Hostel Tour

So this post is for those of you that have never stayed in a hostel before and don't really know what they are like. This is your virtual tour. So the hostel you see here is called Base Backpackers, and it is located in Auckland, NZ. Base is a well-known chain through NZ and Aus with seven hostels in various areas. It was a Base that I stayed in in Christchurch as well, where I had the party in a brothel experience.

So this is the outside of the hostel. As you can see it is not a sketchy whole in the wall. It is its own building with 7 stories of cheap and affordable rooms and accomidations. This is one of the nicer hostels for certain, but most of the accomidations are universal to hostels. The price for one night in the dorms usually ranges from US$10 - 20 per night...but that gets you a lot of stuff, as you will soon see.

This is the front desk and ground floor of Base Auckland. The staff is super friendly and can direct you to anything from the nearest thrill or sight to the local grocery store. Also notice the travel agents in the room to the back. They can book you literally anything you want on either island. Very convenient.

This picture turned out kind of dark. This is the mess hall on the first floor. There are tables here for those that decide to dine in house for US$4-6 per meal (lots of food). Also there is a pool table and flat screen tv here as well as an adjoining bar with really cheap drink specials for happy hour. For example, it is NZ$5 (approx US$3.75) for 2.5 pints ( a mini pitcher) of the local draught...nice.

This is the internet/phone lounge with large table for planning upcoming journeys. I dont use the internet in the hostels however since the local places are soooo much cheaper. Hostel: 1hr internet: NZ$5.00; Korean place just down the street: 1hr internet plus pictures and stuff: NZ$2.00.... thank you Koreans.

This is the hostels kitchen. As most backpackers are extremely poor, most hostels have full kitchens. So what you do is, you check in, go to the nearest grocery store and buy cheap local food. Then cook the cheap local food in the kitchen. Easy squeezy, lemon peezy...or however that goes.

This is the outdoor lounge. Here it is a balcony on the 7th floor overlooking the harbour. Nice eh?!? Most hostels also have these for those that like to dine outside or just plain out hang out in the sun.

And last but not least: the dorm. This is a 12 bed dorm (the one I am sleeping in). I have a key card that only lets me into this room...which is really nice for security. There are also lock boxes under the beds...also nice. The other people in the dorm are quite nice. They are co-ed, as are the bathrooms. I didnt get a picture of the bathrooms, but they are just like in college. Co-ed with lots of stalls of showers and toilets and a wall full of sinks and mirrors. They get the job done.

And finally....PICTURES!!!

I promised pics...and here they are! Im in New Zealand now and loving it as always...even their biggest city is friendly and mostly inviting. Kiwis rule.

Pic above: Me at Club Masa...like I said...Surfer's Paradise...

Our shelter from the sun at the Sigatoka Sand Dunes....that is James walking down the beach. Notice the dunes in the distance....they were massive

Natadola Beach...none of my pictures do it any justice....it was beautiful beyond any words or image

The Kavaholics jamming out. The bowl in the middle is the ceremonial kava bowl. Good times

My Fiji crew (minus Barrett). From left to right: Brett from Austin, Texas. Charlie from England. And of course the other three Brits: James, Olivia, and Andy!!!

Sunset from the beach at Horizon Beach Hostel...yea it was that good for only Fiji$10 a night

Looking out at the water from the Horizon beach

Make out a red telephone booth with Big Ben in behind at night...tried to be artistic here...oh well

The modern art center in London...it reminded me of one of the ministries out of Orwell's 1984

British Parliament from across the Thames. The bridge is the Westminster Bridge...Kamila and Jaffa live right on that road...sweet location for sightseeing indeed

The London Eye

Fiji continued...

Hey everybody! Sorry it has been a few days since my last post...I am alive and well and the last few days have been adventurous to say the least!

So Tuesday, Barrett (the dude from SC) and I met 3 travelers from the UK on their gap year (year off between college and university often used to travel the world...I wish the States had an equivalent!). We hit it off immediately, trading stories and recommendations on where to go (they had just come from Aus and NZ and were on their way to the States). We all went into town where I got to learn more abou the people of Fiji.

