San Diego -> Los Angeles -> Sydney -> Christchurch, NZ (25 hours of flying)

Made it to Christchurch and the next morning arrived at the US Antarctic Program (USAP) offices for a preliminary briefing (only one of many to come) and to be outfitted with our ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear at the Clothing Distribution Center (CDC) in a small office with locker rooms at the USAP Center.

Springtime in the Southern Hemisphere

Bromirski and Wanetick at the CDC

Bound for McMurdo Station, Antarctica the following day. We boarded a C17 transport plane and shared our seats with a search and rescue helicopter headed for the New Zealand (Scott) Base on the other side of Ross Island from McMurdo. We’re sitting on the starboard side of the plane (left side of the photo) towards the tail of the plane.

We’re sitting on the starboard side of the plane (left side of the photo) towards tail (you can see Anja’s light blue jacket near the helicopter)

Lots of leg room on this flight

C17 landed at Pegasus Field, McMurdo Station

Dr. Bromirski, in full ECW, disembarks and is ready to wrangle some data