Southward Bound

Anyone would think we were expecting it to be a tad cold....

In six hours I will be on a plane en route to the great white continent that has dominated every waking hour of my life for the past six weeks. It only started to feel real when I was at the mall this morning and the wrapping paper girls asked Pip and I if we had any plans for Christmas. When our reply was a casual 'we're going to Antarctica this afternoon' I just felt the larvae of excitement hatch and start crawling up the back of my shoulder blades like a plague. I haven't been able to rid my face of a grin ever since.

Things were not looking quite so rosy on Friday morning when we went to get kitted out by Antarctic NZ. The fleece layers and ECWs (Extreme Cold Weather Gear) and mukluks were all awesome and it felt like we were kids again, playing dress ups at the Hillary exhibition at the museum. The thermals kind of threw me off though. 'Small' is the smallest size for ploypros, merinos and gloves and unfortunately my body and the set dimensions of the clothing provided could not reach a consensus. In short, the gear was way too big. If we had been kitted out on Thursday I would have been a bit calmer, but after an initial panic it was mum to the rescue, couriering down my sister's merino underwear on overnight delivery. Once that arrived I could relax enough to dress up and have a bit of fun waving to busses on the street outside and posing with the neighbours' bbq!

I do have a pair of AMAZING gloves though, gloves so magical that I feel hot springs in my chest just looking at them. Rainbow wool, they are fingerless gloves with a convertible mitten top and cosy fleece lining. Now you see the pinky, now you don't! They will go well with my pink patterned knitted hat. That hat is in for a treat. It already thinks it's been everywhere, having seen a German winter, the inside of a freezer bar, a polish summer and countless hikes in the Waitakeres, but Antarctica will be something else.

Our layering goes something like this: thermals, fleece pants, microfleece top, fleece top, overtrousers, insulating jacket, windproof jacket, ECW coat, sorel boots, mittens, hat, neck gaiter. That's about it. It's all very exciting and all very orange, but perhaps also a slight overkill when you consider that the forecast for Tuesday is something like +1 degrees. Then again, it's Antarctica. Posing is all part of it. We will look like real expeditioners as we use our Shewees and stand to pee in the igloo toilet round the back of the tents, faces enshrouded in fake fur hoods to dissipate the wind. It's official, Pip and Christel and I are now 'dudes', not that you could really tell the difference when we are all bundled up in our cold weather kit.

Anyway, the important thing is that we WILL be bundled up in our cold weather kits, flying on a C17 over the sea ice to Pegasus runway, catching a lift in a Hagglund back to Scott Base, going to survival school and drooling over skidoos. We are actually going! I'm sure I'll have countless tales to tell when we get back on the 30th, but until then, this is Hanne to the world, 'over and out'...