Antarctic Mountains (Footage from Flight)

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Footage from flight.3GP (1060 KB)

If you have endured my 8 min audio ramble (first audio post) you would have picked up that my Mac died the moment I landed in Antarctica, and as left me a bit out in the cold (pardon the pun) with regards to blogging power.

Thank goodness therefore that I packed my trusty Blackberry, otherwise i would have been completely lost. Fortunately it uses a MicroSD card so it is compatibale with almost any computer (Windows or Mac). I can therefore use it as my backup blogging system in conjunction with one of the base computers.

This clip is a very short snipet I recorded on the plane as we flew over the Heimefront Mountain home to the "Svea" (Swedish base) and travelled Trans-Antarctic on route to our final destination the Brunt Ice Shelf home to "Halley" (British Base).

Hopefully if this post works, I will try and post many more in the next few weeks and edit all my fancy HD stuff when I get home next April.

I will also try and do a more detailed post about the journey when I get some time off from work.

:-)

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Antarctic Mountains (Footage from Flight)

Download now or watch on posterous

Footage from flight.3GP (1060 KB)

If you have endured my 8 min ramble you would have picked up that my Mac died the monent I landed in Antarctica. ith it I lost all my fancy video software and use of most of the peripheral items like my Sony Handycam and my iPhone. Thank goodness I therfore packed my Blackberry,as otherwise i would be completely lost. With its MicroSD it becomes compatibale with any computer and therfore i can use it as my backup blogging system. Its not the best quality , which is a bit of a blow but its something. This clip is a very short snipet I recoreded whilst on the plane flying Trans-Antarctic, as we passed over a mountain range on route to our final destination. If I can post this clip susccessfully then I will post many more in the weeks to come and I can do all my fancy HD stuff when I get home next April.

I will hopefully try and post some more stuff tommorow, bye bye :-)

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My First Audio post from Antarctica

  
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firstpost 20091125.amr (750 KB)

To be in Antarctica is one thing but to talk about it coherently for 8 minutes is something entirely different. If you do choose to listen to this audio please excuse how I ramble, its partly due to the effects of mild hypothermia and partly to do with how much detail I am trying to avoid going into due to how much has happened in such a short time. All I wanted to really to do in this 1st post was say I arrived safely and hopefully (if posting this message works) I will be able to recap on details in future posts. If any one wants me to expand on any particular detail let me know in the comments and I will try and do so in future posts. Phil 

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Tommorow is it!

We were due to fly tonight at around 11:00pm, but due to really bad weather in Antarctica, it's been put back untill tommorow at 7:00am.

When we get to Antarctica we will be landing at Novo "The Russian Base" on a blue ice Runway. We will stay there for about 3 days whilst we sit out the next batch of bad weather, waiting for our transfer flight to come and pick us up Sunday.

With regards today I spent the morning sorting my Antarctic kit and getting it loaded onto the plane, in total I ended up being 10kg over ,something I was told by the South African Agent was "totally unbeliveable".  I just gave him that blank look and played the "lost in translation" card, which seemed to work.

In the afternoon we had a free period, which I made use of by going and having a sneek peek at the Capetown Football Stadium which will be host for the World Cup final. It is nearing completion and looks very impressive but that said they will have there work cut out if they are going to be ready for next Summer. I would say that seeing it got me very excited about the prospect of the festival of football that awaits us all next year and I do think SA will be agreat host. 

Anyway I am now back at the hotel desperately trying to charge up an aray of iPods and cameras using only one charger, at the same time trying to get an early night ready for the early start tommorow. (On both counts I am failing). 

With regards to the future, other than the odd tweets tommorow morning ,this will definately be my last blog post for about 4 days. When I do get back online I will be at the British base of Halley (my destination) and will definately post a load of catch up videos, audio & blogs etc if the computer system allows me.

Best go...See you soon!

Phil

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Cape Town and Beyond!

Today was the first day and I'am totally worn out. We left Heathrow last night at 7:20PM and we arrived in South Africa at 9:30AM Local time. I spent most of the flight watching movies including "500 days of Summer" and the outstanding "UP", I then watched "Moon" and "Land of the Lost" (which was surprisingly good) and had lots of parallels between the movie and the adventure we were all embarking on.

The day was full, mostly with things like .... waiting,making expensive mobile phone calls, checking in, getting Swine Flu injections, eating , getting to know each other, sight seeing and drinking beer.

It was a great day, problem is tomorrow the flights for Thursday have been brought forward to Wednesday and therefore we will flying to Antarctica tomorrow night! :-(

Anyhow i need to go get my sleep, tomorrows ging to be be an even longer day, so i need to go get some rest.

Good Night.

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On my way!

So this is it, after months of nervous anticipation, A week of packing and two days of emotional farewells my journey has begun.

Already things are going wrong, last Friday my flight to Capetown was with South African airways, however the flight is actually with British Airways. It was changed mid week, not a big deal but I ended up going to Terminal 2 not 5. Good job I am not in a rush !

On a positive I did get to ride on Heathrow express and take this rather groovy photo with my iPhone :-)

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ptest.amr

  
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ptest.amr (25 KB)

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

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The leaving of Matlock

Well that's it, all done at the office. I have now managed to complete all my preparation work for Antarctica. I now have 4 days to get myself in order before I leave.

So pleased to be away from Matlock. Its a place that has sapped all my energy,so I am off back to Liverpool to recharge. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

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