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Vicki tries on her new gear for Antarctica - Source: ONE News -
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Seven days at Scott Base has left me feeling very privileged to be able to go down there. We worked hard but the pay-off was an experience of a lifetime.
Our temporary ONE News bureau was in the Hatherton Lab at one end of Scott Base. It's roughly 315 paces to the other end of the complex. There are no short cuts, it's one big, long corridor. And along the way you pass everyone and everything you need.
Down the first flight of stairs are the dormitories and the bathrooms. Down a ramp and around the bend is the TV room and then the dining room. After more stairs and another couple of corners is the telecommunications room, containing all the cabling and connections we needed for our lives crosses. That was 133 paces. All the Scott Base management team can be found at 150 paces. Then it's on down the corridor to engineering, swing a left through the mechanical workshop, up another flight of stairs and you enter the Hillary Field Centre.
This isn't the end of the journey though. You go past the secure area where the alcohol is stored, past all the big freezers and fridges stocked full of food and supplies and past the area where the scientists keep their equipment. Finally, you're at the back door.
And as you walk along, hanging up on pegs along the walls are all the regulation Antarctica New Zealand jackets. All orange and black. All the same, apart from a small name tag. There's probably 80 or 90 of them. Most people hang their overalls up as well and below them on special racks, are all the boots. Also identical. The best bit of advice I was given was to tie a small piece of coloured ribbon to mine so they were easy to spot.
To put this distance thing in perspective, it has just taken me 54 paces to walk right round our modest suburban home - from the front bedroom down the hall to the back bedroom, turning around and walking back through the kitchen, the dining room, into the lounge and sitting down on the couch.
So up and down those corridors we wouldd go, all hours of the day and night. No matter which door we went out, there was always something or someone we needed elsewhere in the building. There's a gym at Scott Base but we had a pretty good workout without getting anywhere near an exer-cycle.
And talk about pockets. In one jacket alone there were 10.
One for goggles, another for sunglasses, notepad, pens or pencil, gloves, spare gloves, neck gaiter, hat, camera, chapstick. Every item essential outside. Underneath the main goosedown jacket, two more pockets in the polar fleece jacket, and another two in the polar fleece track pants. There are four more pockets in the overalls.
Big pockets. Small pockets. We'd strip off when we came inside because of the heat, then put all the layers back on again when we went out. It became a joke trying to keep track of things. I hardly ever turned up at the right door, on time, with everything required. For slightly warmer days we had two other exterior jacket options. I never really bothered. The worry of losing things in all those extra pockets was enough to put me off.
Sorting out my gear at home, it was amazing what I found. Pens, peppermints, ear plugs and bits of paper - never really lost, just temporarily misplaced.
As we waved goodbye to Scott Base in all its Chelsea Cucumber Green glory we reflected on what an amazing place it is. The staff had been extremely busy. For three days they not only had the Erebus group staying, but there were a number of Antarctica New Zealand board members looking around and, of course, the media. It was a fairly hectic time, but it all seemed to go well for them.
A big sigh of relief from the Scott Base team would be a fairly normal reaction as the C-17 lifted slowly off the ice runway and headed north.
When we came off the plane in Christchurch, the drizzle landed softly on our faces and daytime was slowly turning to night. I hadn't experienced either for a week. It was a nice welcome home.
