Personal Dec 29, 2002

We made it! And here I am! Currently working night shifts, 8pm-8am, hauling cargo. Boxes and barrels and containers and food and drums and drums and drums of fuel. Hard hats and big machines. Cranes, skidoos, snowcats. The cleanest construction site in the world!

Occasionally I look up, look around me and see white. White, white, white, as far as the eye can see. Sometimes, that's not very far at all. Other days, it's miles and miles. And a streak of blue on the sky perhaps. Or the water-sky effect where clouds reflect what's below them so they're darker above water than snow. Clouds. So much sky. Clouds and clouds of sky. No wonder the meteorologists like it here so much. There's not a lot else to focus on. Except the man-made features. Straight lines, randomly placed. Why can't they be spirals? Why can't we spell something creative out to the sky above? Straight line of cargo here. Fuel depots. Shipping containers. Buildings, widely spaced apart (why?), on legs. My new lab, off in the distance, still just a platform. The containers which will go up there have, however, arrived.

This is my new home. To my surprise, it feels very normal. The wonder and beauty that has struck me every day on this voyage is less apparrant. It's kind of as I expected, but in every direction. And bigger. It's right somehow. Maybe it's because we're busy, maybe because I have plenty of time ahead of me, maybe because, unlike the other places on this trip, I've heard a lot about Halley already.

Whatever the reason, it's good to be here. And it's been a good laugh so far too. Everyone takes part in the relief operation, ship side, base side, in between. It's about 13km between ship and base and we're operating for 24 hours. There's bound to be more about this written in the official site (remember to look for Halley now, not Shackleton!) This is just a quick entry, before I return to the fuel drums, to say I'm here, we made it and it's good.

Thanks also to everyone who sent me a christmas email, thanks for the pressies, cards and letters that I got to open on christmas day and Happy New Year to you all! (Also, my email address book was wiped upon moving up here so if you want a personal email from me back, please just drop us a quick line – either leave a comment here, or email Felix.)

Posted by Rhian at 22:27 EST

Comments

Happy New Year!!

Hope the relief is on schedule and all is well. Also hope you took a moment to ring in the new year. Sounds like quite the adventure and I'm incredibly jealous. Your desciptions allow me to experience it all with you. Stay safe operating cranes, driving snow cats and the other various fun things you get to do.

Much love,
Tina, Andrew and Bronwyn

Posted by: Tina at 13:27 EST, January 01, 2003