Summer Camp Day III

Our third day at McMurdo Station started off with a tour of Discovery Hut (after a morning of giving a few tours). This one hundred year old hut contains all of the remnants of an abandoned expedition in pristine condition. Because of Antarctica’s dry climate, food sources that were left behind, such as dead seals, are actually still there. This meant the hut didn’t smell pleasant, but still it’s still pretty cool to see a century old seal carcass. The history of the race to the South Pole is fascinating, as we found out through Drunk History; however I will cite a slightly more legitimate source, Wikipedia.

Century Old Dead Seal Mummy

Discovery Hut

Nom Nom Nom

Vintage Food

Accomodation Deck

Slaughter House

To Never Be Laid To Rest

We then discovered some amazing sights on a neature walk surrounding Discovery Hut.

Post Card Shot

Un-friggen Believable

The Highlight of our day was visiting Pegasus Runway, the major ice runway operating in and out of Ross Island. Some lucky members of our crew had gotten a full tour of the airway earlier (including pictures in the Cockpit, lucky $%&@!$%# superiors), but our friend was working when we arrived so we had to content ourselves with a mostly self-guided tour of some very cool airplanes that have been operating since WWII.  (They don’t look it)

McMurdo is actually within it's last month of operation for the summer season, so alot of people were waiting around to board the cargo plane home.
Understandably, everyone seemed excited to go hug a tree.

The "Airport"

The Cargo Plane, C-14

On our return journey the shuttle driver (our friend who also showed us the Ivan the Terra Bus) stopped so we could take photos Facebook profile pictures with an Emperor Penguin that was molting (changing feathers, they don’t like to move during this apparently painful process)!! <--exclamation marks represent my excitement at seeing the penguin, not the discomfort it's going through.

DAWWWWWWWWWWW

!$%@#*&!^!#*&@^%!!!!!!!

Most things are closed at McMurdo on Mondays so we spent a relaxing evening hanging out in a lounge with a few friends we had made. Apparently getting a job at McMurdo Station (as a support staff) is competitive but not unrealistic (especially if you know someone there).
If you’re thinking about it… CLICK HERE. Don't forget your colouring book!