I am norwegian doctor who worked as expedition doc on the Antarctic research station Troll for the summer season 2007-2008. NB: This blog is intended as a personal and ecological account from The Ice Planet - fully independent of the Norwegian Polar Institute, their official web page being: npweb.npolar.no

01 Apr 2008

Leaving before nightfall

As you probably guessed, I'm now back from Antarctica. The mite samples have been carefully delivered in Stellenbosch.

To compensate for the extreme delay in posting this final entry, I present you with some photos from the russian Novolazarevskaya station from the flight out. Antarctica offers some interesting human landscapes as well.



There were some amazing vehicles lying around the "transit terminal" - the friendly tent camp where we were served excellent russian soup while waiting for our flight off the continent.



Monstertruck Breshnev-style.
(If anyone knows the history of this bubble-tyred snowmobile, please let me know!)



Funky skidoo.



Winter warrior.



The pet south polar skua in camp, regularly fed foodscraps by the russian crewmembers.
Not strictly in tune with environmental protocol, but who am I to pass judgement on russian station workers who in some cases have spent 10 (ten!) years - straight - on the ice. Domestifying a hungry bird for company can't be the worst outlet for that length of ice-solation.



At least these guys can go home next november.
This is the norwegian overwintering crew, picture taken on the day we flew out.
It's an impressive gang, and I wish them all the best in the cold and progressively darker months to come.
(from the left:)
Heidi, cook.
Sigurd, mechanic.
Annika, my excellent replacement, the overwintering doctor, gynecologist back home.
Geir, station technician, plumber back home.
Atle, station chief and research technician, travelling satelite antenna engineer back home.
Vidar, electrician.




Goodbye to Troll station and the Ice planet.

I could say a lot about what my stay at the station and the explorations of the surrounding icescapes meant to me - what a profound experience it was. Going through my blog, I realize it is all those little things I have written about along the way, combined, that best describe my love and enthusiasm for the place and the landscape, and for the people and creatures that make it their brief and permanent home.
 

8 comments:

Øystein said...

Nice truck!

It's been great following your Antarctic seclusion through this blog.

Reading all the little stories I, as you say, think I've gotten a glimpse of what it must have been like.

Larger than life, for sure.

Anonymous said...

Oystein I would like to thank you for the stories and pictures of your stay in the Antarctic. I am the wife of one of the Canadian Basler pilots and it was really interesting to be able to see and hear about the people that our guys were supporting while they were based in Novo.

Øystein said...

Thank you! Say hi to your husband. The canadian pilots I met were all great guys, serious, but with a good sense of humour appropriate for such a weird place.

drtarkan72 said...

You should upload your videos to youtube and publish or link them in your blog.I am a fan of this blog and please also include video for this red truck also...

Øystein said...

You've been tagged, Øystein:

Mampi said...

Beautiful, breathtaking,
all your pictures are amazing, and the text alongside so very enlightening. I almost felt like I was walking there.
Thanks, I ve added u to my google reader

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Anonymous said...

looking for as many norwegian websites as i can while im bored at school for language learning purposes. this blog most likely isnt active anymore but i'll still comment. although this didnt aid me in learning language, it still was educational and fun to read through. :]