Warning: This is a really long post because I felt that I really wanted to try to describe what I have been experiencing….feel free to just check out the pictures lest you are bored to tears.
Wed 6 Jan 2010
As I type this we are en route to the ice, to the Antarctic continent. We were actually scheduled to depart yesterday morning. I took full advantage of my last true “night” by staying up until past 1:00 am waiting for my lost luggage to arrive, but at 4:45 am, when I had just finished packing up and was on my way out the hotel room door to head to the CDC for a briefing and to board the flight for Antarctica, the telephone rang and I was told that our flight had been delayed for 24 hours due to a large snow storm that was occurring on the ice. I was a bit bummed, but also happy to have another day to explore New Zealand.
At 6:00 am, the hotel restaurant opened for breakfast, and my roommate, Astrid Hoogstraten from the Netherlands (Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee), and I headed over for coffee. We were happy to run into several other grantees that were also feeling the need for adventure and to explore. We devised a plan over the potent New Zealand coffee to rent a car and drive NW up to Arthur’s Pass National Park for some “tramping” (this is what Kiwis call “hiking”). We sadly discovered that every car for hire (this is what Kiwis call a “rental car”) in the greater Christchurch area was being used. At this point our only way to explore was to hitch, a practice that is apparently quite common in New Zealand. The problem was that we were amassing quite a crew, and were not sure how the success rate of 11 persons hitching would fare on the highway.
I decided to do a bit of investigating and went to speak with the hotel clerks at the front desk. After a bit of chatting I somehow had not only acquired us a shuttle to use for the day, but it was free of charge and handed over with a smile and a laugh. Before I knew it we had a group of 11 and keys to the Copthorne Commodore shuttle. It was remarkable because the hotel owns 3 shuttles, one was at the shop, and they require 2 at all times. One of the clerks offered his personal vehicle to the hotel for the day, and instantly and simply the shuttle was ours. Amazing generosity and an appreciation for exploration!
I was a bit apprehensive to take this shuttle on the road, but there were plenty of folks joining from countries where driving on the left is the rule, so we were good to go. It was a glorious drive up to Arthur’s Pass through fields of green where sheep were grazing,
and then into the Southern Alps.
We had a bit of a mishap when stopping at a shop to buy a flashlight, and the shuttle lost some paint and got a bit dented, but otherwise we were no worse for the wear.
We had a chance to explore Castle Hill, an extraordinary climbing area on the way.
It took my breath away, and a few of us who climb had a tough time just passing by, but we’ll be back in a month and will get our fill of climbing then.
There were several options for tramping around the National Park, and 5 of us decided to take the more difficult route up to the Avalanche Peak summit. It was certainly worth the climb. We saw cascading waterfalls,
beautiful vistas,
interesting looking trees,
and lots of the NON-volcanic rock (thanks, Berto! I think it is actually slate.) that the Alps are made from.
When we reached the summit we were rewarded with a breathtaking 360o view,
the sight of a glacier,
and 3 overly friendly Keas, alpine parrots that only inhabit the upland and mountainous areas on New Zealand’s South Island.
The climb down was fast, and equally beautiful. It even included a snowball fight with my new mountain goat-esque friend, Idan. On the way to the bottom of the peak I was completely overtaken by the beauty and vastness before my eyes. I found myself alone on a ridge, 900 m above the river below, with my heart bursting with love and contentment. I had to stop and take a seat to fully soak in the energy of what I was feeling.
Being on the ridge top yesterday, and really feeling the exquisitely beautiful landscape down to the core of my bones, allowed me to find myself once more. What I was seeing before my eyes, although it was not a vast ocean, was the reason...the reason I have spent the past 11 years getting trained in graduate school to become the best marine ecologist I can be. Knowing that in some small way that I might be able to contribute to the preservation of even one living creature or a tiny bit of land is enough.
Sunburned and exhilarated we headed back to Christchurch for what was to (hopefully) be our real last “night.”
This morning (still Wed 6 Jan 2010) I awoke feeling more excited than I can ever remember, knowing that I was headed to the Antarctic continent.
Remembering the lessons I had been taught by the rocks and trees, I felt exhilarated to have the opportunity to learn about the Antarctic, to conduct research in the Antarctic, and to interact with the brilliant minds that surround me. I am sitting on a U.S. Air Force C-17 plane
with Sir David Attenborough, one of my heroes,
a BBC film crew heading down to the ice to make a documentary film about Polar research, including Alastair Fothergill, the producer of Planet Earth and Blue Planet, many MANY well known and respected marine scientists that I have looked up to for so very long (this is Dr. Mark Denny from the Stanford University Hopkins Marine Station who was actually my Ph.D. advisor's (Dr. Brian Gaylord) Ph.D. advisor...I guess that would make him my academic grandfather-?),
and my extremely talented and diverse peers in the course. I am feeling over taken and overwhelmed with gratitude and happiness.
p.s. We have been flying for about 4.5 hours and I just got to look out of the small circular window and see the Antarctic continent for the first time. It is indescribably beautiful. It is a bright, sunny day; there are almost no clouds in the sky. The Transantarctic Mountain Range is unlike any mountain range I have ever seen. It is so exquisite that it looks fake, make believe.
This note requires more than just a postscript. We have been circling over the Antarctic continent for 20 min, and were just told that we are going to “boomerang,” which means that we are turning around to head back to New Zealand because the weather on the ground is preventing a safe landing and/or the ability of vehicles to come out and get us off of the ice and into shelter. This is what traveling to the Antarctic is all about. It is not an easy place to reach, even with our 21st century advances in technology. It took explorers 47 years of truly active searching to discover that this land mass even existed, and that is not counting the many years before Cook’s expeditions in 1772 and 1773 when he spotted his first “ice island” (iceberg) and crossed the Antarctic Circle for the first time, when expeditions roamed the icy waters of the Southern Ocean. Now we have been delayed 24 hours, and have now experienced a boomerang. We were scheduled to be on the ice Tuesday (yesterday) afternoon and at this point we are hoping for Thursday (tomorrow) evening. Getting off the ice can be just as unpredictable. This is part of polar research! We came VERY close to standing on the continent, I have the pictures to prove it, but instead I will soon be arriving in Christchurch for the second time in one week. The record for boomerangs in one week is 7; positive thinking leads me to believe I will be on the ice by the end of the week.
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