Sunday...

---

Another slow day with nothing to do. Slept in, had brunch with tons of freshies. The Australians supplied the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) an Airbus to fly passengers down here because the air force helped them out with something last year. Sort of a thank you. It has been flying people down here all season (not me though), and it is big enough to put extra cargo on: new stuff for the shop, fresh fruit and vegetables, etc. So the last couple days there has been fruit and salad here, which is very nice.

The Kiwis from Scott Base played their annual rugby game against the Americans today and delivered a royal butt whooping, as usual.

I had to go to Willy Field while Paul was still awake in NH so that I could talk to him and fix the power system. It took 2 hours of digging for a box of spare parts that got drifted over from last year before I gave up and started fiddling around. All it took was switching the polarity of the solar panels, crossing the wires. So now the batteries are charging, and if the system turns itself on tonight I would be done and able to leave on the 13th. That is, if the riometer had been here on time or came with all the parts it was supposed to. (If you can't tell, I am upset at the lack of care UMD, UC Berkeley, and Dartmouth take to send thousands of dollars worth of equipment to a place with severely limited resources and communication capabilities)

Anyway, short day. Read some, wrote some, hiked some.

The ice breaker is coming in. It was spotted yesterday and is already the majority of the way here. The path from last year's icebreaker was still visible and apparently not very frozen over, so the one this year is having an easy time. It carries a year's worth of supplies here, and returns with a year's worth of waste.

Soon the penguins, seals, and orca whales will be in full force, so I guess I am not too upset at the couple extra free days I get here.

---

Photos

STO
oooooo! Lets go there!

Ice Breaker
It had an easy time this year. Made it in 10 hrs, not 10 days.

Skua
A scavenger bird that lives down here. People are not allowed to harass them, so they dive bomb me when I have food.

MCM
From Discovery Hutt Loop

Pond
of glacial runoff. I wandered off the beaten path and found this.

Landscape
its everywhere.

Rock!
and a neat one at that.

Hidden Lands
What lies behind the clouds?
No one goes, no one knows.

Seal!!
relaxin'

MCM
the backside. Literally -- the sewage treatment plant is over here.