I left out one thing in yesterday's posting as I've completed my souvenir shopping and have filled my bags to capacity, lets hope I'm not over the weight limit for the Air NZ flights!
Today Sunday NZ time, we slept in a little bit then rousted to grab some cereal and a bad cup of coffee before donning our cold weather gear and heading up OB Hill. OB Hill is mostly rock and broken pieces referred to as fines. A good trail existed but it had to switch back and forth to make the climb more manageable but footing was problematic in a few areas. My teammate had a GPS watch that tracked our distance and elevation change during the hike; overall we hiked 1.6 miles with 774' of altitude change in 1.5 hours. This time included a few stops going up to catch our breath and manage our body temps to avoid overheating. The trek up was amazing yet very windy. Both of us put on our balaclava which covers the head, neck and face to avoid freezing our face or receiving wind burn. The downside was that our sunglasses or goggles would routinely fog up and block our vision; something not good when climbing on unsure footing. After a few adjustments I was good to go and on to the summit. While about half way up there appeared a flat spot where someone established a podium to presumably hold talks or lectures. I stood at the site and posed for a photo hoping that I'd come up with something profound to say only to croak out "its too cold and windy here to pontificate, so why is this here?" Onward we trod and finally reached the summit. The view was amazing as we could see significant portions of Ross Island as well as the ice shelf, McMurdo Station, Scott Base, helicopter Ops, and the myriad of antennae surrounding the Station. Too bad the weather was very cloudy and low ceilings so we missed out on the spectacular views normally available.
At the summit is a memorial (established in 1913) to honor Captain Scott and his party who lost their lives returning from the South Pole. How fitting it was that I could climb the hill, survey the landscape and then approach the memorial cross on Sunday morning. I took several minutes to look out over reflect on the trip's work success, teamwork, camaraderie, safety, provision, opportunity, and ultimately God's grace provided by his son at the cross. I was moved to kneel and pray as this was my quiet time and worship service for the week. My colleague was kind to me by allowing me some space and reflection time, he even snapped a few photos of me taking in the view and praying at the cross.
After the trip down OB Hill it was time for a shower and then off to the galley for brunch. I've enclosed a picture or two of the galley and eating area for perspective; these pictures were from earlier in the week and NOT reflective of the brunch. I enjoyed FRESH EGGS (3) omelet with bacon bits, onion, olives, mushrooms, tomatoes and jalapeno peppers as well as fresh pineapple and green grapes. I enjoyed some grape and orange juice and something that looked and smelled like coffee, but it did NOT fool me.... ;-(
We have some free time the rest of the afternoon and evening but we must also perform "bag drag" and haul our checked luggage, carry-on(s), boomerang bag and ECW up to the mission management center for final weigh in. Our flight tomorrow leaves Christchurch at ~0100 and arrives at 0630, we expect to be on-board and ready for departure by 0800. This means we transport to Pegasus ice runway at ~0400.
The next blog entry should be from Christchurch NZ late tomorrow....
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