Ice mission never gets old, unless it's in your whisky

"A scientist came into the bar at Scott Base one night and he had a big block of ice he'd taken off a glacier. He said he would shout people a whisky and pop some of this ice into it.

"Once everyone had had a drink, he told them they were drinking whiskey with two-million-year-old ice."

The scientist was researching global warming and glacial movements in Antarctica, Flight Sergeant Roberts said.

"It was great being able to spend time with the scientists who stayed at Scott Base."

Flight Sergeant Roberts, from Auckland's Herald Island, has since remustered as an air loadmaster and for the past 25 years has taken about 45 flights to the ice flying in both the C-130H and the Boeing B757 aircraft.

Royal New Zealand Air Force regular flights to the on the ice continent have just wrapped up with the end of the summer season.

"I'm not sure if they still do it, but we used to do a penguin count. We'd stay for a few days and take an ecologically qualified person down the back of the Hercules and we would fly over the penguin colonies

"I don't know the system they used to count them all and I don't think they got down to the last penguin, but they were able to get an idea each season if the colonies were growing or declining in size," he said.

"It was great because we could do low-level flying down there and were above the penguins by about 500 feet.”

There was a tight New Zealand Defence Force team at Scott base and McMurdo Station which kept the place running and it was good to get to meet them during his time down there, Flight Sergeant Roberts said.

"There were drivers, airfield maintenance workers, mechanics and chefs. There's a broad brush of people who you meet and a lot from overseas as well," he said.

The NZDF has also supported the Italian research facility Zucchelli Station, at Terra Nova Bay - about 357km from Scott Base.

"Terra Nova is great, we love going there. The Italians treat you like VIPs and supply beautiful Italian food and heaps of parmesan cheese and really good coffee, so it's always a highlight for the crews to get one of those trips in.

"They don't happen very often, but every now and then the Italians send a request to Antarctica NZ for support."

Another special aspect of Antarctica was its history of explorers and the evidence of their Antarctic expeditions, Flight Sergeant Roberts said.

Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery hut sits near McMurdo Station on the seaward side.

"It's still got mummified seal on the wall, over 100 years old and would have been used for food for Scott and his team of explorers. There are also cans of beans, bedding and jackets," he said.

"The mission to Antarctica is always a fascinating thing that people like talking with me about because it's a place not many people can visit.

"Over the years I do feel like I've contributed to the success of the maintenance of that continent. All the signatories to the Antarctic Treaty are trying their hardest to keep the place as original and pristine as possible."

Read our 'Antarctica - Our 70-year legacy' feature.(external link)