I've arrived at McMurdo Station! I'm glad to be here after 5 days of delays. Our flight finally left Christchurch around 9am yesterday (Dec 6th) and landed on the ice in the early evening. We were greeted by clear views of Mt. Erebus (the world's southernmost active volcano,) the Royal Society Range, and lots of snow and ice. Life in McMurdo over the next week will mostly consist of trainings covering everything from field survival skills to proper chemical waste disposal in lab as well as some prep work for the field and lab work later in the season. If all goes to plan, I'll be heading out to the Dry Valleys on Tuesday.

The images below were taken by AWI Operations Manager Sue O’Reilly in 2015 during her time working in Antarctica. They were taken on the Pegasus Runway where wheeled aircraft land during mid-summer on the ice in front of McMurdo Station. The Kiwi C-130 is the same type of aircraft Lija flew on.