We made it ! After short notice we finally got our flights back to civilization. It was great to see how quickly a camp can be dismantled when you know that there are two Twin Otters already on their way to pick you up…

It was an honour to hear how our Canadian pilots George and Alex were excited about our Igloo. The actual flight along the Transantarctic Mountains was just breath taking, but our efforts of the last weeks made us fall asleep shortly after the take-off.

Back at Scott Base, the first look into the mirror was quite entertaining, but this didn’t stop our friends amongst the base staff to give us a big welcome-back hug. After a delicious dinner and a three minute shower (to save warm water) we just fell in our beds. However, all the impressions of the last month kept us awake during the night.

Now we can spend a few days at Ross Island and enjoy being exposed to the local science community before our departure back to New Zealand.