Boomerang!!

After 6.5 hours in the air we stepped out of the plane and back into Christchurch. Antarctic flights that get turned around are known as a 'Boomerangs'. In a sense, a Boomerang is something of a rite of passage for long-term Antarcticans, but this was my first ever as I head into my eighth season on ice.

Usually, the reason for flights to be boomeranged is because the weather at Phoenix Runway (60 mins drive from Scott Base and McMurdo Station) has closed in and is no longer suitable for landing. Less frequently, flights are turned back due to mechanical or technical issues. Such was the case for us yesterday. We understand that the issue is 'minor' and will get fixed today, so that we can be on our way again tomorrow (Wednesday).

It'll be exciting to finally get to Scott Base and catch up with Brett and Neill, who have been busy getting the containers ready to go. They've also been able to get out onto the sea ice to take some measurements of sea ice, snow, and platelet layer thickness which will guide our decision on where to place the camp. However, all of our equipment is still waiting to fly south since it can only go on the C-17. So there'll only be so much we can do before that arrives - Saturday evening at the earliest!

In the meantime, we'll get stuck into training and gathering our necessary field equipment ready to move out as soon as possible.



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