Fiji is comprised of around 50% native Fijian islanders, who have a pretty interesting canibal history!!! The other 50% is of Indian descent and were brought over by the British as cheap labor, aka slaves. The Indian Fijians now own about 99% of the local business while the natives live in the small villages and either work for Indians in the towns or farm the land. Unfortunately, most Fijians are extremely poor...living on only a few Fijian dollars a day (1 US dollar = 1.9 or so Fiji dollars). The really disgusting part is that the places that make the most money, the resorts, hotels, hostels, and travel companies are almost exclusively owned by Europeans and Americans. So Europeans and Americans are using the beauty and peacefulness of the Fiji Islands to draw other Americans and Europeans for travel and the Fijians see very very little of the money spent...that made me angry and guilty at being one of the many wealthy travelers. I feel such a lack for money at home...but after seeing what it is like here...I feel quite guilty for ever thinking such a thing.

Anyway...so Tuesday night we (3 Brits: Andy, Olivia, and James, as well as Barrett and myself) all got to take part in a local Fiji custom: a Kava ceremony. Kava is a root that is ground up and mixed with water to make a drink. Kava has a natural depressant in it that gives a feeling of numbness to the mouth (like novicane) and slows the body down. After learning about "Fiji time", how time slows down in Fiji, it makes perfect sense that the drink is so popular here. The ceremony is conducted by a group of native musicians who belt out a ton of songs on guitars and eukalalis with kava drinking inbetween songs. It was a great night spent with the Kavaholics, the bands name, which really added to the feeling of being in Fiji.

The next day, Wednesday, we all decided to make the quest to Natadola Beach, which is reputed as the 2nd most beautiful beach in the world. We caught local busses into town and then to the southern town of Sigatoka. We got a hotel room in Sigatoka and caught another bus on to the junction for Natadola. The only way to get to the beach is to be let off at the junction and catch a cab down the dirt road to get to it. After seeing it, I have no idea of what place can be more beautiful in order to achieve 1st place. The water was brilliant shades of bright turquoise and royal blue. There was a bright lagoon with a boat to cross at the mouth when the tide was in . The tide was out so we just crossed through the shallow water to a rocky outcropping on th e other side. We set up here and enjoyed the beautiful blue water and bright sun. We had to get back across while we could when the tide started coming in fear of getting our cameras soaked.

We then swam some more in the lagoon which was really quite deep. The only bad thing about the beach is that they are in the process of putting up a 5 star resort. The resort is owned by, of course, a group of Europeans. That also pissed me off. Anyway, it was an amazing day, and I will highly recommend the beach to anyone that gets to visit Fiji...resort or not.

We worked our way back to town, where we got a case of the local brew, Fiji Bitter, and grabbed some curry for dinner. I must say the Fiji Bitter beer is really good. I was pleasantly surprised. So the 5 of us shared more stories and aquired knowledge as well as some of the funny quirks about our respective homelands long into the night before passing out from a long day in the sun and a few good beers.

The following day, we ventured out nearer to Sigatoka town to the sand dunes. These dunes are huge. The Sigatoka Sand Dunes are also the only place on the main island of Viti Levu where there is a shore break, perfect for surfing. The beach there is wild and undeveloped...thank goodness but for how long I wonder? I rented a board from a native at a village on the dirt road out to the beach. The surf was choppy and the current was eerily strong. I got up on a few of the breakers off shore, but the current proved too strong for me to get out to where they were breaking regularly. Either way I had fun. There was a small resort there called Club Masa. By resort, I dont mean hotel, I mean paradise. It was a small group of huts inhabited by some interesting travelers and local surfing enthusiasts. The huts were surrounded by tall shady palms and grassy lands. There were a few horses and the dunes to make an amazing backdrop. It was definately the type of place where I could lose mysleft for a few weeks, or months, forgetting the outside world and giving in to pure and simple Fiji time. It was definately a surfer's (or just free spirited person's) paradise.

So that is that...I parted with the Brits in Sigatoka on Thursday. They had much more time here and were going to start hopping to the smaller islands. We lost Barrett at Club Masa. He was obviously drawn in by the peaceful chillness of the place. I truly wonder how long he will linger there.

