Flying to Casey

Just a quick post to keep you up to speed. We are now in Hobart, and
expect to depart for Casey station in the (very) early hours of
tomorrow morning. If all goes well, we shall have only a short wait at
the airfield near Casey, before boarding the Twin Otter that will take
us to Concordia. Everybody please keep your fingers crossed!

The four of us have met up with two more fellow Concordia people, one
of whom, Rosa, is going to be the station's doctor over winter.

Our stay in Hobart has been pleasant, though brief. This afternoon we
had a briefing at the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) about their
flight protocols, safety procedures, and luggage requirements. At the
same time, we found out that three people's cold weather gear (the
stuff that is provided by IPEV) had not yet arrived from France. AAD
offered to issue us their gear instead, so Jean-Yves, Michel and I
will be wearing yellow Australian outfits instead of the traditional
blue French ones. Many thanks to the great guys at AAD for saving the
day!!

I shall be unable to post anything tomorrow. Next post from Concordia.

Visiting the Buddha

Our planned visit to down-town Hong Kong never happened.  Instead of braving the smog and traffic down-town, we opted for a healthier and more cultural alternative.

A short bus ride, and a longer cable-car ride, away from Hong Kong airport is Ngong Ping, home to the Giant Buddha and the Po Lin monastery, and one of Hong Kong's three greatest Buddhist holy grounds.  It was inspiring to climb the several hundred steps up to the Buddha (the world's tallest, seated outdoor bronze Buddha statue), and extremely refreshing to stroll through the lush vegetation covering the surrounding hills.

 

 

We are now back in the airport, resting and waiting for the flight to Sydney.  Despite our best efforts, jet-lag and travel-tiredness are beginning to get the better of us, and we are all  collapsed in separate heaps on the comfortable armchairs of the Cathay Pacific lounge.

Two dawns in one day

The first major leg of the trip is over.  The four of us now are resting a while in a lounge in Hong Kong airport, before heading to down town Hong Kong to pass the day.  The facilities here are excellent, as always, with free wifi, food and drinks. 

Below are two photos taken in the past 24 hours : the first was taken at dawn shortly after take-off from Strasbourg, and the second at dawn shortly before landing in Hong Kong.

Two dawns in one day.  Not bad when you think that in a few days time we shall be in eternal sunshine: no sunrises or sunsets for nearly two months!

And we're off!

Having met up with two fellow Antarctic travellers, we are now sitting in Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris with an hour to kill before boarding our Hong Kong flight.

Our departure from Strasbourg this morning was smooth enough, after we fixed a small problem in our reservations. The ball is now rolling: by when it stops, we shall be half a world away.

This is the waiting phase of the mission: waiting for check-ins waiting for security, waiting for departure... With six flights before we arrive at Concordia, it's a game we shall be playing often! Good job we're pretty good at it!



--- Blogged on the go!

What does one take to Antarctica?

I often get asked what goes in my suitcase when packing for Antarctica. Most people expect me take winter gear, thermal underwear, heavy sweaters, gloves.

In reality, the first things that go into the "to pack" pile are bits of scientific equippement that were left out of the boxes shipped to Concordia for the experiment. This year I'm taking 20 odd items, ranging from connectors and calibration boxes for seismometers, to snow scrapers. My colleague Jean-Yves is taking a similar volume of equippement. Between us we hope to minimize those embarassing "drat! we forgot to bring xyz!" moments.

In the space that's left in our bags, we pack the bare necessities of life away from civilization: toothbrush, moisturizer (the dryness and coldness of the air at DomeC cause the skin on your hands to crack open most painfully if you don't apply moisturizer regularly), everyday clothes for living in the base, and a swimsuit.

All the cold-weather gear is provided for us by IPEV, the French polar institute. We are each issued with two voluminous bags containing heavy socks, hats, gloves, work jeans, sweaters, sleeping bag, thick-soled boots, an insulated parka for outdoor work, sun goggles and, yes... thermal underwear!

Hmm, it's Tuesday morning, and my flight leaves on Friday... maybe I should start to pack soon!