 | Heading back to Picton. |
 | Heading back to Picton. |
 | Sunset. |
 | Sunset. |
 | Sunset. |
 | Sunset. |
 | Sunset. |
 | Sunset. |
 | Sunset. |
 | Sunset. |
 | Sunset. |
 | Sunset. |
 | Reflected sunlight on the hills. |
 | A ferry. |
 | Sunset. |
 | Sunset. |
 | A secluded house. |
 | Approaching the interisland ferry. |
 | Approaching the interisland ferry. |
 | We cut across the ferry's wake. |
 | Overhauling the ferry. |
 | Overhauling the ferry. |
 | Overhauling the ferry. |
 | Overhauling the ferry. |
 | Overhauling the ferry. |
 | Overhauling the ferry. |
 | Overhauling the ferry. |
 | Overhauling the ferry. |
 | Overhauling the ferry. |
 | Overhauling the ferry. |
 | Heading into Picton. |
 | Picton harbour. |
 | Picton harbour. |
 | The Mariner's Mall. I believe the flags are meant to spell "welcome". |
 | Scenery on the road back to Christchurch. |
 | Scenery on the road back to Christchurch. |
 | Scenery on the road back to Christchurch. |
 | Scenery on the road back to Christchurch. |
 | Scenery on the road back to Christchurch. |
 | A break in the clouds. |
 | A break in the clouds. |
 | A one lane bridge on Highway 1. |
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| (9967x5514, 10854.40 kb) The view from the second floor balcony of the Windsor. At left is Cranmer square. The Windsor is on Armagh Street.
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 | 1928 Erskine. It belongs to the owner of the Windsor, where I'm staying in Christchurch. |
 | Waiting for departure to McMurdo at the airport in Christchurch. |
 | Waiting for departure to McMurdo at the airport in Christchurch. |
 | My in-flight meal. It contains meat. |
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| (5930x2504, 3240.96 kb) The view from my seat on the C17.
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 | The manufacturer of my earplugs has trademarked the colour yellow. |
 | At Pegasus, heading to the bus back into McMurdo. |
 | The Basler (and several Hercs) parked at Pegasus. |
 | Black Island and Hut Point Peninsula. |
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| (8479x2458, 2908.16 kb) Arriving at Pegasus.
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 | Matt in the BLASTPol control room. |
 | Laura in the BLASTPol control room. |
 | Steve and Tristan in the BLASTPol control room. |
 | Waiting at Pegasus for our flight to Pole. |
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| (11572x2505, 4114.43 kb) The view from Pegasus.
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 | Greatest snow on Earth. |
 | Boarding the Herc. |
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| (11293x3193, 7159.81 kb) On the LC-130. The pile in front of us is our carry-on. The next pile is the crew's gear. At the back, on the ramp, is our checked luggage and a few other things for Keck.
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 | A view from the flight deck. Unfortunately it was cloudy for most of our flight. |
 | Flight crew. |
 | A view from the rear of the LC-130. |
 | Grant on the flight. |
 | The view from one of the windows. |
 | Lunch! Seasoned polies advised me to take the vegetarian option when leaving McMurdo. |
 | Lunch: a bag of tortilla chips, salsa, applesauce, zesty snack mix, a bag of sunflower cubes, two soft-baked snickerdoodles, a collapsible spork (non-edible), and a temporary tattoo of a space monkey (probably also non-edible). |
 | The view from the window behind my seat. LC-130s are loud. |
 | The same thing, but with blurry propellers, courtesy a neutral density filter. |
 | The same thing, but with blurry propellers, courtesy a neutral density filter. |
 | The wing. |
 | And the other wing, in case you thought we might be missing one. |
 | The last eleven inches of Compartment M is not floor space. Good to know. |
 | A view from the front of the plane. The cooler contains the crew's lunches. |
 | Our first view of the Transantarctic Mountains. |
 | Transantarctic Mountains. |
 | Transantarctic Mountains. |
 | Transantarctic Mountains. |
 | Transantarctic Mountains. |
 | Transantarctic Mountains. |
 | Transantarctic Mountains. |
 | Transantarctic Mountains. |
 | Killing time on the flight. |
 | Touchdown at Pole. |
 | Deplaning. |
 | Our welcome party. |
 | Our ride waits for unloading and refuelling. |
 | The Elevated Station. |
 | A first look at the Dark Sector. |
 | The gymnasium. |
 | Station map. |
 | Station map. |
 | Planting party at the greenhouse. |
 | Planting party at the greenhouse. |
 | The greenhouse is incredibly humid compared to the rest of the Station. |
 | Planting party at the greenhouse. |
 | Red char. |
 | Zucchini. |
 | Planting party at the greenhouse. |
 | T-Rex. |
 | My berth. |
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| (3202x6424, 3786.75 kb) My berth. There's a bed, a chest of drawers, a desk, a chair, a window, a window shade, a light, another light, a third light, a shelf, a closet (not shown), another chest of drawers (also not shown), a clothesline (also not shown), a door (also not shown), a smoke detector (also not shown), a large space under the bed to store luggage, and a piece of cardboard for the window.
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| (6299x4309, 4958.21 kb) Looking the other way in my berth. Some of the stuff listed above which were not shown now is.
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 | Telecon time at MAPO on Thursday morning. |
 | Robert prepares to hoist a compressor. |
 | Raising the K2 cryostat. |
 | The insides of the MCE power supply, which I spent far too long dealing with on Thursday. |
 | Disassembly of the AST/RO hut. |
 | MAPO in the foreground, with DSL behind. |
 | Rush hour on the Dark Sector road. |
 | The sun with horizon glow. |
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| (22671x2239, 7944.19 kb) A 360 degree panorama from the Dark Sector road, where it intersects the
aircraft taxiway. The cut is roughly Grid Northeast. The first building
starting from the left, just right of an antenna mast is ARO, the Atmospheric
Research Observatory, at the edge of the Clean Air Sector. Then there's a
bulldozer grading the ARO road. Then comes another antenna, and then the
Ceremonial South Pole (surrounded by national flags).
A black line in the snow right of the Ceremonial Pole is the fuel line; then
comes the elevated station. There are a large number of support buildings right
of the Elevated Station, ending with the radar dome. On the far side of these
is the Quiet Sector. Then comes the ski-way (ie. runway), which marks the edge
of the Dark Sector.
Most of the next stuff is storage up on snow berms before we get to the Ice
Cube Laboratory, followed by a generator building and then the Dark Sector
Laboratory (DSL) containing the imposing South Pole Telescope, and the much
smaller BICEP2. Next is the Martin A. Pomerantz Observatory (MAPO) where Keck
is being built. The large orange flags in the Dark Sector indicate the
locations of the Ice Cube strands. At right a the black flags (which indicate
danger) mark out the location of Old Pole (the station built in the 1950s and
now buried). The red tents on the horizon is the Designated Camping Area, where
tourists are allowed to stay.
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 | One of the warning beacons where the Dark Sector road crosses the airplane taxiway. |
 | Justus's Scotch Money mug, alarmingly empty. |
 | An MCE set up for testing. |
 | Looking down into the empty K1 cryostat tube. |
 | Heading back to station for dinner on Saturday. |
