Update 2: Duckling Spotting

[Paul Summers]

Kia Ora from Christchurch!

Danny and I successfully completed our first leg from SFO to Christchurch. This was only mildly exciting as I only had to unpack my bags for a search twice and once for Danny. We also did have 7 electric hand warmers confiscated from our checked bags. We use them to keep scientific equipment warm, but we were able to buy more here in Christchurch. I mostly slept on the 12 hour flight to Auckland, and our transfer was well timed with only about 45 minutes to relax at the gate before our Auckland to Christchurch flight. 

Our bags fit on one, very heavy, hotel cart so that made check in easy. You can see this hotel is hosting a number of Antarctic bound passengers from all the other bags in the background. Our first morning featured a quick shuttle over to the Clothing Distribution Center (CDC, but not that CDC). We started the day with a COVID test, everyone passed thankfully (ok so maybe that kind of CDC). It was nice to see more people on our project in person, as well as a sister project called 'GHOST' and other staff heading down to McMurdo. This was my first time meeting a few members of our team, and the first time meeting many colleagues on other projects who's work I've read or seen at conferences. Waiting for your 15 minute COVID test to complete it turns out is a great ice breaker exercise, basically a happy-hour mingling session with everyone holding tests rather than drinks.

Anywho, after that we watched a summary training video (don't slip, stay warm, explaining how the flight to McMurdo will work). A potentially boring aside here, but I'll do a bit of a deep dive on 'packing' as a lens into how nothing is ever easy. For this trip we will largely fly on 3 Categories of flights, Commercial to/from Christchurch, Intercontinental between Christchurch and McMurdo, and Continental flights within Antarctica. Each of these legs has its own baggage size/weight requirements, checking process, and special item requirement, mainly of interest: requirements for batteries of which Danny and I have 20+ sealed lead acid and Li-Ion batteries/battery packs. Since the process/requirements change at each leg we usually end up repacking some along the way. My favorite example of this is that for the flight to McMurdo, it is impressed upon us that every, single, battery must be its own, personal, sealed plastic bag. But for this flight there is no maximum bag weight. So today we put a lot of batteries in ziploc bags, and consolidated fragile, dense equipment into one large pelican case that came to around 90 pounds. We'd previously distributed this equipment into different bags to get under a 70 pound limit for commercial flights. For our on-continent flights, we will again repack, but then we'll be sending our scientific equipment as assembled as possible since we will be using it once we land. Thanks for humoring me a paragraph about 'packing'.

As I was saying, after the training video, we got to try on our issued clothing! The CDC supplies us with extreme cold weather gear (ECW) that is supposed to keep us alive and comfortable at work. This is in addition to 'basic' clothing that we are supposed to bring ourselves like base layers and socks. I'll hopefully send details of that stuff later, but currently the hotel room is a little too small to unpack it all. We'd previously sent along our sizes, so the CDC had our kit pre-assembled. We mostly just tried on our clothing, inspected all the zippers and fasteners, and made exchanges if the size was slightly off. 

This first photo is all the types of issued gear they give us, and then Solymar and Danny trying on the iconic 'Big Red' a Canada Goose parka they issue us. And of course yours truly sporting mine. They come with name tags which is nice as everyone has identical jackets and most people wear them everywhere they go. We also are issued very big, very warm baffin boots, I always get a kick out of the size comparison to my trail runners. We are required to wear our ECW on the flight to Antarctica in case the plane must land in poor weather, but it also ensures no one forgets anything and is also the easiest way to pack them as the items are SUPER bulky. It makes for a warm flight though. 

Unfortunately the news is that our scheduled flight south is on a C-17, which is a very cool plane, but alas is it currently broken. Replacement parts are inbound, and there is at least 1 flight in the queue in front of us, so our expected departure Monday (today) is delayed until officially at least Tuesday, likely Wed or maybe later. In the meantime that means we can do some more last second packing and organizing, eating salads, and importantly exploring the city and botanical gardens. It is spring here, so the ducklings are out, which always brings me joy. Saturday I went for a little run and saw 58 of them! 

They are all very cute, the swimming ones were just learning to dive to the bottom of the river for food, their enthusiastic dives made me smile every time. This is also the first I've seen (semi)wild yellow ducklings, running through a field of flowers no less. The black and white ones are paradise shelduck I think, they were a little bigger but still very fluffy. Yesterday I went for a longer run along the river to where it meets the ocean. This was a part of my slow but steady attempt to run a marathon distance on every continent, Oceania edition. Running along the river path was unexpectedly fun, as there was a near continuous path through green space along the shore. 

I saw 54 ducklings, goslings, and cygnets (baby swans) in just the first half, but I tried to take fewer photos as I didn't want to be out all day. The run started out quite rainy and at times very windy, but thankfully it eased up as I continued my run. Once at the ocean, I ran along the beach for a ways and came upon a set of diggers and a small crowd. I asked around and this was a dead sperm whale that had washed ashore the night before, and the diggers were there to perform a Maori burial. After that I turned inland and retraced my route home. When I made it back to the hotel I was quite tired and ready for a big dinner!

We are now scheduled to fly to McMurdo tomorrow, which means a 4:30 AM wake up to check weather conditions and see if we are a no-go, delayed, or on for a morning flight. Weather has been poor recently in McMurdo (https://www.usap.gov/videoclipsandmaps/mcmwebcam.cfm) so it is certainly likely we will be delayed or cancelled. But as the saying goes, I will 'Hurry up and wait' and be fully packed and ready to go at 4:30 am tomorrow no matter what. 

A final bird spotting from this week is my youthful travel buddy Pete the Penguin. I found him this morning gazing wistfully to the south dreaming of home. Hopefully we'll be there soon! 

Wishing you all well, and I hope you enjoyed your extra hour of sleep this weekend!

-Paul