I have pictures galore, and I am looking forward to getting to an internet cafe in Auckland to post them. I promise, they are amazing and coming soon. I hope all is well with everyone back there and you are enjoying these brief snipits! I will post more either tomorrow or the next day from New Zealand!! Til then!

Fiji: Day 1

Hey everybody! Sorry no pictures yet...but I found out that I will definately be able to hook my camera up in New Zealand...so just a few more days and I will get all those out on here.

Fiji is beautiful as expected; humidity is a bit on the oppressive side though. Reminds me quite a bit of Puerto Rico actually. We went into Nadi town today, which was incredible. The locals/natives are super friendly, and the town is so different from anything you can find in the states or Canada. Everyone had a big smile on their face and said hello or good morning or "bula" (hello in the local tongue) passing by. I felt very welcome. The town is a good island town...but I'll talk about that and how it is different when I post the pictures. For now, just know I am here, staying in a hostel on the beach and pretty much just relaxing and sharing travel stories with the other guests, who are from all over. I have learned a ton about New Zealand too as many of the people here are coming from traveling there...works out well for me! Alright, so more to come, I promise!

So here I am in London. This city is quite simply amazing; I drained the batteries on my camera so fast taking snapshots of all of the various historic buildings and incredible views. It is so strange coming from North America where anything from the 1700's is considered old. Here in London, I saw the remnants of a building built in 1131...now that is old.

When I got here and met up with my friends from my last visit, we started walking in order to take in some sights and catch up on our goings on. I got to see an amazing amount of the city, covering from Parliament (with Big Ben) down the south bank of the Thames to the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge, where we crossed to make the trek back on the north bank. The history this river has seen is unbelievable. To think that one of the worlds most powerful empires was ruled from this city is wild. We stopped in at the Clink Prison on the south bank to see the museum there. I was intrigued to find out that 22 of the brothels that lined the streets of the south shore were owned and operated by the local Bishop!!! No joke...and most of the prisoners in the Clink were women (prostitutes who didnt follow the Bishop's rules) as well as their clients (who also didnt follow the laws....or just didnt pay up) and the not so odd child that accompanied his or her "working" mother. The instruments of bondage, torture and execution that they had on display went beyond anything that should possibly be conceived by any human being. Disgusting.

So just one of the many, many things that I learned today wandering the streets of this city. I am just blown away by the density of historical buildings and places this city holds all within zone 1 (of 6) of its metropolitan transport services...wild.

Right, so I am here, I am safe, and I am with friends. I am ready to continue on this journey of mine. Tomorrow I hope to hit up at least the Natural History and Imperial War museums, and I might be able to get in the National Gallery as well...who knows. But Saturday it is off to Fiji...but as that will be over 26 hours of travel...it might be some time before I can publish again. I would have more pictures...but the one at the top isnt even mine. As I feared, I couldnt hook my camera up here so I just found that picture online as it was somehting I did indeed see today and the conditions were very similar to how it was when I saw it. It is the Tower Bridge with a British Navy ship by the by... ok, til next post!

So, the time has come; my journey is about to begin. I leave Wednesday (23 March 06) for London, England where I will embark on Saturday (25 March) for the rest of the trip. I figured I would map out my plans for everybody for visualization. I have no idea how many people are actually checking this blog out, but for those of you that are interested in my travels, I hope this helps! The above world map is direct from the site that I found my tickets on: www.youthtravel.com

It shows the worldwide view of it all. As you can see, I leave from London and have a stop in L.A. I have been here before, and since it isn't my most favorite place in the world (California is beautiful though I must say!), I have chosen to have only an hour and a half layover here before moving on to the rest. From there, I fly to Nadi, Fiji, where I will enjoy my quiet little hostel on the beach for a few days. After Fiji, I fly to Auckland, New Zealand. From here on I will go to regional maps for details.

