Back in action!!!

So I have been away from the blog for a while now!! I had a bit of a rough end to the season on the ice and it took a bit out of me!! It was a good life lesson and taught me to be even more patient then I already am!!

Well the season was a success and I have a contract for the next season already!! So time for fun!! The time off has started quite good! I went with two mates from the ice to Queenstown, being that we get in New Zealand it is pretty easy to play around the area for a bit before heading out to wherever!! So I went with 3 mates to go climbing in Queenstown and Wanaka! We had an awesome time doin all the climbs and the scenery in that area is outragouesly beautiful!!!! I got to cook for the first time in 6 months, which was great, even though it was camping food it turned out to be pretty darn good! The next place I head to was Auckland to visit my ol' roomie from college, Tom and his new wife Tracy!! I got to go mountain biking and went to the beach, nice and peaceful!! Then I just arrived in Australia!!

I am staying with some friends,Mike and Stacey, I met last year at the Blues Fest here! I am at their cool house in Wollongong! Last night I went with Mike to a meat raffle? I know sounds crazy right well I basically, it is exactly as it sounds!! They raffle off meat while people just enjoy themselves over a pint of beer or glass of wine, just a normal friday evening event!! Nuts right! Crazy Aussie's!!! Anyway, I leave on monday for Sydney and start 10 days of fun with friend from the ice!! well I am at a computer that does not work with my new camera!! I have a new toy, really cool pics so far!!But the pics will follow when I figure this thing out! Till the next time!

Eliotts Video

World Below The Ice

So one of the divers came back from the field and had taken many shots of the world underneath the ice! It is really hard to believe that there is so much underneath the ice. Ross Bay is virtually all covered in ice as far as the eye can see, it goes for about 50 miles right now. It recedes later in the season and will blow away out to see. The divers go out all around the bay to spots that are known to have certain types of life and then there is the random form of life unexpected. These pictures are amazing so much life and so much diversity for such a cold an barren place! There is also pictures of the ice that is semi-frozen, basically the whole bay would be frozen, the water is at 28.8 degrees, but the water is so saline that the salt prevents the sea from freezing. So sometimes the water semi freezes and forms these crystals that are beautiful! So enjoy the underwater world of Antarctica!!! It is quite the amazing place! All is well otherwise. Till the next time!!!

T-giving!!!

Well once again it was holiday time this last weekend!! Gobble gobble, was the sound in the air but of course there were no live turkeys to be found but oh do we love that day where we eat like its the last meal that we will ever have!! It was a good meal but having all the ruckus go on made it hard to sleep before the meal so I was a bit groggy before but the people in my dorm were festive so that helped me wake up!! I was thinking of home during the meal though!! Dads turkey, Moms rolls the meal in general was good but of course not as good as home. That's ok though! It is what it is. Next comes X-mas and that should be another good meal. At least the two days off in a row is a nice break!

As for the other news in my life is the new girl that I have been enjoying my time with. This place down here is hard to identify what is what. Back home if you are dating someone, you will see them here and there, have your dates and enjoy the building of a relationship,but here it is quite different. I work with the person and eat with the person as well as do activities with her outside of work so it is hard to define what the relationship is!! Nonetheless, it is good and we are having a great time together. Amanda has a great smile and is hilarious. We both make each other laugh all the time. We took a hike the other day and the picture is from that! Anyway, time to run and go for a walk by myself!! Hard to get me time here! Ok, till the next time!!

TIme for my first girl talk!!

So I have been seeing a girl down here and so far it has been good! She works with me, which is different for me cause I have never done the work and play in the same place!! But so far so good! She is a girl that is quite open and blunt, she definitly tells it how it is!! She and I have an agreement that we are going to try and remain anonymous about this amongst co-workers and the community. We want it just to be for us, at least for now! Her name is Amanda and I don't have any good pics yet but I will take one soon!! Well thats all for now, until the next time!!

THIS IS ANTARCTICA!!!

Holy Guacamole, this is crazy, we are stuck in the middle of a herbie, which is a hurricane with snow!! The temps are not absolutly crazy low but are low enough, about -25 below, but the winds are up to about 100-130mph!!!!!!! Just nuts I tell ya, I feel like a kid in the first snow storm of the year but the wind makes it off the rocker!! I have seen some good stuff here but this takes the cake. I really just can't describe how amazing this is!! This for me is the closest I will ever be able to come to know what it was like for Shackelton, Ross and the many other hardened travelers of the old!!! The fact that I am wearing Mountain Hardwear gear and modern day insulation makes it a lot easier to bear, but nonetheless, it is a treat to experience this level of weather, which is truly found only on one place on the planet, Antarctica!!!!!!! There is the pics of the weather forcast on the computer here, pics of the storm coming into the runway, and a video of being right in the middle of it!!!!!!!!

Happy Little Trees!!

So that time of year has come!! That time of course is the moment when everyone sheds their personalities and becomes anyone and everyone, you know what I'm talking about!! Halloween, ah so much fun! Last year if ya'll remember I was Richard Simmons, so once again I had to follow suit with another big costume, it was easy to make and required only a little ingenuity to make it happen!! Of course you know that I always start with the afro but this year required for me to grow more hair in another place, my face!!! Yup, I grew a beard, a pretty big one at that and for the first time ever I really look my father!! Dad, when I looked in the mirror, it was quite scary!! In a good way of course but that whole "you look more like your father every day!" Anyway, it was a fun party but once again no prizes for the costume and again everyone said I did a great job on it and should have won something!! But oh well, its all for the fun anyway!! So here are some of the pics, there is one pic of a friend who did a great job I thought, so also there wintery pics as well as from a very stormy day!!!