Time to Go

Well here it is. Our season is over and it's time to leave. In a few hours, we will ride Ivan the Terrabus out to Pegasus Airfield (the ice runway) to get on the C-17 that will carry us back to Christchurch, New Zealand.

It's been a great field season! I've been in Antarctica for just over 7 weeks, and spent 30 days of that out in the Dry Valleys. We collected about 960 lbs of soil and mosses that are being shipped back to Dartmouth for processing and analysis. Over the past two months since leaving New Zealand, I'll have spent about 10 hours on helicopters, 10 hours on C-17's, 3 hours on ships, 2 hours on ATV's, and 0 minutes in a car!

I will travel with Elizabeth for a week around the South Island of New Zealand, then it's back to Dartmouth, my warm bed, and my kitty cat! I will certainly miss being here, and I'm sad to go. But, there's always next year to look forward to!