So this is New Zealand. For those of you that have followed my blog from Antarctica, you know that I love New Zealand. The people are friendly, the country is beautiful beyond all description, and the whole feel of the place is pleasant and peaceful. My type of place. So that justifies much time spent here on this trip. So I will spend a few days in Auckland planning and organizing for my bus travels around the islands. I will head south along the coast to New Plymouth. Moving on after a night there, I will get to the capital, Wellington. I plan on at least a full day here to take in the sites (the city is built around a semi-circular harbour) and hopefully get a few good conversations in with the locals. Then I will embark on the ferry crossing of the straight to Picton on the southern island. I will go on from there to Nelson and Abel Tasman National Park, which from all of my planning is one of my most highly anticipated parts of the trip. I will cover all details after I get there though, I promise! So now I have to get back up to Auckland again to catch my flight back to the southern island to the city of Queenstown, but that is fine because I get to go back a different way and see more things like the Maori town of Rotorua and the site of Hobbiton in the filming of Lord of the Rings.

Ok, so now I fly to Queenstown, where I will do some more city walking and people meeting and also catch a bus to Fjordland National Park to see some sweet fjords and Milford Sound. Then I fly on to Christchurch where I hope to get up to see either Arthur's Pass or Kaikoura. All done with New Zealand, now on to Australia.

From Christchurch, I arrive in Sydney. I will be spending a good few days here getting used to the place, seeing the sites, visiting a friend named Daniel (a student in Sydney who I met at South Pole), and hopefully avoiding any run-ins with the plethora of deadly creatures that call Australia home. I have purchased a "Great Southern Railway Pass" and will be using this as my primary means of transportation while down under. So from Sydney, I will move westward to the Outback town of Broken Hill and further on to Adelaide. Moving on to Melbourne, I may rent a car and check out some of the coastal scenery and vinyards around the city...supposedly quite worth it. I then travel north to Alice Springs, where I will rent a car to make the several hundred kilometer journey through the desert to Uluru (Ayers Rock). Since Bill Bryson and pretty much every other person that has ever seen the monolith recommends it as the one thing you MUST see in Australia, I figured it might be worth the drive. I then take more train rides to get to Perth, which I am really looking forward to visiting. I can get way too carried away with what I am looking forward to here and everywhere else, so I will just have to make you all wait for more details until I actually go. Perth is now my point of exit for Australia. I fly on to Singapore.

So for those of you not familiar with your southeast Asian geography, this is a really horrible map to show since you probably don't know where this is at all. But no worries! Simply correlate to the world map at the top of the page and hopefully all troubles are solved. Anyway, I will be visiting with a friend from school who now lives in Singapore. He has promised me a "balistic" time so I am really looking forward to it! I just need to avoid chewing gum, jay walking and feeding any wildlife (Singapore has some strict laws). Hopefully they aren't too rough on those having a "balistic" time. But Rakhil lives there so I will trust in him! From Singapore, I move on into Malaysia and Thailand, where I will basically be bussing and ferrying between major cities and tropical islands. This should be a really, really beautiful part of the trip, and I really hope I will get good computer access to keep the pictures (or at least stories) coming to you all! From the pictures I have already seen of some of these islands and cities...this is going to be really good. And for those of you familiar with the region, don't worry; I have been warned many, many times about Thailand (and I know you know what I mean).

So after a mad dash down the eastern side of the peninsula, I fly on from Singapore to Mumbai, India. From here I will travel (mostly by train) to Bhopal to hopefully hit up a national park that is home to lots of tigers and Jungle Book-like terrain. From there I will go on to Agra to, of course, see the Taj Mahal (also one of those must sees, eh?). I will do a little maneuvering around, possibly through the "Pink City" of Jaipur, through Delhi and on to see Amritsar, the Sikh capital with the golden temple. I then want to get up into Kashmir to Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama currently resides. I have a strong interest in both Sikhism and Buddhism, and I am also looking forward to catching a glimpse of the Himalayas. From Dharamsala, I go back to New Delhi to see its sites before going back to London.

