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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Warehouse23" data-source="post: 3265895" data-attributes="member: 27941">Today was a day of rest for the team after finishing the scrub-down of the last of the tents. The ice-breaker is finally in port (we flew over it on the Ross Ice Shelf on the way in from camp), and in its wake (literally) the penguins and seals have returned to Hut Point (a ten minute walk from my dorm). After doing some wild-life watching (see obligatory penguin shot: "adelie"), Gareth and I trucked over to the sea ice below Scott Base for the annual McMurdo vs. Scott Base rugby match. After an intimidating "hakka" war dance from theKiwis (hakka.jpg) the game got started on a slightly reduced pitch, consisting of flagged snow on top of the shelf ice. It was a slippery field to play on, but lovely weather for a game (pitch.jpg).The Kiwis schooled the Americans 20-0 after an hour of play, but a good time was had by all (minus the time had by one of our guys who got gouged in the eye pretty badly--the Kiwis play dirty). The Scott Base folks take the game very seriously and rolled out bleechers(couches mounted on the back of a flat-bed, towed across the ice behind a Pisten-Bully tractor). The fire team is not allowed to leave the station, so the Kiwis had live VHF radio coverage, done play-by-play, for the unit. In contrast, the Americans basically satalong the sidelines on their parkas and drank copious amounts of beer (the ice shelf does a nice job keeping it cold). It was a little bit surreal watching the match on the ice, in the shadow of Erebus, with the drone of the ice runway a click or two behind us but neat all thesame.</blockquote>

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