving out.
31 Oct - 2 Nov: flown to Auckland. In a seat ahead of me sat Thorsten, an engineer bound for the South Pole again with lots of helpful advice for me. He predicts he'll see me in Chch, though he's scheduled to fly out before I arrive Monday night.
2-4 Nov: driven down with Kate the fabulous and played awesomely in Taupo Hat tourney.
5 Nov: flown to Christchurch and practiced a bit of ulti. Not too many folks left I knew, but enough. Discovered Thorsten: no flights out to the Ice since Sunday.
6 Nov: errands! Mailed box to Mom. Dinner with Thorsten and some other South Pole workers, including some Swedish drillers. And radler!
7 Nov: biked Chch with Spencer and his mom, saw the Riccarton Bush and beautiful, exotic Monavale. Lunched at the Sacred Heart veggie cafe, then down to Akaroa. Walked about and had stunning views from both the drive and the harbor.
8 Nov: got my ECW (extreme cold weather) gear from the CDC (clothing distribution center). Never imagined I'd be a small parka (reduced girth). Am totally stoked to have a pair of snow pants (4th time was the charm!)... my first since I was 6 or so! Pretty good practice afterward. Fish'n'chops. That's fried fish and chips = fries, kiwi style. Umm.
9 Nov: Akaroa with the Swedes: more stunning vistas, lighthouse and dead-people (cemetary) viewing; dirt cliff- (Anders) and tree-climbing (Jimmi) with action shots (Frederik); Swedish lessons; climb up to Heratige Park with all of Akaroa at our feet. More yummy Indian with Thorsten, Tom & Tom, and the Swedes.
And flights still haven't left. Pretty much everyone but my group is now on the passenger manifest for tomorrow. But perhaps we'll be able to rent a van instead and wander around the Banks Penninsula crater rim instead.
Over and out.
-T:)
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