Thaona's Story: September 2009

This blog is not complete but people have been asking for photos: so here you are!

Nightscape

When I first arrived in McMurdo August 23rd the sun was rising and dawn was breaking, mind you, it was at 1 p.m. in the afternoon.The sun was not up for long, it quickly set around 4 p.m. It is quite an experience to feel the night down here the quite stillness is beautiful. the, as the summer approaches we will soon have 24 hours of sunlight. Just in the month that i have been here it is drastically different.The days continue to get longer each day. We will soon have 24 hours of sunlight so I am trying to get out and enjoy the beautiful sunsets and stars while they are still around. Two weeks ago the full moon filled the night and morning sky.

Necreous Clouds

These are beautiful oil slick looking clouds but they are not go good thing. According to Wikipedia " Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) also known as nacreous clouds, are clouds in the winter polar stratosphere at altitudes of 50,000 - 80,000 ft. They are implicated in the formation of ozone holes; their effects on ozone depletios arises because they support chemical reactions that produce active chlorine whice catalyzes ozone destruction, and also becasue they remove gaseous nitric acid, perturbing nitrogen and chlorine cycles in a way which increases ozone destruction."

McMurdo at Sunset

Sea Ice School

SAFETY FIRST! Safety is a big deal down here, we have had training after training since arriving in Denver. I am now trained in Scaffolding, Fall Protection, OSHA standards, GPS, Dry Valleys, and last week was Sea Ice School. We learned what causes instability in the sea ice and how to safely cross cracks in the sea ice when driving.

Royal Society Mtns ( the view from the shop)

Well it has been a quality eight months since I have written a thing, so I will some it all up quickly.

NEW ZEALAND
February 11 - Ryan and I left the Ice and spent about three weeks in New Zealand. It was amazing to step off the C-17 in Christchurch to darkness, humidity, rain and green vegetation.

Akaroa: Ryan and I spent three days with Crunch and Josh relaxing in the quaint town of Akaroa. We enjoyed the freedom to hike, make our own meals, and hot Fish and Chips when ever we wanted. Ryan and I spend a day sea kayaking, we got to see a Penguin swimming but missed the worlds rarest Hectors dolphin.

Banks Peninsula Track: If you are looking for a great trek to do in New Zealand, the Banks Peninsula Track is awesome. We spent three days hiking the track, staying in huts that were provided in route. The huts were all unique including one with an adult sized tire swing, wood fired hot tub and homemade pool table. The views from the 250 feet high cliffs overlooking the ocean were amazing. We also ran into New Zealand's primary livestock, sheep, grazing throughout the hill side. A New Zealand rain storm hit on our final day of hiking and we got soaked. We ended our hike in Akaroa, where I found the warmest wool sweater with fleece lining, it was quite a relief to be warm and dry again.

Banks Peninsula... This Way!

This is a Stargazers hut that we slept in the first night. It was a bit overcast that took away from the star viewing a bit.

Don't fall into the Bog!

Pool anyone? This was a had created pool table at our second night's accommodation. The coolest hobbitville around.

Wanaka:
Ryan and I spent a few days in Wanaka, mainly trying to figure out what the story on our house and home insurance was. (Our pipes froze while we were away). We got to enjoy the eclectic movie house that served fresh baked cookies at intermission and kahula ice cream.

We hiked up to Rob Roy Glacier out of Wanaka. There were pictures of where the glacier was in the early 1900's, it was amazing how much the glacier had retreated in a century. We got to hear a portion of ice cave off and slide down the mountain while we were there. It was pretty impressive.

Wellington:
A met up with an old friend, Brandi, who is now living in Wellington with her beautiful family. It was a great visit and awesome that they opened their home to me.

HOME FOR THE SUMMER
Summer went by fast this year. I tried to make the most of it, hanging out with friends, camping and working for the Fish and Game. I helped on a couple of studies trying to figure out the population of the Northern Idaho Ground Squirrel (a threatened species on the Endangered Species List). We also did Flammulated Owl surveys. We would go out at night broadcast the Flammulated Owl call (boop boop boodoo boop) and wait for them to respond. The final part of the seaons was focused on the elusive Great Grey Owl. These are truly magical birds and are difficult to find. In all of our search we found 5.