OK gang, here’s the skinny. I have just come from the meeting when we find out what is supposed to happen. The good news is I get to leave Mc Murdo. The bad news is I don’t get to leave until Sunday morning. I fly into Christchurch at about noon on Sunday and will fly a shuttle up to Auckland Sunday night. I should get a chance to fly on from there on Monday sometime. As soon as I can I will post some pictures I’ve been taking lately. Having to share the internet at the kiosk makes it had to take the time to upload them. Everyone is trying to keep their email updated as well. The storm we had has begun braking off large pieces of permanent ice. The transition is in danger of becoming unstable at this point. Fleet ops has been plowing the roads and runway, but it is a lot different than it is back home because they have to be careful not to gouge the ice. We are going out tomorrow to dig out the tower, MLS and TACAN. I am hoping they did not drift in too bad. This has been the worst storm they have seen in the summer in 15 years. In a way I’m glad the storm came when it did. If I had been able to get out on time the hotel wouldn’t have been there anyway. One of our guys was in the bar when the quake hit. They waited until the glasses and bottles jumped off the shelves to leave. As he tells it, all the booze bottles were broken, so there was nothing of value left for them anyway. The Crown Plaza hotel is now unhabtable and they were not even allowed to go back to get their passports. There is a state of emergency and they aren’t even sure they want us to come through. They are strained to even handle the emergency crews coming in to help. They turned down those of us individually trained in emergency management because we were not part of an organized team with our on equipment. We told them we could augment the teams already in place, but they are trying very hard to limit the number of people on the ground. Makes sense, I guess. We left it open for them to change their mind, but I doubt if they will. I will update the blog if anything changes.