So Europe will be the end place of my travels. I fly into London, but I will do my best to get out of the UK as quickly as possible due to the overwhelming price of nearly everything there (with the exception of their amazing museums and galleries that is). I don't care how much money I have left, I will see Ireland. From there, I have one month worth of Eurail pass, and I will go with sleeping on trains and wandering through Europes many cities for as long as I can afford! I am most definately expecting to be running out of my funds in Europe, so it will basically be a crap shoot as to where and when! There you go, maybe someone can start a betting pool on that... :P

So, my realistic goal right now for Europe is: Dublin, Galway, and Wexford in Ireland; hopping a ferry to France for Cherbourg, Paris, and Toulouse. Crossing the Pyranees to see at least Barcelona, and crossing them again to see the French Riviera on my way over to Italy. Here I have hopes for Pisa, Florence, Rome, and Venice. I must also make it here to meet up with two friends from school: Gianluca (a native Italian) and Chris. Gianluca has promised to show me and Chris the real Italy, and I am really looking foward to it! Then hopefully I will book it up through Austria and Germany and into the Netherlands and Belgium before flying home.

So there we go. I am leaving in two days and I can barely believe it. I want to thank everybody who has helped with any advice, money, and motivation. This trip started out as a dream, and I have only been able to make it a reality because of all of you. I hope that you enjoy this blog, and I will look foward to telling even more stories when I get back!

Viva Las Vegas!!!

So this past weekend (26th-28th January 2005) my friend Rob and I went to Las Vegas for his 23rd birthday! We stayed in the Luxor pyramid, which was incredible, and we did the normal Vegas blitz: 2 days of gambling, shows, drinking, clubbing, and of course, sleep deprivation.

This was my second trip to Sin City, and I loved it every bit as much as the last time.

This shot, is a view of the Statue of Liberty in front of New York, New York, with the MGM Grand across the street. It was taken from the walkway between Excalibur and NY, NY.

This is a view down Las Vegas Blvd from the South end of the strip looking North. The Brooklyn Bridge is on the left at NY, NY. The Aladdin and Paris' Eiffel Tower and hotel can be made out down on the right, with the Flamingo in the far distance. The Strip is really, really long. I made the trip from the Luxor down to Caesar's, Treasure Island, and the Imperial Palace several times while we were there (the Imperial Palace is my favorite casino for gambling as my luck there hasn't lost me money yet!), and by the end of the trip, the bottoms of my feet were bruised and the toes very blistered...it was still so worth it though!

This is my artistic shot of the fountain in front of Paris with the Eiffel Tower in behind. I know...its good... :P kidding! Anyway, I just love seeing how all the casino's have spent rediculous amounts of money making the places so detailed, intricate, and unique! You can entertain yourself just wandering the casinos and not spending any money at all! My favorites are definately the Luxor, Caesar's Palace, and the Venetian. Caesar's and the Venetian have massive indoor malls that are themed around a Roman marketplace and a Venice canal, respectively. The Luxor, with its Sphynx, full sized pyramid, and ancient Egyptian decor is just incredible as well. Treasure Island has a free pirates show, which kicks serious booty (yeaaarg!) and Bellagio has a free fountain/light show at their massive outdoor lake. Inside the Mirage, you can find albino tigers, a MASSIVE aquarium with a ton of tropical fish, and a dolphin tank. And for those poker enthusiasts (like myself) it isn't too hard to catch one of your favorite pros at the various high stakes poker rooms...I just highly recommend NOT SITTING DOWN at one of those tables! I just watched...and those people are good...and have deep pockets.

This is one of the only night shots that turned out half decent, which is a shame since the whole city glows at night. This was our hotel, the Luxor. The pyramid has that beacon shining at the top which you can see from anywhere in the city. Very nice for those nights that go a little too crazy, as you always know the way back to your room!

Here is the Luxor again...like I said, full-sized Sphynx and pyramid...amazing! I definately recommend Vegas to anybody and everybody! Its like Disney World for an adult! I also saw one of the shows, Fantasy, at the Luxor. It was quite entertaining (the comic relief was the best part), and yes, it had showgirls, who weren't too bad either (just not up close....definately a case of "nice from afar, but far from nice" for most of them). As for the gambling...I recommend just setting yourself a daily limit on that, and DO NOT GO OVER IT! Expect to lose it and if you do, then you hopefully had fun playing the games in the process. If you end up winning, then its all the more sweet, sweet victory! Oh yea, and I recommend craps...that game is incredible and if you play it right, it has the highest odds in the players favor of any game at a whopping 49.6%...and I think its one of the most fun and exciting games to play too!

