Photo Credit: U.S. Embassy New Zealand and Samoa

David Huebner, United States ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, arrives at the South Pole Station on a New York Air National Guard C-130 last week during a visit to Antarctica. Huebner was sworn into his post in December 2009.

David Huebner , United States ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, went to Antarctica last week, his first visit to the icy continent since being sworn into the post in December 2009. Huebner flew to the Ice on Nov. 29 (local time), arriving at McMurdo Station after a five-hour flight aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III from Christchurch. The weeklong trip also included a visit to the U.S. Antarctic Program's most remote research base at the South Pole . On the embassy blog , Huebner described the thrill of stepping off the C-17 and "onto the edge of what remains the most pristine, mysterious, and glorious piece of our over-populated, over-exploited planet." On Dec. 3, the embassy coordinated a live presentation from McMurdo Station with students from the Wellington area. The ambassador returned to New Zealand that same day, outracing an incoming storm  on a ski-equipped LC-130 flown by the New York Air National Guard .