Images of

ANTARCTICA

Trip to Antarctica

Photos © 2002 Seth White

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Christchurch New Zealand is the gateway to Antarctica for McMurdo, South Pole, Scott Base, and the Italian base at Terra Nova Bay. This is the cathederal, directly in the center of the city. The city is designed in an orderly and symmetric fashion about this point.

A nice spot in downtown Christchurch. They take great pride in Christchurch being a garden city, and it definitely is. The botanic gardens are the largest, most diverse, and best I have seen.
International Antarctic Center at Christchurch.
USAP Hangar at Christchuch.
Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) gear on display in the Clothing Distribution Center at the International Antarctic Center in Christchurch. This is nice to show visitors what clothes are issued for Antarctic work, but also serve to show us new employees what all the various pieces of clothing are called...
Racks of ECW.
Loading the C141 at Christchurch.
The flight to McMurdo on this plane was about 5 hours, and we got here on the first try without the dreaded 'boomerang'. This is where the weather reports are good enough at takeoff time, but worsen during flight so that a landing at McMurdo is unsafe...so you turn around when you're about an hour out from McMurdo (or even less) and head back to NZ. This would be a real drag, and I have heard from people that boomeranged 8 times in one year. The worst kind of boomerang is when you can actually see the station and still have to turn back.
Cattle class only on this flight.
Me on the C141. It doesn't look like it, but I actually enjoyed the flight down here, at least as much as one can enjoy a 5 hour flight on a loud, cramped, military plane. You are also required to wear your ECW during the flight...most people end up stripping down to their undershirts, though.
Offloading the C141 after landing on the sea ice runway. They tell you to get off the plane quickly, and head straight to the transport without taking pictures. I got a few quick ones anyway.
This is the first view of McMurdo that you get from Ivan the Terrabus as you drive towards town.