Hello. I have once again found myself in Antarctica. This year is different though. Different job, different location, different time, different people. This year I am officially a fuel operator, aka "fuelie". I came down on September 8, 2008 and will be staying in McMurdo for about two months. McMurdo is the United States Antarctic Program's largest Station located on Ross Island. Below is a picture of the coastline of Antarctica not far from Ross Island. We are just coming out of winter and headed towards warmer temperatures. Right now we are averaging around -5 F.
The second time around has been a blessing. I am so much more relaxed and in the groove of things. There was virtually no stress in planning and flying to Antarctica. I am not really sure why everyone comes here, and not even sure why I am here. Although, I really enjoyed myself last year and they are paying me to work/live in Antarctica. I find that I have a very hard time staying put for too long without some adventure in my life or another "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity". Many people have been very supportive of these opportunities, starting with my family, and that makes it easy to take a step into the unknown.
From Christchurch, New Zealand we flew down on a C-17 operated by the U.S. Air Force out of McChord Air Force Base in Washington. To the left is a photo that I took of a C-17 that just landed on the Ross Ice Shelf.