Christchurch, NZ: Round 2

Back in Christchurch on the way home. I got to spend 2.5 more days in New Zealand and once again, I LOVED IT! Here is another shot of Cathedral Square.

The market at Cathedral Square where you can get a bunch of New Zealand goods like sheep skins, wool and leather goods, native jewelry and tons of other stuff.

Here is yet another picture of the Avon River and its beauty. Remember, this flows right through Christchurch and it is lined with parks along the entire way...beautiful. When the sun comes out, locals and tourists all lounge along the grassy banks...sooo cool.

I figured I would give the hostel life a try while I was there (and get a taste of what to look forward to with the round the world). This was Base Backpackers right accross from the Cathedral in Cathedral square. I am SO glad I decided to spend a night here! In the lounge, I met Jordan from Saskatchewan, Canada (yea go Canada!), Nina from Denmark, and Mike from England. We all hit it off right away and ended up wandering around town looking for a fish and chips joint, hitting up an Irish pub (Nina had NEVER been to one!) and talking about our travels and homes the entire time! We then went back to Base where some of the Kiwis that worked at the hostel invited us to a party they were having. The party was awesome as it was comprised mostly of people from the hostel and everyone had great stories about their travels and places seen. My Everglades endeavour went over very well with everyone there. They had a sweet karaoke system that hooked up to the Playstation allowing people to have "sing off's" against each other...and trust me, EVERY party should have this as it got everyone to shake off any worries and just have fun! We also found out that the house we were partying in used to be a brothel! It was wild, and they even had the old warning to client stickers on the walls informing "clients" of the brothel about how to avoid STD's and sharing drug paraphernalia...crazy night!

So the next day I woke up early to catch a shuttle bus out of town to the Akaroa Peninsula. Yes, New Zealand is this beautiful, and the picture BARELY does justice. The peninsula was formed millions of years ago by three volcanoes that are now very dead. They left behind this amazing hills and harbours that make up the peninsula that juts out of the otherwise amazingly flat Canterbury Plains. The harbours in the peninsula are teaming with wildlife and small fishing towns amongst a beautiful landscape...in other words, my form of Heaven on Earth.

Looking at the fishing/tourist town of Akaroa. Very quaint, and small town, despite the busy summer-tourist season going on. I wandered around town for the first half of the day before my wildlife boat tour. The views here are indescribable...I loved the grassy hills coming right down to the harbour all around. I also ate what is definately the best fish I have ever tasted for lunch.

Looking away from town out towards the harbour. I walked up to the lighthouse as well...and I know I am going to be returning to Akaroa at a later time in my life. I really loved the place. My wildlife cruise went well. We saw plenty of birds (but no penguins which is why I signed up for it in the first place!). We also saw A LOT of Hector's dolphins, the world's rarest and smallest dolphins. They are only 4' 6" max size and are really cool. None of my pics turned out too nice as they were too fast for my shutter! But I did get to see quite a good bit of them as they were not at all afraid of coming up to the boat. It was almost as if they knew we were getting a kick out of seeing them and were playing up for the show!

Good bye Christchurch! Christchurch and the start of the plains as seen from my plane. You can see the Pacific Ocean to the left back and the start of the Akaroa Peninsula to the center and right back, with Christchurch in the middle, and the farmers fields that make up the majority of the Canterbury Plains at the bottom. I love New Zealand.

Leaving Antarctica...

McMurdo Station once again. This is a sweet shot of the station from Observation Hill (well named eh?), which we climbed on our delay day at the station. McMurdo houses about 1000 people during the summer months. It is a very busy station and the food is NOTHING compared to that at Pole. Still, the mountains and ice shelf make for very nice scenery!

This is a picture of the ice dock (where the ice breaker comes into) and Hut Point. Hut Point has a memorial cross and Scott's Hut on it. Back in 1902, the hut was built to house Scott's expedition when their ship was caught in the ice and they were forced to winter over (that would SUCK back then). The hut was used in later years for other expeditions. It is really cool too because the wood on the hut looks like it is brand new. The extra cold weather has let it keep very well.

