Aside from the cache of being able to walk into almost anywhere and claim to have stood where so few have, the real pay-off for living (and wintering) at the South Pole are the night skies. Before all the station windows were filled with cardboard to keep from spoiling various nocturnal science projects, a telescope was set-up in the galley. I grabbed my camera and pointed Galileo's invention at the only source of light in the sky. It took a few tries, but considering I just pointed the camera into the 'scopes eye piece, I'd say this shot looks pretty good.
There are two more celestial events we are also anticipating: Aurora Australis and Iridium Flares. I won't try to explain these, so click the links for the Wikipedia version of what these phenomena are.
Suffice to say, things are looking up at night.
