I guess we knew what to expect! There were more people, but it wasn't as hot, and this time I even had some leg room. This was another seven-hour flight in a Hercules, but it all went very smoothly. Ash zoomed over as soon as we got the call, so we could beat Ivan again and get good seats on board! No passport control or any formalities -you just wait for the call over the radio that they have finished refuelling and are ready to take 'Scott pax'. I didn't really take in Pegasus Field at all when we arrived, but Williams is pretty scenic. (this is what picked us up the first day when we landed at Pegasus) The American bus was coming over the hill from McMurdo with their passengers for the flight, but Ash managed to sneak in front of it. Our meeting time was 6.30am - that meant 6.30am in the locker room, all packed and dressed in cold weather gear, and hopefully with nothing left behind, including lunch in a brown paper bag, put together the night before from sandwich fillings and other treats that Mike the chef left out for us.į our of us were leaving this morning, and Ash drove us out to the airfield - not Pegasus Field,which we flew into, because that's now closed for the season, but Williams Field which is closer. Then you keep an eye on the noticeboard to see what time you need to be ready the next morning. The night before departure, you bring both bags to be weighed (and you get weighed too) and the black bag is taken away. If the flight boomerangs, or is delayed, you might have to go a day or so without your large bag, so you need to think carefully what to put in which one. First is bag drop, which means packing everything up into your two Antarctica NZ bags, the large black one which gets checked in, and the smaller green one which you keep as carry-on luggage. Leaving Scott Base involves a whole new set of procedures. But we kept our fingers crossed that we wouldn't get one. You can never tell for certain until the flight leaves, and even then there are sometimes boomerang flights going back to NZ, as well as coming down to the ice. Today we were due to fly back to New Zealand - probably!

Aliens by Philippa Werry