The memorial cross at Hutt Point. This was for a sailor that fell into a crack in the ice near the point and died. There were also some seals on the ice when I was here. They were pretty boring, however, as they just layed on the ice flicking the odd flipper every now and then. I guess I wouldn't be too active either if I were that awkward out of the water...

This is a picture of Observation Hill. People climb this to get some great views of McMurdo Sound, Ross Island, and the mountains accross the ice shelf. On our delay day, we climbed this, then hiked over to the Kiwi station: Scott Base. Scott was awesome! Very cozy inside with the usual friendly Kiwis all over. Their bar/game room was the best. They had a stuffed kiwi bird and maps from all over the world, plus darts and an old pool table. Very comfortable base those Kiwis have going on!

Here I am at the top of Ob Hill. The background didn't turn out too detailed, but it was beautiful up there.

This is a sweet shot of McMurdo Sound with Mt. Erebus in the background. McMurdo is right in the center (we are far from it and it is quite hard to make out, but trust me, in the center where the ice meets the rocks is that huge, 1000 person station. Ob Hill is the little one in the very front right). Mt. Erebus is a massive (12000+ feet) ACTIVE VOLCANO! Yea, that smoke coming out of the top is not a cloud folks! It and its neighbor, Mt. Terror (how sweet of a name is that for a mountain!) make up the bulk of Ross Island. This picture was taken from the larger airport on the ice shelf: Pegassus. It lies quite a distance (as you can see here) from the station and is the station used for C-17 flights. I got my last glimpses of the frozen continent from here, and with such a clear, sunny day, they were unbelievable!

South Pole: Day Twenty-something...

Ok, I messed the order up on these...but oh well. This is one of the crazy solar effects here at the South Pole. It is called a "false dawn." You cant see it in this picture, but the sun was really up in the sky when this was taken. I don't know if this is because of the ice crystals in the air, like the sun dog, but whatever causes it, the sun gets this reflection on the horizon directly below it, making it look like a second sun is rising directly underneath the normal one!

This is a shot taken from the air of the entire station. You might have to get out a magnifying glass...but you can make out ARO (where our instruments are) at the very bottom left (the little spot). The New Station is the biggest building (left-center) with the dome as the dark splotch next to it. "Summer camp" is that large stretch of buildings and whatnot that lie above the station in the picture. The ice runway runs down the center of the shot and to the right of that is the dark sector where the telescopes and IceCube (the nuetrino detector) are. Notice that the walk to ARO is really long (somewhere between a quarter and third of a mile). I'll get to that in a few.

This is another of the amazing and crazy things that the sun does at the South Pole. It is called a "sun dog," and it is a lovely spectacle that occurs because of the ice crystals in the air. As you can tell, the sun gets those halos around it and bright points form at various points throughout the halo....really really neat!

Speaking of that long walk to ARO, here's Neal and I just getting in: notice the frost on our beard hair. The moisture in our breath freezes to pretty much anything it touches...yes, it is that cold here.

And here is Dr. Azeem, Dr. McEwen (in the doorway), and myself, obviously very hard at work.

Distinguished Visitors at SP

Today, Jan 7th, South Pole Station had some special visitors. Two senators and several congressmen traveled to the pole to take a tour of the station. They were all on committees dedicated to the National Science Foundation, and were therefore very interested in the science and station here at the South Pole.

Yes, Senator John McCain was one of the two senators to visit, and I even got to talk with him! He knew of Embry-Riddle (from reputation as well as the campus in Prescott, AZ). He thanked Dr. Azeem and I personally for the research we were doing, and I must say that was pretty cool coming from a very possible candidate for US Presidency in 2008. I then thanked him for his work in the Senate, of which I am very much a fan.

This is from a totally different day; but notice the Canadian flags on the tails of these "twin otters:" small planes used for flights around both poles. These were from a Canadian company that specialized in flying to very cold, remote areas, and I thought it was just nice to see some Canadian presence (especially considering we don't have a flag down here!!!).